Instant Focus Group Questions PDF

Instant Focus Group Questions – Develop Winning Advertising, Marketing, and Products
Instant Focus Group

Questions -
Develop Winning
Advertising, Marketing, and
Products
A Handbook on How to Interview Customers,

Prospects, and Experts
By Hendrik Hoets
Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 1

Instant Focus Group Questions − Develop Winning Advertising,

Marketing, and Products by Hendrik Hoets
Copyright © 2009 by DistaTEC, LLC and Hendrik Hoets

All rights reserved.
Version 1.1
July 2009
ISBN 978-0-615-30579-0
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This book is copyrighted © 2009 by DistaTEC, LLC. All rights reserved.

About the Author
Hendrik “Henk” Hoets is a professional focus

group moderator and marketing consultant.
He is founder and Managing Director of

DistaTEC, LLC, which operates Hendriks
Research and provides qualitative marketing
research and consulting services.
He has moderated over 2,500 interviews,

including CEOs, executives, board directors,
experts, retailers, distributors, and consumers.
Specializing in the high-tech industries, Henk practices in electronics,

electricity, green energy, information technology, Internet marketing, mobile
telephones, telecommunications, and wireless networks. He also has
research experience in retail, channel-distribution, and packaging.
Henk has conducted qualitative marketing research and consulting for blue
chip, medium, and small companies: ESPN, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, and
more.
Henk learned the craft of moderating at the RIVA Training Institute,

Rockville, Maryland, which provides focus group moderator training.
Before founding DistaTEC, LLC, Henk was a senior vice president of

marketing in the high-tech electronics and communications industries. He
held corporate and marketing management positions at Motorola, E.F.
Johnson Co., and SmartServ Online.
His experience includes two decades of international and U.S. marketing,

during which time he has worked and lived in Asia, Europe, and the United
States. He has a BA and MBA.
Besides providing marketing research services and consulting, Henk is the

publisher and author of white papers, reports, and articles about marketing
and management, which are available at www.focusgrouptips.com.

Table of Contents
Disclaimer ....................................................................................... 3
About the Author .............................................................................. 4
Table of Contents ............................................................................. 5
Section One – The Foundation............................................................... 7

Introduction..................................................................................... 8
Lesson 1: Qualitative Marketing Research ...........................................11
Lesson 2: Why Marketing Research?...................................................15
Lesson 3: Qualitative Research Methods .............................................19
Lesson 4: What Are We Looking For?..................................................28
Lesson 5: How to Design Qualitative Marketing Research ......................34
Lesson 6: How to Design Research Objectives .....................................38
Lesson 7: How to Design a Scope of Work ...........................................44
Lesson 8: How to Write Screeners......................................................47
Lesson 9: How to Manage Logistics and Respondent Recruiting ..............57
Lesson 10: How to Write a Moderator Guide ........................................61
Lesson 11: How to Moderate a Focus Group or Depth Interview .............73
Lesson 12: How to Analyze Qualitative Data ........................................83
Lesson 13: How to Write a Qualitative Research Report.........................88
Section Two – Techniques and Tips .......................................................93

Lesson 14: How to Ask Basic Questions ..............................................94
Lesson 15: Buying Theory............................................................... 106
Lesson 16: How to Ask Laddering Questions ...................................... 111
Lesson 17: How to Use Practical Projective Techniques ....................... 118
Lesson 18: How to Aid Memory Recall............................................... 125
Lesson 19: How to Recognize and Reduce Research Bias ..................... 129
Lesson 20: Seller Beware – The Customer is Not Always Right ............. 139
Section Three – Qualitative Research Applications ................................. 143
Lesson 21: How to Conduct Exploratory Research .............................. 144
Lesson 22: How to Conduct Segmentation Research ........................... 154
Lesson 23: How to Conduct Research about Competition ..................... 161
Lesson 24: How to Conduct Concept Testing Research ........................ 171
Lesson 25: How to Conduct Product Usage Research .......................... 177
Lesson 26: How to Conduct Positioning Research ............................... 184
Lesson 27: How to Conduct Advertising Research ............................... 194
Lesson 28: How to Conduct Consumer Packaging Research ................. 204
Lesson 29: How to Conduct Channel Research ................................... 210

Lesson 30: How to Conduct Retail Merchandising Research .................. 220
Section Four – Bonus Section ............................................................. 224

Bonus 1: The Marketing Plan Checklist.............................................. 225
Bonus 2: Website Resources ........................................................... 230
Bonus 3: Glossary of Qualitative Marketing Research .......................... 234

Section One – The Foundation

Introduction
Gain Information and Knowledge –

Make Informed Advertising, Marketing, and Product Decisions
Customers and prospects often decide your fate in the market.
You need to understand them.
By understanding them, you improve your odds of success. Using information

and knowledge about customers and prospects, you make decisions about
advertising, marketing, and products.
To understand customers and prospects, you interview them using

qualitative research…focus groups or depth interviews.
Anyone can conduct an interview with the right techniques and questions.
This handbook shows you how.
Practical and Easy to Use
This handbook is an indispensable guide to understanding customers,

prospects, and experts.
It teaches basic qualitative research techniques for advertising, marketing,

and product development. It’s ideal for marketing managers, product
managers, advertising managers, copywriters, sales managers, marketing
researchers, and marketing students.
The handbook also serves as a reference, giving you qualitative research

tools, tips, and questions you can use immediately.
It is a practical “how to” handbook, based on proven principles and my

marketing and research experience and professional training. I have
interviewed over two thousand respondents for big, medium, and small
companies.

In the first section of this handbook, you’ll learn about qualitative research
methods.
In the second section, you’ll learn about qualitative research techniques,

questions, tips, and pitfalls to avoid. Plus, you’ll learn about buying theory,
laddering, and projective techniques.
In the third section, you’ll learn about specific qualitative research

applications. Simply pick the applications you need, and apply them.
You get ten qualitative research applications and related techniques and
questions.
1. Exploratory Research
2. Segmentation Research
3. Competition Research
4. Product Concept Testing Research
5. Product Usage Research
6. Positioning Research
7. Advertising Research
8. Consumer Packaging Research
9. Channel Research
10.Merchandising Research
While it may be tempting to skip over the first two sections, and jump into
the applications in the third section, please don’t.
I recommend you read the important first and second sections of the
handbook, each of which gives you the practical groundwork for the
applications.
In the fourth section, you get extra bonuses, including a marketing plan
checklist, web site resources, and a qualitative marketing research glossary.
This handbook provides several techniques and questions that work. By

applying them, you’ll save countless hours trying to compose your own
questions. And you’ll get ideas for creating new questions.

Interview your customers and prospects, using focus groups or depth

interviews. Talk to them. Understand their world. And learn from the experts
too.
By doing this, you’ll get invaluable information, insights, and knowledge.
You’ll be smarter for it. And, you’ll make informed advertising, marketing,
and product decisions.
Let’s start.

Lesson 1: Qualitative Marketing

Research
Overview
1. Research Customers, Prospects, and Experts

2. Three Methods
3. Qualitative Research Applications
4. When to Interview
5. Final Thoughts
Research Customers, Prospects, and Experts
When you research customers, prospects, and experts, using depth

interviews or focus groups, it is qualitative marketing research.
Qualitative research asks open-ended questions and listens to customers,

prospects, and experts. You identify people’s attitudes and behaviors about
products, services, advertising, and marketing.
By talking to a few people, you can understand thousands.
Qualitative research explores, discovers, and describes. It seeks to

understand the world as it is. It helps business managers gain new
knowledge and deeper understanding.
Three Methods
There are three types of qualitative research.
1. Depth Interviews
2. Focus Groups
3. Ethnography
All three are qualitative methods to gain information and knowledge, and
each has its particular strengths and weaknesses.
You’ll learn more about each qualitative research method in Lesson 3.

This handbook focuses on depth interview and focus group qualitative

research.
Qualitative Research Applications
Managers use information and knowledge gained from qualitative research to

make decisions about,
• Advertising
• Marketing
• Products
Qualitative research helps managers gain information, so they can make

informed decisions.
After all, you are in business to sell products and services at a profit.
When to Use Qualitative Research
Product and marketing development goes through three major stages:
I. Discovery and Innovation

II. Development
III. Commercialization
You use qualitative research at each stage.
Most commercial products, services, and marketing programs advance

through all or part of each stage, either formally or informally. Let’s look at
the details of product and marketing development.
I. Discovery and Innovation
• Market Exploration
• Technology Innovation
• Review of Competitors
• Product Ideation
• Segmentation
• Product Concept Development

• Product Concept Screening
II. Development
• Product Development
• Product Use Testing
• Market Testing
• User Validation
• Channel Validation
• Positioning
• Marketing Communications
III. Commercialization
• Product, Advertising, and Marketing Launch
• Selling
• Post-launch Diagnostics
• Product Improvement
• Marketing Improvement
• Advertising Improvement
So how do you use qualitative research during the three development

stages?
Here are 10 qualitative research applications you can use. You’ll learn how to
do each application in this handbook.
1. Exploratory Research
2. Segmentation & Targeting Research
3. Competition Research
4. Product Concept Testing Research
5. Product Usage Research
6. Positioning Research
7. Advertising Research
8. Consumer Packaging Research
9. Channel Research
10.Merchandising Research

Final Thoughts
Qualitative research provides information and knowledge about customers,

prospects, and experts.
It discovers and explores topics. It provides new perspectives. It deepens

understanding. It helps form theories. It directs further investigation and
development. It complements quantitative and secondary research.
Qualitative research helps managers make informed decisions about

products, advertising, and marketing.

Lesson 2: Why Marketing Research?
Overview
1. Marketing Research Purpose

2. Decisions – Importance, Uncertainty, Risk, and Cost
3. Why Qualitative Research?
4. Final Thoughts
Marketing Research Purpose
Marketing research has a simple purpose. You use marketing research to

make informed business decisions.
In business, marketing research gives you information and knowledge to

decide about products, advertising, and marketing.
You use information and knowledge to:

• Produce new products
• Improve products
• Craft marketing strategy and tactics
• Create positioning strategy
• Create advertising that sells
• Reduce uncertainty
• Reduce risks
• Improve the odds of success
Marketing research gives you facts, information, and knowledge about

customers, prospects, experts, and competitors. You learn from prospects,
customers, and experts. You learn about their knowledge, attitudes, and
behavior.
Customers’ interests are likely different from your interests. You know how to
make a product or service. But your customers know how to use it, how
they feel about it, and what they believe about it.

Decisions – Importance, Uncertainty, Risk, and Cost
When you have important business decisions to make, you want facts,
information, and knowledge.
When not much is known about a topic of interest, you want facts,
When decision risks are high, you want facts, information, and knowledge.
You want to understand and reduce risks.
The value of marketing research is a trade off between knowledge and its
cost.
Facts, information and knowledge are more valuable than assumptions. But
how much more? That depends on decision importance, uncertainty, risk,
and the cost of a decision.
The value of facts, information and knowledge is proportional to the

magnitude of decision importance, uncertainty, risk, and cost.
• The greater the decision importance, the greater the value of facts
• The greater the decision uncertainty, the greater the value of facts
• The greater the decision risk, the greater the value of facts,
information, and knowledge
• The greater the decision costs, the greater the value of facts,
If you spend thousands or millions of dollars on a new ad campaign, you

make sure the ad resonates with consumers. You want to know about
consumers. You test your ads.
“Advertising people who ignore research are as dangerous as generals

who ignore decodes of enemy signals.” David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on
Advertising

If you spend hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars developing new

products, you make sure people want or need the products. You want to
know what motivates prospects to buy. You test new products, before
commercial rollout.
If you spend hundreds of thousands to motivate distributors and retailers,

you have to make sure they want and use your channel-marketing programs.
You need to make sure they will recommend your products. So, you ask their
opinions. You test your channel marketing.
Assumptions and guesswork can be very expensive when plans go wrong and
uncertainty, risk, and costs are big. Facts, information, and knowledge, on
the other hand, diminish the chances of potential disaster and promote the
likelihood of success.
Smart businesspeople use marketing research to make informed, actionable

decisions that help sell products and services at profit.
Why Qualitative Research?
Qualitative research can help you build winning products, marketing

programs, and advertising.
It discovers and explores. It provides deeper understanding and direction.
It gets you information and knowledge about prospects, customers,

channels, and competitors. It provides information for decisions.
Qualitative research keeps you up to date. It spawns new ideas.
Qualitative research supports quantitative marketing research. You use

qualitative research before surveys to develop theories. You use it to develop
survey questions and ranges of answers. You use qualitative research after
surveys to gain deeper understanding about survey results.
Qualitative research is like sifting for gold nuggets. Among the hundreds of
facts you amass, you may find one or two that foster success... that
transform products, marketing, and advertising. One discovery is worth the
effort.

Qualitative research is easy, if you know what to do and are prepared. You
can do it. This e-book shows you how.
Final Thoughts
Use qualitative research to:
• Develop products and services
• Create advertising
• Develop marketing programs
• Improve the prospects of success
Don’t guess. Ask. Listen. And learn. Get the facts. Gain information and
knowledge for business decisions.
Research your customers, prospects, and experts. Talk to them using depth
interviews or focus groups.
Discover, explore, gain depth and breadth and chart direction. It is worth
your while.

Lesson 3: Qualitative Research

Methods
Overview
1. Introduction
2. Depth Interviews
3. Focus Groups
4. Depth Interviews versus Focus Groups
5. Ethnography
6. Internet
7. Final Thoughts
Introduction
There are three primary methods of qualitative research.
They are
1. Depth Interviews
2. Focus Groups
3. Ethnography
Also, the Internet offers some new methods of qualitative marketing

research.
Let’s examine each of the major methods.
Depth Interviews
With depth interviews, a moderator interviews one person at a time. It’s also
known as one-on-one interviews.
There are three ways to do it:
• Face-to-Face
• Telephone
• Online

You interview customers, prospects, and experts. People you interview are
called respondents.
You can interview a few people or several dozen. So how many interviews do
you need?
The number of depth interviews varies and depends on,
• research goals
• number of topics
• segments
• schedule
• budget
Typically, 15 to 30 depth interviews, in each segment and region for a

qualitative research project produces the majority of information.
More than 30 interviews for a segment usually produce diminishing returns of

new information. But, you need to be the judge. Conducting more interviews
depends on number of topics, number of sub-segments, number of regions,
and the nature of the market. If you feel you have not exhausted the topics
and possible responses, conduct more depth interviews.
Depth interviews are easy to conduct, and this handbook will show you how
to do it.
Using the telephone for depth interviews is relatively inexpensive. The phone
is also a useful medium to interview busy experts, professionals, consultants,
and senior executives.
If you are a copywriter, product manager, marketing manager, sales

manager, ad manager, or small business owner, use depth interviews. They
produce information and knowledge, easily and inexpensively.
Focus Groups
In a focus group, a moderator interviews several people at a time about

attitudes and behaviors towards something...products, services, advertising.

A typical focus group comprises six to 12 people (respondents), but smaller

focus groups are possible too. Triads or dyads, comprising three and two
respondents respectively, are small focus groups.
The rationale for focus groups is group dynamics. The theory is group
discussions stimulate dynamic conversations, which leads to discovery and
deeper exploration.
Focus group sessions last between one and two hours. Length depends on
goals and number of topics.
In marketing research, usually a focus group research project consists of two

to ten groups, although some companies use more.
Again, the number of focus groups varies and depends on,
• research goals
• number of topics
• segments
• schedule
• budget
You should conduct at least two groups. The first is a pilot group, which tests
whether your questions are clear. You want to know if respondents
understand them. The pilot group allows you to evaluate responses for
further question development and refinement. And the pilot group tests
whether you can cover all your topics within the time limit.
There are three ways to conduct focus groups:
• Face-to-Face
• Online Focus Groups
• Telephone
Face-to-face is the most common. Most clients prefer face-to-face focus

groups over telephone and online focus groups because they like watching
respondents. It’s a chance to get away from the office.

In business, moderators typically use special focus group facilities designed

for conducting focus groups. The rooms have one-way mirrors through which
managers observe and listen to focus groups. The facilities also record focus
groups. And, several have remote viewing capabilities for managers who
cannot physically be at the facility. Most focus group facilities provide
respondent recruiting services too.
Moderating focus groups is more complex than depth interviews. A focus

group moderator is like a juggler, managing several people and activities at
once.
Moderators direct a free-flowing discussion about topics of interest...products

services, and advertisements.
A moderator asks questions, follows up with more questions, and keeps the
conversation on track.
When you have six to 12 people in a group, you need their cooperation. A
skilled moderator knows how to manage a group discussion.
A good focus group moderator makes focus group moderating look simple.
Yet it requires skill and experience to do it well.
Online Focus Groups
In online focus groups, there are two methods: bulletin board focus groups
and real time focus groups.
In bulletin board focus groups, moderators and respondents meet on a

secure, focus group web site. But, they don’t need to meet at the same time.
The moderator posts questions, and respondents post their comments.
Observers (managers) watch the proceedings online.
Moderators, respondents, and managers can login any time during the
session. They login and meet typically over three or four days. Usually
respondents login two or three times a day. The moderator interviews 10 to
30 respondents during a bulletin board focus group.

The advantage of bulletin board focus groups is you moderate from your
computer; you don’t have to travel. Unlike face-to-face focus groups, you
avoid travel time and costs.
Bulletin board focus groups produce group dynamics. The moderator posts
questions; respondents type answers. Respondents can see other
respondents’ answers, and add further responses. The moderator can ask
follow-up questions and probes.
Bulletin board focus groups are efficient for concept testing, which elicits
respondents’ reactions to new product and advertising concepts.
Real time online focus groups bring respondents together at the same time,
on a secure web site. However, managing a real time, online focus group
requires fast typing, good organization, and online cooperation from
respondents.
If you are interested in real time, online focus groups, I suggest you start
with bulletin board focus groups first. They are easier to manage.
You can use bulletin boards to conduct one-on-one, depth interviews too.
Telephone focus groups are possible, but I have not done them, so I can’t
speak about them. However, using the telephone, I have conducted over a
thousand one-on-one, depth interviews. And they work well.
Depth Interviews versus Focus Groups
A depth interview respondent typically spend more time talking, than a focus
group respondent, because depth interviews gives a respondent more time to
talk about topics.
Here’s the proof. Assume the following, which is typical:
• A focus group has eight people and lasts 90 minutes

• An depth interview lasts 25 minutes
• The moderator speaks 20% of the time and respondents speak 80%.
In this example, each focus group respondent has nine minutes to speak if
everyone speaks equally.

• 90 minutes x 80% divided by eight respondents = nine minutes talk time

each.
In the example, the depth interview respondent speaks for 20 minutes.
• 25 minutes x 80% = 20 minutes talk time
And look what happens when you add more respondents to a focus group.
Average respondent talk time goes down. Ten focus group respondents cut
average talk time to about 7 minutes a respondent.
The Case for Depth Interviews
With more talk time from a respondent, you'll likely get more depth about
topics from a respondent. And if you speak to several respondents with
diverse experiences, you'll likely get breadth.
And telephone depth interviews are less expensive than focus groups
because they do not incur facility rentals and travel costs as focus groups do.
If you are on tight research budget, use telephone depth interviews.
Also, telephone depth interviews are effective for interviewing people who
have limited time to attend focus groups: experts, senior executives,
professionals, and magazine editors.
Depth interviews are effective when talking about sensitive subjects people
would rather not talk about in front of groups of people.
And depth interviews are good for usability studies.
Most managers can conduct depth interviews with the right questions.
Interviewing one person at a time is easier than moderating several people
at a time.
So there is a strong case for depth interviews.
The Case for Focus Groups
On the other hand, focus groups are efficient if you want to interview groups
of people in a short time. You can conduct 8 groups in 4 days, for example.

In theory, focus groups produce dynamic discussion. One person’s statement

spawns others to talk. A skilled moderator conducts dynamic discovery and
exploration of topics, using focus groups.
In face-to-face focus groups, managers can watch and listen to respondents.

It's a chance for office bound managers to get out and hear and see real
customers and prospects, and gain new perspective and insight. Hearing and
seeing customers or prospects is a powerful way for managers to connect to
the marketplace.
Mix Them
Combining depth interviews and focus groups uses the strength of each
marketing research method.
For example, you use depth interviews to interview subject matter experts,
industry executives, or channel personnel, in early stage research. They
provide topic discover, breadth, and depth.
Then use focus groups with targeted segments for concept testing and
market tests. They provide reactions to ads, brands, products, or services.
Depth interviews and focus groups are effective marketing research methods.
They are similar but different tools. Use each method for the right application
and budget.
Ethnography
Ethnography, which has its roots in anthropology and sociology, watches and
describes people in cultures and societies. It observes behaviors and listens
to stories.
Ethnographers watch respondents using products and services. They look at

respondents’ surroundings, environment, and culture, and ask questions
about their behavior and culture.
They try to understand how culture shapes the respondent’s perceptions,

beliefs, attitudes, opinions, feelings, and behaviors about products and
services.

Methods include:
• Observing respondents at home, work, or play

• Video observation
• Tagging along or shadowing a respondent while shopping
• Listening to stories
Ethnography is popular now, but it is expensive. It requires trained and

experienced ethnographers. They are usually trained anthropology or
sociology graduates.
If you are an anthropologist or sociologist, ethnography may be for you.
This handbook does not cover ethnography, although you may use some of
its questions and techniques for ethnographic studies.
The Internet and Qualitative Marketing Research
The Internet offers new qualitative research techniques. Although it is chiefly

a passive form of secondary research, you can ask questions in blogs or
forums or other types of social media.
You can use the Internet research to access:

• Discussion forums about your topics of interest
• Blogs
• Product reviews
• Social media networks
• Keyword searches
Final Thoughts
There are three primary qualitative research methods.
1. Depth Interviews
2. Focus Groups
3. Ethnography

This handbook gives you the tools for depth interview and focus groups.
If you are starting out as a moderator, begin with depth interviews − they are
easy to conduct. Moderate a couple dozen depth interviews. Then try focus
groups.

Lesson 4: What Are We Looking For?
Overview
1. What Are We Looking For?

2. Behaviors
3. Attitudes
4. Perceptions
5. Opinions
6. Beliefs
7. Emotions
8. Final Thoughts
What Are We Looking For?
Qualitative research identifies people’s behaviors and attitudes about

products, services, or advertising.
Behaviors and attitudes govern product buying and use, and acceptance or
rejection of advertising.
Understanding behaviors and attitudes provides deeper and broader

understanding about your prospects and customers.
Let’s talk about the behaviors and attitudes in more detail.
Behaviors
A behavior is an action or reaction to something or somebody.
Behavior, whether it is conscious or subconscious, is what happens. It is a

fact. Past behavior sometimes signals future behavior.
You want to understand customers and prospects’ behavior about products,

services, and ads. You want to understand what they are doing about your
products and your competitors’ products.

Specifically, you want to understand product buying and usage behavior in

reaching this understanding. How do they use the product? What problems
do they have in using it?
Also, you want to understand their behavior about advertising and

promotions. Are people responding to your ads or not?
Behaviors and attitudes are sometimes contradictory.
When behavior contradicts stated attitudes, behavior may be a truer

reflection of the attitude.
An example,
A respondent tells you “I am always up-to-date with the latest sports

news.”
But you notice the respondent rarely reads, listens to, or watches
sports news.
What piece of evidence would you use?
Self-reported behavior is valuable, but sometimes less reliable than observed

behavior. People mix up their facts. They forget. Or they tell half-truths to
be socially acceptable. Or they twist facts to be consistent with previously
stated positions. Or, when behavior is automatic and subconscious, they are
often not aware of what they do.
Study behavior − it offers clues about the present and future state of mind.
Attitudes
Attitudes are a state of mind or feeling towards a person or object.
Attitudes contain three parts,
1. A view or belief about something

2. A feeling or emotion about something
3. A tendency to act, or not act, in a certain way

Examples of attitudes,
• “I am always up-to-date with the latest sports news.”

• “Dressing in the latest trend-setting clothes is important to me.”
• “Brand X makes me look good.”
• “Buying Y is good for job security.”
• “Changing hydraulic oil every 2,000 hours is important.”
You want to understand customers’ and prospects’ attitudes about your

products and your competitors’ products.
Attitudes play an important role in buying and product usage.

Knowledge, perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and emotions form attitudes.
Emotions and beliefs are often powerful buying motivators. People buy
products and services that satisfy emotions and beliefs.
Changes in knowledge, perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and emotions change

attitudes.
Now let’s look at what makes up attitudes.
Perceptions
Perception is an awareness and understanding of something.
Here is what is important: Perception is reality.
Your customers’ perceptions about your products, services, ads, or brand are
your reality. Their perceptions, whether right or wrong, affect your business.
We use our five senses to gather information about the world. We see, hear,
feel, touch, and smell. These senses affect perception.
But previous personal experiences, knowledge, culture, memory, beliefs,

values, religion, and feelings also influence perceptions.

Personal experience, feelings, beliefs, religion, and culture are lenses through
which we see the world. The lenses color perceptions. They cause people who
witness the same event to see it differently.
Is the glass half-empty or half-full? Is the smile an apology or a sneer? Is the

gesture offensive or innocent? Who really is at fault?
Cultural misunderstanding happens because of different perceptions.

Travelers who visit foreign countries know this. They experience culture
shock, if they spend time in a foreign country.
Perceptions change with new knowledge, beliefs, feelings, and experience.
As a manager, you want to know the perceptions of customers and prospects

about your product, service, or brand. Their perceptions are your reality.
Opinions
An opinion is a subset of an attitude.
Opinions are a person’s evaluation or judgment about something.
Opinions can be based on facts, knowledge, beliefs, or feelings, or a

combination of them all.
With expert opinion – for example legal, medical, or technical opinion −

experts form a judgment according to the facts and knowledge at their
disposal. You need to know experts’ opinions about your industry and
product category.
Opinions are durable or fleeting. They swing with new facts, beliefs, and
feelings.
What are customers or prospects’ current opinions about your brand? How
durable are these opinions?
Opinions without evidence are beliefs.
Beliefs

Beliefs are a mind state in which a person is convinced about something

without necessarily having proof. It is a feeling of certainty that something is
true.
Beliefs shape attitudes and behaviors. They influence buying.
Beliefs come in variety of flavors: convictions, dogma, popular beliefs, myths,

doctrines, and articles of faith. Values are beliefs. Values are beliefs about
right and wrong, and usually provide a direction for how to act.
Core beliefs exist in the conscious and subconscious. Culture, religion,

upbringing, education, and region affect core beliefs. Core beliefs are like
granite. They are solid. They don’t change easily.
Skilled copywriters try to connect with prospects by empathizing about a

belief. A copywriter wants the prospect to feel, “Hey… they are like me.” Or
“Yes, that rings true.”
Find out what customers and prospects believe about your product category
and its different brands. Understand their deeper underlying beliefs.
Emotions
Emotions are conscious or subconscious feelings and reactions.
Acceptance, anger, anxiety, awe, benevolence, boredom, contempt,

curiosity, disgust, disappointment, envy, fear, greed, happiness, joy, love,
optimism, remorse, rejection, sadness, self-importance, surprise, and vanity,
are examples of emotions. And, there are more.
So why are emotions important in marketing?
People buy products and services that deliver emotional benefits.
Every product or service delivers emotional benefits.
Product features produce functional benefits, which produce emotional

benefits.

People buy home theater systems because they want to watch movies with
their kids or watch football with their friends. Being together is the emotion –
love or acceptance. The home theater serves an emotional benefit.
Emotions are primary buying drivers in consumer and business purchases.

The IT manager who buys an established brand of servers or mainframes,
buys not only the functional features and benefits of the product and service
− he also buys job security. And job security is an emotional benefit, in
addition to being a functional benefit.
Politicians manipulate emotions to spur people to vote for them. Promises of

prosperity and happiness, and fear of job loss and belligerent enemies, are
emotional buttons.
Human emotions have not changed much over the past several thousand
years. The inventory of human emotions is about the same for each
generation. If you read the ancient classics, you will find the same emotions
in the stories of thousands of years ago that you see today.
Your job is to find emotions that stir your customers into action – buying
action. Emotions stimulate action. Good copywriters know how to appeal to
emotions.
Understand your customers and prospects’ emotions about your product or

service. Use emotional benefits as part of your sales pitch or advertising
strategy, along with features and functional benefits.
Emotions help sell products and services. They get attention and interest.
This handbook will show you how to identify product and brand emotions and
feelings.
Final Thoughts
Understanding behaviors and attitudes provides deeper and broader

understanding about your prospects and customers.
Behaviors and attitudes govern product buying and usage.

