Search Results

As a business professional, you likely understand the importance of building a strong brand. But when it comes to your ads, brand impressions are the beginning of an exciting story. They track how often a user sees what you're putting out there - whether in the form of text-based ads, banners, or videos. Impressions give insight into two key metrics: reach and engagement. Reach refers to how many unique people viewed your content whereas engagements involve measurable actions such as comments, likes, and shares from those who saw it. The takeaway is those brand impressions are an important opportunity for maximum exposure. Why do brand impressions matter in digital marketing? Brand impressions are an integral part of any company’s digital marketing strategy. They act as a tangible representation of their company’s branding and presence on the web, giving customers and consumers a direct view of what your company stands for. They are used to create recognition in the marketplace, whereby businesses can control how their company is perceived by its audience. Content specifically designed for impressions in digital marketing (video marketing, social media postings, etc.) allows companies to reach their targeted customers or demographic directly while still providing engaging content that further builds one's company reputation over time. To be successful in this area it is important to create unique experiences and opportunities to build customer relationships and loyalty – ultimately playing a crucial role in bringing success to the business. Ultimately, brand impressions matter because they serve as one of the most effective ways for companies to stay ahead of the competition in any given market. How to measure online brand impressions Tracking impressions in digital marketing is a key concept, and it’s used to measure how many times a customer has been exposed to a company’s messaging, products, and services. This gives businesses powerful insights into their brand impressions, such as how well consumers are engaging with their content. Impressions in digital marketing are a way that brands measure their digital presence. Through channels such as email, website visits, digital advertising, or social media activity, brands can start to assess the digital footprint of their products or services. There are various tools available to measure impressions online such as Google Analytics and web scraping. Brands can also track digital behavior by monitoring clicks, time spent on a page, or viewership numbers. It is important for brands to become aware of how digital channels influence user's decisions and create an engaging digital experience for customers. With these efficient measurements in place, brands can understand their customer base and make better-informed decisions about marketing strategies. How to increase online brand impressions Expanding customer and consumer impressions online is a key component of successful digital marketing for any business. There are several strategies to increase consumer impressions in the digital space, such as optimizing customer journeys, maximizing customer targeting and segmentation, leveraging influencer marketing, and developing engaging content. It's essential that customer journeys are designed with customer experience and satisfaction in mind both onsite and offsite. Furthermore, implementing an effective customer segmentation tactic can help ensure that consumers receive a personalized experience tailored to their interests and needs. Influencers can be a great way to get your message out to a broader audience in an organic relational way, which boosts viewership and impressions overall. Finally, producing highly engaging content is the most important step to capturing user interaction and maximizing impressions. Taking all these steps into account will guide businesses on their journey toward increased brand visibility, maximum customer engagement, and higher brand impressions across their digital channels. Engagement tactics to use to increase brand impressions Making sure your digital marketing efforts are leaving positive impressions with your typical consumer is essential to achieving positive relationships and experiences with your brand. One effective strategy is to craft messages that are tailored to the target customer's unmet needs and show how the product/service meets their needs in a unique way. Additionally, using creative visuals, multimedia content, and storytelling can add valuable context to these messages which can make them more memorable. By focusing on positive engagement tactics such as this, businesses and organizations can ensure that brand impressions are being made through their digital marketing campaigns. 5 ways to improve your brand's online presence and increase impressions To create a memorable branding experience, it is important to focus on five key areas: content, social media, optimization, analytics, and branding. Content creation should be varied and tailored to engage audiences across different platforms such as blogs, podcasts, infographics, video, etc. Leveraging different social media channels like Facebook Ads or LinkedIn provides additional opportunities for branding. Search engine optimization allows your content to gain visibility online by increasing your search engine rankings. With analytics tools such as Google Analytics you can track branding campaigns and ROI more effectively allowing you to make informed decisions about how best to serve customers. Investing in and promoting consistent branding such as colors, fonts, logos designs, tone of voice, taglines, imagery, and more can help increase brand impressions and recognition within the market. Overall, these strategies will allow you to properly showcase your company online and reach new heights in terms of branding influence. Conclusion In summary, when it comes to digital marketing, brand impressions are key. They provide a valuable way to measure how effective your marketing is, while also helping build customer trust and loyalty. Understanding the importance of impression tracking and improving your brand's online presence can help boost your success in the digital world. As you create or update content for your website and social media channels, be sure to consider how this content reflects on the public’s perception of your brand. By doing so, you can ensure that you are creating a strong, consistent message about who you are as a business. Finally, don’t forget to review your analytics to see how you could further increase your impression reach. Sharing successful digital marketing efforts from businesses like yours will also allow others to learn from each other's successes! So, what kind of impact have your efforts made? We'd love to hear about it in the comments below. *** Driven to Succeed is an award-winning global market research and consulting firm that compliments data (the “what”) with empathetic research and conversations (the “why”) to help Fortune 500 companies and high-growth brands uncover insights to innovate and grow. Our team has walked a mile in your shoes with over 100 years of experience in Market Research, Marketing, and P&L Management for global iconic brands and startup companies across diverse B2B and B2C industries. Learn more at https://www.DriventoSucceedLLC.com.

