We are constantly exposed to an environment that encourages us to buy something without even thinking. Social media, advertisements, websites, and companies have mastered the art of implementing strategies that prompt unconscious consumerism. But what drives people to make these spontaneous purchases?
Studies from the fields of sociology, psychology, and behavioral economics suggest that storytelling is the key to uncovering the motivations behind consumer decision-making. Embedded in people’s narratives are nonconscious behaviors, beliefs, and emotions that could help businesses understand their market better and become more consumer-centric.
Stories are patterns with meaning that, when analyzed appropriately, can be used to create a deep, emphatic connection between the brand and its target audience. This type of relationship is what marketers need to generate creative and innovative campaigns that resonate with their consumers.
Insight Over Numbers
Today’s research is data-rich but insight poor. Not every question can be answered using quantitative data from a survey. It’s hard to decipher meaning from statistics and bar graphs. And while numbers still matter, it’s about creating a compelling story from data that stakeholders will remember.
Narrative qualitative research can give you the whole picture of your study. Shifting your approach to collecting insights and constructing meaning from quantitative data enables you to translate information into emotion and create empathy amongst your stakeholders.
Telling A Story With Your Data
Knowing how to tell a story based on data is challenging. In today’s ‘Too Long, Didn’t Read’ culture, people don’t bother to pay attention to something that doesn’t interest them. This concept holds true regarding market research – presenting a story that binds all the facts into a singular thread trumps traditional reporting methods.
Insight professionals must hone the craft of connecting data points into memorable narratives. Storytelling in market research matters, and by telling the real story of a consumer, researchers have the chance to make an impact with the information we want to convey.
The more memorable and understandable insights are, the more likely they are to be actioned. This leads to informed marketing and business strategies that increase the value perceptions of a brand to consumers.
Useful Tools for Narrative Qualitative Research
Current industry trends drive the need for better data quality and more innovative collection methods. With new advancements in technology, digital qual has finally come into its own – providing new ways of understanding brand definition and having the customer appear as the main character.
Modern qualitative research tools help businesses get to the bottom of what customers really think without being restricted by traditional methodologies.
-
1. Online Web Rooms
Conducting interviews and focus groups in online web rooms can help you see and understand genuine customer interactions. By utilizing interview software, respondents can share their stories first-hand in the comfort of a familiar environment such as their homes and offices. Video feedback provides you with customer emotion that a written document cannot replicate.
-
2. Mobile Ethnography
This tool combines traditional ethnography with mobile research. Using their smartphones, respondents can share feedback through text, audio, video, and pictures in real-time. This digital qual method takes observational studies to the next level by allowing researchers to understand their customers’ values, beliefs, and behaviors in a natural environment – all without needing to be personally accompanied by a researcher.
-
3. Online Communities
This narrative qualitative research method could be customized according to the purposes of your study. Online community members have the flexibility to spontaneously contribute to the study during the research timeframe. They offer a range of engaging activity options to gain honest and actionable insights from your community without any geographical limitations.
-
4. Media Curation
Using a media curation tool to organize and connect multiple findings into a single video thread can impact your stakeholders more than a simple PowerPoint. Highlight reels tell a compelling story behind your findings – adding real weight to your research report by sharing the most impactful insights quickly and concisely.
Media curation can bring your topic to life with a couple of clicks. Clipping and tagging features can help you easily navigate and arrange your video recordings into a narrative that uncovers your customer’s thoughts and motivations.
Tell Impactful Stories With Civicom® Marketing Research Services
Civicom® Marketing Research Services is the leading market research facilitation provider. Our comprehensive web-enabled solutions include online IDI and focus group facilitation, a mobile insights app, an online community platform, a qualitative multimedia curation tool, and other solutions that will cater to your research needs.