Lesson 5: How to Design Qualitative

Marketing Research
Overview
1. The Qualitative Research Plan

2. The Eight Steps
3. Final Thoughts
The Qualitative Research Plan
Successful qualitative research is largely the result of good preparation and

planning. The better prepared you are, the greater the odds of qualitative
research success.
A well-designed qualitative research plan leads to business intelligence,

knowledge, and even wisdom. It connects managers to customers, users,
and the market.
You design a qualitative research plan. It is a marketing research plan. It is

your outline for research action.
A typical qualitative research plan consists of eight steps.
1. Define Research Objectives

2. Design Scope of Work
3. Write Respondent Screeners
4. Manage Logistics
5. Write Moderator Guide
6. Moderate Respondents
7. Analyze data
8. Write reports
I’ll outline the eight steps in this lesson. Then I’ll describe how to do each
step, in the following lessons. Each step is worthy of a lesson.

1. Define Research Objectives
Successful qualitative research starts with clear research objectives.
Clearly defining research objectives is the most important step in the entire
qualitative research plan. It is the foundation for the plan. Objectives lead to
actionable information and knowledge.
2. Design the Scope of Work
At this stage, you decide whom to interview, how many people to interview,
where and how to interview them, and your budget.
You also decide who will recruit respondents… you, your staff, or professional
recruiters.
3. Write Respondent Screeners
A screener is a brief survey. It specifies the characteristics of the people you

want to interview.
You want to make sure you interview the right people to get the information
and knowledge you need. Interviewing the wrong people is a waste of time
and money.
You use a screener to select the right people.
4. Manage Logistics
Qualitative research calls for project management.
You manage respondent recruitment, schedules, and budgets. If you use

focus group facilities for recruiting, you manage them.
4. Write the Moderator Guide
The moderator guide is an outline that guides discussion during an interview

or focus group.

The guide contains research objectives, logistics, topics, questions, and

activities for a depth interview or focus group.
A good guide makes qualitative research easy. The better prepared you are,
the easier qualitative research will be.
The moderator guide is also known as a discussion guide.
6. Moderate Respondents
A depth interview or focus group is a directed discussion.
First, you build rapport with respondents. You get people to relax and talk.
Then you introduce your first topic. You ask open-ended questions and listen.
Then you ask follow-up questions. You also probe for clarification and provide
prompts at the right time. Once you are satisfied with the answers, you
move to other questions and topics.
A good moderator knows how to dig beyond the first answers. You dig with
follow-up questions, probes, and prompts. You dig beyond the obvious. You
want to know WHY and HOW.
7. Analyze Data
Depth interview or focus group conversations are the data. Data are
respondents’ responses to your questions and directives.
You convert raw data into information. And you use information to answer
the research objectives. They are your findings. Then using findings, you
assess themes and implications.
8. Write Reports
A qualitative research report presents findings.
A report documents the data, information, and knowledge gained from

qualitative research.

A report tells a story about people, and their thoughts, actions, perceptions,
beliefs, and feelings about products, services, and ads. It is a collective
snapshot of customers, prospects, or experts and their attitudes and
behaviors about something.
Typically, reports come in three formats: briefing report, summary report, or

full report.
A written report is useful when you want to compare reports over time, or
against other research. Also, written reports are useful when several
managers have a stake in the research.
Final Thoughts
Every qualitative research project starts with a plan. A plan designs and
outlines qualitative research actions.
A good qualitative research plan includes all eight steps. Use the eight step
checklist in this chapter.
The better prepared you are, the easier qualitative research becomes, and
the greater its odds of success.

Lesson 6: How to Design Research

Objectives
Overview
1. Research Objectives
2. The Research Problem
3. How to Identify Major Topics
4. How to Define Research Objectives
5. Final Thoughts
Research Objectives
Defining research objectives is the most important step in designing

marketing research.
Successful qualitative research starts with defining clear, specific research

objectives.
Research objectives get you the information you want and need. They are
findings.
You want actionable information and knowledge that help you decide what
products to develop and what benefits to stress. Such information also helps
you decide what ads to promote, what marketing programs to develop, and
what positioning to take.
Objectives decide interview topics. They shape the questions you ask. They
guide your analysis and reports. They get you actionable information and
knowledge - findings.
The first step in defining research objectives is to identify the research

problem. Then you identify major topics you want to cover. Once you
understand the research problem and topics, you define the research
objectives.
The Research Problem

Clear marketing research objectives arise from a clear explanation of the

research problem.
Often, I find many clients do not have a clear idea about the research
problem. In fact, poorly defined research problems cause most marketing
research failures.
So, the first questions you need to ask are about the research problem. You
diagnose the problem.
Here are six questions to diagnose and clarify the research problem.
1. What is the circumstance that demands research?

2. Who are the stakeholders in the decision?
3. What decisions will the research information support?
4. What does management want to learn that they don’t know already?
5. What specific information does management need?
6. What will the research report look like?
Whenever you start a project, ask the six research problem questions to
clarify the research problem. Spend enough time until you and your sponsors
or clients agree on the research problem.
How to Identify Major Topics
Once you understand the research problem at a general level, you define
major topics you want to cover.
Here is how to do it. Ask,
1. What is the single most important question the research must answer?
2. What is the second most important question the research must

answer?
3. What is the third most important question the research must answer?
And so on. Now you have your major topics for your moderator guide.

Stick to between three and five major topics for a depth interview or focus
group. More than five topics take time. You will not have time to explore
each topic in depth. Some typical examples of topics are brand awareness,
product usage, buying behavior, brand positioning, switching etc. The
example is not exhaustive.
Then write a research objective for each major topic. Once you identify the
major topics, define the research objectives for each topic as follows:
How to Define Research Objectives
Define the research objectives in three-steps.
1. Write a sentence that specifically describes the interview action.

a. What needs to be done (action)
b. With whom (segment)
2. Write a second sentence about the information you need.
3. Write another sentence that describes how managers will use the
information.
In summary, you describe the interview action, the information you seek,
and the how the information will be used.
Here is an example of a research objective from the mobile phone industry.
Action:
Get reactions of college students, who use smartphones, to four

different mobile multimedia concepts.
Information:
Find out their preferences, rationale, feelings, and beliefs about each
concept.
Use:

Product managers will use the findings to screen concepts for

quantitative research surveys and product development.
When you write your objectives, be specific. Start your action sentence with
an action verb. Identify the segment. Specify the information you need. Then
describe how you or managers will use the information.
Write a research objective for each major topic. List objectives in order of
importance to management.
Ask your sponsors if they agree with the research objectives. This is
important. Avoid misunderstandings down the road, by getting agreement at
this stage.
Here are some more examples of research objectives.
Example 2 – VOIP telephones
Action:
Explore the attitudes and behaviors of telecom purchasing managers in

companies with $100 to $500 million in revenue, towards VOIP
telephone systems.
Information:
Find out awareness, usage, satisfaction, problems, and unmet needs

and wants.
Use:
Management will use the findings for product ideation sessions.
Example 3 – Green Tags
Action:

Get opinions from energy experts about selling renewable energy

certificates (green tags) to small and medium business segments in
the U.S.
Information:
Find out who is buying green tags, their motivations for buying, who is
not buying, awareness, and perceptions.
Use:
Management will use expert opinions to develop a quantitative concept

testing survey about green tags for the small and medium size
business market.
Example 4 – Hydraulic Oils
Action:
Show four print ads about heavy-duty hydraulic oil to construction

equipment managers and get their reactions and preferences to the
ads.
Information:
Find out which headlines, images, and body copy they prefer. Identify
preference rational and feelings.
Use:
Management will use the information to develop ads for trade

magazines.
Here are some examples of badly written research objectives. They are too
general.
• Talk to consumers about our new product ideas.
• Ask telecom-purchasing managers what they think about buying

Internet telephones.

• Ask Webmasters what they think about mash-ups.
By applying thoughtful work at this stage, your research objectives will

emerge, and your prospects of successful research will increase.
Final Thoughts
Research objectives get you the information you need to decide about
products, services, advertisements, and marketing plans.
Get your sponsor’s agreement on the research problem and objectives.
Make your research objectives clear, specific, and actionable.
This is one of the most important lessons in the entire handbook. Reread it.

Lesson 7: How to Design a Scope of

Work
Overview
1. Scope of Work Checklist

2. Blind Studies
3. Final Thoughts
Scope of Work Checklist
Once you are clear about your research objectives, you design the project
scope of work. Here is a checklist.
At this stage, you decide
1. Budget
2. What interview method to use:
a. depth interviews or focus groups
b. face to face, telephone, or online
3. Whom to interview
4. How many respondents to interview
5. When to interview
6. Where to interview
You decide on the interview method. Budget, schedule, and research

objectives weigh into decisions about methods.
The screener specifies the characteristics of people you want to interview.

Typically, a screener defines segments of people.
The number of respondents you interview is your sample. The number of

depth interviews or focus group sessions varies and depends on several
factors.
• Interview method

• The number of research objectives

• The number of available qualified respondents
• The number of segments
• The number of market regions
• Schedule
• Budget
In a typical a depth interview project, a moderator interviews between 15

and 30 respondents for each major segment in a region.
When interviewing experts, a moderator typically interviews 10 to 30

experts, using depth qualitative research.
Usually a focus group project consists of two to 10 groups. A typical focus

group consists of six to 12 respondents.
There are no hard or fast rules about numbers and methods. You need to be
the judge. Treat your first focus group or depth interview as your pilot test.
Your interview method depends on the research objectives, the people you
want to interview, your budget, and schedule. If your objectives are to get
consumer reactions to concept statements or advertising, you’ll want face-to-
face or online depth interviews or focus groups. If you want to interview busy
industry executives or experts, you probably will use telephone depth
interviews.
Budgets govern interview methods. Telephone depth interviews are less

expensive than face-to-face depth interviews and focus groups.
Remember to include respondent incentives in your budget.
Schedules influence the qualitative research methods you use. If you need
expert opinion quickly, telephone interviews work well. In general, qualitative
research projects (eight-step plan) take 4 to 10 weeks to complete. Some
may take longer. Online groups or interviews with respondents from panels
may be faster than face-to-face groups or telephone depth interviews. But,
respondent recruiting, interviewing, analysis, and writing reports take time.

Where you interview people depends on your interview method and budget.
If you are running face-to-face depth interviews or focus groups, market
region influences where you interview respondents. If you are running focus
groups, you need to schedule and budget for focus group facilities.
Blind Studies
A blind study does not disclose the name of the research sponsor. In other
words, blind studies don’t reveal the name of the company behind the
research.
When you talk to customers and prospects, you want their uninfluenced
points of views. Once customers and prospects know the identity of the
sponsor, they frame their answers in a biased way.
For example, let’s suppose you are interviewing purchasing managers about
a product. If you disclose the name of the sponsor before the interview, you
could bias the purchasing manager’s answers. The purchasing manager
frames answers as if negotiating with the sponsor company. The purchasing
manager may skew answers to the extreme... how badly the company
performs or how well its competitors perform. And the purchasing manager
may withhold information.
Sometimes, respondents are curious about the sponsor of the studies. Avoid
naming the sponsor. If you must disclose the sponsor’s name, do so only
after you have asked questions that require uninfluenced answers. And do so
with the sponsor’s permission.
Design and keep your studies blind. It reduces research bias.
Final Thoughts
Use the scope of a work checklist to plan work.
Weigh research objectives, schedules, and budgets to decide on qualitative

research methods.
A blind study does not disclose the name of the research sponsor. Because
blind studies reduce bias, it is preferable to use them.

Lesson 8: How to Write Screeners
Overview
1. Screeners
2. How to Write Screening Specifications
3. People You Want
4. People You Don’t Want
5. Final Thoughts
6. Example Screeners
Screeners
A screener is a brief survey that specifies characteristics of the people you

want to interview and study.
You use a screener to recruit respondents. You ask prospective respondents

screener questions and select or reject them based on their answers.
The moderator writes the screener. If you’re a moderator using a

professional recruiter, you send the screener to the recruiter.
You screen in people you want. You screen out people you don’t want.
How to Write Screening Specifications
Screeners include questions about demographics, product experience, and

special knowledge or experience.
You write the characteristics of respondents you want to interview. Here are
typical characteristics for consumers, businesses, and experts. Screener
characteristics often define demographic segments for consumers and
businesses.
Consumers
• Product category experience

• Special knowledge or experience
• Buying influence

• Age
• Gender
• Employment
• Income
• Education
• Marital Status
• Ethnicity
• Location or region
Business
• Title
• Job responsibility
• Buying influence
• Company classification
• Company size
• Location or region
Experts
• Title
• Job Responsibility
• Expertise
• Industry experience
You want to interview the right people because they give useful information
and knowledge.
People You Want
So whom do you talk to? There are six categories:
• Customers
• Category Users
• Prospects
• Experts
• Channel personnel − distributors, dealers, retailers
• Internal Management

Customers have direct experience with your product. They speak about their
attitudes and behaviors about your product or service.
Category users buy and use your competitors’ products, not yours. You want
to know why.
Prospects are ready to try the product category. What will it take to get them
to buy and use your product?
Experts spend much time focused on a topic or industry. Talk to them − they
give expert opinions, judgments, and advice. They are trade magazine
editors, authors, journalists, consultants, industry analysts, financial
analysts, trade association executives, professors, professionals, and industry
executives.
Channel personnel are people who work among distributors, dealers, or

retailers. They sell the products in the category and/or service them. People
you want to talk to are typically owners, executives, managers, salespeople,
account managers, and service technicians. You want to know what brands
channel personnel recommend to end users and why.
Management includes internal executives, managers, and people from

relevant departments. Five to ten interviews with internal management are
worthwhile and often revealing.
Aim to benchmark management’s knowledge and views about a topic.

Compare management’s internal thinking to external thinking and look for
ways to supplement their information and knowledge.
People You Don’t Want
You don’t want people without product category experience. At best, they
supply vague opinions, which may be irrelevant.
But there is an exception. Prospects who don’t have category experience but
are ready to try a category are worth interviewing.

With consumer interviews, you don’t want people who work in the industry
under study. You also don’t want people from ad agencies and marketing
research firms.
You don’t want professional respondents. They are people who attend focus
groups or take interviews to make money. It is a part-time job for them.
Cash incentives and prizes are the attraction. Professional respondents are
common in consumer research.
Professional respondents are a waste of time and money. They provide

useless babble and bias samples. Screen them out.
Professional recruiters should be able to spot professional respondents.
Recruiters keep databases about respondents. Using their database, focus

group facility recruiters should be able to check the number of times
respondents have previously joined in interviews or groups. If a potential
respondent has attended numerous focus groups in the past year, it’s a red
flag; it signals a professional respondent.
Work with recruiters to weed out professional respondents. Tell your recruiter
professional respondents are unacceptable. Warn your recruiter, if he or she
tries to pass on professional respondents in consumer research.
Final Thoughts
Use screeners to select the right people to interview.
You want people who have experience with a product category.
You should also talk to experts, channel personnel, and internal

management.
Work with professional recruiters to screen out professional respondents for

consumer research.
Example Screeners
Here are some examples of screeners.

Example No. 1 Mobile Telephones – Focus Group Recruiting Screener
Recruitment Objective Summary:
Recruit 12 respondents for 10 to show

Age 25 to 55 years
Employed (exclude students)
Gender: mixed 50/50
Household annual income: $55k+ for singles, and $75k+ for married
Owns a mobile telephone and pays own mobile service bills
Uses wireless data services on his/her cell phone
o Light group
o Heavy group
Has service with national mobile telephone service providers
SCREENER:
READ INTRODUCTION: May I please speak with [NAME ON SAMPLE]. Hello,

my name is ___________ __ and I am calling from .
This is not a sales call. We are conducting focus groups about mobile
phones. If you interested in taking part in the focus groups, we would like to
ask you some questions.
1. Have you ever taken part in a mobile phone focus group in the past
12 months?
□ Yes..............TERMINATE
□ No
2. Do you work for any of the following types of companies? (READ

LIST. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY.)
□ Marketing research or ad agency or public agency.........

TERMINATE
□ Wireless service provider, retailer or manufacturer........
TERMINATE
□ Telephone service provider retailer or manufacturer......
TERMINATE
□ Computer or software developer or retailer...................
TERMINATE
□ None of these

3. Are you an electrical or telecommunications engineer or technician?

□ Yes............ TERMINATE
□ No
4. Which of the following ranges includes your age? Stop me when I

read the right category. (READ LIST. SELECT ONE ANSWER.) Try
for balanced representation
□ Less than 25............... TERMINATE

□ 25-29
□ 30-40
□ 40-45
□ 46 or older.................TERMINATE
5. Who is responsible for paying your mobile phone bill?

□ I am
□ My company..............TERMINATE
□ Someone else
6. How do you pay for your mobile telephone service?

□ Prepaid................TERMINATE
□ Pay a monthly bill
7. Which is your cell phone service provider? TRY for balanced

representation
□ Verizon
□ Sprint
□ T-Mobile
□ AT&T
□ Other... please specify____________________________
8. Have you ever switched mobile telephone service providers? TRY for
50% representation of both
□ Yes
□ No
9. Have you bought or upgraded a new cell phone within the past 12
months?
□ Yes
□ No.................TERMINATE

10.Have you used wireless data services on your mobile phone? (for
example, Web browsing, alerts, downloads such as games, ring
tones, or video clips, news, sports, weather,
□ Yes
□ No.............TERMINATE
11.Which wireless data services have you used? READ LIST
Downloads ( ring-tones, games, audio, video) Yes No

Picture messaging Yes No
E-mail Yes No
Personal Information Alerts Yes No
Text Messaging Yes No
Web browsing Yes No
Mobile TV Yes No
Total
12. How often do you use wireless data services? (For example: alerts,
downloads such as games, ring tones, or video clips
□ Daily (at least once every day)

□ Weekly (at least once every week)
□ Every two weeks (at least once every two weeks)
□ Monthly (at least once every month)
□ Other...............TERMINATE
IF Every two weeks or Monthly, PLACE INTO Group 1 (Light

Group)
IF Daily or Weekly, PLACE INTO GROUP 2 (Heavy Group)
13. What is your employment status? READ LIST.

1. Employed – Full-Time
2. Employed – Part-Time
3. Retired
4. Full-time student..............TERMINATE
5. Unemployed ..................TERMINATE

14. Regarding education, in which category do you fall? Read list.

□ High school only or less….....TERMINATE
□ Technical school
□ Some college
□ College graduate
15. What is your marital status? Read list.

a. Single
b. Married
16. Into which of the following ranges does your total house income fall?
Read list.
□ Less than $50,000........... TERMINATE ALL
□ $50,000 to $74,999......... TERMINATE MARRIED COUPLES
□ $75,000 to $99,999
□ $100,000 to $124,999
□ $125,000 to $149,999
□ $150,00 +
CLOSE
• Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions.

Based on your responses, you qualify to take part in a
two-hour discussion group about cell phones and you will
be paid $________. The group meets on _____________
(date) at _________PM
• Would you be willing to participate?
• We would also ask that you keep a journal about your
mobile telephone use five days before the group meets.
We will e-mail the journal
• What is your e-mail address_____________________
• E-mail journal
CONFIRMATION CALLS ONE OR TWO DAYS BEFORE THE GROUP MEETS.

Here is another example screener. I used this screener for depth telephone
interviews of retail sales personnel and managers.
Example No. 2 Screener – Independent Mobile Telephone Retailer
Introduction Script
Hello. My name is _______________ of _____________ a marketing

research firm. We are conducting marketing research about independent
mobile telephone retailers for a service provider. We are not selling you
anything.
As part of the research, we are speaking to retailers and experts about

mobile telephone retailers. We are paying $50 for a 20-minute telephone
interview. May I speak to the owner, manager, or sales manager of the
store, please?
Yes CONTINUE
No SCHEDULE CALL BACK
May I ask you a few questions?
SCREENER QUESTIONS
S1. What is your job responsibility at the store? (READ)
I am the
□ Owner
□ General manager
□ Sales manager
□ Salesperson with at least three years mobile telephone retail
sales experience
□ Other-------------------ASK TO SPEAK TO ONE OF THE
ABOVE
S.2 What type of mobile telephone RETAILER is your company? (READ)

□ Independently owned store
□ Service provider owned store-------------------------TERMINATE
□ Exclusive franchise for a service provider------------TERMINATE

□ Electronics chain (Radio Shack, Best Buy.) ---------TERMINATE

□ Electronics chain Franchise (Radio Shack) ----------TERMINATE
□ Other---------------------------------------------------TERMINATE
S.3 What percentage of your store revenue is attributable to mobile

telephone handsets and service plans? (READ)
□ More than 50%

□ Less than 50% ----------------------------------------TERMINATE
S.4. We would like to schedule a 20-minute telephone conversation with you

to discuss independent mobile telephone retailers. We are offering a $50
donation to a charity of your choice, your company, or you, in appreciation of
your time. The research is conducted for service providers. All answers are
confidential and used for research only. And your name remains anonymous.
We will talk about trends, service providers, master-dealers, and distributors.
When would be a convenient time to schedule an interview?
Name
Title
Telephone
Number
Time
Date
Company name
Address
State
Telephone
Web site
e-mail

Lesson 9: How to Manage Logistics

and Respondent Recruiting
Overview
1. Project Management
2. Recruiting
3. Incentives
4. Incidence and Recruitment Response Rates
5. Final Thoughts
Project Management
All research projects require project management.
You carry out and manage the scope of work.
You start activities, oversee them, and end them on time and within budget.
Your scope of work contains schedules, activities, budgets, and people who
do the work.
One of the most important parts of project management is recruiting

respondents for interviews.
Respondent Recruiting
Recruiting finds qualified respondents for interviews.
You either recruit yourself, or send the screener to a professional recruiter.
Recruiting is a time-consuming, tedious business.
I recommend you use a professional recruiter. You’ll save yourself time.

Professional recruiters get you the people you want for a focus group or
depth interview. Good recruiters screen out professional respondents. Plus
recruiters can handle incentive payments.

Focus group facilities usually provide recruiting services. Professional

moderators believe respondent recruitment is the most important service
focus group facilities perform.
Make sure your recruiter clearly understands your screener. After recruiting
starts, check your recruiter daily. Ask for respondent profiles. Check for
respondent quota progress and deadlines.
Over recruit to adjust for no-shows. For example, if you want 8 respondents
in a focus group, recruit 10.
If you run into recruiting problems, you want to know right away, so you can
fix problems. Common problems include people not meeting your screen. The
screener specifications may be too tight, or there may not be enough
respondents. Or the respondents may not be interested in the subject or
incentive.
If you recruit yourself, get a list of people. You can buy lists from list brokers.
Or you can use your company’s internal lists of customers, prospects,
experts, and channel personnel.
Incentives
Respondents expect payment for their time. Consumer incentives are

typically cash or prizes.
The value of an incentive depends on the people you interview, how much
time they spend, and the region of the country.
In business interviews, offering information or reports with some cash entices

experts and executives. Offer a summary report or free information in
exchange for an interview. The information often gets busy executives,
experts, consultants, and managers to agree to an interview.
Another way to improve response rates from high-level executives is

referrals. Ask for referrals when you speak to executives and association
heads. Then quote the referral when recruiting an executive for a depth
interview. “Mr. Smith has referred me to you.”

Consumer incentives can range from $50 to $100 for a two-hour focus group.
Professionals can cost up to several hundred dollars.
Professionals such as doctors, attorneys, dentists, CPAs, and consultants

usually want money. They trade their time for money.
The best way to find out the current market prices of respondent incentives
is to get three bids from professional recruiters or focus group facilities.
Some companies do not allow employees to take incentives, typically for a

depth interview. In that case, offer cash to a charity of their choice.
Some large corporations restrict their employees from giving interviews. If

you run into this problem, seek approval from senior executives in the
company. Some bend the rules, especially if the company conducts
marketing research. Information or a free report usually interests them.
Incidence and Recruitment Response Rates
Incidence is the percentage of people on recruitment list who qualify for an

interview or group. They are people who would pass the screener.
When incidence is low, response rates are low.
The response rate is the percentage of qualified people who agree to an

interview. So, the quality of the recruitment list is important. A high
incidence list is a good list.
For B2B depth telephone interviews, my experience with response rates

ranges from 5% to 15%. Occasionally, I have had 30% rates, and a few
below 5%. It depends on the topic, incentive, and incidence.
The topic of discussion affects response rates. A topic of low interest is a

tough sell, whereas a topic of high interest is an easier sell.
Incentive gets people to respond. If you are offering market rates, there is
no reason to raise incentives. Consult your recruiters about market rates for
incentives. Get three quotes.
Final Thoughts

Manage your scope of work.
Manage people, actions, recruitment quotas, schedules, and budgets.
Pay close attention to recruiting. Check it daily.

Lesson 10: How to Write a Moderator

Guide
Overview
1. Moderator Guide
2. Keeps You on Track
3. How to Write the Moderator Guide
4. Final Thoughts
5. Example Guide
Moderator Guide - Outline for Action
The moderator guide is your outline for moderating action. You use it for
depth interviews or focus groups.
The moderator guide, as its name implies, guides the interview. Some people
call it a discussion guide.
The moderator typically writes the guide, which contains topics, questions,
and activities for an interview or focus group.
A typical guide contains the following:
• Research objectives
• Brief profile of respondents
• Where and when interviews or groups take place
• Introduction
• Topics
• Questions and activities
• Close
Research objectives shape the interview topics. Topics contain questions and
activities.
Keeps You on Track

Use a moderator guide to keep you on track, regardless of your qualitative

research experience.
Experienced, professional moderators use moderator guides. If you are new

to moderating, a guide is an absolute necessity. It’s your main work tool.
Writing the guide helps you internalize the questions. It makes you a better
moderator. It prepares you for discussion and helps you keep the discussion
conversational. It also reminds you of important topics and questions.
Write the guide, and read it several times before you moderate. A guide is
your script and reference.
A written guide helps sponsors or clients of the research. They review and
approve the guide, so you don’t have disagreements later.
Clients or sponsors also follow the guide while watching and listening to a
focus group.
The guide is not only a record containing important objectives, topics, and
questions, it also serves as a reference for future guides.
The guide prepares you. The better prepared you are, the easier moderating
becomes.
Let’s talk about each part of the guide.
How to Write the Moderator Guide
Here is how to write each part of the guide.
Research Objectives
Place the research objectives at the beginning of the guide. This will remind
you and your sponsors of the purpose of your research.

Respondent Profile
Next, write a brief description of the people you interview. Your screener
provides this information. It will remind you of the respondent’s
characteristics and give you background and context.
Logistics
Then, for face-to face interviews or focus groups, write the place, date, and
time of where interviews or groups take place.
For telephone interviews, write the name, title, telephone number, and
address of the respondent.
Introduction
Here you introduce yourself to the respondents.
The introduction is important. It builds rapport, which leads to discussion.
You tell respondents your name and that you are consultant.
Then you tell respondents the general purpose of the group or interview. Tell
them how long the group or interview will take. Tell respondents what they
will be doing, and remind them of their incentive.
You also tell them their answers will be used for research, remain
confidential, and that their names will remain anonymous.
Before starting a depth interview or focus group, ask respondents’ permission

to record it. In a face-to-face interview, you want respondents’ signed
agreement granting permission. In telephone interviews, always ask for
permission to record the interview. Get a signed agreement or recorded
verbal agreement. It’s the law in several Sates. If the respondent does not
agree to a recording, don’t record. Take notes.
In the introduction, include an easy question for the respondent to answer. It

breaks the ice.

For example in a B2B telephone interview you could ask, “Please tell me your
job and responsibility.”
In a consumer interview, “Please tell me what brand of [insert category] you

use.”
The purpose of the introduction question is to get the respondent talking and
feeling comfortable.
The introduction builds rapport.
Topics
A typical guide covers three to five major topics. Your research objectives
set up your major topics.
1. General Topic
2. Primary Topic
3. Second Topic
4. Third Topic
5. Close
The general topic starts the conversation and builds rapport. It gets
respondents talking.
Common consumer topics typically include,
• Awareness
• Product Use
• Buying
• Switching
• Concept testing
Note: this list of topics is not exhaustive.
Questions and Activities for Each Topic

The interview guide includes all the main questions and activities. Activities
examples may include evaluating ads, writing, sorting, and looking at
pictures or video clips.
Within a topic, you order questions. Logical order improves conversation flow
and cut downs bias.
Here is how to do it.
Ask
• General questions before specific questions
• Behavior before attitude questions
• Positive before negative questions
• Unaided before aided questions
• Respondent categories before your categories
General to Specific Questions
You start your topic with broad questions. They get respondents thinking
about the topic.
You cast a wide net and see where the respondents take you. You may find
things you had not thought about, but are important to respondents. You
discover new roads and new objects of interest.
For each topic, start with general, broad questions, then, move to more
specific, narrow questions. It’s like an upside-down pyramid.
General
Specific

As the conversation within a topic progresses, ask respondents specific

questions.
When you introduce the next topic, start with broad questions again and
move to specific questions.
Use open-ended questions. Then ask follow-up questions, probes, and use
prompts as needed.
Behavior before Attitude Questions
Ask behavior questions before attitude questions.
You want respondents to tell their stories about their actions… their
behaviors. Past behavior is a fact, and may be an indicator of future
behavior.
If respondents talk about attitudes before behaviors, they may change their
stories about behaviors. When people say something, they try to appear
consistent with their previous statements, even if it means bending the story.
Positive before Negative Questions
Ask positive questions before negative questions.
You don’t want the interview or group to turn into a complaint session.
For example, start with, “What do you like best about your cell phone?” After
you hear the answers ask, “What do dislike most about your cell phone?”
Talk about positives before negatives and keep the conversation balanced.
Unaided before Aided Questions
Don’t put words in people’s mouths. It results in research bias.
People may not be aware about a brand, but may tell you they are if you tell
them the name of the brand first. It happens. People don’t do it on purpose;
some people have fuzzy memories and recall.