How is the US population changing and should companies adapt? Businesses that want to succeed in today’s market need to understand the importance of multicultural market research. The 2020 US Census reported: “As the US population ages and grows more slowly in coming decades, the United States is projected to continue becoming a more racially and ethnically pluralistic society. The fastest-growing racial or ethnic group in the United States is people who are two or more races, (and is) projected to grow some 200 percent by 2060. The next fastest is the Asian population, which is projected to double, followed by Latinos whose population will nearly double within the next four decades. In contrast, the only group projected to shrink is the non-Latino White population.” By 2030, the Census is projecting that 53% of the population under 18 in the US will be multicultural. In other words, lacking the multicultural customer perspective and business insights will make brands and companies irrelevant to the new rising consumer base. Conducting multicultural research allows businesses to see things from different perspectives, and discover key needs and insights that will allow them to cater their products/services accordingly. Those who incorporate these insights into their business strategy will reap the benefits, enjoy a competitive advantage, and be more responsive to the needs of their customer base. Why should we do multicultural market research? Conducting multicultural research is highly beneficial in today's globalized world. Researching different cultures allows us to understand how to connect with people with different needs, values, and beliefs. Additionally, such research helps promote the ideals of inclusion and respect, enabling an appreciation and celebration of cultural diversity. Multicultural market research can also help increase our knowledge of how societies navigate and resolve conflict, creating opportunities for conflict mitigation strategies within governments, corporations, and communities. From a business perspective, researching multicultural markets can provide insights into what products and services appeal to diverse populations as well as enable companies to effectively engage diverse groups through marketing campaigns. Ultimately, engaging in multicultural market research provides a strong foundation for building bridges between communities and forging positive change within society. While diverse markets exist and generate massive profits, unfortunately, there is still a lack of dedicated "multicultural market research" that serves to accurately inform key decisions in this area. Because there are typically limited resources allocated to diverse market research, many times there is a deficit of the kind of data needed for marketing directors and executives to make informed decisions about diverse customer segments. Additionally, many market research companies do not have the expertise in recruiting and reaching diverse segments and, even more, sometimes, data and methods may not be structured in a way that provides the most accurate picture of diverse market trends, thus leaving resources available but underutilized. Also, it’s important to note that just a few market research companies have multicultural expertise. Why is diversity important in market research? Diversity is integral to conducting successful market research. Considering the view of multiple cultures and demographic trends enables researchers to gain a wider understanding and insight that can lead to more accurate results. Without considering key demographic trends, such as age, gender, ethnicity, or even attitudes in different parts of the world, some key insights may be missed - potentially skewing the results. A multicultural approach allows for a better perspective on who is buying what and why. Furthermore, it encourages experimentation with "unconventional" audiences whose opinions could add greater depth and appeal to the findings. Thus, diversity should be at the forefront of any researcher's agenda when conducting market research. How can businesses integrate multicultural research? In order to better reach and engage a multicultural demographic, it is important to consider conducting multicultural research in your business. This research will typically involve factoring in cultural preferences within the target audience while also considering more traditional data such as the needs and wants of those from different backgrounds. To conduct multicultural research, you can consider engaging with qualified professionals who are knowledgeable about various cultures, leveraging surveys for opinions and perceptions, or making use of focus groups with individuals from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Additionally, qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews and shop-alongs may provide additional insights that can be used to inform your marketing strategy. Integrating multicultural market research into your business will ultimately help you gain valuable insights that will positively impact customer relations, provide better service and develop a stronger brand identity. 5 tips to get the most out of multicultural market research Conducting multicultural research is essential for small businesses that are looking to reach global audiences. To gain the most from your efforts, here are five tips that can help: Understand the basics of cultural sensitivity. Doing so will ensure that you interact and communicate in a way that is appropriate and relevant across audiences. Build relationships with experts among the audiences you are researching. Their insight into culture and customs can give you valuable information that would otherwise not be available. Make sure to explore technologies or methods specific to the target cultural group. These will often give greater accuracy and detail than generic research tools. Never assume anything when it comes to cultural preferences - always look to verify your assumptions through additional sources. Within global markets, focus on fewer groups rather than trying to include too much at once; this will provide more accurate results and help you identify key consumer trends faster. Following these five tips can help any business experience success in its multicultural market efforts and cater products and services to them accordingly! Conclusion Businesses that want to experience success in today’s market need to understand the importance of multicultural market research. By