Gleaning performance-relevant insights from the opinions, motivations, frustrations, and priorities of your target audience requires qualitative research. At Market Connections, clients often ask how we choose between the two most effective qualitative research methods — focus groups and in-depth interviews.

In an in-depth interview, which is scheduled in advance and usually runs 20 minutes to an hour, a research specialist conducts a one-on-one session with the participant via phone or in person. In a focus group, 6 - 12 participants gather at the same time at a research facility or in an online chat room (preferably the former if possible). A professional moderator leads a group discussion based on a pre-determined set of questions.

Certainly, each method has its pros and cons. A focus group enables idea sharing and open discussion among peers, which can be very insightful. But, with in-depth interviews, interviewers spend more time with each person and get opinions that aren’t affected by a focus group’s peer influences, such as a domineering participant or a popular idea proposed by others in the group.

Typically the specific circumstances of your research project will dictate whether focus groups, in-depth interviews, or perhaps even a combination, is most appropriate. For example, in the following situations, in-depth interviews are usually more effective than focus groups:

• The audience is limited and geographically dispersed.
• The research requires the input of decision makers from competing firms, since they are often unwilling to talk openly in front of one another.
• The target audience is comprised of very high-level and/or extremely busy professionals, such as corporate executives, doctors, and attorneys, as they are usually unwilling to travel to a research facility at a specific time.
• The discussion topics are sensitive or personal in nature.

A study based on in-depth interviews takes longer to complete than one that uses focus groups because of the amount of time required to prepare for and conduct each interview. � But, regardless, it’s important you and your research firm weigh each option carefully when determining the most effective qualitative method for your specific circumstances.

Business intelligence is only valuable if the organization can put it to use in ways that will benefit performance. In fact, some companies shy away from market research because prior studies failed to deliver data that they could realistically act upon to affect improvements.

To avoid such a mishap, Market Connections advocates what is sometimes referred to as a “backwards” approach to the research design phase, wherein the research firm and client collaborate upfront to define how the research results will be used. This process requires not only defining program objectives, but drilling down further to explore data gaps that could be inhibiting sales, marketing, or operational improvements. The result is a clear understanding of the content, depth and data views that need to be delivered in the final analysis report.

From there, the research firm can determine the types of analyses required to match those needs, and then design a closely aligned survey. In fact, since it clearly discerns between “must have” and “would be nice to have” intelligence, this approach naturally helps streamline the survey instrument (which could translate into a more cost-effective research program).

For example, we recently helped one client conduct a study on buying behavior around its products. Prior to developing the survey, the client solicited internal feedback and learned that large companies tend to prefer their products more than mid-size companies. We could have simply structured the questionnaire to confirm or disprove this hypothesis. And, when the research results confirmed it, our client would have interesting, but not necessarily actionable, results.

Instead, we included additional questions on the survey that explored the perspectives of large businesses on purchase motivators and various aspects of the buying experience – both relative to our client and its competitors. We also sought more specific knowledge on preferred advertising and promotion techniques. The resulting report gave our client not only a deeper understanding of each segments’ product knowledge and preferences, but also insights into more effective targeting and conversion strategies.

Again, collaborate upfront with your research partner to thoroughly explore information gaps and related actionable results. And, give the researchers access to other internal stakeholders for similar discussions. Though it takes more time upfront, you’ll enjoy a much bigger return on your research investment.

Segmenting your target markets and audiences opens up opportunities for more focused and effective sales, marketing, and even product development. For example, while overall sales for a product are strong, a segmented view could reveal that only one or two customer types or titles are driving that success. This information can help shape strategic decisions around whether a portion of the marketing or product development dollars should be concentrated on those high-potential customer types, how messaging can be tailored to address their unique needs, how sales or channel partners can more effectively serve them, and more.

Many organizations rely on research for such business intelligence. With the correct survey design and analysis, quantitative customer and prospect surveys can reveal promising segmentation strategies. In fact, some researchers utilize statistical techniques such as correlation and cluster analyses to aid the development of segmentation insights.

Some of the categories that B2B and B2G organizations commonly use to segment their customers and prospects include:

• Organization size: revenue, number of employees, number of locations
• Purchase behavior: annual purchase value, frequency, projected purchase value, length of customer status
• Purchase process: motivators and drivers, influencers, final decision makers, steps, length of process
• Usage: number of users, frequency and cycles of usage
• Location: characteristics of operation locations, geographic clusters, political considerations, environmental factors.

Researchers and stakeholders should collaborate during survey design to help ensure that the granularity in which the organization attempts to collect and view segmented data is kept to levels that are actionable. Such decisions can be impacted by the sales/channel model, by plans for new product development, and by other business considerations. In addition, cost-effectively executing segmented marketing is also dependent upon your organization’s database resources and capabilities as well as the degree to which rental email and postal lists, trade magazines and web sites, industry events, and so forth can be segmented.

Though there will be some natural limitations that must be considered, the more segmented your market approach is, the more relevant you will be to customers and prospects.