So, you ask respondents to name brands before you name brands.
“What brands have you heard of?”
Let them tell you, before you tell them.
After you ask unaided questions and exhaust responses, then you ask aided
questions.
Respondent Categories before Your Categories
If you are exploring, you want respondents to tell you what and how they
think about their world.
Let respondents name categories, subjects, and dimensions before you do.
For example, “What are the most important things to think about when
buying hydraulic oil?”
Again, this is the same principle as unaided before aided. Don’t put words
into their mouths.
Timing
Estimate how much time you will spend on each topic and write it down next
to each topic, for example, five minutes, 10 minutes.
The time estimate keeps you on schedule. In the heat of a lively group or
interview, you don’t want to run out of time, and miss important topics.
A typical focus group lasts about 90 to 120 minutes. A typical depth, face-
to-face interview ranges up to 60 minutes. Depth telephone interviews range
from 10 to 60 minutes.
Here is an example of 90-minute focus group schedule.
Topic Minutes
Introduction 5
Awareness 15

Buying 20
Usage 20
Switching 20
Close 10
Total 90
Here is an example of a 25-minute telephone interview schedule.
Topic Minutes
Introduction 3
Awareness 5
Usage 5
Buying 5
Switching 5
Close 2
Total 25
The Close
The close wraps up the interview.
Ask two questions at every close.
1. “Is there anything we missed that you would like to talk about?”
2. “What is the most important point we discussed?”
The first question is a catchall; it captures things we did not think about, but
which may be important to respondents.
The second question clarifies what is important to the respondents.
Often these two questions produce extra and surprising knowledge and
insight. Occasionally, they open new topics. I’ve extended conversations by
five to 15 minutes with these two questions on several occasions.
After the two questions, close by saying, “We are done. Thank you.”
Final Thoughts
Your moderator guide is your outline for moderating action.

You use the guide as a tool during a focus group or depth interview.
It documents research objectives, respondents’ profiles, logistics, topics,

questions, and activities for an interview.
Experienced, professional moderators use guides.
If you are a new moderator, write and use moderator guides.
Guides keep you on track.
Example Moderator Guide
Here is an example guide for telephone depth interviews. It’s a channel

interview.
Independent Mobile Telephone Retailer

Moderator Guide v1
Respondent
Name
Title
Company
Address
City
State
Zip
Telephone
Date of interview
Length of
interview
Introduction
Hello. My name is … of …, a marketing research firm, based in ...
You recently agreed to a telephone interview about mobile telephone

retailers.

You’ll receive $50 for an interview, which will take about 30-minutes.
The research is conducted for service providers.
All answers are confidential and used for research only. Your name will
remain anonymous.
We will talk about trends, service providers, master dealers, and distributors.
Is this a good time to proceed?
Yes CONTINUE
No SCHEDULE NEW APPOINTMENT
OK, Let’s get started.
1. What are some of the biggest trends in the mobile telephone retail
business?
Prompt: consumers, service providers, master dealers
2. What is selling well these days?
Prompt: handsets, service plans, data services [REASONS]
3. What is not selling well?
Prompt: handsets, service plans, data services [REASONS]
4. What are the most important things you look for regarding service
provider support? [REASONS]
5. Which are the BEST telephone service providers when it comes to

retail support? [REASONS]
Prompt:
a. Commissions, residuals for data plans
b. POP merchandising
c. Incentives
d. Advertising
e. Provisioning

f. Training
g. Support
6. Which are the WORST mobile telephone service providers when it

comes to retail support? [REASONS]
Prompt:
a. Commissions,
b. POP merchandising
c. Incentives
d. Advertising
e. Provisioning
f. Training
g. Support
7. What do service providers need to do differently to be successful at

retail?
8. What do you recommend they do to help you sell more?
9. Now, thinking about master dealers/distributors, what do they do well

when it comes to retail support? [REASONS]
10.Again, thinking about master dealers/distributors, what don’t they do

well when it comes to retail support? [REASONS]
11.What are the biggest challenges you face in operating mobile

telephone retail stores?
Prompt: Personnel, inventory, profitability, sales training, etc.
12.What business tools do you use to manage your retail business

profitability?
Prompt: Training, merchandising, software etc.
13.What business media do you read to help you manage your business?
Prompt: Trade magazines, newsletters, books, Web sites, DVDs, etc.
14.What training programs have you attended to help you profitably

manage your stores?

Prompt: Examples of good training, bad training, and preferred

training methods
15.What sales training programs do you provide your sales personnel

(beyond service provider and master distributor training)?
Prompt: Methods, effectiveness, and results.
Thank your for time so far. We are ready to wrap up.
16.Is there anything else you would like to talk about?
17.What is the most important thing you talked about?
18.Where should we send the $50?

Name_____________________________
Address___________________________
City______________________________
State_____________________________
Thank you for your time.

Lesson 11: How to Moderate a Focus

Group or Depth Interview
Overview
1. Prepare
2. Relax
3. Rapport and Respect
4. The Introduction
5. The First Topic
6. Main Topics
7. How to Handle Trouble
8. Close
9. Practice
10.Final Thoughts
Prepare
Moderating is easy if you are prepared and know its techniques.
Writing the moderator guide prepares you for the focus group or depth
interview. Write, read, and rehearse your guide. It is your script.
Know your research objectives and topics well. Study your questions.
Rehearse questions and anticipate answers.
A depth interview or focus group is a directed discussion.
Interviewing is part mechanical and part dynamic.
The mechanical part is writing the moderator guide, asking the main
questions, and listening. The dynamic part is asking follow-up questions,
probes, and prompts. You can prepare for most of that.
Ask an open-ended question, then listen. Then ask a related, follow-up

question. Also, probe for clarification and provide prompts at the right time.
Once you are satisfied with the answers move on to the next question.

Relax
Relaxed respondents talk more.
To get people to relax, you must appear and sound relaxed. Respondents
may mirror your tone and actions.
Before an interview, place yourself in a relaxed, confident, and friendly state

of mind.
Do whatever you do to feel relaxed and confident.
Relax… it rubs off on your respondents.
Rapport and Respect
Your first task is to set up rapport with the people you interview.
Rapport is the foundation for a conversation, and supports an open dialog.

You need respondents’ cooperation to have a conversation.
Start building rapport by showing respect to your respondents.
You may be different from your respondents, and may not agree with them,
but be sure to respect them and keep an open mind. Treat people with
respect, and they’ll do the same.
The respondents are the experts at using a product or service, regardless of

education and economic background, so respect their knowledge, feelings,
opinions, and perceptions.
Most people want to help you in an interview. They are willing to talk about
their product or service experience, or expertise. They have already agreed
to talk to you by being in the interview.
Start building rapport as soon as you meet a respondent. This can take a few
minutes or ten or fifteen minutes.
So, how do you build rapport?

The Introduction
Greet respondents in a friendly, cordial, and relaxed way. Use their first
name. Tell them your name. Set the tone and pace. Show respect.
Thank them for agreeing to an interview. If you are in a face-to-face

interview, smile and make direct eye contact.
Briefly tell respondents who you are and what you do. “My name is … and I
am an independent consultant.”
Then tell them about the topic of discussion in a general way, for example,
“We are going to talk about smartphones.”
Tell them the interview is market research, and answers are used for
research only and that their names will remain anonymous.
Tell them what to expect during the interview. Tell them what they will be
doing, and how long it will take.
If you are offering incentives, tell them when they will be paid.
Remind them they are being recorded. Get permission first.
Ask them if they have any questions.
Start with easy, factual questions. Ask what products or services they use or
what their hobbies or favorite sports are.
Here’s an example.
Moderator, “What smartphone do you use?”

Respondent, “Palm”
Moderator, “Which service provider do you use?”
Respondent, “Sprint”
Allow respondents to speak freely without worry or embarrassment.

Here is an interview introduction checklist. Write it into your moderator

guide.
Greet each respondent. Use his or her name.

State your name.
Thank them for their participation.
Tell them briefly about yourself. Tell them briefly, what you do.
Tell them about the general topic of conversation.
Tell them companies want to hear their views.
Tell them their answers are confidential and that their names will
remain anonymous.
Tell them what to expect during the interview.
Tell them there are no right or wrong answers.
Tell them how long the interview will take.
Tell them about incentives.
Remind them they are being recorded.
If you are going to offer drinks or food, tell them.
Ask them if they have any questions.
If you are moderating a focus group, ask respondents to introduce
themselves to the group.
Ask respondents to allow equal talk time for everybody in a group.
Start with easy, factual questions.
During this phase, respondents will evaluate you. First impressions are
lasting impressions, so be friendly, polite, and positive. Above all, show
respect.
Remember, most people you interview want to help you. Show respect, and
the majority respond accordingly.
Introduce the First Topic
After the introduction, introduce the first topic, which should be general and
easy to discuss. The purpose of the first topic is to get people talking and
feeling comfortable about the interview or focus group.

The first topic serves as a warm up − it gets people thinking and talking
about the main subject.
Use the first topic to develop a free-flowing conversation.
Ask, listen, follow-up, and probe.
Let respondents know you are listening.
In a face-to-face interview, look respondents in the eye and listen to their

answers. Show understanding and empathy. Nod your head. Look at them.
Lean forward. Look interested.
In a telephone interview, notice the respondent. Use the respondent’s first

name and pay attention to his or her answers. Focus on what the respondent
says and how he or she says it. Listen to tone and pace. Respond in a similar
way… tone, pace, and their words.
Listen for respondents’ perspectives, their state of mind, their feelings,

perceptions, and opinions. Use their words when asking follow-up questions.
Don’t give your opinion. Don’t judge answers. Stay neutral.
Be friendly, polite, and respectful, and most people will respond similarly.
Introduce Main Topics and Dig
Once you have covered the first general topic, people should be talking and
feeling comfortable. Conversation should be flowing. Rapport sets in.
Now introduce other topics… the major topics of inquiry.
As you direct conversation, dig to find out why and how. In other words,
what’s behind their answers… feelings, perceptions, beliefs, knowledge,
opinions. A moderator’s real value exists in her or his ability to find out why
and how. Dig beyond top of mind answers.

A good moderator knows how to mine beyond the first answers. You dig with
follow-up questions, probes, and prompts. You dig with advanced qualitative
research techniques: laddering and projective techniques.
You dig in a non-threatening way. Don’t annoy anyone or pester

respondents. If a particular question doesn’t work, modify it or throw it
away.
Activities
During a focus group or depth interview, you may ask respondents to

perform activities.
Examples of activities include reading and marking up concept statements,

viewing ads, drawing, completing surveys, looking at pictures, sorting cards,
trying a product. There are other activities too.
Write activity directions in the moderator guide, so you are clear about what
to do.
Make sure your respondents understand what to do. Read simple, clear
directions to them, and ask them if they understand what to do.
When you write on a white board or easel, look at your respondents. Don’t
turn your back on them. Let them know you are listening.
Keep Time
Watch and manage time. Keep a clock or watch in front of you during the
interview or group.
Check how much time you have for each topic and activity, but don’t let your
watching time distract respondents.
Stay on track and stick to the schedule, as best you can.
If you find you run out of time for a topic, you may need to revise your
moderator guide for the next groups or interviews.
How to Handle Trouble

Ask questions in a non-threatening way. Avoid biased, threatening, or

annoying questions. If questions agitate respondents, stop the question and
switch to another.
If a question confuses a respondent, rephrase it. If the question still does not
work, skip to the next question.
There may be times when you need to play devil’s advocate. Challenge
respondents’ answers that contradict previous statements, or statements
that don’t make sense.
Challenge in a friendly way. Keep the tone upbeat and positive. Don’t argue.
For example, say, “Help me out. I don’t understand.” Then state the
contradiction.
Experts and executives may use technical language you don’t understand.
When you hear something you don’t understand, ask for meaning and
clarification. Play the role of student. Let them be the teacher. Learn the
technical language from earlier depth interviews, and use it for later
interviews.
Also, prepare for technical language before your interview. Read an industry
glossary or trade magazine. Become familiar with the language of the
industry and product category before you interview executives and experts.
Sometimes respondents will ask for your opinion about a product or brand.
Don’t answer them. Your answer will bias them. Rather, turn the question
back to them.
Respondent asks the moderator, “What do you think about brand X?”
Moderator responds, “I don’t know. What do you think about it?”
Some respondents may ask who is sponsoring the research. Say you cannot
tell them if it is a blind study. Even if people guess the sponsor correctly,
don’t confirm it.
Occasionally, some people will try to test you. Don’t let a bully or aggressive
personality bait you.

If a respondent gives flippant answers, stay neutral and show respect. Be

professional. Preserve your cool. Don’t sound frustrated. Continue to ask
questions. If they see you don’t fluster easily, they usually cooperate.
If you feel rapport is broken with a respondent, try to reconnect by finding

common ground. It may be difficult to reestablish rapport if you have hit an
emotional disagreement, or if they dislike you, or they are in an angry mood.
If a respondent continuously refuses to cooperate, stop the interview. It

happens rarely. I have conducted more than a thousand interviews, and
recall cutting off one depth interview because of breakdown. You simply say,
“Thank you. We are done with the interview.”
In some focus groups, dominant respondents show up. They try to dominate
the discussion. Your job is to manage them so every respondent gets equal
talk time. Tell the dominant respondent you want to hear from the others.
Don’t look at the dominant respondent when you ask a question. Raise your
hand as if to say stop when the dominator tries to talk, and look at someone
else.
Close
When you are near the end of the focus group or interview, tell your
respondents:
“We are almost done. Thank you for your time so far. I have just two
more questions.”
“Is there anything you would like to talk about?”
“What are the most important points you talked about?”
When you are done, tell them.
“We’re done. Thank you for your help.”
Practice
Practice builds your skills, using the right techniques.

Practice depth interviews with friends, family, and colleagues.
Practice on strangers. Most people you interview will be complete strangers.
Practice with customers, prospects, and experts. They are the real test.
Record your focus groups or interviews. Learn from recordings. Listen to how
you sound, and how people answer. Ask what you could do better. Could you
follow up more? Probe more? Dig more? Are you neutral?
Learn from your transcriptions. Get you recordings transcribed. Read them
and ask what you could do better.
Learn from your mistakes. Make notes. If someone watches your face-to-face
depth interview or focus group, ask for a critique of your moderating.
Start with depth interviews. Build your moderating skills with them. Depth
interviews are easier than focus groups. You talk to one person at a time.
After about 7 to 10 depth interviews, you will start feeling comfortable and
more confident. The more you practice, the easier it will become. Then try
focus groups…dyads or triads and then graduate to full groups of 6 to12
respondents. Practice.
You can do it. Use the guides and questions from this handbook, and start.
Final Thoughts
Moderating is easy if you are prepared and know its techniques.
Write and rehearse your moderator guide. Know it well.
Relax, and get people to relax.
Get cooperation by showing respect. Start building rapport when you first
meet your respondents.
Always start an interview with an introduction. Do not skip the introduction.

People want to know what is happening. The introduction builds rapport.

Use your first topic to introduce the general subject. Make questions easy.
Get discussions flowing.
Ask. Listen. Follow up. Probe.
Remain neutral. Don’t judge answers. Don’t give your opinion.
Cover your primary topics.
Dig below top-of-the-mind answers. Find out why and how.
Keep track of time.
Learn how to deal with trouble. Anticipate and know what to do.
Close the conversation. Thank them.
Practice at every opportunity. Just do it.
Learn from recordings and transcripts. Learn from mistakes.
Master your art through practice. Learn moderating skills, and hone them
until you feel comfortable. Master the basics first. Then learn advanced
techniques.
Skill comes with proper technique, practice, and experience.

Lesson 12: How to Analyze

Qualitative Data
Overview
1. Analysis - The Five Steps

2. Major Themes
3. Number of Analysts
4. Reliability, Validity, and Direction
5. Final Thoughts
Analysis – The Five Steps
Focus groups and depth interviews produce large amounts of data.
The data are conversations with respondents.
So, what do you do with this data? How do you analyze it?
You analyze data by grouping respondents’ answers to each question. You

develop information by labeling each group of answers. You gain knowledge
by asking how the information answers the research objectives. They are
findings. You develop theory based on the findings. You judge what it
means.
Transcriptions are your starting point for analysis. Transcriptions are the
written interview conversations… word-for-word quotes. Get recordings of
focus groups and depth interviews transcribed.
Analysis is a five-step process.
1. Data Grouping
2. Information Labels
3. Knowledge (Findings)
4. Theory
5. Implications

Here are the steps in detail.
1 Data Grouping Link all responses to each research

question
2 Information Label Describes something about responses
3 Knowledge (Findings) Answers research objectives
4 Theory Describes theories or themes
5 Implications Describes what findings mean
1. Data Grouping
a. Group answers from all interviews to each question.
b. For each question, what do respondents say?
2. Information Labels
a. What does each group of answers describe?
b. Organize and classify answers into categories.
c. Label each group of answers.
3. Knowledge (Findings)
a. How does the information answer the research objectives?
4. Theory
a. What theories develop?
b. What major themes emerge?
5. Implications
a. What does it mean?
Here is an example of the five steps.
5 Step Analysis Respondent 1 Respondent 2
Research objective:
Find out target segment’s
attitudes towards brand X
line item pricing on bills.
Research question Please describe your Please describe your

feelings about brand X feelings about brand X
itemized bills. itemized bills.

1. Data Grouping “They gouge you all “Their bills are tough to
the time. They nickel- understand. There are
and-dime you to death too many line items. It
with itemized bills. is confusing.”
They trick you.”
[For this example, [For this example,

assume others make assume others make
similar statements] similar statements]
2. Information Label Feels tricked or Feels confused

deceived
3. Knowledge (Findings) Some customers feel Some customers are
deceived by itemized confused about
bills itemized bills
4. Theory or Theme Perception of feeling Perception of confusion
deceived erodes brand erodes brand image
image and trust
5. Implications Prevalence of feeling Prevalence of confusion
deceived could result in erodes overall
lost customers customer satisfaction
When you complete your analysis, ask the following questions,
• What have you discovered?

• Is the knowledge something you know already, or is it new?
• Does the knowledge confirm a hunch?
• Do the findings pass the “big deal test” or the “so what test?”
• How does the knowledge change your perspective?
• What else do you need to know?
• What major themes emerge?
• What insight have you gained?
An insight is the ability to see the inner nature of things… what is important
about something. Insight helps you understand.

Major Themes
Developing major themes requires a little bit of time. The ha-ha moment –
the big idea or theme – takes time to emerge.
Let the data, information, and knowledge sink in. Absorb it. Let it brew.
Sleep on it.
Then ask what the big picture means.
Number of Analysts
If you are the moderator and analyst, you will produce data, information, and
knowledge. You’ll carry out the analysis.
If you can get a couple of people to help with the analysis, your combined
effort may tweak out a little more information. Additional analysts provide
different perspectives.
If only you are doing the analysis, don’t worry. Just follow the five steps of
qualitative analysis.
Reliability, Validity, and Direction
In quantitative research, findings should be reliable and valid.
Reliability means you should be able to repeat the study and find the same
conclusions. Results should be consistent.
Validity means the survey accurately represents the condition of interest.
Reliability and validity are basic tests of quantitative research. The findings
are conclusive, when done correctly.
In qualitative research, you strive for direction.
You want findings to be as reliable and valid as possible, but sample size and
the nature of the open-ended questions do not allow for statistical precision.

You will find variation. So, exercise judgment. Use qualitative research to
explore, discover, and describe. Use it to develop theories and guide
direction.
When a majority of respondents gives you similar answers to the same

question, you get direction. Or when a minority of respondents give you
similar answers, you get direction for a smaller group or sub segment.
Consistency in responses provides the direction to form a theory. You use

theory to replace pure guesswork or assumptions about a topic. Or you
accept or reject theory with statistics using quantitative research.
Final Thoughts
Qualitative data are respondents’ responses in focus group or depth

interview.
Analysis starts with transcripts. Get focus group and depth interview
recordings transcribed.
Analysis is a five-step process.
Group all interview answers (verbatim quotes) to each question. Classify

groups with labels; it’s information. Then ask how the information answers
the research objectives. That is your finding. Develop theories or themes
based on the findings. Then judge what it means – implications.
The big theme takes time to emerge. Let the data, information, and
knowledge sink in. Eventually, the big idea will show up.
Now you are ready to write a qualitative research report.

Lesson 13: How to Write a Qualitative

Research Report
Overview
1. The Research Report

2. Three Types of Written Reports
3. How to Write a Report
4. Writing Tips
5. Your Product
6. Final Thoughts
The Research Report
A research report documents the data, information, and knowledge gained

from qualitative research.
You use the report for business decisions; it is your reference and evidence.
The report helps stakeholders. Written reports are useful when several
managers have a stake in the research. It is a common basis for
understanding, discussion, and decisions.
A written report is useful when you want to compare reports over time, or
against other research. You can refer to reports months or years later. They
are historical records.
A report is a story. It is a story about people and their knowledge, views,

beliefs, feelings, desires, and actions about products, services, and ads. It is
a collective snapshot of people’s attitudes and behaviors.
Three Types of Written Reports
Typically, written reports come in three formats.
1. Briefing Report
2. Summary Report
3. Full Report of Findings

Here are the basic features of each report.
Briefing Report
• Bullet points of major findings (answers research objectives)

• One page
• Use the Briefing Report for quick reporting of focus groups or interviews
Summary Report of Findings
• Headlines of findings
• Supported by a handful of relevant word-for-word quotes
• Includes major theme or big idea
• Includes implications
• Usually two to 10 pages
• Use the Summary Report for executive reporting
Full Reports of Findings
This is a formal report and typically includes,
• Title
• Table of Contents
• Research Objectives
• Research Methods
• Executive Summary
• Detailed Findings by topic − headlines with quotes
• Major Theory, Thesis, Theme or Big Idea
• Implications
• Appendix
o Interview Guide and Screener
o Supporting documents
• 10 to 100 pages, sometimes more

• Use Full Reports for formal reporting
How to Write a Report
Use the results of analysis to write reports.
First, ask for whom are you writing the report? Are they executives,
copywriters, product managers, advertising managers, marketing managers,
sales managers, research managers, or analysts?
Second, decide which report format to use… brief, summary, or full. Outline
the report using the format.
Third, write information headlines. Develop information headlines from

information labels in analysis.
Fourth, support information headlines with verbatim quotes. They are the
evidence that supports information headlines.
Here is an example of an information headline with supporting quotes.
Small company energy buyers lack information about

green energy
“I have not heard much about green energy

alternatives.”
Energy buyer, small company
“None of the energy companies told me how to buy

green energy.” Business owner, small company
“I asked about green, but never received a quote.”

Plant engineer, small company

Fifth, write findings headlines from information headlines. Findings answer

the research objectives.
Sixth, write major theory or theme headlines.
Seventh, write major implications headlines.
Lastly, write a report title. It may be the major theme, or big idea. Treat the
title as a headline. The title headline should entice people to read the report.
Writing Tips
Write reports in clear, plain English. Write in the active voice. Make reports
easy to understand. Management is busy.
Write engaging headlines. Keep headlines concise, clear and to the point. Get
attention with headlines. Motivate your readers to read on and pay attention.
Use enough evidence to support your headlines, but don’t bury readers with
a pile of data. In a full report, use two or three verbatim quotes to support
an information headline. Keep quotes to the point.
Deliver your main point, thesis, or punch line in the executive summary, or
right at the beginning of the report. Executives are busy and want to know
now. The rest of your report supports your major thesis.
Write the first draft. Check for factual errors, then edit and rewrite. Edit a
second time. Proofread. Read it out loud. Polish your report until you are
proud of it.
Your Product
Your report is your product. Make it look professional.
Clients often judge moderators by the quality of their reports. If you are
conducting telephone depth interviews, clients do not see you interview, so
they judge you on your report.

Report content is most important, but the appearance of the report

influences people’s perceptions and judgment. If you are presenting the
report to clients, use a graphic designer to make the report look professional.
When you write reports, do the best job you can.
A good report makes you look good. A good report makes your sponsor look
good. A good report may get you repeat business. It may get you praise, and
even a raise. A report is your product.
Final Thoughts
A report documents the information and knowledge gained from qualitative

research.
You use the report for business decisions.
Typically, written reports come in three formats.
1. Brief
2. Summary
3. Full
Write for your audience.
Write reports in clear, plain English.
Write interesting headlines that grab attention.
Tell a story.
Your report is your product. Make it look professional.
Clients and sponsors judge you by your report.

Section Two – Techniques and Tips

Lesson 14: How to Ask Basic

Questions
Overview
1. Introduction
2. Open-Ended Questions
3. Closed Questions
4. The Four-Question Sequence
5. Basic Question Tips
6. The Good and The Bad
7. Final Thoughts
Introduction
A question produces data. And data leads to information and knowledge.
In general, there are two types of questions in research:
• Open-ended questions
• Closed questions
In qualitative research, open-ended questions allow expression. So, we use

open-ended questions often and widely.
Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions are the stock and trade of qualitative research. They
allow people to answer in any way they see fit. Open-ended questions do not
impose answers on people − they allow expression.
Open-ended questions start conversations and keep them going.
Examples of open-ended questions:
“When you think about green energy, what is the first thing that
comes to mind?”
“What do you like best about product X?”

“What are the biggest problems with brand X?”
“What brands come to mind?”
Open-ended questions can discover unknown topics and explore them. They
can produce rich, deep, and unexpected answers. Open-ended questions
allow respondents to describe their world.
Open-ended questions take the form of a question or imperative. For

example,
Question: “What car do you drive?”

Imperative: “Please tell me about the car you drive.”
Closed Questions
In contrast, closed questions impose answers and limit expression.
Closed questions are the stock and trade of quantitative surveys. They allow
researchers to count answers and apply statistical techniques. Researchers
measure, size, and forecast using closed questions. They model a condition.
A closed question restricts or narrows answers. In this example, the answer

is either yes or no.
“Do you use brand X?”
Survey questions, which provide a range of answers, are closed questions.
In qualitative research, use closed questions to start a line of open-ended

questions.
Use closed questions to clarify.
And use closed questions to confirm something specific.
The Four-Question Sequence for Qualitative Inquiry

The four-question sequence consists typically of four parts.
1. Main Open-Ended Question

2. Follow-up questions
3. Probing questions
4. Prompted question
You use open-ended questions to explore, discover, expand, and drill deep. A
method to drill beyond top of mind (initial answers) is to use the four-
question sequence.
Here is how it works:
You start with a main question and listen for its answer. It’s usually open-
ended.
Then you follow up and inquire about the answer.
Then you probe to clarify.
And, if necessary, you prompt. A prompt is a cue or aide.
Let’s look at an example of the four-question sequence.
Question Question Example Respondent’s Answer

Type
Main “What do you like best “They provide excellent call
about your mobile quality, where and when I
telephone service need it.”
provider?”
Follow-up “Where do you need “I need it while traveling.”

service?”
Probe “Please tell me where” “Well... New London and
Providence… every day… it is
where I live and work.
Prompt “What about New York “It is nice to know service is

(underlined) Philadelphia, and there, but I don’t go there.”
Baltimore?”

Main Question
The main question is an open-ended question. It starts a discussion about a

subject.
For example,
“Please think about cell phones. What comes to mind?”
“What do you like best about cell phones?”
“What do you dislike about cell phones?”
“What brands come to mind?”
“What brand do you use?”
“When did you first hear about brand X?’
“What caused you to buy brand X?”
“What do you like about the brand?”
“What is the biggest problem you have with brand X?”
Within each topic, there are typically several main questions. For example,
you may have five main questions under the topic of awareness.
Write all your main questions in the moderator guide.
Follow-Up Questions
The follow-up question inquires about the answer to the main question.
It gets details and expands answers. Often there are several follow-up
questions to one main question.
Here is an example,

Main question
“What is the biggest problem with brand X?”
Follow-up questions
“How significant is the problem?”