definition, multicultural market research is the “examination of differences in purchases, media usage, attitudes and/or beliefs between people of different racial or ethnic groups.” Diversity is critical to businesses because it allows them to see things from different perspectives and cater their products/services accordingly. Not only does this give them a competitive advantage, but it also helps build trust and relevancy with potential customers. Despite its many benefits, multicultural research is not happening as much as it should be. This could be due to a lack of understanding about its importance or how to properly integrate it into a business. However, there are steps businesses can take to change this and make it a budget priority. Business leaders should consider ways to increase communication and collaboration among employees from different backgrounds, break down silos within their organization, and collect data that includes insights from people of all cultures. Additionally, they can partner with a reliable marketing research firm (like Driven to Succeed, LLC) that specializes in conducting successful multicultural studies. Finally, businesses need to remember that implementing these changes will require time and patience – but the results will be worth it in the end! * * * Driven to Succeed is an award-winning global market research and consulting firm that compliments data (the “what”) with empathetic research and conversations (the “why”) to help Fortune 500 companies and high-growth brands uncover insights to innovate and grow. Our team has walked a mile in your shoes with over 100 years of experience in Market Research, Marketing, and P&L Management for global iconic brands and startup companies across diverse B2B and B2C industries. Learn more at https://www.DriventoSucceedLLC.com. Answers to Your Multicultural Market Research Questions WHAT IS THE MAIN MEANING OF MULTICULTURALISM? Multiculturalism is a concept that refers to the presence and visibility of people who have diverse backgrounds, experiences, beliefs, and worldviews. It is mostly used in the business context to signify multicultural markets - distinct populations or audiences with a shared heritage that can be leveraged for research and marketing efforts. Multiculturalism has grown to encompass more than just race or ethnicity; organizations recognize multiculturalism by carrying out initiatives to promote gender diversity, age diversity, and religious diversity. In all types of multicultural research, organizations strive for inclusion, relevancy, and equality to foster a dynamic workplace where individual and social needs are met. WHAT IS MULTICULTURAL MARKET RESEARCH? Multicultural market research is a process used by companies to better understand the needs and preferences of their consumers who come from diverse backgrounds. With advances in technology and growing multicultural populations, it has become increasingly important for businesses to stay ahead of customer trends. By performing multicultural market research, businesses can gain insight that will help shape their messaging and product marketing initiatives, allowing them to reach multicultural audiences more effectively. Through multicultural market research, companies can foster diversity while creating marketing strategies that have the power to break down barriers, build relationships, and ultimately drive profitability. WHY IS DIVERSITY IMPORTANT IN MARKET RESEARCH? Diversity is important in market research because multicultural insights are essential to understanding how a product or service appeals to its intended customers. Companies that prioritize including perspectives of different genders, ethnicities, and age groups have an advantage over those who do not. Multicultural market research techniques such as focus groups, surveys, and interviews are invaluable for gaining diverse perspectives, which cannot be received through traditional methods alone. Most companies today recognize the value of multicultural market research and utilize it to gain comprehensive insights into understanding their target audience. Diversity is at the core of many successful companies’ strategies for gaining valuable consumer insights.

Qualitative research is a method designed to study people in the context of a specific topic. Combining disciplines of psychology, sociology, and anthropology, moderators lead participants through a series of in-depth questions, and in-the-moment probes, to draw meaningful conclusions. There are seven important characteristics to consider when developing high-impact qualitative research. 7 Characteristics of High-Impact Qualitative Research The goal of qualitative research is to understand perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and motivations of a particular target audience. This article highlights seven characteristics of high-impact qualitative research. Using the appropriate qualitative research methods, the researcher or moderator will design a study to answer specific questions, validate or invalidate hypotheses, and make unexpected discoveries along the way. Characteristic #1 - Exploring Different Qualitative Research Methods There are numerous qualitative research methods, including in-person and virtual focus groups, in-depth interviews, ethnography, in-store shop-alongs, and other observation methods, case studies, content analysis, phenomenology, and grounded theory. The process is determined by the type of participants or respondents, the nature of the topic, and the content to be evaluated. Each qualitative research method has a different significance and is used for different scenarios and research situations. High-impact outcomes combine qualitative and quantitative methods to gather information, discern insights, and inform conclusions. Below is a brief description of a few qualitative research methods: In Person and Virtual Focus Groups A focus group is one of the most commonly used qualitative research methods, usually consisting of 5 to 8 respondents within your target market at a time. Multiple groups will provide sufficient content to conduct a thorough analysis of the topic at hand. This method is best used to explore topics through discovery, solicit meaningful feedback through open-ended questions, and gain deeper insights into an audience. Prior to the pandemic, focus groups were most often conducted in person in a third-party facility. Since the pandemic, the process has been modified to go virtual, which has several