“What is the impact of the problem?”
“What causes the problem?”
“What have you done about it?”
“What are the solutions?”
Here is another example:
Main question
“What happened?”
Follow up questions
“Then what did you do?”

“What led to the event?”
“How did that affect you?”
Here is another example:
Main question
“What feature do you like best?”
Follow-up questions
“What does the feature do for you?”
“How does the benefit help you?”
“When do you use the feature?”
Anticipate follow-up questions. Write them into your guide. Here are some
categories of follow-up questions.

When you hear facts, ask what the facts mean.

“What does that mean?”
“How do you feel about that?”
“How does that affect you?”
“What do you think about that?”
When you hear situations or events, ask about causes and outcomes.
“How did it happen?”
“What caused it?”
“What was the result?”
“Then what happened?”
When you hear problems, ask about causes, ramifications, importance, and
solutions.

“What is the impact of the problem?”
“How big is the problem?”
“What solutions have you tried?”
“What did the solution do?”
“How effective are the solutions?”
“How do you fix the problem?”
“What are your recommendations?”
“What would things be like if you could solve the problem?”
When you hear about things that affect people, ask about response.
“What did you do?”

“What action did you take?”
“How do you feel about it?”
“How does it affect you?”
The moderator writes follow-up questions in the guide. Or improvises follow-

up questions during discussions.

I suggest you write follow-up questions until they become a habit. Then
improvise during conversation.
Probing Question
The main job of the probing question, which follows a main or follow-up
question, is to clarify.
Here is an inventory of probing questions. Write them down, keep them in

your wallet, or pocket. Know them well and use them.
“Please tell me more.”

“Please give me an example.”
“Please help me understand.”
“What does that mean?”
“What is important about that?”
“Please clarify.”
“How does that compare with…?”
“How is it different from…?”
“When you say the word [insert], what do you mean?”
“How would you say that in other words?”
“Where does that fit in?”
“What else is there to say about…?”
Besides probing questions, you can also use silent probes.
• Remain silent.
• Nod your head.
• Use a puzzled facial expression.
• Raise your eyebrows, frown, or tilt your head slightly.
• Roll your hands, gesturing for more information.
Prompts
A prompt is a cue or aide. Prompts aid recall by triggering a memory

association.

Prompts help respondents talk about something you are interested in, but
they have not talked about voluntarily.
Prompts can be brands, products, activities, names of things, and people.
Here are some examples of prompts (prompts are underlined),
“You mentioned Nokia. What about Samsung, LG, Motorola, Apple,

Blackberry, Palm, HTC and Sony Ericsson?”
“How do you grease kingpins, wheel wells, and ball joints?”
“What about family?”
“What about [insert prompt]?”
Write prompts into the guide. That way, you won’t forget.
An effective moderator asks main questions, follow-up questions, probes,

and prompts. Moderators dig beyond initial answers. They drill deep, expand
and get important details.
Basic Question Tips
Clear, Concise, and Conversational
Keep your questions clear, concise, and conversational. Just remember the
three Cs when you write and ask questions.
• Clear
• Concise
• Conversational
Make your questions clear. Use words your respondents understand, and
strip out useless words. Edit your questions to their most basic form, without
losing meaning and precision.
Keep questions simple by focusing on one idea. Avoid two questions in one
sentence.

Write questions from the respondent’s view. Write in the second person…
”You.”
The ideal depth interview or focus group is when you ask a short question
and the respondent answers several of your questions. It happens.
Short questions get long answers. Let the respondents do the talking.
Test Your Questions
Write questions. Read them. Edit them. Then test them.
Test your questions on one or two people, who typify the segment. It’s your
pilot test. Your first depth interview or focus group is a pilot test.
Test for understanding. If people are confused about a question, rewrite it.
If the question still doesn’t work, get rid of it.
Ask Questions in Different Ways
If respondents don’t understand your main question, ask it in a different way,

or rephrase the question.
For example, here are some different ways to ask about benefits:
“What are the benefits of garlic?”

“Please tell me what garlic does for you.”
“How does garlic help you?”
“What do you like best about garlic?”
If a particular question confuses people, vary it.
Introduce a Subject - Take People Back
When you start a new subject, you want to focus people on it.
You take people back to an experience, behavior, attitude, or feeling.

And the way you take them back is by simply stating,
“Please think back…”
“Please think about…”
“When…”
“Let’s talk about…”
“Think back” or “when …” focuses attention on a subject. It introduces a

subject.
Here are some examples
“Please think back to your car purchase.”
“Please think about the day you bought your car.”
“When you bought your first car, how did you feel?”
“When you walked into the showroom, what was your biggest fear?
“When it comes to buying cars, what brands have you bought?”
“Let’s talk about cars.”
“Think back” or “When…” usually starts a main question, but you can use it
as a follow-up question too.
Why You Don’t Use the Word “Why”
Avoid using the word “why.” What are the reasons for not using why?
The word why puts people on the defensive. It sounds like an accusation. It
threatens. It is annoying. It is rude. It thwarts conversation.
Why is what your teachers, coaches, and parents asked you. The boss
pesters you with why. A nagging spouse asks why.

Yet, we seek to understand why. Understanding why is the goal of qualitative

research.
So, you ask why without using the word. Here are other ways to ask why.
“What are the reasons for…?”

“What made you do that?”
“What really happened?”
“Please explain.”
“I don’t understand…help me out.”
Seek why, but don’t use why.
Practice
Make the four-question sequence part of your routine. Write the four-
question sequence until you become comfortable with it. Practice it. Master
it.
With enough practice, you’ll be able to improvise the four-question sequence

on the spot. A jazz musician practices scales routinely. Improvisation comes
from mastering the scales. The same holds true for qualitative research.
Master the four-question sequence and you’ll become skilled at improvising a
directed conversation.
Your qualitative research skills will improve with practice. Moderating will
become conversational.
The Good and the Bad
So, what is a good question in this business?
Good questions are questions people easily understand. Good questions use
words people recognize and know.
Good questions are short, simple, and clear. They express a single idea. They
avoid misunderstanding.
Good questions answer the research objectives.

In contrast, bad questions confuse respondents. Bad questions mislead and

misinform. They deliver the wrong idea.
Bad questions bias answers. Bad questions put words in people’s mouths.
Bad questions are leading questions.
And bad questions threaten and irritate respondents. Bad questions shut up
respondents. They stop people talking.
Bad questions do not answer research objectives. They are off target and
irrelevant. They produce answers the moderator misunderstands and
misinterprets.
Final Thoughts
Open-ended questions are the stock and trade of qualitative research.
A method to drill beyond top of mind (initial answers) is to use the four-
question sequence.
The four-question sequence includes,
1. Main question
2. Follow-up questions
3. Probes
4. Prompts
Write them. Practice them.
Keep questions clear, concise, and conversational – the three Cs.
Test your questions.
Write a question in different ways.
Avoid the word why, but seek why.

Lesson 15: Buying Theory
Overview
1. Why Do People Buy?

2. The Features-Benefits-Emotions Chain
3. Primary Emotions
4. Consumers and Business to Business
5. Final Thoughts
Why Do People Buy?
People buy products and services that deliver functional and emotional
benefits.
Every product or service delivers emotional benefits. Product features and

functional benefits produce emotional benefits.
Emotions are strong buying motivators. Functional and emotional benefits

appeal to wants or needs.
A benefit is a favorable outcome. Products provide features, functional

benefits, higher benefits, and emotional benefits.
Understand how product features deliver personal emotional benefits. Start

with the feature-benefits-emotions chain.
The Features-Benefits-Emotions Chain (FBE Chain)
A product or service consists of a features-benefits-emotions chain (FBE

Chain). The chain consists of four levels.
The levels are,
1. Features
2. Functional benefits
3. Higher benefits
4. Emotional Benefits

Pay close attention; each level influences buying. Here is an example of a

car.
Level What it does Example

1 Feature Physical description 510 HP engine
2 Functional What the feature does 0 to 60 MPH in 4.5
Benefit seconds
3 Higher Benefit What the functional benefit Speed
provides
4 Emotional What the higher benefit Excitement, Admiration,
Benefit delivers Envy, Sense of Power
All four levels are important in buying.
The feature is specific. It gets the job done. The buyer can talk about it and
use it to rationalize buying. It is what you tell your spouse, boss, or friends.
The functional benefit is tangible and useful. It is the outcome of the feature.
It is easy to understand. It is the justification for the feature.
The higher benefit, which is general but real, describes what the functional
benefit delivers. In the example, the higher benefit is speed. It is for those
who want fast cars.
The emotional benefit satisfies personal feelings or beliefs. Emotions drive

wants or needs. In the example, the emotional benefit is excitement. Another
emotional benefit is admiration from friends. Yet another is envy from rivals.
They are human emotions.
Emotions are general, but real. They are human. Features and functional
benefits are specific, and are part of the product.
Use qualitative research to identify all four levels of the FBE Chain. Use the
findings to create ads and positioning messages.
An integrated FBE chain creates powerful ads and messages. Features,

functional benefits, higher benefits, and emotional benefits work together to
sell a product or service.

People buy products that produce emotional benefits and rationalize buying
with tangible product features and functional benefits.
So how do you identify values and emotions with qualitative research?
You use laddering. It’s a tool to identify emotional benefits. And projective
techniques may help to identify feelings and deeper beliefs. This handbook
has chapters devoted to each technique.
The Primary Emotions
Now, you may be wondering if you need to be a trained psychologist to

figure out buyers. No.
For the past 100 years, marketers and advertisers have studied buyers and
their emotions. Human emotions do not change much from generation to
generation.
So, the first place to start is to ask what we know today about emotions.
What are some primary emotions?
Examples of primary emotions are in the left column. Related emotions are in
the right column.
Primary Related Emotions (not exhaustive)

acceptance admiration, status, vanity, belonging, confidence, respect,
honor, involvement, friendship, pride, love, self-esteem
anger revenge, disgust, suspicion, guilt, jealousy, hostility,
curiosity interest, discovery, knowledge, adventure
benevolence altruism, kindness, goodwill, guilt
fear insecurity, pain, enemies, loss, health, anxiety
greed indulgence, collection, abundance, power, excess
happiness benevolence, peace, control, altruism, sympathy, freedom
sadness pessimism, shyness, despair, loneliness, loss, indifference
surprise whimsy, wit, new, amusement, entertainment
Consumers and Business to Business

The FBE Chain applies to consumers and businesses-to-business buying.
Let’s look at a business-to-business example.
One reason an IT manager buys an IBM mainframe is job security. But,

there are other emotional factors too. The prospect of promotion, admiration,
and peer acceptance weigh in the buying decision.
But the IT manager will rarely tell you outright about his or her emotions and
feelings. Engineers believe they are rational. And they are. Engineers deal
with precise facts.
When an IT manager justifies buying, he or she cites the “facts” as reasons

for buying, and they are valid reasons. So, the facts - features - are
important. The features deliver the functional benefits. The features must do
the job and deliver functional benefits, which deliver emotional benefits. If
features don’t produce functional benefits, emotions can become negative.
Let’s look at a consumer example.
What are the reasons for buying a Mercedes-Benz S600 Sedan? The German-
engineered 5.5L liter, 36-valve, V-12 engine with 612 lb-ft of torque at
1,800-3,500 rpm, and 510 horsepower at 5,000 rpm, and zero to 60 mph in
4.5 seconds. Automobile enthusiasts want the features and functional
benefits. The features and functional benefits are often the stated rational for
buying a $150,000 car. It is what the buyer explains to his friends.
But, deep down in the semi-conscious and subconscious mind, powerful

emotions flame wants and needs too. The emotional motivators are prestige,
status, and the need to outmatch others. It is about displaying wealth,
power, and status. It’s about belonging to the “club.” And it is about
overcoming feelings of insecurity too.
People will tell you about features. And they will discuss functional benefits
when you ask them. But, people rarely talk about inner feelings, emotions
and beliefs, unless you know how to draw them out.
Yet, emotions drive buying decisions. They are the chords you strike to get
attention, encourage wants, and sell products or services.

You have to dig for emotions. And you use laddering to identify functional
and emotional benefits.
Final Thoughts
People buy product features and functional benefits to satisfy emotional

needs and wants. Every product or service delivers a personal emotional
benefit.
There are four levels of product features and benefits.
• Features
• Functional benefits
• Higher benefits
• Emotional Benefits
Features are as important as functional and emotional benefits. Features

deliver the chain of benefits. And buyers rationalize buying with features and
functional benefits.
You use the four levels of the features-benefits-emotions chain to create

powerful ads and positioning messages.
With qualitative research, use laddering to identify the features-benefits-

emotions chain. Laddering is in the next chapter.

Lesson 16: How to Ask Laddering

Questions
Overview
1. Laddering
2. The Features-Benefits-Emotions Chain
3. How to Conduct Laddering
4. Features-Benefits-Emotions Maps
5. Applications
6. Final Thoughts
Laddering
In marketing research, laddering is a qualitative research technique, which

seeks to understand why people buy and use products and services.
You start with product features and end with user emotional benefits.
You use laddering to create ads and positioning messages.
Thomas J. Reynolds and Jonathan Gutman developed and introduced

laddering in 1988, based on Gutman’s Means-End Theory of 1982. They
describe product attributes, consequences, and values. Product attributes
produce consequences that produce personal meaning (values) for product
users.
In other words, product features produce functional and emotional benefits,

which are personal to the product user.
You learned about the features-benefits-emotions chain in the lesson about

Buying Theory. Here is a quick review of buying theory and the FBE chain.
People buy product features that produce functional and emotional benefits.
And they rationalize buying with features and functional benefits.
There are four levels to the features-benefits-emotions chain (FBE chain).

They are,

• Features
• Higher benefits
Each level links to the next level. Each level influences buying.
Here is an example of the FBE chain. The example is a product category.
FBE Level What it does Example

Feature Physical description Wind turbine
Functional What the feature does Generates electricity
Benefit
Higher Benefit What the functional benefit Reduces air pollution
provides
Emotional What the higher benefit Social responsibility and
Benefit delivers acceptance
All four levels are important in understanding why people buy a product or
service.
The feature is specific. It performs a specific job.
The functional benefit is the outcome of the feature. It is tangible.
The higher benefit is what the functional benefit delivers. It is a general

benefit.
The emotional benefit satisfies feelings and beliefs. Features and functional
benefits deliver emotional benefits.
Emotions are powerful motivators that drive wants or needs.
Emotions are general but real. They are personal. They are conscious and
subconscious.

Features and functional benefits are specific. Features are important. They
rationalize and justify buying. Features and benefits are easy to talk about. It
is what business buyers use to rationalize buying, even though emotional
benefits influence them too.
You can create powerful ads and positioning with the FBE chain, each part of
which is important. You identify the FBE chain with laddering.
How to Conduct Laddering
A laddering question sequence usually consists of four questions related to a

feature.
First, you ask about a feature.
“Which feature do you like best?”
Second, you listen to the answer, and then you ask about the feature’s
functional benefit.
“What does the feature do?”
Third, you listen to the answer, and ask about the higher benefit of the
functional benefit.
“What does the functional benefit do for you?”
Fourth, you listen to the answer again, and ask about the emotional benefit
of the higher benefit.
“What does the benefit do for you?”
Once you’ve exhausted a feature, ask about other features and their
functional, higher, and emotional benefits.
Laddering asks about a specific product feature and poses a series of why
questions that build on previous answers.

Note…don’t use the word why. It puts people on the defensive. Ask
why in different ways. Using the word why is a mistake often seen in
laddering.
Laddering works well with depth interviews. Interviewing one person

provides consistency of question sequence, depth, and privacy. You want to
interview people who use the product or service category. You can develop
FBE chains at the category, brand, or product level.
Here is an example of laddering about sports scores on cell phones.
Moderator, “What do you like best about your phone?”
Respondent, “Getting real-time sports scores” [feature]
Moderator, “What is important about that?”
Respondent, “I know what’s happening right away.” [functional

benefit]
Moderator, “What does that do for you?”
Respondent, “I can tell my friends, as soon as I know.” [higher

benefit]
Moderator, “What does telling your friends right away do for you?”
Respondent, “I am the go-to guy for sports. My friends expect me to

know. It is what we talk about.” [emotional benefit]
In this example, sports scores on a cell phone lead to emotional benefits of

social acceptance and friendship.
The same feature may lead to a different emotional benefit for a different
person. It depends on the person. Emotional benefits are personal. For a
person who plays fantasy football, sports scores on cell phones may lead to
emotional benefits of escape, thrill, and winning. For the gambler, sports
scores on cell phones may lead to the excitement of making or losing money.
Features-Benefits-Emotions Maps

For each important feature, you identify and link functional benefits, higher
order benefits, and emotional benefits. You link features to emotions. Map
them out.
Here are maps from the sports cell phone example.
Respondent 1 “Mr. Up-to-Date”
Functional Higher Emotional

Features
benefits benefits benefits
Getting real-
Know Tell friends Social
time sports
immediately right away acceptance
scores
Friendship
Admiration
Respondent 2 “The Fantasy Player”
Functional Higher Emotional

Features
benefits benefits benefits
Getting real- Play fantasy
Improve odds
time sports sports while Excitement
of winning
scores mobile
Accomplishment
In the two examples, we identified five emotional benefits: acceptance,

friendship, admiration, excitement, and accomplishment.
From left to right, the map moves from the tangible to the abstract; it moves
from the rational to the emotional.
The FBE chain supports Buying Theory. People buy features and benefits that
satisfy personal emotions, beliefs, and feelings. And they rationalize buying
with features and functional benefits.

You can consolidate respondent maps into one grand map of features,
benefits, and emotions. The grand map consolidates the collective chain of
people you interview.
Applications
Use laddering for advertising and positioning. You can also use it for product
development and preliminary segmentation. It is a powerful technique,
especially for advertising and positioning. Copywriters take note.
In the example about sports scores on cell phones, we’ve identified several
emotional benefits. You can position a product or service using features,
benefits, and emotions.
Here are three imaginary positions for the cell phone.
1. The in-the-know sports phone

2. The fantasy sports phone
3. The Las Vegas phone
You write ads with features, benefits, and emotions. You use laddering to
develop unique selling propositions in your ads. Here is an imaginary
example of advertising copy for the in-the-know sports phone.
“Be the leader of the pack [emotional benefit]. Tell your friends about
… scores before they know [higher benefit]. Be in the know instantly
[functional benefit] while on the go. Get the X sports phone. It’s the
only one with real-time … scores [feature].”
Emotional benefits can characterize segments of people. In the example of

cell phones, here are three imaginary segments:
1. sports authorities
2. fantasy sports players
3. gamblers
You can develop new products and services with laddering. You’ll know what
features are important and how they relate to customers’ emotions.

Final Thoughts
People buy product features and functional benefits that deliver emotional
benefits. It’s Buying Theory.
Laddering is a qualitative research technique that identifies the levels of the

feature-benefits-emotions chain.
There are four levels in the chain. They are,
• Features
• Higher benefits
• Emotional benefits
You start with product features and end with customers’ emotional benefits.
A laddering sequence usually consists of four questions related to a feature.
• Ask about a feature [feature]

• Ask why the feature is important [functional benefit]
• Ask why the functional benefit is important [higher benefit]
• Ask why the higher benefit is important [emotional benefit]
Link features to emotional benefits. Map them.
Laddering works best with depth interviews.
Use laddering for advertising and positioning. Use it for product development,
and preliminary segmentation.
Laddering is powerful.
Try laddering and practice it. You can do it.

Lesson 17: How to Use Practical

Projective Techniques
Overview
1. Projective Techniques
2. Four Practical Projective Techniques
3. Advanced Projective Techniques
4. Projective Techniques and Laddering
5. Final Thoughts
Projective Techniques
Projective techniques are indirect forms inquiry.
They explore people’s conscious and subconscious feelings, beliefs, and

desires.
You can use projective techniques explore how people associate imagery with
products and brands. Imagery and symbols play important roles in
advertising and branding.
And, you can use projective techniques to discuss sensitive subjects. You
help respondents “project” to someone or something else. Respondents
project their feelings and beliefs onto other people or objects; in doing so,
they reveal feelings and beliefs about themselves.
Projective techniques produce new perspective and shades of understanding.
Four Practical Projective Techniques
Here are four practical and simple projective techniques. This is not an
exhaustive list.
• Metaphors, Analogies, and Similes

• Third-Party Projections
• Role-Playing
• Associations

Metaphors, Analogies, and Similes
Projective techniques are often metaphorical.
A metaphor represents or explains something in terms of another. Metaphors

explain complex or new subjects [target domains] by using a familiar subject
[source domain].
“His face[target domain] was putty [source domain].”
“A moderator [target domain] is a juggler [source domain].”
Metaphors are windows to the mind. The purpose of understanding

metaphors is to understand people’s mindset about a target domain.
Most importantly, metaphors can reveal underlying emotions, feelings, and

beliefs about a target domain…such as a product or brand or person. And,
one can infer whether emotions are positive, negative, or neutral.
“She was trouble.”

Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep
You can use the results from metaphor techniques to develop advertising,
brands, and messages, and to support product or brand positioning.
Here is a simple sentence completion exercise using similes. Ask respondents

to complete the sentence.
“My cell phone is like a…”
Here are some results at the category level for cell phones.
“A cell phone is like a best friend.”

“My cell phone is part of my body.”
“A cell phone is like my wallet. I would never leave home without it.
“A cell phone is like a lifeline now. Leaving it behind is like cutting off
the oxygen supply.”
“A cell phone is like a leash.”

The results show that cell phones are a necessity for a segment of
consumers. A minority find them annoying.
Besides sentence completion, you can also ask respondents to associate a

product or brand to pictures and images.
And, you can ask them to draw pictures. Another way to elicit metaphors is
to ask respondents to complete storyboards.
Look for metaphors, analogies and similes. Think about what feelings and
emotions they reveal. Judge if emotions are positive, neutral or negative.
Third-Party Projections
You ask respondents to describe what other people are doing, thinking,
feeling, believing, and saying. Ask them to project to a third-party. You start
with a main question.
“What does your friend think about brand X?”

“In what ways do people get rid of computers?”
“What do distributors think about the new marketing program?”
“What does company X think about you?”
“Who uses brand X? What is the real reason they use it?”
Ask follow-up questions and probe answers, using the third person.
Use third-party projections for sensitive subjects. In other words, when

people hide or deny their real thoughts, feelings, or beliefs.
Role Playing
You ask respondents to assume a role and act the part. It is a variant of
third-party projection.
“If you were the product manager, what would you do to improve the
product?”

“If you were the CEO of this company, what would you do to reduce
customer complaints?”
“If you were the creative director, what would your ad say?”
“If you were in your friend’s situation, what would you do?”
Follow up and probe.
Use role-playing when asking for product or advertising recommendations.
Associations
You ask respondents to link a word or image to a category, product, brand,

or situation, then ask how the association relates to the topic.
You get people to tie one concept to another. Again, it’s metaphorical
thinking. At the physiological level within the brain, you’re using stimuli from
a set of neurons to fire up other – associated - neurons.
Easy association techniques include word associations, imagery associations,

and personifications.
Here are examples,
Word Associations
Provide a prompt in the form of a word, phrase, or sentence and ask

respondents to associate something with it. Prompts are underlined in the
following examples.
“When you think of your service provider, what is the first thing that
comes to mind?”
“What comes to mind when you hear the term customer service?”
“When you see brand X, what comes to mind?”
“How does the ocean describe company Y?”

Imagery Association
Show people an image, or ask them to bring or select an image.
Images are pictures, drawings, or illustrations. Then, ask people to describe

the image. Ask how it relates to a product, brand, object, or person.
“Please select a picture that best represents product X. How does the
picture speak about product X”
“How does the image describe product X?”
“What does each person in this picture feel about brand Y?”
Ask several follow-up questions about how the association relates, and probe
to clarify.
Personifications
Personification asks respondents to give human characteristics to products,

services, or brands.
“If your Volvo could talk, what would it say to you?”
“If brand X were a person, what would he or she look like?”
“If smartphones were family members, which family member is an

Apple iPhone?”
“How does your digital camera feel about you?”
Personification is fun. The challenge of personification is interpretation of

data and analysis.
Use associations to understand imagery, symbols, and stimulate memory

recall. Use it to have some fun and get respondents to express themselves in
different ways.
Advanced Projective Techniques

There are several advanced projective techniques, examples of which are

Rorschach Inkblot Tests and Thematic Appreciation Tests. They examine
personality.
Projective techniques have their roots in psychoanalytic psychology. Several

psychoanalytic theories abound. The more advanced techniques require
training in application and analysis.
Advanced projective techniques are beyond the scope of this handbook.
Projective Techniques and Laddering
Use laddering as a primary technique to identify emotional benefits stemming

from products and their features.
The advantage of laddering is it clearly links specific product features,

benefits, and emotions together. People buy product features and functional
benefits that deliver emotional benefits, which are primary drivers of wants
and needs. Laddering and its interpretation is straightforward.
Projective techniques are more difficult to link to wants and needs. Use
projective techniques to complement laddering when you want to understand
respondents’ associations with imagery and symbols. Use it to gain deeper
understanding about feelings. Also, use projective techniques to talk about
sensitive subjects, using third-party projection.
Final Thoughts
Projective techniques investigate conscious and subconscious feelings,

beliefs, and desires.
You use projective techniques when talking about sensitive subjects. And to
understand how people relate images and symbols to products and brands.
Use it to gain deeper understanding about feelings.
Here are four practical projective techniques.
• Metaphors
• Third-Party Projections

• Role Playing
• Associations
Select a projective technique and try it; then try another one.
Projective techniques often employ metaphorical thinking.
Use the results of projective techniques for advertising and branding.

Lesson 18: How to Aid Memory Recall
Overview
1. Memory
2. The Conscious and Subconscious Mind
3. Three Types of Memory Recall in Qualitative Research
4. Final Thoughts
Memory
The role of the moderator is to gain information from respondents. This

information comes primarily from a person’s memory.
So what is memory?
It is the mind’s ability to encode, store, and recall information. There are
several theories about memory. The mind has short-term and long-term
memory. The mind is conscious and subconscious.
So how does memory work physiologically?
Neuroscientists believe the brain consists of over 100 billion neurons. A

complex neural network connects neurons and clusters of neurons, which
store information – memories.
When stimuli run through the neural network, they activate neurons, which
store memories. Those neurons activate other related neurons, which store
other memories, and produce memory associations.
Stimuli include any one of the five senses – sight, sound, smell, taste, and
touch – and trigger memory associations and recall.
A few years ago, I walked into a barn where I had played as a child
during summer vacations in New Hampshire. The smell of the barn
triggered my childhood memories. It helped me picture people from a
long time ago. In my case, the smell of the barn activated neurons
that store memories of people I had not seen or thought about in
decades.

People rebuild stories from memories. These stories require rebuilding

because memories change. New information changes memories. New
perceptions change memories. Memories forget and become fuzzy over time.
The Conscious and Subconscious Mind
Psychoanalysts believe minds are conscious and subconscious. Several

theories abound and there is much debate about the topic of the
subconscious or unconscious mind.
The conscious mind is aware and rational. It learns. It weighs facts and
solves problems. It is cognitive. Awareness and rational thinking govern the
conscious mind.
The subconscious mind is unaware and automatic. Psychoanalysts believe the

subconscious stores deeply held beliefs, emotions, and long-term memories.
The subconscious mind also regulates physiology, such as heartbeat and
breathing.
Some theorize the subconscious heavily influences the conscious mind,

guiding it and influencing rational thinking with deeply held beliefs, emotions,
and memories molded by life’s experiences. The subconscious mind affects
perception.
Some theorize the subconscious mind is always recording information and

storing it, and has been doing so from birth. You may be vaguely aware or
not aware of what it is recording and storing.
Stimuli can call up stored information from the subconscious. Stimuli triggers
stored feelings, memory, or beliefs.
You may not be aware of the memories embedded in your subconscious until
stimuli awaken them and serve them up into the conscious mind. A change in
your circumstances, wants, needs, or problems triggers buried memories.
Your job as a moderator is to help respondents recall information from

memory.

Three Types of Recall in Qualitative Research
There are three types of memory recall methods in qualitative research. They
are unaided recall, partially aided recall, and aided recall.
1. Unaided Recall
The moderator asks respondents to recall information without the aid of a

cue or prompt. Here are examples.
“Please tell me all the brands of smartphones you can think of.”
“Please tell me a story about buying an automobile.”
2. Partially Aided Recall
You ask respondents to recall knowledge, feelings, or beliefs by offering a

partial cue or prompt. The cue is general. Here are common examples of
partial cues (underlined).
“In your mind’s eye, please picture a store wall of mobile phones.
What brands do you see?”
“Please think about the biggest problem you’ve had with brand X.
What did you feel?”
“Please think back to when you bought your mobile phone. What
comes to mind?”
“When I say the word brand X, what comes to mind?”
Projective techniques provide partial cues too.
“Please look at this drawing. What does it say about brand X?”
“If a Jeep were an animal, what animal would it be?” How does the
animal describe the car?
“Please look at this picture. How does is relate to brand Y?”

3. Aided Recall
The moderator states or shows specific cues to respondents, and then asks a
question. The cue stimulates memory associations. Here is an example.
“Please look at these brands: A, B, C, and D. Which one do you use?”
“When you buy heavy-duty oil, what are the most important factors to
think about... quality, specifications, service, price, advice, OEM
approval? Please rank in order of importance and explain.”
When you ask questions, ask unaided recall first. Then, ask partially aided
recall. Finally, ask aided recall. Stick to the sequence. If you ask aided before
unaided questions, you can get biased answers.
Final Thoughts
Your job as a moderator is to help respondents recall information from

memory.
There are three types of memory recall to bring back information from
memory:
• Unaided recall
• Partially aided recall
• Aided recall
Stick to the recall sequence to reduce bias.

Lesson 19: How to Recognize and

Reduce Research Bias
Overview
1. What is Research Bias?

2. Biased Questions
3. Biased Answers
4. Moderator Bias
5. Sample Bias
6. Biased Reporting
7. Final Thoughts
What is Research Bias?
In research, bias affects the validity and reliability of findings, and

consequently affects decisions.
Bias distorts truth. Bias slants and skews data.
In marketing research, bias is inevitable. You need to recognize bias and

reduce it.
In qualitative research, there are five major types of bias:
• Moderator bias
• Biased questions
• Biased answers
• Biased samples
• Biased reporting
Moderator Bias
The moderator collects the data and has a major impact on the quality of the
data.

The moderator’s facial expressions, body language, tone, manner of dress,

and style of language may introduce bias. Similarly, the moderator’s age,
social status, race, and gender can produce bias.
Some of these influences are unavoidable, but you can control some of the
physical influences. Remain as neutral as you can in dress, tone, and body
language.
Listen to your recordings for biasing tones and inflections in your questions
and cut them out. Check your facial expressions in videos. If you have biased
facial expressions, get rid of them.
If respondents ask for your opinions about the subject matter, don’t give
them. Stay neutral.
Biased Questions
A biased question and the way you ask or phrase a question influences
respondents’ answers.
Recognize and avoid biased questions. You’re in control of the questions.

Check your moderator guide for biased questions, and rephrase them or
remove them.
Here are some common biased questions.
Leading Question Bias
A leading question suggests answers. It puts words in people’s mouths. It

causes bias.
In this example, the underlined words produce bias.
“Some people think cola drinks are bad for you – what do you think?”
“What is your opinion about the awful looking car in this picture?”
“What do you dislike about the high price of brand X?”
By keeping questions neutral, you reduce question bias. Here’s how to do it.

“What is your opinion about cola drinks?”

“What do you think about the car in this picture?”
“What do you dislike about brand X?”
Write and ask neutral questions. Strip out modifiers.
Misunderstood Question Bias
Sometimes moderators ask questions respondents misunderstand.
Words, context, and different interpretations of words and sentences cause

misunderstanding.
Simple, clear, concise, and conversational questions reduce

misunderstanding.
Unanswerable Question Bias
Some people can’t answers questions because they don’t have experience or
reference points with a subject. Yet some respondents try to answer. If
respondents don’t have experience with a product category, their answers
may be misinformed.
Interview people with experience in the subject of interest.
Specific before General Question Bias
Specific questions before general questions may introduce bias. Specific

questions can set up a frame of reference that respondents automatically
assume for the next questions.
Here is an example about lubricant grease for trucks.
Specific Question, “What happened when the grease washed out of the
wheel well?”
Specific Answer, “The bearings wore out faster than we expected, and
we had to replace them. Parts and labor are expensive.”

General Question, “What is your overall opinion about brand X

grease?”
General and biased answer, “It’s no good. It washes out.”
In this example, the specific question and answer slant the answer to the
general question.
Ask general questions before specific questions.
Attitude before Behavior Question Bias
If respondents talk about attitudes before behaviors, they may change their
stories about behaviors. Once people state something, they try to appear
consistent with their previous statements.
Past behavior is a fact; it may be an indicator of future behavior.
Ask behavior before attitude questions.
Negative before Positive Question Bias
You don’t want the interview to turn into a gripe session.
Talk about positives before negatives. Keep the conversation balanced.

Ask positive before negative questions.
Aided Before Unaided Question Bias
Aided questions before unaided questions produce bias. Aided questions offer
prompts.
Let’s say you want to ask people about brand awareness. If you give them
names of brands first, and then ask which of them they have heard of, you
may bias their answer. Some people may say they have heard of a brand,
even though it may not be true.
For example, here is an aided question before an unaided question. This is

wrong.
Aided, “Have you heard of brands X, Y, Z?”

Unaided, “Which brands have you heard of?”
By asking unaided questions before aided, you reduce bias. Here is the
correct order.
Unaided, “Which brands have you heard of?”

Aided, “Have you heard of brands X, Y, Z?”
When you are exploring, you want respondents to tell you what they think,
do, and feel about their world.
Don’t impose your categories on respondents, until they identify and describe
their categories. Let respondents name categories, subjects, and dimensions,
before you do.
Ask unaided before aided questions.
Biased Answers
A biased answer is an untrue or partially true statement. Bias skews

answers, masking truth.
An untrue statement can be intentional or unintentional. It doesn’t matter, it

is bias. And it happens for various reasons.
Biased answers are common; be on guard for them.
Here are common types of biased answers seen in qualitative research.
Consistency Bias
People try to appear consistent in their answers. A person’s previous

statement influences later statements, even though one of the statements
may be untrue.
If an answer does not seem right, ask for clarification.
Dominant Respondent Bias

In a focus group, dominant respondents appear occasionally. Dominant

respondents’ take over talk time, vocalizing their knowledge, expertise, and
energy.
They influence other respondents’ answers.
Keep dominant respondents in check. Make sure other respondents get equal
talk time.
Error Bias
Respondents are not always right. Sometimes they make mistakes. Memories
fade and forget.
Crosscheck data.
Moderator Acceptance Bias
Some respondents provide answers to please the moderator.
Respondents tell what they believe the moderator wants to hear, distorting
truth.
If answers don’t ring true, challenge respondents in a friendly way.
Mood Bias
When respondents are in an extreme mood state, they may provide answers
that reflect their mood.
Angry people or pessimists provide angry or pessimistic answers. Busy

executives may provide short, curt, harried answers.
Check for mood state and assess answers.
Overstatement Bias
Sometimes respondents overstate their intentions or opinions. It happens in

concept-testing focus groups.

Respondents overstate buying intent.
Recognize and judge overstatement.
Reference Bias
Respondents develop a frame of reference from a previous question,

discussion, activity, or thought. They carry the reference to the next
question, which biases answers.
The sequence of topics, questions, and activities produce reference bias.

Reduce reference bias − also known as order bias − by logically ordering
questions, topics, and activities.
Concept tests pose an interesting reference bias problem in focus groups. If

you introduce concept statements after one hour of discussion, you will get
biased reactions to the concept. Respondents have already stated their
opinions about the general topic and influenced one another.
With depth interviews, introducing concepts late in the interview produces

bias. The moderator’s early questions and the respondent’s answers
influence concept reactions.
You want to run your concept test when the depth interview or focus group
starts. Introduce concept statements after interview or group introduction.
Ordering your topics and activities needs some judgment. Ask yourself if the
order sequence causes bias. Change the sequence. See what makes sense.
Sensitivity Bias
Questions may raise sensitive subjects, about which respondents would

rather not talk. Respondents may give false answers to hide secrets.
You need to build trust here, so provide empathy and handholding. People
will talk to others they like and trust.
Use projective techniques and indirect questions. Try third-party projections.
Social Acceptance Bias

Respondents provide socially acceptable answers that may be false.
People say what is socially acceptable, even though they may feel or think
something else. They may twist the truth, or offer half-truths.
For example, not many people tell you directly that they seek power, social
status, or are envious because of their insecurities.
Most people want to conform to their group socially.
Challenge answers tactfully. Use projective techniques or indirect questions

that deal with socially sensitive subjects. Try third-party projections.
Sponsor Bias
When respondents know who is sponsoring the research, their feelings and
opinions about the sponsor may bias answers.
Purchase managers start negotiating when they know the sponsor.
Don’t reveal the name of the sponsor. Keep your studies blind as long as you
can.
Biased Sample
A sample is a subgroup of people you interview. They represent the segment

of interest.
A biased sample consists of respondents who don’t represent the group of

interest. You interview the wrong people.
Poor screening and recruiting causes biased samples. Screen in people you
want; screen out people who don’t fit. Random sampling during recruiting
reduces sample bias.
Professional respondents cause sample bias. They typically show up in

consumer focus groups. You rarely see professional respondents in B2B
groups or interviews.

Ask your focus group recruiter to guarantee they are not recruiting
professional respondents. Ask recruiters to check their data-base to see how
many times respondents have attended focus groups in the past year. Check
respondents’ photo identification when they show up for a consumer focus
group.
Listen for answers, or a lack of answers. If answers are shallow, or don’t

seem right, tell your recruiter. Develop a sixth sense for pros. They bias the
sample and waste your time and money.
Reduce sample bias. Ask recruiters to use random sampling. You want a
sample that represents your target segment.
Biased Reporting
Moderators and analysts sometimes produce bias when reporting. They can’t
help it. Keeping an open mind requires extraordinary discipline.
Experiences, beliefs, feelings, wishes, attitudes, culture, views, state of mind,

reference, error, organizational politics, and personality can bias analysis and
reporting. The conscious and subconscious are at work. Moderators and
analysts are human too.
Strive for objectivity as best you can. Keep your mind open. Weigh and
balance.
More than one analyst helps. Get a couple of people to analyze the data.
You’ll get different perspectives. If you unconsciously bias reporting, another
analyst may spot it.
Final Thoughts
Reduce bias whenever you can. Bias distorts results, and affects decisions.
There are five types of bias in qualitative research.
• Moderator bias
• Biased questions
• Biased answers

• Biased sample
• Biased reporting
You can control some aspects of moderator bias: dress, tone, and body
language. Appear and be neutral.
You have control over questions. Write out your questions and review them
for bias. Remove biased questions. Use neutral questions.
There are several types of biased answers. Recognize them and deal with
them.
You can control biased samples. Screen people who represent the group of
interest. Screen out the wrong people.
You can control biased reporting. Keep an open mind. Let a couple of
analysts review the data.

Lesson 20: Seller Beware – The

Customer is Not Always Right
Overview
1. Seller Beware
2. The Moderator as a Detective
3. Final Thoughts
Seller Beware
Customers and prospects are not always right. What they say and do often
contradicts.
People sometimes can’t explain why they behave the way they do. Many
behaviors are automatic. People don’t think about them.
And, consumers don’t pay much attention to low-interest products. They

don’t spend much time thinking about them, and they don’t think a lot about
why they buy them.
Consumers sometimes cannot tell you why they like or dislike a product.
Attitudes are complex, consisting of knowledge, perceptions, beliefs, feelings,

and values, buried deep in the semi-conscious or subconscious. People
cannot explain their subconscious.
And most people can’t tell you accurately what they will do in the future.
They live in the here and now. People cling to what they know, do, and
believe. It’s hard for them to predict what they will do, especially with new
products, categories, technologies, or trends. Consumers prefer the familiar
and have a tough time describing the unknown.
Consumers serve up their opinions to appear socially acceptable or to please

their host – the moderator. They may not want to reveal their inner secrets
about sensitive matters, so they tell you something different – half-truths, or
they avoid the subject.

Consumer attitudes and behaviors change, as new trends and circumstances

affect their lives.
Consumers are a mystery. Customers and prospects are a mystery. So, you
have to solve the mystery of what customers and prospects tell you. And to
solve the mystery, you need to be a detective.
The Moderator as a Detective
A moderator is a detective.
You are detective in search of truth. But sometimes people don’t tell the
truth. Often it is not their fault because they don’t know how to tell the truth.
Your job is to figure out the truth... to solve mysteries. You investigate,
gather evidence, assess clues, put the puzzle together, and judge what it
means.
The true value of a detective is in solving puzzles. The mind of your customer
or prospect is your puzzle to solve.
Sometimes, people are not what they appear or say to be. Sometimes
responses mislead, pointing in the wrong direction. So as moderator
(detective), you need to assess the quality of the “evidence.”
Detectives are skeptical. Detectives don’t accept first answers at face value.
They dig deeper with follow-up questions, probes and prompts. They gather
evidence, crosscheck it, confirm it, and weigh it.
Detectives diagnose motives. All actions (behaviors) have a motive. More

often than not, motives lurk behind masks, hidden from view. So, detectives
try to peel off masks, subtly and gently.
When detectives find motive, they gain deeper understanding. It helps to

solve the mystery.
Here are some techniques to help you solve consumer puzzles.
• Ask the same question in different ways.

• Ask indirect and direct questions.

• Ask respondents to tell you stories, histories, firsthand experiences,

and specific examples about a product or brand.
• Ask the same question of different people:
o Consumers, users, prospects, sellers, advertisers, distributors,
and experts.
o Get different perspectives about the subject of interest.
o Compare answers to what others say.
• Compare answers to other sources of information.
• Compare behaviors to attitudes.
• Look for patterns, agreement, and consistency in answers.
• Look for inconsistencies.
• Get expert opinion.
• Study behavior. Observe and ask.
You need to judge the quality of the data... the evidence.
You also need to know what qualitative research applications work well.
The best evidence is behavior. Market tests and commercial markets provide
reliable data about product use. For advertising, the A/B split test measuring
sales or sales leads tracts behavior.
Expert opinion is worthwhile. Experts can guide you quickly through

unfamiliar territory. Talk to experts and channel personnel − they possess
insider facts, knowledge, and considered judgment.
If you don’t know much about a market, qualitative research is worthwhile.

New markets, trends, segments, customers, prospects, competitors, and
channels are worth knowing. You build knowledge. You piece the puzzle
together.
Consumers can tell you about their here and now. They can tell about their
problems. They can tell you about associations.
If you are looking for fresh ideas or new perspectives, qualitative research is
worthwhile. In the mountain of information you amass, you may find one or

two nuggets of gold. They can transform your product, service, or marketing
campaign. You mine for gold nuggets.
Marketing pundits estimate about nine out of ten new consumer product
launches fail to meet management’s expectations. Treat a failed product
launch as a product usage test or market test. Learn from it…talk to users.
The sooner you fail, the sooner you will be successful, if you take the time to
understand.
As a detective, use the right tools for the job. Know the applications of
qualitative research, and judge the quality of the data. Solve puzzles and
mysteries.
Final Thoughts
Customers and prospects are not always right.
What they say and do often contradict.
You need to be a detective, one who gathers evidence, weighs it, and solves
puzzles.

Section Three – Qualitative Research

Applications

Lesson 21: How to Conduct

Exploratory Research
Overview
1. Explore and Discover

2. Trends
3. Unmet Needs and Wants
4. How to Find Unmet Needs and Wants
5. The Challenge of New Technology and New Product Categories
6. Final Thoughts
7. Exploratory Question Examples
Explore and Discover
Exploratory research discovers. Discovery guides direction.
When you are considering developing new products or services for markets,
or entering new markets or segments about which don’t know much, you
need data, facts, information, and knowledge.
You need facts, information, and knowledge for planning. Plans aid decisions
and decisions produce action.
Exploratory research gets you facts.
You can learn a great deal from exploratory research without asking many
questions or without knowing precisely which questions to ask.
Exploratory interviews discover and explore,
• Trends
• Unmet Needs and Wants
Trends
A trend is a general direction that moves up or down or sideways. You want

to catch a rising trend, and avoid a falling trend.

Positioning a product or service in a rising trend is an opportunity. Positioning

a product in a falling trend could be a struggle.
There are several types of trends:
• Technology
• Consumer
• Social
• Regulatory
• Legal
• Political
• Economic
• Industry
• And more
You want to identify trends for opportunities and threats.
Trends affect your business in the short and long run; so identify trends early
on.
To discover and appraise trends, talk to experts. Use depth interviews.
Experts focus on your industry or product category. Experts are executives,

consultants, trade magazine editors, journalists, industry association
executives, technologists, professionals, financial analysts, authors,
professors, distributors, dealers, and business owners. They know an
industry and its product categories well.
Speak to about 10 to 15 experts and discover trends, opportunities, and

issues in your industry. Experts are like harbor pilots − they guide you
through unfamiliar territory.
Get a broad perspective about your industry with experts’ opinions and ideas.
Experts are busy people. Telephone depth interviews work best with them.
Unmet Needs and Wants
Unmet needs or wants are desires that go unfulfilled.

Unmet needs and wants are business opportunities. Unmet needs are
opportunities for differentiation, positioning, and first-mover advantage.
Small things can tell big stories. Just one discovery about an unmet need or
want can transform product development and marketing actions. Searching
for unmet needs or wants is worthwhile.
The Difference between Needs and Wants
Unmet needs and wants are business opportunities.
In marketing, there is an important difference between needs and wants.
A need is a condition in which something is required or necessary.
A want is a desire or wish.
We need a product category for life’s basic requirements, but want a specific
brand in the category.
Most of us need cars for work, school, or play. We need a car, but want a
BMW, Lexus, Honda, or Ford.
A telecom network engineer needs a network to run. The engineer must buy
and run a network. It is a need. His company needs it for business. But, she
or he prefers a specific brand – in other words – wants a specific network
brand. Because she or he believes, it will do the job.
How to Find Unmet Needs and Wants
There are two ways to discover unmet needs and wants, in qualitative
marketing research.
We find unmet needs and wants by asking about,
• Product recommendations
• Problems

You can ask experts their opinions about unmet needs and wants. But it is
better to go direct to the source… product users. Product users have
firsthand knowledge about product use.
Recommendations
Recommendations point to unmet wants and needs.
Ask product users for specific product or service recommendations; ask how
to improve a product or service. Ask for new product or service ideas.
Product users are experienced with a product or service. Their direct

experience focuses practical thinking.
When you ask for recommendations, ask product users about improving a
product or service.
“If you were the product manager, what product improvements would
you make to product X?”
“What will it take to give this product an A grade?”
“What do you recommend to make the product better?
Then follow up and ask laddering questions. Try to understand how the
improved product satisfies functional, higher, and emotional benefits.
“What new or improved features do you recommend?”

“What benefits would improvements provide?”
“What is important about the benefits? “
“And, what does that do for you?”
Finally, follow up and probe why people recommend a product or service. It

usually results from dissatisfaction with an existing product or feature. Ask
follow-up questions and find out why people recommend the things they do.
Follow-up questions and probes expand and clarify.
Another way to discover unmet needs and wants is to ask about product
problems.

Unsolved Problems are Unmet Needs or Wants
Important, unsolved problems are unmet needs and wants.
Problems are business opportunities. Solving problems creates value.
Identify unmet needs and wants by asking product users a series of

questions about problems. Ask a main question about a problem, and then
ask related follow-up questions and probes.
Main question,
“What is the biggest problem with brand X?”
Related and important follow-up questions,

1. “What causes the problem?”
2. “What is the impact of the problem?”
3. “How important is the problem?”
4. “What have you done about the problem?”
5. “What are the solutions?”
6. “Have the solutions worked? Please explain.”
7. “What would life be like if you solved the problem?
8. “Who else has this problem?”
Each follow-up question is important. Ask each one to gain full

understanding. Don’t omit them.
You want to know the cause, not just the symptoms, because this may help
with solutions.
You want to know how big the problem is to the users. What is the impact?
What other problems does the problem cause? Big problems get attention
and money. Small problems get less notice.
You want to know about solutions because they indicate whether

opportunities exist. Existing solutions may not be an opportunity for you. But

unsolved problems, or problems solved in tedious or expensive ways, are

opportunities, if you can create a solution. The problem must be important
enough for people to pay for a solution. An immediate cure is worth
something. People pay for immediate solutions.
You want to know about the group of people (segment) who have the
problem. Is the group big enough? Can you communicate with them? Can
they pay for the solution? Who decides to buy a solution?
When you examine problems, ask about category problems. Then ask about
a specific product brand or service problem.
Category problems are opportunities for positioning. Solve the category

problem and separate yourself from competitors. Differentiate.
Your product or brand problem is one you fix right away. Don’t let important
problems fester. They are opportunities for competitors to capture your
customers.
A mobile phone brand lost market share because their popular phones had
technical problems. The technical problem caused user frustration, high
returns, and a big hit to the brand image. Competitors won over their
customers.
Questions about problems are powerful. Discover unsolved, important

problems and you discover unmet needs and wants.
Problems are valuable. People pay to solve problems.
The Challenge of New Technology and New Product Categories
New product categories pose a qualitative research challenge.
People cling to the familiar and are wary of the unknown.
People do not have experience with new product categories. There are no
users, no customers… only prospects. This is especially true with new
technologies that create radically new product categories.

The challenge is people don’t have reference points about a new product
category.
They have not tried it and have not thought about it. They don’t know it and
don’t understand it. They can’t really talk about it authoritatively.
Evaluating their intent towards the new category is tough, especially if the
new category requires a major change in behavior and attitudes.
If you could wind back the clock to 1985 and ask people about their intent
towards cell phones, instant messaging and Wi-Fi, they would give you a
blank stare. The majority did not experience and understand the categories
in 1985.
So how do you interview people without category experience?
You look for problems.
You search for user problems with existing product categories. You find
unmet needs and wants by spotting important, unsolved problems. It is
detective work.
Behavior Change - Big Benefits
If your new technology or product category delivers big benefits, you may
have an opportunity.
I stress big benefits.
People stick to what they know. The value of an existing product or product
category or way of doing things looms larger than the value of the unfamiliar.
Most people are conservative when asked to change behavior in favor of the
unknown.
You need big benefits to win them over, and big benefits must be easy to
communicate. The benefits must appear big or be big. They must attract
attention and change attitudes and behavior.

Small changes in behavior are easier to achieve than big changes. Study
behavior with an existing category. Estimate the new behavior required by
the new category. Estimate the behavior gap between the old and new.
If the new behavior change is big, you’ll need big, important

benefits…functional benefits and emotional benefits.
You must judge if your new technology or product can solve important
problems with big benefits. Are benefits big enough to change existing
behaviors and attitudes?
So, look for existing user problems. They are opportunities for new
technologies and categories.
Final Thoughts
When you don’t know much about a market or segment, use exploratory
research.
You want to know about trends and unmet needs and wants.
Experts can tell you about trends.
Unmet needs and wants are business opportunities.
You ask product users for recommendations about improving products.
Important, unsolved problems are unmet needs and wants.
Category problems are powerful positioning opportunities.
Important product problems are ones you fix right away.
Exploratory Question Examples
Here are questions you can use to identify trends and unmet needs and wants.
Trends
Ask experts about trends.

1. Please tell me about the biggest trends in the (industry or product

category).
a. Prompt technology, social, consumer, regulatory, economic,

distribution, and retailing.
2. What’s driving the trends?

3. What are the implications of those trends?
a. Prompt: on companies, consumers, and distribution?
4. What trends are opportunities?
5. What trends are threats?
6. Who is taking advantage of the trends?
a. What are they doing?
b. What do they do well?
c. What don’t they do well?
7. What are the industry’s biggest challenges?
8. What are solutions to the challenges?
Unmet Needs and Wants - Recommendations
Ask product users for specific recommendations for product improvement.

Then use laddering questions to understand how improvements help.
1. What specific product improvements do you recommend?

2. What are the reasons for making the recommendations?
3. What new or improved features do you recommend?
4. What benefits do improvements provide?
5. What is important about the benefits?
6. And what does that do for you?
Unmet Needs and Wants - Problems
First, ask product users about problems with the product category. Then ask
about specific products.
1. What is the biggest problem you have with (product category)?

2. What is the cause?

3. What is the impact of the problem?
4. How does the problem affect you?
5. How important is the problem? What makes it important?
6. How have you tried to solve the problem?
7. How effective are the solutions?
a. Probe: reasons
8. How would things change if you could solve the problem?
9. Whom else does the problem affect?
10. (Repeat questions one through nine for a specific product or service.)


Segmentation Research
Overview
1. Segments and Targets

2. How to Identify Segments
3. Descriptions of People in Segments
4. Final Thoughts
5. Question Examples
Segments and Targets
Markets consist of segments.
Segments are groups of people with similar qualities. Demographics,

behaviors, and attitudes are examples of qualities. Qualities define, describe,
and distinguish segments.
You identify segments in the market, then target segments.
You use qualitative research to:
• Discover and identify segments

• Learn details about segments
• Target segments
• Develop products, positioning, and advertising for target segments
Focus your efforts on target segments. Target segments present the best
opportunities to produce revenues, profits, and growth. First-rate marketing
starts with identifying and targeting segments.
Valuable target segments have the following people.
People who,
• Want or need your product or service

• Use your product or service

• Have money to buy your product
• Buy or heavily influence buying
• Identify with your positioning
• Respond to your marketing communications
• Are easy and cost-effective to reach
• Are loyal to your brand
Target segments where competition is weak. Target profitable segments.
Target segments in which you can set up a distinctive position. Your

positioning is the reason somebody buys your product and not your
competitors’ products.
How to Identify Segments
As a first step, depth interview experts and executives. Include channels –

distributors and retailers – and your salespeople in your expert interviews
too. Salespeople know prospects and customers.
Ask experts about segments – opportunities, strengths, weaknesses, trends.
Then identify segments by asking product users, using focus groups or depth
interviews.
In a product concept test, ask respondents who would use the product.
“Who would use this product?”
During focus groups to concept-test multimedia mobile phones, I asked

respondents to identify people who would use the concept products.
Respondents suggested two segments the client had not foreseen. We
interviewed the suggested segments and sized them. They turned out to be
valuable target segments.
Behaviors and attitudes about products or services are powerful ways to

define and classify segments.

Here are qualities you can use to classify a segment.
• Who uses the product or service?

• How they use it
• Why they use it
• Where they use it
• When they use it
• Who buys
• Attitudes
• Feelings
• Perceptions
• Wants
• Needs
• Beliefs
• How much they pay
• Media they use
• Demographics
Identify and describe segments for consumer products and business products
early in the discovery stage.
Marketers typically use quantitative surveys to identify and size segments.
You can use segmentation interviews before quantitative segmentation

surveys to identify segments. You use interview findings to develop topics
and dimensions for quantitative segmentation surveys.
After quantitative segmentation, interview people who typify each segment

to gain deeper understanding about the segment.
Warning: do not use qualitative research to size segments. That is the

job of quantitative segmentation, or secondary research.
Descriptions of People in Segments

When you have completed your groups or depth interviews, write a

description of a person who typifies each segment.
Why write a description of person who typifies a segment?
You get a clear, concrete view about target prospects and customers. The
person makes the exercise real.
Descriptions of real people help you develop products and ads. And you use
descriptions to represent target segments. You develop products, services,
and ads for specific people, not abstract segments.
Written descriptions of people in segments focus attention, unite

understanding, and align purpose. Product managers, ad managers,
marketing managers, sales managers, production managers, and executives
have the same descriptions.
If your person typifies your target segment, he or she is the one everyone in
your organization needs to know and understand. You are counting on people
in the target segment to give you revenue and profit. Make segments real by
describing them as real people.
Here is how to write descriptions of people in segments.
First, label each segment. Identify and label four or five segments. Then
write a description of a person who typifies each segment.
Describe,
Behaviors
• how they use the product

• how they buy the product
• how they become aware of the product
• media they use
Attitudes
• why they use the product
• problems they are trying to solve

• needs and/or wants

• features they like and dislike
• benefits they seek
• perceptions, feelings, and beliefs
• why they select one brand over others
Demographics
• age
• income, assets
• gender
• profession
• family size
• marital status
• geography
• education
• ethnicity
You can also do the same for business markets by describing people in
business segments. Describe target attitudes and behaviors, and corporate
data,
• job title
• job responsibility
• product involvement
• product buyers and influencers
• company size
• employees
• financials
• geography
• industry classification
Describe each person in one or two pages. Use respondents’ word for word
quotes to highlight specific points. Add a picture of a person who typifies the
segment. It makes it real. It’s concrete, not abstract.