benefits. Implementing virtual focus groups: Saves Time and Money -- it’s common to select a metropolitan area, which requires the client, their colleagues, and the moderator to incur travel time and expense traveling to one or more geographies. Virtual research can be conducted anywhere a respondent or observer has a computer or mobile device. Diversifies Respondents -- instead of relying on a single geography, respondents can be recruited from multiple locations. Increases Inclusion -- Unlike the back room of a facility, virtual research enables multiple clients, advertising agency partners, and sponsors to observe simultaneously. In-Depth Interviews An in-depth interview is a conversational style qualitative research method conducted with one participant at a time. Also known as IDIs, one advantage is gathering precise, unfiltered viewpoints of participants, especially if the conversation is led by a skilled moderator. Unlike focus groups, bias and groupthink are not factors in the process. IDIs can occur face-to-face, online, or over the phone, and last between 30 minutes to two hours. IDIs are an effective way to engage c-suite executives and participants in discussing sensitive topics that could be negatively influenced by strangers or competitors being part of the conversation. Ethnography Ethnography is an observational qualitative research method designed to understand the behaviors, challenges, motivations, and factors that influence people within their natural environment, and to derive conclusions based on participants’ answers and behaviors. Conducting ethnographies in a real-world setting of participants will lead to high-impact qualitative research. Whether consumers are in their homes, shoppers are in the retail store, or healthcare providers or patients are in the medical facility, engaging participants when and where they engage with your product, service, brand, or category creates a more natural experience to engage in rich conversation. Ethnographies can range from a couple of hours to days or years. Therefore, this approach can be time-consuming and expensive since it involves in-depth observation. Hiring a skilled firm that can design a comprehensive yet concise research design, conduct thorough analysis, synthesize data and insights, and draw actionable conclusions can streamline the process. Observational Research Observational research occurs in the context of the participant’s natural environment. A keen researcher guides the conversation and uses the major senses -- sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste -- and intuition. This qualitative research method can unearth nuanced insights that are less obvious and more difficult -- if not impossible -- to detect using other types of research. For example, accompanying shoppers in the retail environment provides brands with contextual clues such as the competitive set, placement within the aisle and shelf set, claims, packaging, pricing, promotions, and other characteristics in the natural environment. Characteristic #2 - Asking Insightful Questions Based on the objectives, moderators will pre-define a set of questions to facilitate the conversation and collect meaningful data for the study. This is a guide, and not absolute since participant comments cannot be predicted. Astute moderators pick up on both spoken and unspoken context clues to probe more deeply and implement an emergent design that develops as the research progresses. Whether it’s words, a change in tone of voice, eye contact, or a shift in a respondent’s disposition, as the study progresses, moderators should gain richer insights from the conversation. Being flexible while asking insightful questions is one of the important characteristics of high-impact qualitative research. Moderators can also use theoretical perspectives in conducting research to understand nuanced differences among various segments of the target audience, such as cultural concepts, gender differences, race, and others. Characteristic #3 - Building Rapid Rapport with Researcher and Participants One of the characteristics of high-impact qualitative research that cannot be understated is building rapid rapport with respondents. After all, the nature of research is to ask questions to gather rational and emotional answers to the what, why, and how of the topic at hand. Therefore, researchers and moderators should seek to quickly create a psychologically safe environment where people feel comfortable being honest, open, and even vulnerable at times. Using reflexivity to share their background, the purpose of the work, and preferably their objective role in the context of the study leads to more openness. Characteristic #4 - Recruiting the Right Participants for the Study Identifying, recruiting, and incentivizing the right people is another one of the critical characteristics of high-impact qualitative research. This process begins with a screener that narrows down potential respondents based on a series of demographic, psychographic, and other types of questions. Recruiting a diverse group of respondents across age, gender, race and ethnicity, geography, ability, and beyond is another one of the characteristics that should not be overlooked. A full-service market research firm will recruit, moderate, report, and handle incentives for qualitative respondents. It is important to recruit an appropriate base size that effectively addresses the diversity of the target market and to over-recruit qualitative respondents as no-shows are often inevitable. Characteristic #5 - Engaging Multiple Senses According to a report by the University of California–San Diego, the average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of data and information every day. Therefore, it is important to engage multiple senses to conduct high-impact qualitative research – another of the seven characteristics. There are various techniques to engage respondents -- using visual or multi-media stimuli, capturing emotions and facial expressions, and hands-on activities, to name a few. High-impact qualitative studies rely on studying the respondents’ meaning from their point of view. An equally important characteristic is the report from the moderator. Qualitative methods are a process of discovery that can answer intended questions and generate both one-off and trend-based insights along the way. Combining storytelling with a concise, action-oriented report is key to engaging the client and other decision makers and influencers. Characteristic #6 - Capturing Useful Content There are various approaches to gathering useful content. Some clients are searching for the bottom-line answers to specific questions or hypotheses. Others are interested in the key themes across respondents. Still others want to document the fine details and intricacies of each person’s feedback and experiences. Skilled moderators will clarify the objectives, situational context, and deliverables at the start of a project. Qualitative methods are interpretive -- the moderator and observers make interpretations of what they see, hear, and understand. While the moderator’s role is to remain objective, it is helpful to have periodic debrief conversations with clients throughout the study to ensure important findings are in the final report. Inductive data analysis occurs when researchers build categories, patterns, and themes from the ground up or from separate data into a complete conclusion. For example, participants’ responses during qualitative research can be coded and summarized in key themes for future reference. Other stimuli such as respondent diaries, pictures, and verbatim quotes can bring insights to life by engaging the head and heart. Therefore, capturing useful content is an important one to include in the list of characteristics of high-impact qualitative research. Characteristic #7 - Compliments Quantitative Data Analysis The final of the seven characteristics of high-impact qualitative research is using complex reasoning to explain the outcome of quantitative research methods and to conduct ongoing data analysis. Data tells the “what,” and is gathered at scale through quantitative analysis. Conversations uncover the “why,” and are captured through qualitative methods. Both methods are necessary to gather multiple sources of data and give a holistic account of a target audience and the topic at hand. Qualitative research can follow quantitative analysis, such as consumer segmentation, purchasing behavior, or market trends. Qualitative research can derive meaning from data-based trends. In brand market research, qualitative research can also precede quantitative studies by uncovering new ideas for potential products, services, and advertising campaigns, for example. The base size of qualitative research is generally smaller and insufficient to draw definitive conclusions; therefore, quantitative studies can quickly validate the hypothesis at scale and at a fraction of the cost of qualitative research. However, be careful not to shortcut or eliminate qualitative research from the process since some of the richest insights come from conversations that best happen with high-impact qualitative research. * * * Driven to Succeed is an award-winning global market research and consulting firm that compliments data (the “what”) with empathetic research and conversations (the “why”) to help Fortune 500 companies and high-growth brands uncover insights to innovate and grow. Our team has walked a mile in your shoes with over 100 years of experience in Market Research, Marketing, and P&L Management for global iconic brands and startup companies across diverse B2B and B2C industries. Learn more at https://www.DriventoSucceedLLC.com

Ethnography Marketing Research is a qualitative market research method in which a moderator and research team interviews respondents in their homes or offices to obtain observational insights into their lifestyles and everyday behaviors. What Is Ethnography Marketing Research? Ethnography is a relatively new form of market research where we interview one person (or three friends) for a longer period of time in their home or place of business. Our method is to talk in a friendly way – researcher to consumer – to uncover insights that help brands and products prosper. Our researchers are skilled in developing rapid rapport with consumers as we come from a human-talking-with-human perspective. Personally, I find it a much better approach than focus groups because people are freer to express what’s really going on with them. What Are The Types Of Ethnographic Marketing Research? The broad focus of Ethnographic Research is to talk with consumers in depth and in situ. Prior to the recent pandemic, interviews were conducted in consumers’ homes (or occasionally at their place of business) for about two hours. We picked up lots of research clues by looking around the home and watching people use products in their own environment. On occasion, we modified our Ethnographic Research Marketing to include two friends of the person, and this makes for more lively conversation and additional insights. Since the pandemic, we have modified our Ethnography format by taking it online using video conferencing. This ethnographic approach allows us to recruit end users from across the nation. We call this format of digital ethnography Community Dialogues. It turns out this is superior to in-home ethnography in several ways. Customers are in their own environment and are more comfortable talking. And compared to focus groups, they are more forthcoming. In addition, client market researchers and brand people can more easily observe either in real time or view a recording at their leisure. What Are The Advantages Of Ethnographic Research Marketing? First and foremost, consumers are in their own environment so they are more comfortable expressing themselves clearly, openly, online researcher and honestly. And compared to focus groups, each person we interview is the center of attention with all the focus on their ideas and opinions. For in-home Ethnography Market Research, we film the entire interview on camera. For the online approach, we use a video conferencing recording service. Another advantage of in-homes is that two or three clients come along with us to really get the experience of ethnographic research deep in their minds and hearts. On the other hand, for the Community Dialogues method, there are no travel expenses, which brings the cost down. When you conduct Ethnographic Marketing Research with Driven to Succeed, you also have the advantage of our vast experience with this marketing approach. Each of our ethnography professionals is quite skilled with the method and with uncovering the research insights that are at the heart of our offering. We believe the major and irreplaceable advantage of Ethnography Marketing Research is the deep empathy of the human connection between the online researcher and end user. This approach allows us to go deep with the insights we provide in our reports so that brand people have a permanent bonding with the consumers they are marketing to. What Are The Limits Of Ethnographic Research Marketing? Our view is that Ethnographic Marketing Research is vastly superior to focus group respondents because of the depth of understanding and connection brands make with their consumers. In-home ethnography is definitely preferable for the depth of the learning, but when brand budgets are tight, money can be an issue. That’s where video conferencing Community Dialogues are a great alternative approach. They cost less and can be completed quickly, with client brand and research professionals still able to view the interviews. Most market research companies that conduct Ethnographic Marketing Research take time to issue their final reports. Driven to Succeed is the exception. Our reports are generally available in just a few days, with video highlights soon after. What Is The Power Of In-Home Ethnographic Market Research? There is great power in observing consumers in their own homes. We can see what their house looks like inside and out, how they decorate, their level of housekeeping, etc. We are able to focus on many other factors we can see. In addition, consumers are much more likely to be open and honest as there are no other people with differing points of view. In our in-home market research efforts, people can get quite emotional, even tearing up with things that are deeply held, important, or uncomfortable to talk about. The biggest advantage of our proprietary form of Ethnographic Research Marketing is our probing methods. We listen closely to what consumers say, and more importantly, what they don’t say. For the latter, we can gently ask additional probing questions to uncover the real meaning of what’s in their minds and hearts. Another huge advantage of this method is watching the consumer actually use the product. Often, they are using it in their own way, regardless of the product instructions. Also, we learn how they store the product when they buy it and their true feelings about brand benefits. All these questions lead to valuable insights. What Is The Power Of Digital Ethnography? The pandemic forced us to be creative on the best method to stay in touch qualitatively with customers, and our proprietary Community Dialogues turned out to be a brilliant approach. We recruit people who have a similar user profile in common, so we can talk to several sub-categories in each project. In addition, we gain insights from around the country rather than being limited in geography the way we are with focus groups. We find that Digital Ethnography also allows people to be more forthright in their answers. In focus groups, the loudest person tends to dominate while the more introverted remain silent. Digital Ethnography gives everyone equal footing to express their point of view, even when it is different from other end users. Another advantage of Digital Ethnography is that we can conduct and report the results more quickly. And with no travel time and expense, the cost of the overall project is reduced. What Is The Art Of Ethnographic Research Analysis? One of our primary points of difference is in our graphic final reports. First, we start with a single insight summary page: one main finding along with its meaning and so what, followed by three major insights. The next page is a custom-designed graphic map with all the key information laid out in an interesting and intriguing format. The report also contains six to eight pages of more detailed key findings, all using a very graphic format. Gone are the days of 50-page dense written reports that simply sit on the shelf at the client’s office. The other key advantage of our reports is the video summaries we create. This allows brand people to hear customers in their own words and vernacular. These summaries are from the in-home cameras or the video conferencing recordings. Our videos start with the key findings in the consumers’ point of view, followed by snippets from the five or six main areas delineated in the discussion guide. Many of the senior brand folks rave about our summary reports and videos because they can learn everything they need very quickly. Summary Of The Advantages Of Our Ethnography Marketing Research Driven to Succeed’s in-home interviews connect deeply with consumers, allowing us to uncover insights about the category and brand that come from both the head and the heart. Our online Community Dialogue method allows us to drill down on important sub-categories to uncover key insights by allowing like-minded people to come together. In addition, it is a less expensive and quicker method as there is no travel time and other expenses involved. Our graphic reports and video summaries are interesting and provide key insights and important findings that can be read and integrated quickly and deeply. * * * Driven to Succeed is an award-winning global market research and consulting firm that compliments data (the “what”) with empathetic research and conversations (the “why”) to help Fortune 500 companies and high-growth brands uncover insights to innovate and grow. Our team has walked a mile in your shoes with over 100 years of experience in Market Research, Marketing, and P&L Management for global iconic brands and startup companies across diverse B2B and B2C industries. Answers to Your Ethnography Questions WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH? Ethnography is a qualitative research method, traditionally conducted in a consumer’s home and videotaped. The interview normally lasts about two hours. The questions are in-depth and cover the consumer’s lifestyle and family, the brand category, and the consumer’s current brand purchases. The interview often includes watching the consumer use the product. WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH? Ethnographies are most often done in consumers’ homes or places of business. Since the pandemic, the research now is often done online, speeding the interviewing time, and lowering the cost of the project. WHAT ARE THE TYPICAL FEATURES OF ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH? Ethnography discussions are most often conducted from general topics to more specific ones. They may start with information on the consumer’s life, lifestyle, and family, then move to the product category in general, followed by the specific brand the consumer uses and considers. The interview may conclude by showing some specific brand elements or marketing communications.

Top Companies Understand Consumer Wants and Needs with Voice of the Customer Are you looking for ways to understand what your customers want and need? Voice of the Customer (VoC) is a process that captures feedback and utilizes it to improve products, services, or the experience. It allows businesses to get an in-depth understanding of their consumers’ needs and expectations so that they can create better solutions for them. In this blog post, we will explore how utilizing this process can benefit your business in order to create a successful customer experience and share five Voice of the Customer Examples from some of the world’s leading companies. What Is Voice of the Customer? The VoC approach is an invaluable tool for understanding what your consumers want and need. This process allows you to gather insights from responses to find out what consumers really think about your business, products, services, and processes. By understanding the needs and expectations of these B2B customers or B2C shoppers, you can gain a greater understanding of their experiences and build better relationships with them. As consumers voice their needs and expectations, businesses must find ways to effectively listen to them. There are many companies that have Voice of the Customer examples that have proven successful. The VoC process This process is an important customer-focused approach to improving customer experience. It provides companies with customer opinions that help identify customer needs and preferences by soliciting customer opinions. There are several voice of the customer examples, such as surveys and reviews, tracking customer satisfaction, analyzing customer experience, and measuring trends over time by comparing outcomes to previous insights and results. Examples of benefits for companies include being able to tailor their products and services to better meet customer demands, increase loyalty, and differentiate from the competition. This often results in more sales, market share, and greater customer satisfaction. The old adage is true -- “the customer is always right.” By putting customers’ voice at the center of business operations, companies have the opportunity to engage in better decision making which will lead them to long-term success. The Voice of the Customer process is made up of four components: Developing a strategy – Starting with your company strategy, carefully consider what information needs to be gathered from customers to meet your corporate objectives. For example, this includes reactions and criticisms on offerings, unmet needs and opportunities, customer experience, pricing, competitive comparisons, and more. Gathering customer feedback – This includes data analysis from surveys, interviews, focus groups, and reports, for example, which will provide insights into what consumers are looking for from your company, in their voice. Understanding their expectations, and repeating the research to measure trends over time is an invaluable tool to keep a pulse on customers and benchmark trends and anomalies. Analyzing customer feedback – Once you have gathered all the necessary information, you need to analyze it so that you can understand why customers feel a certain way about your products or services and identify any areas for improvement. For quantitative research such as surveys, the importance of data analytics cannot be underestimated. As an example, slicing and dicing the data by characteristics such as geography, demographics, customer type, and how respondents answer certain questions can provide rich insights for your business. Reading and hearing verbatims from the perspective and in the tone of voice of your audience can confirm existing hypotheses, and reveal surprises. However, data tells the ‘what’ but not always the ‘why.’ Following up surveys with qualitative research to talk to your customers, and hear directly from them in their voice and language, will help to enrich the data with nuanced insights that create more empathy and understanding from which to take action. Applying customer insights – Finally, you need to use this information to develop strategies that will help you meet customers’ needs more effectively. There are several ways to use VoC, for example, refining existing products or services, creating new innovations based on customer responses, optimizing the customer journey, enhancing marketing and sales messaging, and closing actual or perceived competitive gaps, to name a few. How to Effectively Use VoC Using VoC requires taking a proactive approach in gathering and analyzing responses as well as acting on them swiftly once you have identified opportunities for improvement or growth to stay ahead of competitors who may be offering similar solutions but without focusing on meeting consumers’ needs first. Here are some tips on how to effectively use this process: Make sure your team is engaged in the conversation that gives voice to customers – encourages open communication between teams so that everyone is aware of what customers are saying about your company and its offerings. Ensure data accuracy – make sure that all data collected is accurate before using it for decision-making purposes. Inaccurate information can lead to wrong conclusions being drawn, which could mean taking action based on incorrect information. Keep track of results – measure results regularly so that your team can evaluate whether strategic initiatives and tactical changes have been effective in improving products, services, and experience. Don’t forget to assign VoC outcomes to the goals and performance metrics within your team to drive accountability. What gets measured, gets done. Be agile when responding – if changes need to be made quickly due to market changes or competitive pressure then ensure your team acts swiftly as this shows consumers that their voices are being heard. Better yet, be transparent that the changes are based on their responses, which will enhance affinity for your brand. Be consistent - consistency is key when it comes to developing relationships with your target audience; if they know what kind of treatment they expect from you then they will be more likely to keep coming back. Voice of the Customer Examples As businesses become increasingly aware of the power of consumer voices and feedback, more and more are turning to VoC research. This research helps companies understand their customers’ needs, wants, and experiences with their products or service by collecting, analyzing, and acting on customer insights. For many top organizations in 2023, VoC has become an