Take the findings from depth interviews or focus groups, then describe and
classify four or five segments. Rank your segments in order of importance as
measured by profits.
Pick valuable segments to target. Tailor products, positioning, and

advertising for each target segment.
Final Thoughts
Markets consist of segments.
Interview experts and category users to
• discover and identify segments

• learn details about segments
• target segments
• develop products, positioning, and advertising for target segments
Find out about behaviors, attitudes, and demographics, or corporate data.
Classify and label segments.
Write a description of a person who typifies each segment.
Pick valuable segments to target.
Develop products, positioning, and advertising for each target segment.
Segmentation Question Examples
Questions for experts,
1. Who uses the product?

2. What do the users look like?
3. How do they use the product?
4. How often do they use the product?
5. Who makes the buying decisions?
6. When do they use the product?

7. What are the reasons they use the product?

8. What problems are they trying to solve?
9. What are the primary benefits they seek?
10.What are their attitudes to brands?
11.What are their attitudes to the product?
12.What media do they consume?
13.What is the best way to communicate with them?
14.What messages appeal to them?
15.What is the best way to make them aware of the product?
16.What is the best way to get them interested in the product?
17.What is the best way to motivate them to buy the product?
18.How well does the competition serve them?
19.What distinguishes this group from other groups?
20.Where do you find this group?
21.How do they communicate with one another?
22.What clubs, associations, or organizations do they belong to?
23.What lifestyles do they lead?
24.What is their economic status?
25.What is their social status?
26.Please give the group a name. What would you call them?
Questions for product users or prospects:
Modify the above questions for product users or prospects. Change from
the third person to the second person. Replace “they,” “them,” or “their”
with “you” or “your.”
Also in concept testing, simply ask, “Who would use the product?”

Lesson 23: How to Conduct Research

about Competition
Overview
1. Understanding Your Competitors

2. Competitive Intelligence
3. Competitors’ Positioning
4. More Comparative Techniques
5. Switching
6. Final Thoughts
7. Example Questions
Understanding Your Competitors
Understand your competition by listening to their customers.
Interview current and former users of competitors’ products, using depth

interviews or focus groups. Find out what users think and do about
competitors’ products and services.
Understand why people buy competitors’ products, and not your products.
Use focus groups or depth interviews to,
• Gain competitive intelligence

• Develop positioning
• Understand switching opportunities
Competitive Intelligence
Interview your competitors’ customers.
You can also interview channels – distributors and retailers − to learn about
competitors’ channel activities.
Research your competitors at each stage of product development: discovery,

development, and commercialization.

Talk to competitors’ customers, and talk to channels. Here are some

example questions:
“What is your overall opinion about company Y?”

“How well are their new products performing?”
“What do you like about the product?”
“What problems are you having with the product?”
What problems are you having with the service?”
“What are the reasons for buying product Y and not X?”
“How is their after-sales support?”
“Would you recommend brand X to friends? Please explain.”
Assess competitors’ strengths and weaknesses with information and

knowledge gained from their customers and from channels and industry
experts.
You want to know what your competitors are doing and how effective their
products, services, advertising, and promotions are. You want to stay abreast
of threats and opportunities. Use the information to perform a SWOT
analysis of each competitor.
Competitors’ Positioning
Effective positioning requires understanding competitors’ positioning.
Positioning is the reason people buy your products, and not your competitors’
products. It is the message you plant in the target’s mind. It is your claim or
promise to users. It drives wants for your brand.
You interview competitors’ customers to understand how they perceive

competitors’ positioning. You assess how strongly competitors’ positioning
grips their users’ mind.
Use laddering with competitors’ customers to identify positioning. Map out

the feature-benefits-emotions chain for each competitor. Look for
weaknesses and gaps in positioning, when analyzing the competitive
landscape.

Then you develop your positioning.
More Comparative Techniques
Here are some more techniques for comparing and contrasting competitors’
products and marketing programs.
The techniques include:
• Perceptual Maps
• Brand Attitudes
Perceptual Maps
A perceptual map is a technique to analyze how users view concepts,

products, or brands. It analyzes how competitive products or brands compare
on attributes. An attribute is a product feature or benefit.
One-Dimensional Perceptual Map
A one-dimensional perceptional map shows a single attribute. A horizontal

line represents the extremes of the attribute. You want to understand
attributes that are important to users.
In qualitative research, the secret to the exercise is to ask follow-up

questions and probes. The follow-up questions seek to understand why.
Here is how to do it.
You ask respondents to place products or brands along an attribute line,

according to where they believe the product or brand fits.
You write the names of brands on cards and ask respondents to sort the
cards along the attribute line. Or, you give them a perceptual map and ask
them to fill in the names of the brands.
After they complete the map, you ask them follow-up questions.

Here is an example about the attribute “ease of use.”
Easy to Use Difficult to Use
Brand Z Brand A Brand C
Directions
“Please place each brand along the attribute line, where you think it
fits best.”
Follow-up question
“Please tell me what makes brand Z easier to use than brand A.”
Probes
“Please explain how Z is different… help me to understand.”
“Please show me how Z is easier to use than A.”
Follow-up question
“How important is ease of use?”

Probe
“Please give me an example.”
Two –Dimensional Perceptual Map
A two-dimensional perceptual map asks about two attributes. There are two
lines – one is horizontal and the other vertical. Each line represents one
attribute and its range. The two-dimensional map shows the relation between
the two attributes.
Here is an example of a two-dimensional map about “ease of use” and

“price.” You ask respondents to plot brands on the map. Then you ask
follow-up questions.

Hi Price
* Brand Z
Easy Difficult
* Brand A
* Brand C
Low Price
Directions
“Please place each brand along the attributes lines.”
Follow-up question
“What is more important – ease of use or low price?”

Probe
Follow-up question
“What makes C more difficult to use than A?”
Follow-up question
“Is C worth the low price?”
Probe
The most important part of the perceptual map exercise is to understand why
respondents give the answers they do.

Attitude Statements
Use the results of quantitative survey questions as the starting point for
asking open-ended questions about competition.
Ask respondents to rate attitude statements, using an agreement scale. Then

ask follow-up questions and probes.
Here is an example.
Directions
Please rate your agreement with the following statements, on a 5-

point scale, where 5 means completely agree and 1 means completely
disagree.
Rating Attitude Statement

5 There is a big difference between brands when it comes to
performance
Follow up
“What are the differences?”

Probe
“Please give me examples.”
Follow up
“How important are the differences?”
Probe
Here are some more examples of brand-attitude statements.

Ask respondents to rate their agreement with each statement. Use a 5-point
scale, where 5 means completely agree and 1 means completely disagree.
Rating Attitude Statement

Using the right brand is important
I can definitely save money by using the right brand
I will switch brands
Changing brands is difficult
Brand X is the best brand
I will absolutely not recommend brand Y to my friends
I feel good when I use brand Z
I can’t rely on brand A
The goal is to understand why. Ask follow-up questions and probe.
Switching
Can you get competitors’ customers to switch to your brand? How?
Changing people’s product habits can be expensive. You want to understand

how well rivals are entrenched in people’s minds. You want to know the
switching barriers. And what it will take and cost to switch users to your
product.
And switching applies to direct and indirect competitors. And even switching
from one category of product to another.
Your product or brand appeal must be powerful enough to break existing

product habits and attitudes.
“What would it take to switch from brand Y to brand X?”
“What would cause you to take the train instead of flying?”
If you are in markets and segments in which growth is stagnant or declining,

achieving revenue growth and profit requires wrestling share from
competitors. It’s a fight. If switching barriers are high, winning over
competitors’ customers could be costly. You may be better off looking for
new segments to target.

On the other hand, if competitors are losing their grip on their customers,
there may be opportunities for switching.
Final Thoughts
Talk to competitors’ customers. Also, talk to channels – distributors,

wholesalers, and retailers.
Understand why users buy and use your competitors’ products, and not
yours.
Use focus groups and depth interviews to,
• gain competitive intelligence

• understand switching opportunities
• develop positioning
Gather competitive intelligence to assess threats and opportunities.
Laddering is an excellent technique to understand competitors’ positioning.
Perceptual maps and attitude statements provide comparative information.

They are starting points to ask open-ended questions.
Assess if switching to your product or brand is possible. It’s a fight for share.
And how you’ll do it and its costs.
Example Questions about Competitors
Assume product Z belongs to a competitor. And X is your product.

Competitive Intelligence
1. Please think about product Z (competitor’s product). What is the first
thing that comes to mind?
2. Please think back to when you first bought product Z. What caused
you to buy it?
3. How did you first become aware of product Z?
4. What other products are you aware of that are similar to product Z?

5. What research did you do before buying product Z?

6. At what point did you decide to buy product Z?
7. How long have used product Z?
8. Have you tried other brands? Please explain.
9. What do you like most about product Z?
10.What do you dislike most about product Z?
11.What are the biggest problems you have with product Z?
12.What improvements do you recommend for product Z?
13. Please compare product Z to other similar products. How does it
stack up?
14. Would you recommend Z to friends? Please explain.”
Competitors’ Positioning
Also, see chapters about Laddering and Positioning.
1. What is product Z’s most important feature? [feature]
2. What does the feature do? [functional benefit]
3. What makes that important? [higher benefit]
4. What does that do for you? [emotional benefit]
5. What is product Z’s next most important feature?
6. (Repeat question sequence for each direct competitor.)
More Comparative Techniques

1. Use perceptual map exercises.
a. Select relevant attributes and brands.
b. Ask respondents to complete maps.
c. Ask open and follow-up questions.
2. Use brand attitude statements.
a. Develop attitude statements
b. Ask respondents to rate using a scale
c. Ask open and follow-up questions.
Switching
1. Please tell me how satisfied you are with product Z.

2. How likely would you switch to another brand? Please explain.

3. What would it take you to buy another brand?
4. Would you recommend product Z to friends or colleagues? Please
explain.
5. How does product Z compare with product X?
6. What makes product Z different from product X?
7. How important is the difference? Please explain.
8. What are your reasons for not using product X?
9. What are your biggest concerns about product X?
10.What do you use product Z for? Could product X do that job? Please
explain.
11.What types of people use product Z? What about product X? How are
the people different?
12. If you could not get product Z, what would you do?
13. Have you ever switched from product Z to use another product?
a. What were the reasons for switching?
b. What are your reasons for not switching?

Lesson 24: How to Conduct Concept

Testing Research
Overview
1. Concept Testing
2. How to Conduct Concept Testing
3. When to Introduce Concepts
4. The Number of Concepts
5. What They Say and Do
6. Final Thoughts
7. Concept Question Examples
Concept Testing
Concept testing finds out people’s reactions to proposed products or

advertising. A concept is a product, advertising, or brand idea.
You show people your ideas and explore their reactions. You find out their
perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and desires about your ideas. You test
product, service, and advertising concepts.
A concept test is a preliminary screen. You sort out the good ideas from the
bad, based on reactions. You screen ideas before you spend time and money
developing products or advertising.
Use concept test to
• Screen early ideas

• Select the most promising ideas for investigation and development
New product concept testing presents new product ideas to prospects.

Prospects react to the product ideas. They tell you what they like and dislike.
Advertising concept testing presents ads to prospects. Prospects react to

headlines, copy, and images. They tell you what words and images they like,
and the ones they dislike. They tell what they don’t understand.

Use concept testing to pick ideas for further investigation and development.
How to Conduct Concept Testing Interviews
Show people your ideas. Ask respondents to read, watch, or listen to ideas.
Then ask qualitative questions.
There are several ways to show ideas.
• Product concept statements

• Pictures, videos, illustrations
• Product samples or prototypes
• Advertising copy
A concept statement is a written description of a new product or service. It is

less than one page, usually a paragraph or two. It is a factual description of a
product or service and its features. Images or illustrations usually accompany
the concept statement.
Product samples are working products or nonworking models. Respondents

see and touch samples.
Advertising copy are samples of proposed ads. Ads consist of headlines, body
copy, and images. Ads are print, video, or audio.
With written concept statements and print advertising, get respondents to

interact with the concepts. Here’s how to do it.
You ask respondents to
• Circle words, phrases, and sentences they like.

• Cross out words, phrases, and sentences they dislike.
• Place questions marks on things they find confusing.
• Write comments on images.
• Rate how unique and different the concept is.
• Give an overall grade to the concept… A, B, C, D, F.
• Rate how likely they would buy.
• Estimate how much they would pay.

After respondents mark up concepts, examine their markups to gain deeper

understanding. Then follow up and probe. For example,
“Please tell the reasons for circling the things you did.”
“What don’t you like about the things you crossed out?”
“What makes it confusing?”
“What makes the product different from other products?”
“How valuable is the difference?”
“Please explain the grade.”
“What does the product do for you?”
“Would you buy it? Please explain.”
With video, audio or product samples, give respondents a survey. Hand out
the survey when you show each concept.
The survey asks respondents to write
• What they like.

• What they dislike.
• What confuses.
• Rate how unique and different the concept is.
• Give an overall grade to the concept… A, B, C, D, F.
• Rate how likely they would buy.
• Estimate how much they would pay.
You also follow up and probe, as in concept statements.
When to Introduce Concepts
Introduce concepts right at the beginning of an interview or focus group,

after the introduction. Ask respondents to write before they talk.

That way, you will cut down on bias, which is a slanted, skewed, or
influenced view. You reduce group bias and reference bias about concepts.
In focus groups, some respondents influence other respondents. When you

introduce concepts at the beginning, and ask people to write before they talk,
you avoid group bias. When you conduct depth interviews, you don’t have to
worry about group bias.
But when you conduct depth interviews, you need to reduce reference bias.
Respondents develop a frame of reference from a question or discussion.

They carry the reference to the next question or concept. The reference
influences answers.
Cut out reference bias by introducing concepts at the beginning of the depth
interview.
The Number of Concepts
Sometimes you have more than one concept to show. When you finish
talking about the first concept, you move to the next one.
But, previous concepts are another form of reference bias that influence
respondents.
To reduce reference bias with several concepts, rotate the order of the
concepts with each interview. Rotating order reduces bias.
In a focus group or depth interview, limit concepts to no more than three

concepts. Too many concepts produce concept fatigue and confusion.
Another way to reduce reference bias is to show only one concept in an

interview or group. This is monadic testing… a dry research term for a single
concept test. If you have several concepts to test, and you show a single
concept in an interview or focus group, you need several interviews or focus
groups. And that pushes up costs.
What They Say and Do

What people say and do are often different. Statements and actions often
contradict.
Concepts and ideas are abstract; they are easy to talk about. When
respondents finish talking about concepts, concepts vanish from their minds.
They evaporate. Concepts don’t require respondents’ commitment.
Respondents don’t pay for concepts, and don’t use them.
So, be wary about concept reactions and answers. Dig deep, challenge, and
weigh what you see and hear. Don’t let rosy answers carry you away. Assess
overstatement of intent…especially purchase intent. Be skeptical. Be a
detective. And certainly don’t use concept tests to forecast sales.
Use concept testing focus groups or interviews to sort out good ideas from
bad ones. These interviews are a preliminary screen.
Once you’ve screened good ideas, investigate them further, and develop and
test products. Product usage is the decisive test. It is in the next chapter.
The same holds true for ads. The only real way to know if ads sell is to test
them. We’ll talk about that too.
Final Thoughts
Concept testing finds out people’s reactions to proposed products or

advertising.
Use concept tests to
• Screen early ideas

• Select the most promising ideas for investigation and development
Introduce concepts right at the beginning of an interview or focus group.
What people say and do is often different. Dig deep, challenge, and weigh
what you see and hear in concept interviews.
Concept Testing - Question Examples

Hand out concept statements and survey forms.
Instructions: Please read or look at the concept and then answer questions.
1. Please circle words, phrases, sentences, or images you like.

2. Please cross out words, phrases, sentences, or images you dislike.
3. Please add a question mark to things that don’t make sense.
4. Please feel free to write comments on anything you see.
5. How different is the product from other products on the market?
6. Please grade the overall concept… A, B, C, D, or F.
7. Would you buy the product?
8. Please estimate how much you would pay.
Follow-Up Questions
1. Please explain your grade.
2. What are the reasons for circling the things you did?
3. What are the reasons for crossing-out the things you did?
4. What does not make sense? Please explain.
5. What do you like best about the product?
a. Please rank in order of importance
b. What do features do for you?
6. What do you like least about the product?
7. What makes the product different from other products?
8. How important are those differences?
9. How well does the product meet your needs?
10.Who would use this product? Please explain.
11.Would you buy the product? Please explain.
12. What would it take to buy this product? Please explain.
13.Please rank the concepts [with multiple concepts].
a. Start with the one you like the best, then next best, and so on.

Lesson 25: How to Conduct Product

Usage Research
Overview
1. Product Usage
2. How to Research Product Usage
3. When to Research Product Usage
4. Final Thoughts
5. Product Usage Question Examples
Product Usage Research
Product research studies people who use products and services. Users are
your customers or people who use competitors’ products.
Product usage research is valuable inquiry. It is one of the most effective

marketing research tools because it examines how and why people use
products and services.
Product users decide product success or failure. They are experts about the
products they use, regardless of economic, social, or educational status. They
know how they use them, what they think about them, and what they feel
about them.
Often, practical insights come from people who use products at home, work,
or play. These insights are powerful, authoritative information.
You use product interviews or focus groups to improve products and services
and to create new products and services.
Use product usage research to,
• understand product usage behavior

• understand product usage attitudes
• get suggestions for improvement

Product interviews find out how and why people use products, and they
examine users’ satisfaction and problems they encounter with products.
How to Conduct Product Usage Focus Group or Depth Interviews
Usage Behavior
How people use a product is behavior. Product usage behavior is fact. It is

reality.
Observed behavior is the best. Self-reported behavior is sometimes less

reliable. But if you can’t observe behavior, use self-reported behavior.
Ask:
“How do you use a product?”
“Where do you use it?”
“When do you use it?”
“How often do you use it?”
“How easy or difficult it is to use?”
Attitudes
Find out why people use products. Discover perceptions, opinions, feelings,
and desires about products or services they use.
A powerful attitude question asks product users if they would recommend a

product to family and friends. The power of the question is in the open-ended
follow-up questions and probes.
“Would you recommend the product to family or friends?

Please explain what you would tell them about the product.”
Ask follow-up questions and probes.
Here are other examples of questions about attitudes:
“What is your overall opinion about product X?”

“What do like best about it?”

“What does the feature do for you?”

“What does the benefit do for you?”
“What is good about that?”
“What is unique about product X?”
“What do the makers of the product think about you?”
“What do you think about the company?”
“What don’t you like about the product?”
Also, try laddering to identify attitudes about product benefits. It’s a great
technique. Link product features and benefits to emotional benefits. Feelings
and emotions shape attitudes.
Problems and Recommendations
Ask about product problems. Then ask about solutions:
“What is the biggest problem with product X?”

“What is the effect of the problem?”
“How important is the problem?”
“What solutions have you tried?”
“Do solutions work? Please explain.”
“What would life be like if you could fix the problem?”
“What do you recommend to fix the problem?”
“What improvements do you suggest?”
When to Conduct Product Usage Research
Research working products. You can use product interviews during product,
• alpha tests
• beta tests
• test markets
• commercial markets
• usability studies

An alpha test is a product test among internal members of a company.
A beta test is a product test with a limited number of select customers.
A test market is a limited rollout of the product in a couple of markets.
A commercial market is the product in the market.
Usability tests the ease or difficulty of completing specific product tasks. You
test usability of technology products, like computers, mobile phones, and
software. You interview people during the usability test.
During alpha, beta, market tests, and usability studies, get user feedback to
improve new products. You tune and tweak products for commercial markets
or drop lousy products.
During commercial markets, you get feedback to improve existing products.

Renew and revitalize tired products.
Even if you interview only five or 10 users about product use, you gain
practical, useful, and sometimes surprising information. Talk to your
customers, and talk to competitors’ customers.
There is no excuse for not conducting product usage interviews or groups.

Not knowing what users think and do about your products is ignorance.
Pick up the phone and ask, or meet users and ask.
Also, check blogs, forums, and customer service centers about product
feedback. Place one or two questions about a product into related online
forums and see what people say.
Smart companies − big, medium, and small − conduct product usage

research.
Final Thoughts

Product research studies people who use products and services.
You use product usage research to improve or create products and services.
Use product interviews or groups to,
• understand use behavior

• understand attitudes
• get improvement suggestions
Research working products, and use product interviews in
• alpha tests
• beta tests
• test markets
• commercial markets
• usability studies
There is simply no excuse not to conduct product interviews.
Product Usage - Question Examples
Use Behavior
1. What product do you use?
2. How do you use the product?
3. What do you use it for?
4. Where do you use it?
5. When do you use it?
6. How often do you use it?
Use follow-up questions, probes, and prompts to gain deeper understanding

about the use of products.
Attitudes

1. What is your overall satisfaction with the category?
2. What is your overall satisfaction with the product?
3. Would you recommend product X to friends, family, or colleagues?
a. What would you tell them?
4. How easy or difficult is it to use?

a. What makes it so?
5. What does the product do for you?
6. What do you like best about the product?
7. What feature do you like best?
8. What does the feature do for you?
9. What does the benefit do for you?
10. What do you dislike about the product?
11. What is unique about the product?
12. Is the uniqueness important? Please explain.
13. Have you tried other brands? How does the product compare?
Problems
1. What are the biggest problems with the product?
2. What causes the problems?
3. What other problems does a particular problem cause?
4. How significant is the problem?

5. What solutions do you suggest to fix the problem?
6. How well do solutions work?
7. What would life be like, if you could fix the problem?
Again, use follow-up questions, probes, and prompts to gain deeper

understanding about problems.
Recommendations
1. What product improvements do you suggest?
2. If you were the product manager, what would you do to improve the
product?
3. What would it take to for you to switch to this product?


Positioning Research
Overview
1. Positioning
2. The Unique Selling Proposition
3. How to Identify Positioning Opportunities with Qualitative Research
4. How to Write a Positioning Message
5. Concept Testing Positioning Messages
6. Final Thoughts
Positioning
Positioning is the process of planting the unique selling proposition in the

minds of your target prospects and customers.
Positioning makes sales. Your positioning is the reason somebody buys your
product and not your competitors’ products. Positioning drives wants of your
brand.
Positioning is a message that highlights important differences. It tells how

and why your product or brand is different and why people should buy it. It is
central to marketing communications strategy. It is your selling message.
Positioning targets specific segments.
Positioning is strategic. Spend some time on it and get it right. Keep

positioning consistent. Positions are durable; they are what your brand or
products stand for.
Chances are you have several competitors. Rivals abound. Each struggles for
attention and sales.
To be noticed, your product needs to stand out; it needs to be different in a

way your prospects and customers value.

You want targeted prospects and customers to associate your product with
features, functional benefits, and emotional benefits they consider important.
You need features, functional benefits, and emotional benefits that are
different from those of your competitors, ones competitors weakly provide,
or don’t provide at all.
Positioning gives your brand or product meaning. It carves out a specific

place in the customer’s mind. You want to own the position. It’s your position
in the product category. It’s your place on the map. You want people to
associate your brand with a specific position.
The position can be real or perceived. Positioning is how prospects and

customers perceive a product or brand.
Use positioning focus groups or depth interviews to,
• Find important and differentiated benefits

• Identify language that resonates with prospects and customers
• Screen positioning messages
• Develop marketing communications strategy
Let’s understand the parts of a positioning message.
Unique Selling Proposition
Positioning is often a unique selling proposition, or differentiated selling

proposition.
The unique selling proposition contains four parts.
1. It promises functional and emotional benefits

2. Benefits are important to target prospects and customers
3. It is different from competitors’ selling propositions
4. It is easily communicated and understood
For example, Volvo’s positioning is safety. Volvo’s features support the

promise of safety. Safety is an important, higher order benefit especially in
the minds of parents with children.

In this case, safety is also a feeling, value, and belief. Volvo’s positioning
message is important and different. Volvo communicates safety often. And
their positioning message is easy to understand and consistent.
How to Identify Positioning Opportunities with Qualitative Research
You use laddering.
Here are the steps.
1. Ask laddering questions about the product category.
2. Ask laddering questions about your product and those of your

competitors.
3. Map your position and your competitors’ positions.
4. Pick an open or weakly held position and write your positioning

messages.
5. Then test your messages in concept testing focus groups or interviews.
6. Pick the best message for development and use it in marketing

communications and advertising.
Let’s review laddering. It’s a useful and important technique.
Laddering is a qualitative research technique that identifies functional and

emotional benefits of a product or service.
Start with product features, and end with users’ emotional benefits.
Laddering links product features, benefits, and higher order benefits to the
emotional benefits of users.
Here are the laddering steps.
1. Ask about an important feature [feature]

2. Ask why the feature is important [functional benefit]
3. Ask why the benefit is important [higher benefit]

4. Ask why the higher benefit is important [emotional benefit]
Review the chapter about laddering questions.
Depth interviews are effective for laddering. Make sure the respondents are
category users. You want to interview respondents who use your product and
your competitors’ products.
Once you have gained positioning information, map it. Map features,
functional benefits, higher benefits, and emotional benefits.
Here is an example of a simple benefit-competitor map at the higher level. It

shows benefit importance by competitors. Each cell represents an emotional
benefit. Make maps for each target segment of interest.
Positioning communicates to target segments. Let’s look at an example in the

automobile category.
Safety Segment Competitors
Brand X Brand Y Brand Z
Benefit
Importance
Important safety
Somewhat status
Important
Not Important fun
In this assumed example, segment states safety is important. And they

perceive brand X offers safety, compared to competitors. The positioning
connects to the safety-minded segment.
You want to find an open cell which is important and, ideally, not occupied by
a competitor, or weakly held by a competitor.
If users perceive a competitor holds an important benefit, check how strongly

the competitor holds the position. If the competitor has a weak grip, you may
consider dislodging the rival. You need to judge the effort involved… the

money and time required to convince the customer. It may better to claim an
open position.
Make sure your positioning is important to customers and profitable to you.
You can also use perceptual maps to understand differences between

competitors, but you need to understand which attributes people value.
How to Write Positioning Messages
Once you know what is important to users and different from competitors,
you write the positioning message. You weave features, benefits, and
emotions into your message. Here is how to do it:
1. Promise functional benefits

2. Imply or promise higher order and emotional benefits
3. Describe specific features to support the promises
Let’s look at a supposed example about an ice hockey stick. Let’s call our
imaginary company Talon.
There are many brands and varieties of hockey sticks. So, we need to make
the stick standout.
We find out from interviewing hockey players who play on the forward line
that accurate shooting (functional benefit) is important when they take wrist
shots. In fact, they believe our Talon stick is accurate because of its lie or
blade angle, flex, and composite materials (features).
Players believe the Talon performs better in wrist shots than brands X, Y, and
Z (different). One right wing player states, “I can hit the left top-shelf corner
nine out 10 times from the top of the circle hash marks with my Talon”
(Benefit and proof). Most first-line forwards tell us they want to be the
leading scorer on the team… the hero (emotional benefit).
Now, let’s write a supposed positioning message.
Forwards! Score more wrist-shot goals with the Talon Accu-Shot™. Be

the hero of the team this season.

The Talon Accu-Shot™ scores more wrist-shot goals than other sticks,
according to forwards. Its precision-designed lie, subtle blade camber,
70 flex, and ultra light carbon fiber give you superior wrist-shot
accuracy.
“I can hit the left top-shelf corner nine out of 10 times from the top of
the circle hash marks with my Talon” JB, right-wing, ABC Express.
Try the Talon Accu- Shot™. See your dealer today.
The positioning message integrates important features, benefits, and

emotions into a unique selling proposition. The message is important to the
target segment. The message is different. It is a specific position. All parts of
the feature-benefits-emotions chain combine to distinguish the product.
Here is the analysis.
Target Segment Ice hockey forwards

Product Talon Accu-Shot™ ice-hockey stick
Features Blade camber, and angle (lie), 70 flex and
carbon fiber
Functional benefits Accurate wrist shots
Big Benefit Scores goals
Emotional Benefit Be the hero
The message also includes a unique brand name that implies benefits... the
Talon Accu- Shot™. And the message includes a call to action and a
testimonial. Testimonials build credibility. The features also build credibility
and support the promise.
If your brand is unknown, you need details to support and distinguish your
promise, and positioning.
The next step is to create variants of the positioning message and test the
messages using concept-testing groups or interviews. Then pick the best
message based on user reactions.
Concept Test Positioning Messages

Show your positioning messages to product users. Get their reactions to each
concept message. Then select the best message.
Here are questions to assess positioning messages. It is similar to product

concept testing, but includes specific follow-up questions for positioning.
Show one message concept at a time. Hand concepts to respondents. Ask

them to keep silent while they write the following:
1. Circle words, phrases, and sentences you like.

2. Cross out words, phrases, and sentences you dislike.
3. Place questions marks on things that confuse you.
4. Give an overall grade to the ad… A, B, C, D, F.
Open the discussion.
1. Please explain the grade.
2. What is your opinion about the message?
3. What does the message tell you?
4. Please tell the reasons for circling the things you did.
5. Please tell the reasons for crossing out the things you did.
6. What parts of the message are confusing?
7. What is missing from the message?
8. How different is the message from others you may have seen?
a. Please explain.
9. How different is the product from competitors’ products?
a. Please explain
10. How important are the differences to you?
a. Please explain
11. How believable is the message? Please explain.
12. How relevant is the message to you? Please explain.
13. What would you do about this message?
14. Is the message for you? Please explain.
15. Whom does the message address?
Pick the best positioning concepts for development.

Use the positioning message in ads. Use positioning messages to sell. Help
prospects decide in favor of your product or service. Positioning is why
people buy from you and not your competitors. Positioning drives wants for
your brand.
Final Thoughts
Positioning is the unique selling proposition or differentiated selling

proposition.
Positioning communicates to target segments. It is strategic.
You plant the unique selling proposition in the minds of your prospects and
customers.
Your positioning is the reason somebody buys your product and not your
First, use laddering interviews to identify positioning maps...your product

brand and your competitors’ brands.
Second, create positioning message concepts. You combine the features,

functional benefits, higher benefits, and emotional benefits into your
positioning message.
Third, get reactions to positioning using concept testing.
Positioning excites wants. Positioning sells your brand.
Positioning Question Examples
Laddering Questions
1. What does the feature do for you?
2. What does the benefit do for you?
3. What does the big benefit do for you?
4. Pick another feature and start the question sequence again.
5. Pick a competitor’s brand and start the entire sequence again.
6. Analyze all of your direct competitors, using laddering.

Attribute Importance
1. What’s the first thing that comes to mind about [product category]?
2. What are the most important things to consider when you buy
[product category]?
3. What are the most important things to consider when you use [product
category]?
4. What product do you use?

5. What do you like best about products?
6. What are the most important features about a product?
7. Please rank the features in order of importance.
8. What makes the features important?
Attribute Difference
1. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name
brand A? Brand B? Brand C?
2. Please think about the product you use. What caused you to pick the
product over others?
3. What makes the product different from others? Please explain.
4. How big are the differences?
5. How important are the differences?
6. Please compare product A to B. What is different?
7. What other brands have you tried?
8. What are the reasons for sticking with the product?
9. What are the reasons for switching?
10. Also use perceptual maps to understand differences.
Concept Testing for Positioning
Show one positioning message concept at a time. Ask respondents to keep

silent while they write the following:

1. Circle words, phrases, and sentences you like.

2. Cross out words, phrases, and sentences you dislike.
3. Place questions marks on things that confuse you.
4. Give an overall grade to the ad… A, B, C, D, F.
Open the discussion with follow-up questions.
1. What is your overall opinion about the message?
3. What does the message tell you?
4. Please tell the reasons for circling the things you did.
5. Please tell the reasons for crossing out the things you did.
6. What parts of the message are confusing? Please explain.
7. What is missing from the message?
8. How different is the message from others you may have seen? Explain.
9. How different is the product from competitors’ products?
10. How important are differences? Please explain.
11. How believable is the message? Please explain.
12. How relevant is the message to you? Please explain.
13. What would you do about this message?
14. Is the message for you? Please explain
15.Whom does the message address?
16. If you were the copywriter, what would your message say?
17. What would you tell your friends about the product?


Advertising Research
Overview
1. Marketing Communications
2. The 7 Advertising Elements
3. How to Conduct Research
4. Create Ad Concepts
5. Test Ad Concepts
6. Final Thoughts
7. Action Plan
Marketing Communications
The purpose of advertising is to sell products and services, according to

David Ogilvy.
Marketing communications includes advertising, selling messages, and

promotions. We’ll focus on advertising.
During advertising creation and development, you use focus groups or depth
interviews to,
1. Create concept ads

2. Test concept ads
First, use information and knowledge from focus groups and depth interviews
to create your concept ads.
Then use concept testing to assess preliminary advertising concepts.
Show sample ads to your prospects and customers and get their reactions.
You want to understand their beliefs, feelings, and desires. You find language
and images that get attention, interest, desire, and buying action for your
product or service.

Then, you track your ads and measure their effectiveness in the market. The
sole purpose of advertising is to produce sales. They are the only measures
that count.
Testing ads is the only way to know what works. Customers decide what
works in advertising… not the creative director, copywriter, advertising chief,
marketing officer, or CEO.
Let’s talk about the important parts of advertising, before we talk about how
to use qualitative research to assess advertising.
The 7 Advertising Elements
There are seven elements in persuasive ads. Each element is important. They
work together to persuade and convince.
Advertising Elements Purpose

1 Headlines Gets attention
2 Promises benefits Generates interest
3 Pictures the outcome of benefits Builds interest
4 Shows proof Builds desire
5 Differentiates Stimulates desire for the brand
6 Makes an Offer Presents value
7 Calls for action Asks for buying action
The headline is the most important part of the ad. Its purpose is to grab
attention and get people to read, watch, or listen to the rest of the ad. If the
headline does its job, it attracts interested people and gets them to pay
attention. If the headline fails, people don’t pay attention. Sales are lost.
Headlines have a few seconds to grab attention. So, they must be powerful.
Good headlines promise specific benefits, strike emotional chords, stir up
curiosity, and ignite urgency.
After the headline, the ad promises important benefits. People buy features
and functional benefits that satisfy personal emotions and beliefs.
Next, the ad shows people enjoying the benefits. It describes or shows a

picture of users achieving emotional goals… happiness, health, admiration,

knowledge, success, wealth. The emotional benefits are the outcome of the
functional benefits.
Keep in mind, positive emotions outsell negative emotions. Happiness,

curiosity, surprise, and acceptance are positive.
The ad also proves claims and sets up credibility. A well-known brand may be
proof enough. An unknown brand must work harder at proving. An unknown
brand offers testimonials, specific features, and extra incentives. It must
build trust, minimizing risks.
The ad also distinguishes the product or service. It positions the product

against competitors and describes the unique selling proposition.
The ad makes an offer. An offer shows value. It cements desire.
The ad’s call to action tells people what to do next. It tells them how to buy.
The call to action is specific and clear. Often, it includes incentives to incite
immediate action.
Persuasive ads are deceptively simple, yet they follow a proven formula,
tested over the span of a hundred years in advertising. Apply the seven
elements of persuasive ads in your marketing communications.
Test ads to find winners. Test to understand concerns. Test to avoid

expensive mistakes.
Create Concept Ads
Create concept ads from your knowledge about prospects, users, and
customers. Here’s how to create concept ads:
Gather information and knowledge you gained from previous research:

exploratory, concept testing, positioning, product usage, and market test
depth interviews and focus groups. And, any other relevant facts you have
about customers and prospects.
The results of research give you specific information and knowledge about
your target audience.

• Behaviors
• Attitudes
• Perceptions
• Opinions
• Feelings
• Beliefs
• Values
• Needs and Wants
• Knowledge
• Awareness
• Media they use
• Language they use
And, when it comes to your product or service, you know what is important
to customers and prospects.
• Features
• Functional Benefits
• Higher order benefits
Next, gather knowledge about imagery from projective interviews. You need
to understand users’ associations with imagery and symbols.
Ad Creation, Imagery, and Symbols
Imagery and symbols play important roles in advertising and branding. They
evoke emotions and feelings. Emotions influence wants and needs.
Imagery opens doors to feelings and emotions. You stimulate feelings and
emotions with imagery, and connect imagery to your product or service.
How do you find relevant imagery?
Use projective techniques to find out about imagery for ads. Projective
techniques help with creative development.
Ask respondents to show you imagery about how they feel about a product
or service. Ask them to show you pictures or drawings.

Imagery can be metaphors. They can be abstract or concrete; they can be

anything that comes to mind. Note: For this exercise, images are not the
physical representations of a product.
Ask respondents to bring or e-mail photos, magazine pictures, illustrations,

drawings, and symbols to the interview. Then ask,
“Please describe what the picture means.”
“How does the picture speak about the product?”
“What do people feel when they see this image?”
Follow up and probe.
“Please tell me more.”
Here is another way to pinpoint relevant imagery: laddering and imagery.
If you’ve completed laddering interviews, you’ll know what emotions connect

to important features and functional benefits.
Show various images related to the emotional benefits identified in laddering.

Develop an inventory of pictures and show them to respondents. Ask them to
pick relevant images.
Ask them how the pictures speak about feelings and beliefs about a product,
service, or brand. Ask projective questions.
“Please tell me about the picture. What is happening?”
“How does the picture speak about the product?”
“What do people feel when they see the picture?”
“What do people believe when they see the picture?”
“What would your friends do if they saw this picture?”

Use the knowledge gained from interviews to create ad concepts, then assess
the ads in concept interviews.
Concept Testing Ads
Assess how people react to your advertising concepts.
Use concept testing for advertising. It is similar to product and positioning

concept testing, but with some specific follow-up questions for advertising.
You want ask about the seven advertising elements.
Show one concept ad at a time. Ask respondents to write about the concepts
or complete a survey.
Ask them to
• Circle words, phrases, sentences, and images they like.

• Cross out words, phrases, sentences, and images they dislike.
• Place question marks on things that confuse.
• Give an overall grade to the ad… A, B, C, D, F.
Ask follow-up questions.
“Please explain the grade.”
“Please explain the reasons for circling the things you did.”
“What don’t you like about the things you crossed out?”
“What parts are confusing?”
“What does the headline tell you?”
“What does the ad tell you?”
“What does it promise?”
“How different is the ad? Please explain.”
“Is the difference important? Please explain.”
“What does the picture tell?”
“What does the ad tell you to do?”
“How believable is the ad? Please explain.”
“How relevant is the ad to you? Please explain.”

“What would you do about this ad?”

“Whom does the ad address?
Probe and dig. Understand why respondents answer the way they do.
Complete the line of questions for each concept. Then ask respondents to
pick concepts they like best and rank them. Rotate concepts with each group
or depth interview to reduce order bias.
You want to test the major parts of each ad. Change only one part while
keeping the other parts the same in all the concepts.
For example, test headlines. Change headlines with each concept, but keep
the body copy and image the same with each presentation. By focusing on
headlines, you’ll find out the best headlines. Headlines are important; their
job is to get attention.
Unique selling proposition is another important part you may want to isolate
and test. It is your differentiator. It helps people to buy your product, not
If images play an important role in the ad, test them too.
Check for clarity. Check whether people understand ads.
Pick the best ad concepts and develop them.
Note. Concept testing does not assess awareness or recall about ads.
You can ask about awareness and recall once an ad is in the market. There
are various quantitative ways to measure ads. But the supreme test is sales.
It is the best measure of all.
When you launch ads in the market, continue to test and measure. Try A/B
split tests. Measure two ads against each other. Pick the ad that sells the
most or produces the most sales leads. It is your control ad. The control ad is
the standard other ads must beat.
The purpose of advertising is to sell. Make your ads sell. Pick the sellers.

Final Thoughts
The primary purpose of advertising is to sell. You are in business to earn

revenue and profit.
Persuasive ads produce attention, interest, desire, and action.
Create your ads with knowledge gained from qualitative research.
Then assess ads with concept testing. Show concept ads and get reactions.
Pick the best ad concepts for development.
Continue to test and measure ads in markets.
Pick the ad that sells the most or produces the most sales leads.
Question Examples
Imagery and Symbols
Here are some projective techniques. Use them to connect imagery to

feelings and beliefs.
Ask respondents to bring imagery. Or show respondents a picture collection

and ask them to pick pictures.
1. Please show me a picture or set of pictures that reflects your feelings

about the product.
2. Please describe what the picture means.

3. How does the picture speak about the product?
4. What do people feel about the picture?
5. What do people believe about the picture?
Drawings
1. Please draw a picture that reflects your feelings about the product.
Draw anything you like… shapes, symbols, figures, doodles.

2. What does the drawing tell us about the product?

3. What do you feel about the drawing?
Personification
1. If this product were a person, who would it be?

2. Please tell me about the person.
3. Please explain how the person and product connect.
4. What does the person feel?
5. What does the person believe in?
Mind’s Eye Story
1. Please picture in your mind’s eye an image about how you feel about
the product. It can be anything that comes to mind.
2. Please tell me a story about the image.
Also, use laddering to identify relevant emotional benefits. Connect emotions

to imagery.
Concept Testing
Show a concept ad. Then ask the following:
1. Circle words, phrases, sentences, and images you like
2. Cross out words, phrases, sentences, and images you dislike
3. Place questions marks on things that confuse you
4. Give an overall grade to the ad… A, B, C, D, F
Follow up with these questions:
2. Please explain the reasons for circling the things you did.
3. What don’t you like about the things you crossed out?
4. What parts of the ad are confusing? Please explain.
5. What does the ad tell you?
6. What does the headline tell you?
7. What does the picture tell you?
8. What doe ad tell you to do?

9. How different is the ad? Please explain.

10.How believable is the ad? Please explain.
11. How relevant is the ad to you? Please explain.
12. What would you do about this ad?
13. Is the ad for you? Please explain
14. Whom does the ad address?
Here are more concept test questions.
1. When you see this ad, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
2. When you see this ad, what feelings does it trigger?
3. When you see this ad, what memories does it trigger?
4. What is the problem with this ad?
5. If you were the creative director, what would you say in the ad?
6. What would you tell your friends about the product or service?
7. Please rank the ads you like the best.

Lesson 28: How to Conduct Consumer

Packaging Research
Overview
1. Consumer Packaging
2. How to Conduct Qualitative Packaging Research
3. The Case of the Improved Closure
4. Final Thoughts
5. Example Questions
Consumer Packaging
Good packaging catches the eye. It tells. It distinguishes. It sells.
Packaging identifies the brand and product. And it protects and stores the
product. It keeps products usable. It informs.
Good packaging is easy to use.
You influence the consumer with packaging. You control packaging.
You want to understand how packages influence consumers, so you interview

consumers about packaging, using focus groups or depth interviews.
Interview consumers to,
• Screen packaging concepts

• Select the most promising concept for packaging development
• Improve packaging
Talk to consumers about packaging. And interview packaging experts.
How to Conduct Focus Groups or Depth Interviews about Packaging
Interview customers, competitors’ customers, and prospects.

There are two types of consumer packaging interviews:
1. Concept Testing
2. Packaging Use
You learned about concept tests. Develop several packaging concepts, show
them to the target audience, and get their reactions. At the concept stage,
show pictures, illustrations, and mock-ups of packaging alternatives. Pick the
best concepts for development, based on consumer reactions.
You learned about product usage research. At this stage, give the target
audience packages and ask them to use the package. Use focus groups or
depth interviews and ask users about their experience with the package.
The Case of the Improved Closure
In the wine business, corked wine is a major problem. For centuries, wineries
used natural cork to close wine bottles. But sometimes natural corks fail. The
cork breaks down and allows oxygen into the bottle, and that spoils the wine.
When the cork fails, it taints the taste of the wine. The wine industry calls it
corked wine.
Wine experts and retailers estimate corked wine happens 1% to 5% of the

time, depending on the class of wine. When consumers return corked wine, it
leads to economic loss for retailers, wholesalers, and wineries, and damages
brand image. It is a headache for the industry.
To solve the problem of corked wine, innovative wineries started using screw
tops instead of natural corks. At first wine snobs scoffed at the idea of screw
tops, and traditional wineries initially balked too. Romantics grieved about
the absence of the romantic pop when opening a bottle of wine. And
consumers were initially slow to accept screw tops.
But screw tops work for many types of wines. In fact, screw tops are now a
major packaging trend in the wine industry. They started in low priced wines,
but now several wineries producing high priced wines use them too.
Wineries convinced consumers and experts about the benefits of screw tops,
and changed long-held traditional beliefs.

Final Thoughts
Packaging catches the eye. It sells.
Use qualitative research to develop packaging concepts and to improve

packaging.
Packaging Question Examples
Packaging Questions for Packaging Experts

1. What are big trends in packaging?
a. Probe drivers and impact
2. What are trends in package design?
3. What are trends in closures?
4. What are trends in labels?
5. What are trends in package shape?
6. For the product category, how does packaging influence consumer’s
buying decisions?
7. Please think about the product category. What do consumers like
about packaging?
8. What are examples of good packaging?
a. What makes it good?
b. What types of packaging drive consumer preferences?
9. What are consumers’ biggest complaints about packaging?
10. What are some examples of bad packaging?
a. What makes it bad?
11. What are the most common causes of packaging failure?
12. What are retailers’ complaints about packaging?
13. How does packaging affect merchandising?
a. Shelf
b. End caps
14. How does packaging hinder or help storage?
a. Warehousing
b. Transport

15. Please think about brand X packaging. What is the impact of

packaging on brand image?
16. How well does brand X closure work?
a. Please explain
17. How well does brand X label catch the eye?
a. Please explain
18. What are the environmental concerns about packaging?
19. What packaging improvements do you suggest for brand X?
a. Examples
b. How would it help consumers?
c. How would it help retailers?
20. Please think about inventory control. How does packaging help or
hinder inventory control?
a. Please give an example
21. Please think about different retail channels. What are the special
packaging needs for each channel?
a. Prompt: specialty stores, mass-market retailers, big box

retailers, chains, independents, mom and pops, drug,
convenience stores.
b. What are the needs?

22. Is there anything else you would like to discuss about packaging?
Packaging Usage Questions for Customers and Prospects
1. Please open this package. Tell me what you think about opening the
package.
2. Please think about packages for [insert product category.] What is the
first thing that comes to mind about packages?
3. What do you like about packages?

4. What do you dislike?
5. Please give me examples of good packages.

6. What makes them good?

7. What are your biggest problems with packages?
8. Please give me examples of bad packages.
9. What makes them bad?
10. Please tell me about your experience with brand X package.
11. What do you like about brand X package?
12. What you dislike about brand X package?
13. How does brand X package compare with other packages?
14. What is different about brand X packaging?
15. What catches your eye?
16. What does the package tell you?
17. What is your experience with opening the package?
18. Please show me how you open the package.
19. Please describe how you open the package.
20.How do you close the package?
21. How well does the closure work?
22. How do you store the product?
23.Where do you store it?
24. In what way does the package help or hinder storage?
25. What is your opinion about the shape of the package?
26. How does the package support the brand image?
27. If you were the package designer, what would you do to improve the
package?
Packaging Concept Questions
Here are questions for concept testing packages. Show one package concept
at a time. Show pictures, illustrations, or mock-ups. Then ask respondents to
do the following:
1. Please circle words, phrases, sentences, or images you like.

2. Please cross out words, phrases, sentences, or images you dislike.
3. Please add a question mark to things that don’t make sense.

4. Please feel free to write comments on anything you see.

5. Please grade the overall concept… A, B, C, D, or F
Concept Follow-Up Questions

2. What is your overall opinion about the package?
3. What are the reasons for circling the things you did?
4. What are the reasons for crossing out the things you did?
5. What does not make sense? Please explain.
6. What do you like best about the package?
a. What does it do for you?
7. What do you like least about the package?
8. What makes the package different from packages?
9. Please rank the concepts [with multiple concepts].
a. Start with the one you like best, then next best and so on.
b. Please explain
10. Please sort the packages you like best from best to worst.
a. Please explain

Lesson 29: How to Conduct Channel

Research
Overview
1. Gatekeepers
2. The Channels’ World
3. How to Conduct Channel Depth Interviews
4. Why Not Let the Sales Team Interview Channels?
5. Final Thoughts
6. Channel Example Questions
Gatekeepers
Channels are important. They are distributors, retailers, dealers, and agents.
They decide your success or failure, if you use channels to deliver or retail
your products. They are your gatekeepers.
The channel decides to whom, when, and how often they sell your or
competitors’ products. The channel influences buyers and users.
The channel is influential in the sale when,
• The product is new.

• The brand is unknown.
• End users seek advice.
• The product is complex.
• The product needs service.
• Prime retail shelf space is limited.
• The channel is in a premium location.
You want the channel recommending and selling your products, not your
competitors’ products. You want to know what drives them to recommend
your brand or your competitors’ brands.

The channel is your indirect sales force, but you don’t control them.
A channel working for you is a competitive advantage. A channel that ignores

you or works against you is a severe competitive disadvantage.
You need to understand the channel just as well as end users. You want to
influence channels to recommend and sell your product to end users.
You interview the channel. You interview salespeople, sales managers,

executives, and owners in distributors, retailers, dealers, and agents.
Channel personnel are experts about industries, categories, products,

services, and brands. Experienced channel respondents often have deep
insights and perspectives about your industry. They see and deal with a wide
range of suppliers and end users. They are industry experts.
Channels are also your customers.
Use channel interviews to,
• Find out what brands channels recommend and why.

• Find out about important trends.
• Test channel marketing programs and concepts.
• Improve channel marketing programs.
You want to know what brands the channel recommends, why they
recommend the brands they do, and how your brands compare with
competitors.
The Channels’ World
The channel lives in a different world than the supplier or producer.
Retailers
The retailers’ world usually consists of:
• Selling to end users

• Servicing end users

• Sales training
• Spiffs
• Commissions
• Merchandising
• Demonstrator or model products
• Limited shelf space
• Optimizing shelf space
• Returns
• Advertising
• Point-of-purchase promotion
• Driving foot traffic
• Inventory turns
• Inventory management
• SKU management
• Pricing management
• Getting timely supplier support
Retail salespeople gravitate toward products that sell easily, and they
gravitate to hot products that sell often. They recommend products they
know and understand. Ones they may use. Ones on which they receive
training. Ones on which they earn commissions or spiffs. Ones management
tells them to sell.
Retail salespeople recommend products with good support. They recommend

products that don’t have problems; products customers don’t return often.
Retail salespeople recommend and sell products their management tells them
to sell. Their bosses decide product priorities, paychecks, and promotions,
not you.
Retail salespeople are often young, and sometimes don’t earn much, and
some are not on commission.
Value-added retailers often sell products to clinch a service sale. Service

produces revenue and profits for the value-added retailer. They sometimes
sell products on thin margins or loss to get the service contract.
Often, independent retailers and dealers worry about suppliers appointing

new retailers or dealers in their territory, or going direct to end users.

Channel market share and margins can shrink when suppliers appoint new
retailers and dealers in a territory.
Distributors
Distributors sell volume in a territory. They deal with warehousing, transport,

ordering, large inventories, and account support. Distributors balance their
own profit needs with the needs of retailers and suppliers.
Distributors sell and push products that sell well, gravitating to the easiest
sale that produces the most volume and biggest profit.
But they must also keep their suppliers happy, especially if it is a big brand
with a protected territory. Distributors with a single brand and limited
customers are dependent on the goodwill of their suppliers.
Distributors with multiple brands, diversified profits, and many customers

have power when negotiating with suppliers. They balance suppliers, and use
them to serve specific end-user segments. Channel conflict is common.
Channels are busy. They have limited time. They have limited shelf space,
inventory space, and capital.
How to Conduct Channel Depth Interviews
Telephone depth interviews work well for channel research. People in

channels are busy. Channels are scattered across the country or region.
Here are common topics for channel depth interviews.
• Trends
• What is selling and not selling and why
• Channel problems
• Brand recommendations
• End users
• Suppliers
• Channel marketing programs
• Media

Use channel depth interviews at each stage of innovation and development:

discovery, development, and commercialization.
Interview the channel often, at least twice a year if your industry is fast
moving and changes quickly. Or interview the channel when you introduce
new products, services, and marketing programs.
Interview retail personnel when they are away from the retail store, or on a
break. That way, they can focus on the interview. If you interview them while
they are working, expect interruptions. Customers and the boss demand
attention.
Discover how to get retail channels to recommend your brand before they
recommend your competitors’ brand.
Why Not Let the Sales Team Interview Channels?
Research bias.
Some clients question the need for channel interviews. They say they get
channel information from their direct sales force. The problem is that
information is biased. It skews heavily and is often incomplete.
When a company salesperson interviews someone in the channel, bias enters

the conversation. In fact, at a general level, there are several forms of bias,
including biased questions, biased answers, moderator bias, and biased
reporting. At a specific level, acceptance bias, sponsor bias, and reference
bias creeps into the conversation when sales people interview channels.
The channel views the company sales rep as a salesperson, whose goal is to
sell. During the interview, the salesperson is also trying to figure out how to
make the next sale. The channel does not view the company salesperson as
a neutral collector of information.
The channel is always negotiating with the company salesperson, so the

channel skews answers or withholds important information about themselves
and your competitors. There are exceptions, but when salespeople interview
their customers, bias is more often the case than not.

When the salesperson reports the interview, the influence of sales quota and
the sales report seeps into the marketing research report. When a sales rep
is sandbagging or struggling with sales quota, interview information is likely
to support his or her monthly or weekly sales report. The sales and
marketing research reports align. And so, the research report skews, bends,
or omits.
Besides, you want your salespeople selling, not wasting their time on
qualitative research and writing marketing research reports.
The best way to find out about channel attitudes and behaviors towards
products and brands is to conduct blind interviews, in which the identity of
the sponsor is unknown to the channel. Blind interviews reduce several forms
of bias and improve objectivity.
Use moderators unknown to the channel... a product manager, marketing

manager, or professional moderator, not a familiar sales person. And don’t
reveal the sponsor’s (company) name. If you need to reveal sponsor identity,
do so late in the interview.
Compare the results of blind studies to sales team reports. Look for gaps,
surprises, and confirmation of information and knowledge.
Final Thoughts
You need to understand the channel just as well as end users.
You want the channels recommending and selling your products, not your
Channels include distributors, retailers, dealers, and agents.
They are gatekeepers. The channels are your indirect sales force too. And
they are your customers too.
Experienced channel people are experts. They possess important information

and knowledge about an industry, categories, and brands.
Interview salespeople, sales managers, executives, and owners among

distributors, retailers, dealers, and agents.

Use depth interviews. Telephone interviews work well. Channel people are
busy people.
Use blind interviews. Whenever possible, avoid revealing the sponsor’s

identity.
Channel Question Examples
Trends
1. What are important trends you see in the industry?

2. What are the biggest trends in retail?
3. What are the biggest trends in distribution?
4. What are important trends with users?
5. What are important trends with suppliers?
6. What drives the trends?
7. What does the trend mean?
8. What is the impact of the trend?
9. What are some important innovations in retailing you have seen?
10. What are some important innovations in distribution?
What’s selling and not selling

1. What is selling well?
a. Product categories
b. Brands
c. Reasons
2. What is not selling well?
a. Product categories
b. Brands
c. Reasons
Brand recommendations
1. What brands do you carry?
2. How do you decide which brand to recommend?

3. What is the first brand that comes to mind when recommending the
product category?
a. Reasons
4. What brands do you recommend most often?
a. Rank the most recommended brands to the least recommended
ones
b. Reasons for recommendations
5. What percentage of customers buy based on your recommendations?
a. Probe percentage by each brand
6. What brands don’t you recommend?
a. Reasons
b. What needs to change for you to recommend the brand?
Your Customers
1. Please describe your ideal customer.
a. Please cite an example.
2. What makes him/her a good customer?
3. Please describe a bad customer.
a. What makes him/her a bad customer?
4. What do buyers want from you?
7. What do buyers need from you?
8. What are the most important things buyers think about when buying
[insert name of product category]?
a. Please rank in order of importance
9. What challenges do buyers face when buying the product category?
a. Please rank
10. What challenges do buyers face when using the product?
a. Please rank
11. How do you help buyers?
12. How do buyers find out about you?
13. What makes buyers buy from you?
14. What types of consumers typically buy brand X?

a. Please describe them.

15. What do you believe consumers look for when they buy brand X?
a. Probe: features, benefits, emotions, values
16. How do consumers use brand X?
a. Applications
17. What are consumers’ biggest complaints about brand X?
18. What are the reasons people don’t buy product X?
a. Probe each reason mentioned.
19. What is confusing about brand X’s offer?
20. How often do users return brand X?
a. What are the reasons for returns?
21. What makes brand X different from its competitors?
22. What does brand X have to do to sell more?
Your Suppliers
1. Who are your suppliers?

a. What brands do you sell?
2. What suppliers have you heard of?
a. What do you know about each?
b. Ask details about each
3. What are the most important things you look for from suppliers?
4. What do the best suppliers do well to help you?
a. Probe details
b. Please rank the top three most important activities
c. Please name example suppliers
5. What do the worst suppliers do or don’t do when it comes to
supporting you?
a. Probe details
b. What is missing?
c. Please name example suppliers
6. What can suppliers do to help you do your job better?