integral part of how they do business. Here are five Voice of the Customer examples that show how these companies have used the process and had great success: Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has an incredibly successful program called “Patron Reviews,” which allows users who have purchased items from Amazon’s website or app to review those items publicly. These reviews help other potential buyers decide whether or not they should purchase a particular item. Amazon leverages insights to build customer-centric strategies. Through VoC, Amazon has been able to capture shopper insights through various channels, like surveys, forums, and social media responses, for example. This feedback from its buyers is then analyzed in order to identify their needs, wants, and expectations, allowing Amazon to make well-informed decisions that improve the shoppers’ journey. By placing a strong focus on the customer journey and creating a consumer-first mentality, this process has allowed Amazon to refine their product and services to meet shopper demands. Through this refinement process, Amazon has seen an increase in consumer loyalty and in sales revenue. Ultimately, this process enables Amazon to stay on top of trends and deliver successful products built from shopper requirements. Netflix uses an automated system called “Netflix Prizes,” which rewards users who submit creative ideas for improving Netflix's algorithms. These ideas help make Netflix's streaming service better than ever before. Netflix exemplifies how the use of VoC can accelerate growth and propel a business to success. Through careful analysis and surveys, Netflix consistently evaluates feedback from consumers in order to produce a better service. David Wells, Chief Financial Officer of Netflix, described its decisions as “data-driven” with “impressive results.” As a result of this feedback-based approach, Netflix successfully built an unparalleled streaming experience for its consumers. For example, from the optimization stage to branding phrase suggestions, the consumer experience has become an essential part of the brand’s success story. This is further supported by responses gathered from consumers on the relevance of improvements or innovations prior to the implementation process. Collectively, these findings illustrate that consumer input is pivotal for business performance and when leveraged effectively will optimize consumer engagement. Consumers’ voices matter. Apple, the well-known American manufacturer of personal computers, smartphones, tablet computers, and more, uses VoC extensively throughout its product development process by incorporating user input into its design process. This helps ensure that new technology meets users' expectations while also staying ahead of trends. Apple employs a variety of feedback collection techniques, for example, surveys and user experience analysis, in order to collect this important input. By listening and answering direct responses from their audience, in consumers’ voices, Apple is able to uncover both what works for their customers as well as areas that need improvement. This feedback provides evidence-based insights which result in improved products and services. The end result is greatly enhanced customer satisfaction which has been a driving force of Apple's business success over the years. The largest coffeehouse chain in the world, Starbucks, launched its “My Starbucks Idea” campaign, which encourages users to submit ideas for product improvements. This helps Starbucks stay ahead by staying connected with its users. Surveys have become increasingly important for big businesses like Starbucks. Starbucks has leveraged VoC to better understand the responses and sentiment it receives, making changes to its offerings, pricing, and customer journey that directly reflect this feedback. The sentiment is an example of giving voice to the emotional relationships consumers have with a brand. Data analysis is also essential as it gives brands a clearer insight into how consumers respond to different products, services, and more. For example, responses gained through surveys often led directly to changes in portfolio offerings and innovation. Overall, these insights enabled Starbucks to significantly improve its business success by using customer responses effectively. Our last of the five Voice of the Customer examples is from Chick-fil-a, the country’s largest fast-food restaurant chain specializing in chicken sandwiches. At Chick-fil-A, management believes feedback is a gift. At Chick-fil-a, customers are not customers, but "guests." When a guest shares a change they'd like to see, the first thought the staff is encouraged to have is, 'What can we do to help?' Chick-fil-A created an exemplary Voice of the Customer example for other businesses in how feedback from customers can enhance and improve success. The chain restaurant created an online survey that gathered feedback regarding customer experience, and product feedback, and took into consideration their response data in order to benefit their business. From this feedback, Chick-fil-A was able to analyze their patrons’ preferences in order to inform decisions on menu items, customer service, locations, and more. This has been instrumental in helping the chain create meaningful customer engagement opportunities across the board -- leading to successful growth and success. Summing it up Gathering insights, in the consumers’ voice, enables businesses to capture feedback and use it strategically when designing future products or services as well as improving existing ones. By taking a proactive approach to gathering and analyzing data, acting quickly when needed, ensuring accuracy, measuring results, and remaining consistent, businesses can harness the power of VoC and create positive experiences for their consumers. Doing this successfully will help build trust with current consumers while also attracting new ones. With proper implementation, any organization can turn its voice of the customer feedback into even greater success. * * * Driven to Succeed is an award-winning global market research and consulting firm that compliments data (the “what”) with empathetic research and conversations (the “why”) to help Fortune 500 companies and high-growth brands uncover insights to innovate and grow. Our team has walked a mile in your shoes with over 100 years of experience in Market Research, Marketing, and P&L Management for global iconic brands and startup companies across diverse B2B and B2C industries. Learn more at https://www.DriventoSucceedLLC.com