7. What are company X’s strengths?

8. What are company X’s weaknesses?
9. What does company X think about retailers (or distributors, dealers,
agents)?
10. What do you recommend company X do to help you sell more of their
products?
Channel Challenges
1. What are the biggest challenges you face when retailing?
2. What are the biggest challenges you face when distributing?
3. What impact do the problems have on your business?
4. How big is each problem?
5. What causes each problem?
6. What solutions have you tried?
7. How well do solutions work?
8. Let’s talk about product category X. What challenges do you face
selling product category X?
Concept tests
Ask about new products, advertising, and channel marketing ideas.

In telephone interviews, read the concept. Concepts should be one or two
paragraphs.
1. Please grade the overall concept… A, B, C, D, or F

3. What do you like best about the concept?
4. What do you like least about the concept?
5. How likely would you use, buy, or sell the concept?
6. What parts of the concept need to be improved?
7. What do you recommend?
Other Questions
1. What business media do you read?
2. What business tools do you use to help you manage your business?

Lesson 30: How to Conduct Retail

Merchandising Research
Overview
1. Be Seen at Retail
2. How to Conduct Merchandising Research
3. The Case of the Neglected Retailer
4. Final Thoughts
5. Merchandising Question Examples
Be Seen at Retail
If you sell consumer products at retail, merchandising plays an important

role in sales.
Merchandising is the physical display of products for sale at retail.
It does the selling, along with packaging and advertising.
Merchandising and packaging work together. Their job is to attract attention

in the store. They catch the eye, and build interest and want. They support
the sale.
Merchandising is crucial in retail. In food retail, consumers make 70% of

their buying decisions in grocery stores. And point-of-purchase displays
influence grocery shopping. Grocery shoppers believe point-of-purchase
display is the most influential factor when deciding to buy a product. The
next factor is packaging. The third factor is labeling.
Retailers control merchandising and understand its value. They control shelf
space, end caps, point-of-purchase displays, case displays, and signage.
Retailers often use point-of- purchase displays to introduce new products,
promote seasonal events, and announce price cuts.
Understand what retailers are thinking and doing about merchandising. They
decide where to place your products and your competitors’ products.

Retail merchandising influences sales. If consumers see and find your

product, they may buy it. If they cannot see or find your product, they
probably won’t buy it, unless they ask for it. The principle of “out of sight,
out of mind” applies.
Consumers overlook about half the brands on a shelf. There are many
brands. Clutter confuses. Stooping down takes effort. For simple consumer
products, you have about three to 10 seconds to catch consumer attention.
Use merchandising and packaging interviews to understand retailers’

attitudes and behaviors about merchandising.
How to Conduct Merchandising Research
You can use focus groups or depth interviews. Telephone depth interviews
are convenient for interviewing busy channel managers.
Talk to retail floor managers, category merchandisers, department heads,

retail executives, and district or regional retail managers. Also interview
merchandising experts and distributors.
Ask about merchandising
• Trends
• Best practices
• Problems
• Recommendations
Research your retailers about merchandising, when you develop new

products, new packages, and new promotions.
The Case of the Neglected Retailer
Merchandising plays an important role in selling consumer products.
A client entered a market with a new product. Targeted consumers liked the
product. Concept test focus groups, product usage tests, and market tests
pointed to strong interest in the target segment.

But, the client treated retail and merchandising as an afterthought, despite

advice to the contrary.
The retail channels did not merchandise the product well; it was lost in a sea
of swirling competition on the shelf. Consumers did not notice it and retail
salespeople did not recommend it.
Sales failed to achieve expectations. Eventually, management lost patience

and killed the product.
The client did not bother to understand retailers about merchandising until it
was too late.
Final Thoughts
Merchandising plays a decisive role in consumer-packaged goods.
Merchandising catches consumer attention, builds inertest, creates want, and

induces action.
It does the selling, along with packaging and advertising.
Use depth interviews to understand retailers’ attitudes and behaviors about

merchandising.
Interview retailers.
Merchandising Question Examples for Retailers
Merchandising
1. What are important trends in merchandising?
2. How are trends affecting the way you merchandise?
3. What are the most important things you think about when deciding to
merchandise a brand?
4. What are good examples of eye-catching merchandising?

a. Prompt: shelf space, signage, end caps, display tags, price tags,
demonstration products, kiosks, packages, point-of-purchase
displays.
5. What are some bad examples?
6. What are suppliers asking retailers when it comes to merchandising?
7. Please think about suppliers who help retailers merchandise well. What
do the suppliers do well?
8. What are the biggest challenges you face with merchandising?
9. What merchandising solutions have you tried?
10.Do solutions work? Please explain.
11.What can companies do to help you merchandise your store better?

Section Four – Bonus Section

Bonus 1: The Marketing Plan Checklist
You have gathered data, information, and knowledge from your interviews.
Now what do you do with it?
Apply the knowledge to your marketing plan. Here is a marketing plan

checklist.
Market
What is the market?
How big is the market?
Is the market growing, declining or stagnant?
At what rate is it growing or declining?
What are key trends in the market?
Segments
What are the segments in the market?
What segment are you targeting?
How big is the target segment?
Is the target segment growing, declining, or stagnant?
At what rate is the target segment growing or declining?
What are secondary segments to target?
Note: For market and segment size information, you will need secondary sizing
information or quantitative studies.

Competitors
Who are the direct competitors?
What segments do competitors target?
How well entrenched are competitors in segments?
What market shares do competitors possess?
How do competitors go to market?
What are competitors’ positioning?
Who are indirect competitors?
Prospects and Customers
Describe your target customers.
What problems are they trying to solve?
How important are the problems to the target customer?
How well have they solved the problems?
What are their unmet needs and/or wants?
What do they perceive about products and brands?
What do they believe about products and brands?
What do they feel about the products and brands?
How well entrenched are competitors in your target’s minds?
How do target customers buy?
Who makes the buying decisions?

How often do they buy the product?
What prices do they pay?
How do you sell your product or service to the target customer?
Product and Services Development
How do targets use the product?
What goals are targets trying to achieve with the product?
What features do users want from products and services?
What functional benefits do targets seek?
What emotional benefits do they seek?
Does the product solve target customers problems?
Are the product features important to target customers?
Do the product features match with positioning messages?
Positioning
How is your product different from competitors’ products?
Is the difference important to target customers?
What is your product’s unique selling proposition?
What is your positioning message?
Does your positioning message resonate with the target customers?
Marketing Communications
What media does the target segment use?

How do you communicate your product benefits to target segments?

What marketing communications work best with target customers?
What is best way to capture target customer attention?
How well do target customers understand your ads?
What does each marketing communication cost?
How do you measure marketing communications success?
How much sales revenue or sales leads does each marketing

communication produce?
Distribution and Retail Channels
How do you go to market?
What distribution channels do you use?
What retail channels do you use?
What brands do channels recommend?
Why do channels recommend the brands they do?
What channel marketing programs work best with channels?
What do channels think about your products?
What do channels think about your competitors’ products?
What do channels think about your channel marketing programs?
What do channels think about your competitors’ marketing programs?
How do you get channels recommending and selling more of your

products?

Product or Service Objectives
What is the product price?

o Retail
o Wholesale
What is the product or service cost?
What are the product’s gross and operating profit margins?
How many units do you need to sell?
How much revenue does each product produce?
How much profit does each product produce?
How much positive free cash flow will each product produce?
When will the product reach free positive cash flow?
What other products and services can you sell to the target segment?

Bonus 2: Website Resources
Here are some resources about marketing research and marketing.
Advertising Research Foundation
ARF focuses on advertising and media marketing research. It offers

publications, seminars, training, workshops, professional standards, best
practices, and events about advertising, media, and marketing research.
http://www.thearf.org
American Marketing Association
The AMA is the largest marketing association in the United States. The AMA
offers several publications, newsletters, seminars, workshops, special interest
groups, and training about marketing and marketing research.
http://www.marketingpower.com
@ReserachInfo.com
@ResearchInfo is an online resource about marketing research.
http://www.researchinfo.com
Australian Marketing Institute
The AMI represents marketing professionals in Australia. It offers

publications, news, directories, training, workshops, professional standards,
best practices, and events related to marketing research in Australia.
http://www.ami.org.au

Blue Book Directory
The Marketing Research Association publishes The Blue Book Directory. The
directory contains names of companies providing marketing research field
services, research facilities, and support services. It includes a list of focus
group facilities.
http://www.bluebook.org
BtoB
BtoB is magazine for business-to-business marketing professionals.
http://www.btobonline.com
Canadian Marketing Association
The CMA is the largest marketing association in Canada. It offers

publications, newsletters, seminars, training, and standards relating to
marketing and marketing research in Canada.
http://www.the-cma.org
Direct Marketing Association
The DMA is a leading trade organization that focuses on direct marketing

methods.
http://www.the-dma.org
ESOMAR
An international organization focused on marketing research, ESOMAR offers

several publications, newsletters, seminars, workshops, professional
standards, best practices, events, and training relating to marketing
research.
http://www.esomar.org

GreenBook®
The Greenbook® is a directory of marketing research firms and services. It

includes focus group facilities, and is published by the New York American
Marketing Association.
http://www.greenbook.org
The Markets Directory
A Web site directory of marketing research firms, services, moderators, and

focus group facilities. Published by Dobbs Publishing, Inc., New York.
http://www.marketsdirectory.com
Market Research Society
The MRS is a British association that focuses on market, social, and opinion
research. The MRS offers publications, news, directories, training, workshops,
professional standards, best practices, and events about marketing research.
http://www.mrs.org.uk
Market Research Portal
An online resource about marketing research, based in the UK.
http://www.marketresearchworld.net
MarketingProfs™
MarketingProfs™ is online publisher of marketing articles, case studies, online

seminars, conferences, discussion forums, and marketing jobs. Online Web
site.
http://www.marketingprofs.com

Marketing Research Association
The MRA focuses on marketing research and offers, publications, best

practices, professional standards, workshops and training. Publishes the Blue
Book Directory.
http://www.mra-net.org
Marketing Research Roundtable
An online discussion forum about marketing research. Part of

@ReserachInfo.com
http://forum.researchinfo.com
Product Development Management Association
The PDMA focuses on product development and innovation. It offers

publications, seminars, training, directories, and local chapters for members.
http://www.pdma.org
Qualitative Research Consultants Association
The QRCA is an association of professional moderators. The QRCA offers

publications relating to qualitative marketing research, including directories
of moderators and focus group facilities.
http://www.qrca.org
Quirk’s Marketing Research Review
Quirk’s is a magazine about marketing research. It publishes news, articles,

events, webinars, discussion forums, and job postings. It offers directories of
moderators, marketing research firms, focus group facilities, and a variety of
marketing research service companies.
http://www.quirks.com

Bonus 3: Glossary of Qualitative

Marketing Research
ARF Advertising Research Foundation
Acceptance Bias Respondents provide answers they believe the moderator

wants to hear. They do it because they want to be accepted
by the moderator. The answers may be untrue.
Aided Awareness A prompt or cue provided by the moderator to help

respondents recall something. See Prompt.
Alpha Test An alpha test is a product use test amongst internal

members of a company.
AMA American Marketing Association
Analysis Analysis organizes data and converts it into information and

knowledge.
Anonymity Keeps identities of respondents concealed from research

sponsors.
Association Linking one thought to another. A tool to aid memory recall.
Attitudes Attitudes are a state of mind or feeling towards a person or

thing. Attitudes contain three parts:
1. A belief, knowledge or position about something
2. A feeling or emotion about something
3. A tendency to act, or not act, in a certain way
Attribute A feature or benefit of a product or service.
Awareness Knowledge of something.

B2C Business to consumer.
B2B Business to business.
Benefit A benefit is a favorable result to the user. Benefits derive

from product or service features. There are three types of
benefits:
1. Functional benefits (tangible)
2. Higher order benefits (abstract)
3. Emotional benefits (feelings and beliefs)
Behavior A behavior is an action or reaction to something or

somebody.
Belief Beliefs are a state of mind in which a person is convinced

about something without necessarily having proof. It is a
feeling of certainty.
Beta Test A beta test is a product use test with a limited number of
customers.
Bias Bias slants and skews answers. Bias distorts truth. Bias
affects the validity and reliability of findings. There are five
major types of bias: biased questions, biased answers,
moderator bias, biased samples, and biased reporting.
Biased Answers A biased answer is an untrue statement. There are several

types of biased answers.
Biased Question A biased question influences the respondent's answer.
Biased Reporting Moderators and analysts sometimes produce bias when

reporting. Errors, beliefs, and values creep into reporting.
Biased Sample A biased sample consists of respondents who don’t

represent the group of interest.

Blind Study A research study in which respondents don’t know the

identity of the research sponsor (company).
Bulletin Board Focus Focus groups conducted on Web sites. An moderator and
Group (BBFG) respondents communicate by using the Internet. The
moderator posts questions and respondents post replies.
Moderators and respondents don’t need to meet at the same
time. Sessions typically run three or four days.
Buying Theory Product features and functional benefits produce higher

order benefits and emotional benefits. Functional and
emotional benefits motivate purchase.
Channel Distributors, retailers, dealers, and agents.
Closed Questions Closed questions limit or impose answers. Closed ended

questions are the stock and trade of quantitative surveys.
Cognition The mind’s ability to think, reason, conceptualize, imagine,

and solve problems.
Concept An idea about a product or service.
Concept Statement A written statement and image of a concept product or

service. Presented to respondents in concept tests.
Concept Test The presentation of concepts to respondents to assess their

reactions. Used to sort good concepts from bad.
Confidentiality Limits research answers for internal research use. Answers

and findings are not made public.
Copy The written content of an advertisement.
Copy Testing The presentation of ads or products to respondents to

assess their reactions. Used to select effective copy or to

develop or reject product ideas.
Conscious Mind A state of mental awareness about oneself and ones

environment. Cognition.
Convenience Sample A convenience sample selects the easiest people to reach for
interviews. When people in the convenience sample do not
represent the population of interest, it results in sample
bias.
Cues Cues trigger memory associations and retrieval. Cues are

stimuli. See Prompts.
Culture Learned attitudes, beliefs, feelings, values, and ideas from a

group of people.
Data Each respondent’s specific answer to a question.

Respondents’ verbatim statements are the raw data of
interviews.
Demographics Statistics about people. Used for classification. Usually

includes age, gender, location, education, income, marital
status, occupation.
Desire A want or need.
Discussion Guide See Moderator Guide.
Double-Barreled Asking two questions at the same time. They tend to

Questions confuse people.
Dyad A focus group with two respondents.
Emotional Benefit Product features and functional benefits lead to emotional

benefits. Often emotional benefits are strong purchase
motivators. See Buying Theory and Laddering.
Ethnography Ethnography observes people in their environment. It has

its roots in anthropology.
Expert Interview An interview with a subject matter expert.
Executive Interview An interview with a senior executive, director, or officer.
Exploratory Research Research about a topic, which is not well understood.

Exploratory research seeks to discover. Examples of
exploratory research include exploration about trends,
unmet needs and wants, and segments.
Features-Benefits- A product or service delivers a features-benefits-emotions

Emotions Chain chain. The chain consists of four levels: features, functional
(FBE Chain) benefits, higher order benefits and emotional benefits. See
Buying Theory.
Fact Something that is true and can be verified.
Face-to-Face An interview, in which an moderator meets the respondent

Interview face to face.
Feature A part of a product. It delivers a functional benefit.
Feelings Emotions. Emotional states or dispositions.
Findings Answers research objectives. The knowledge gained from

marketing research.
Focus Group A qualitative research method. A typical focus group

contains six to twelve respondents and a moderator. Lasts
about one to two hours. Questions are typically open-ended.
Focus Group Facility A place designed for conducting focus groups. Rooms have
one-way mirrors and audio and visual recording equipment.
Most focus group facilities provide respondent recruiting
services.
Follow-Up Question The follow-up question inquires about the answer from the

main question. See Four-Question Sequence.
Four-Question The four-question sequence consists of 1) a main question,

Sequence 2) follow-up questions, 3) probing questions, and 4)
prompts.
Frame A list of people or companies from which to select a sample.
Higher Order Benefit The third part of the FBE chain: features, functional
benefits, higher order benefits, and emotional benefits. See
Buying Theory and Laddering.
Hypothesis A preliminary theory to explain facts or observations.
Depth Interview An interview with one person.
Incentive Compensation given to respondents for participating in a

depth interview or focus group. Usually cash for consumers.
Incidence Incidence is the percentage of people, on a recruitment list

who qualify for an interview.
Indirect Questions Typically questions or actions used in projective techniques.

See Projective Techniques.
Information Descriptions of data groupings. See Analysis and Data.
Insight The ability to see and understand the inner nature or truth
about something.
Interview An interview is a structured conversation between two or

more people. Moderators interview one person at a time or
several people. One-on-one depth interviews and focus
groups are common types of interviews. A primary method
of qualitative marketing research.
Qualitative Research Qualitative research asks open-ended questions, listens, and

evaluates product users, customers, prospects, and experts.

Qualitative research methods are typically depth interviews,
focus groups, or ethnography. Used to understand the world
as it is, rather than model it. It helps managers explore,
discover, clarify, describe, understand, and gain new
information and knowledge. Business managers use
qualitative research to complement quantitative research
and develop products, advertising, and marketing programs.
Laddering Laddering is a qualitative research technique that identifies
and links product features to personal emotional benefits.
T.J. Reynolds and J. Gutman developed laddering in 1988.
Based on J. Gutman’s Means-End Theory.
Leading Question A biased question, which leads and influences respondents

to answer in a certain way. It suggests answers.
Main Question The main question is typically an open-ended question and

starts an inquiry about a subject. The main question is
supported by follow-up questions, probes, and prompts.
See Four-Question Sequence.
Market Test See Test Market.
Marketing Research Marketing research provides information and knowledge to

make decisions about products, advertising, and marketing.
It gains information and knowledge about customers,
prospects, users, experts, and competitors.
Marketing Marketing is the strategic and tactical planning and

execution of products, services, prices, promotions, and
distribution. In business, marketing seeks to understand
customers and markets, and develop and sell products and
or services at a profit.
Media Types of communication. Newspapers, magazines, Web

sites, television, radio, etc.
Memory The mind’s ability to encode, store, and recall information.

Methodology Methods used to conduct marketing research. For example,

focus groups, depth interviews, or surveys.
Merchandising Merchandising is the physical display of products for sale, at

retail.
Metaphor Explains or represents one thing in terms of another. Often

used in projective techniques to gain deeper understanding
about feelings and emotions about an object of interest.
Moderator A moderator interviews respondents in focus groups or one-
on-one depth interviews. Often, moderators are qualitative
research consultants, and design and execute qualitative
research studies.
Moderator Bias The moderator’s facial expressions, body language, tone,

manner of dress, style, and language may introduce bias.
The moderator’s age, social status, race, gender, and errors
can also produce bias.
Moderator Guide The moderator guide contains logistics, research objectives,

questions, and activities for a depth interview or focus
group. The moderator typically writes the guide and uses it
to direct discussion in depth interviews or focus groups.
a.k.a. discussion guide
Mood Bias The disposition or mood of people and its effect on answers.
Monadic Testing Showing one concept or product per interview or focus

group. The opposite of showing several concepts or products
per interview or focus group.
MRA Marketing Research Association.
Need A need is a condition in which something is required or

necessary.
One-on-One A moderator interviews a single person at a time.

Interview a.k.a. depth interview.
Online Focus Group Focus groups conducted on websites, where a moderator

and respondents communicate by using the Internet. There
are two types: real-time and bulletin-boards.
Open-Ended Open-ended questions allow people to answer any way they
Question see fit. Open-ended questions do not limit or impose
answers. Open-ended questions are the stock and trade of
qualitative marketing research. a.k.a. open ends.
Opinion An opinion is a subset of an attitude. Opinions are a

person’s evaluation or judgment about something. Opinions
can be based on facts, knowledge, beliefs, or feelings.
Order Bias The order of topics and activities in an interview produces

reference bias. See Reference Bias.
Overstatement An exaggeration of intent.
PDMA Product Development Management Association.
Panel A group of qualified respondents who agree to being

interviewed from time to time.
Perception Perception is an awareness and understanding about

something. Perception is influenced by memory, culture,
attitudes, and behaviors.
Perceptual Map A perceptual map is a technique to analyze how users view

a product or brand relative to its competitors, on a given
attribute or set of attributes.
Personification Giving human characteristics to objects or things. A

projective technique.
Pilot Test Often, the first interview or focus group is a pilot test. It
tests questions, activities, and timing of focus groups or

depth interviews. Pilot test results are used to adjust the

moderator guide for subsequent groups or interviews.
Positioning Positioning is the unique selling proposition. You position

your product or service in the minds of your target
prospects and customers.
Probe The job of the probe is to clarify answers. A probe follows

the main question, or follow-up questions. See Four-
Question Sequence.
Probing Using probing questions to clarify and expand answers.
Product Category A class of products or services.
Product Development Product development goes through three major stages:

Stages discovery, development, and commercialization.
Product Usage A depth interview or focus group used to understand how

Research and why people use products. Typically, alpha, beta, market
tests, commercial market tests, or usability studies.
Professional A person who attends focus groups to earn money, as a part

Respondent time job. Often seen in consumer research. Professional
respondents bias samples.
Projective Techniques Projective techniques explore people’s conscious and

subconscious attitudes and behaviors. Projective techniques
help people talk about sensitive subjects and imagery. A
method of qualitative research.
Prompt A prompt is a cue that triggers memory associations and

retrieval. Prompts aid memory recall.
QRCA Qualitative Research Consultants Association.
Qualified Respondent A person who passes screening criteria and is a candidate

for a depth interview or focus group.
Qualitative Marketing Qualitative research applied to marketing research. See

Research Qualitative Research.
Quantitative Quantitative surveys collect, count, and measure data.

Research Researchers apply statistical techniques to data. They can
make conclusive and valid statements if done correctly.
Quantitative research builds models of the world.
Questions An inquiry to get information. Two common question

structures are open-ended questions and closed-ended
questions. See Four-Question Sequence.
Questionnaire The moderator guide or survey.
Quota The number of respondents in a sample.
Random Selection Recruiting respondents randomly to get a representative

sample. Reduces sample bias.
Rapport Building rapport with respondents is the first step in a focus

group or interview. Rapport fosters conversation.
Rationalizations Reasons people use to justify buying a product. People use

product features and functional benefits as buying
rationalizations. See Buying Theory.
Recall The ability to remember something. There are three types of

recall: aided recall, partially aided recall, and unaided recall.
Recording An audio and/or visual recording of a focus group or depth

interview.
Recruiter A person or company who recruits qualified respondents for

focus groups and depth interviews.

Recruiting Recruiting is the process of finding qualified respondents for

interviews.
Reference bias Respondents develop a frame of reference from a previous

question, discussion, or thought. They carry the reference to
the next question and bias answers.
Reliability The ability to repeat a study and find the same conclusions.
Results should be consistent. A basic test of quantitative
research.
Report A qualitative research report documents data, information,

and knowledge gained from qualitative research.
Research Design A plan to conduct qualitative marketing research, consisting

of eight steps:
1. Research Objectives
2. Scope of Work
3. Respondent Screeners
4. Moderator Guide
5. Project Management
6. Moderating
7. Analysis
8. Reports
Research Objectives Research objectives determine interview topics, questions,

and respondents. Research objectives guide analysis and
reports. The purpose of research objectives is to gain
actionable information and knowledge. Research objectives
are the most important element in research design.
Respondent A person who is interviewed in focus group or depth

interview. Or someone who completes a survey.
Response An answer to a question or directive.
Response Rate The response rate is the percentage of qualified respondents

who agree to attend an interview or focus group. Or who

complete a survey.
Sample The group of people selected for interviews, focus groups, or

surveys.
Sample Size The number of people included in the sample.
Screener A screener is a brief survey that specifies characteristics of

the respondents. Used to qualify respondents for a focus
group or depth interview.
Script A written statement recruiters use to recruit respondents. It

is an introduction before a screener.
Segments Groups of people in market with similar characteristics –

typically demographics, attitudes, behaviors, lifestyles,
product category experiences, wants and needs.
Characteristics define, describe, and distinguish segments.
Segmentation The process of identifying segments in a market.
Sensitivity Bias Questions may raise sensitive subjects about which

respondents would rather not talk. Respondents may give
false answers to hide secrets.
Social Acceptance Respondents provide socially acceptable answers that may

Bias be partially true or untrue. Respondents hide or deny real
thoughts and feelings to be socially accepted.
Split Test A test of two different ads, Web sites, or products in a test
market or commercial market to see which one performs
better. a.k.a. A/B split test.
Sponsor Bias When respondents know the identity of the research
sponsor (company), they may provide biased answers.
Stimuli Something, which produces respondent reaction during

interviews. Examples include prepared concept statements,

advertisements, images, attitude statements, products, and

conversations.
Target Segments Relative to other segments, target segments present the

best opportunities to produce sales, profits, and growth for
a company. A company usually positions its products and
brands for specific target segments.
Telephone Interview A depth interview conducted by telephone.
Test Market A test market is a rollout of a product in a limited number of

markets.
Third Party Projection A projective technique using indirect questions. You ask
respondents to describe what other people are doing,
thinking, feeling, believing, and saying. Used to discuss
sensitive subjects.
Top of Mind The first association respondents provide when answering a

question.
Top line The headlines in reports. Usually information headlines.
Triad Focus Group A focus group with three respondents.
Transcripts Transcripts are the verbatim written conversations of

interviews or focus groups.
Unaided Awareness The moderator asks respondents to recall information

without the aid of a cue or prompt.
Unique Selling The unique selling proposition (USP) promises important

Proposition unique or differentiated features, functional benefits and
emotional benefits to customers and prospects in a target
segment. See Positioning.
Usability Test Usability tests the ease or difficulty of completing specific

product tasks. Used to test human interaction with

machines such as computers, mobile phones, and electronic
products.
Validity Validity means that a study accurately represents the

condition of interest. A basic test of quantitative surveys.
Values Values are beliefs. They are beliefs about right and wrong,
good and bad, and the right thing to do.
Verbatim Respondents’ word for word statements. Verbatim quotes

are the raw data of interviews.
Video Focus Groups Focus groups using video to connect moderators,

respondents, and observers in separate or remote locations.
Want A want is a desire or wish. It is different from a need.

Consumers typically want a brand within a product category
(need). See Need.
For more information and articles about marketing and marketing research,
please visit our Website at www.focusgrouptips.com
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Instant Focus Group Questions – Develop Winning Advertising, Marketing, and Products

Instant Focus Group

A Handbook on How to Interview Customers,

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 1

Instant Focus Group Questions − Develop Winning Advertising,

Copyright © 2009 by DistaTEC, LLC and Hendrik Hoets

Except for the authorized purchaser of this e-book as described in the

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 2

The author and publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf

This book is copyrighted © 2009 by DistaTEC, LLC. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 3

About the Author

Hendrik “Henk” Hoets is a professional focus

He is founder and Managing Director of

He has moderated over 2,500 interviews,

Specializing in the high-tech industries, Henk practices in electronics,

Henk learned the craft of moderating at the RIVA Training Institute,

Before founding DistaTEC, LLC, Henk was a senior vice president of

His experience includes two decades of international and U.S. marketing,

Besides providing marketing research services and consulting, Henk is the

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 4

Section One – The Foundation............................................................... 7

Section Two – Techniques and Tips .......................................................93

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 5

Lesson 30: How to Conduct Retail Merchandising Research .................. 220

Section Four – Bonus Section ............................................................. 224

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 6

Section One – The Foundation

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 7

Gain Information and Knowledge –

Customers and prospects often decide your fate in the market.

You need to understand them.

By understanding them, you improve your odds of success. Using information

To understand customers and prospects, you interview them using

Practical and Easy to Use

This handbook is an indispensable guide to understanding customers,

It teaches basic qualitative research techniques for advertising, marketing,

The handbook also serves as a reference, giving you qualitative research

It is a practical “how to” handbook, based on proven principles and my

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 8

In the second section, you’ll learn about qualitative research techniques,

In the third section, you’ll learn about specific qualitative research

This handbook provides several techniques and questions that work. By

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 9

Interview your customers and prospects, using focus groups or depth

By doing this, you’ll get invaluable information, insights, and knowledge.

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 10

Lesson 1: Qualitative Marketing

1. Research Customers, Prospects, and Experts

Research Customers, Prospects, and Experts

When you research customers, prospects, and experts, using depth

Qualitative research asks open-ended questions and listens to customers,

By talking to a few people, you can understand thousands.

Qualitative research explores, discovers, and describes. It seeks to

There are three types of qualitative research.

You’ll learn more about each qualitative research method in Lesson 3.

Copyright © 2009 DistaTEC, LLC http://www.focusgrouptips.com 11

This handbook focuses on depth interview and focus group qualitative

Qualitative Research Applications

Managers use information and knowledge gained from qualitative research to

Qualitative research helps managers gain information, so they can make

When to Use Qualitative Research

Product and marketing development goes through three major stages: