As for cons of observational research, it can be very costly and time consuming. Sometimes it can be a difficult process to carry out and administer, and it may also require the skills of highly trained researchers are able to constantly and consistently interpret what it is they are seeing. Very small study or sample groups are usually used which makes it difficult to extract accurate results or statistics, and clearly the results that you do get are going to be more subjective than possibly objective.
An example of just how effective observational research can be is in the design of NEC’s laptop computer VERSA series. The company released the UltraLite SL20P hand-held notebook to the U.S. market in October 1991. Although it looked amazing the only problem was nobody wanted to buy it. Frustrated, the company decided to do some field research and sent its senior designer ‘Katsuhiko Kushi’ to California.
His research revealed that people used their notebooks in multiple situations: at home, work and while travelling. There needs varied in these varied situations. So NEC designed the modularity that allows the user to reconfigure the machine according to where they are using it.
The research also revealed that, to users, the notebook computer was a personal electronic companion rather than a mundane work related machine. So they designed its body with rounded features that gave it the look and feel of a personal electronic appliance rather than an office computer. Finally, Kushi and his research team discovered that when people got ready to use the machine they usually ¡§double tasked¡¨ ¡V like talking on the phone and writing. From this important observation came another insight: Wouldn’t it be nice if users could open the notebook with one hand! Hence the single latch design. The NEC’s Versa was a huge success in the United States, doubling the company’s market share in the U.S. notebook computer market within three months.
Observing people using the computer on a daily basis identified improvements that might not have been discovered when asking non-specific questions; it revealed information that might not have been uncovered using another method of market research.
A second method of identifying buyer behaviour is the diary method. It is again a qualitative research study allowing the respondent to actually describe in their own words how they feel towards something. With this method it might be more accurate to identify a person’s reasons and motives behind doing something as it records the persons behaviour in their own words over a specific period. Sheth terms this method of research as ‘customized data’ and is largely used in secondary research, as it examines data that already exists.
A similar method is also known as a ‘consumer panel’ and “consists of a reasonably permanent set of consumers, usually a sample of housewives, selected on a purposive basis to represent accurately a cross section of housewives in the country” (Lancaster, p116). Within the diary the housewife should report the following facts:
- Brand name and description
- Number of items bought
- Size, weight and price of each item bought
- Day of purchase
- Type of outlet
- Description of any special offers
- Other information; including: flavour of product, colour & type
Once the housewife returns the diary to the market research organisation, it then sells the reports of these activities to individual manufacturers. The diaries intend to reveal:
„X The performance of brands
„X The total number of people buying specific products
„X Sales volume by type of shop and geographical area
„X The effect of promotions, price changes or competition
„X Consumer purchasing patterns concerning brand switching
The most important advantage of the consumer panel is that it is analytical. It can note specific changes to individuals buying habits over a long period of time or alternatively those who rarely change and remain loyal to one brand. From this study it can suggest the segment of the population on which promotion would be best directed at. As to the cost of such a method this would depend on how frequently the intervals where required as it would be cheaper to maintain a continuous panel than
to continually select a new panel at each interval. As it is a cooperative effort it is more likely that more information would be achieved.
The major disadvantage to a consumer panel is that membership involves cooperating with the research organisation continuously or at regular intervals. This would involve some effort to which some members might not cooperate. After some time members might start to perform expertly in-order to “look good at the expense of acting normally” (Lancaster; p116)
The Diary Method enables subjects to create statements about the continuity and the regularity of certain behavioural patterns
Some critical factors might reduce the quality of this method of research. The accuracy of keeping the diary varies between the experimental subjects and with the survey duration. Furthermore, the simple presence of the diary might influence behaviour. Also the entry might be influenced by social norms. These potential problems like representation, possible change of behaviour or inaccuracy can be controlled and managed by organisational or research related measures.
This method is used to analyse media use, purchase or consumption patterns. The Diary Method is particularly used for radio research but also for digital TV research. It can confirm the number of listeners and investigate their behaviour. This method complements electronic examinations which can only register if a radio or TV is turned on or off because it researches the actual attention given to the TV or radio by the subjects.
To carry out diary studies successfully, certain prerequisites have to be fulfilled. The interviewed person has to be instructed in detail and has to be controlled intermittently. The participation of the experimental subject can be made easier by providing him or her with small reminders and by adding material incentives to motivate a conscientious response.
Increasingly inadequate diary method for tv stats
A third method of researching buyer behaviour is by performing an individual in depth interview. This would take the form of a one-on-one ‘conversation’ between an interviewer and a specifically chosen interviewee. It is particularly important when carrying out these types of interviews that the personnel involved are very carefully selected. Firstly, the interviewer must be friendly and approachable, and posses an ‘exploratory approach’ to asking questions. What is meant by this is that the interviewer must be able to encourage the respondent to talk freely and openly around the subject in question. Additionally, it is important for the interviewer to be shielded as much as possible from interviewer bias. For example, if you are trying to asses the perception of a particular product, it would be unwise for the interviewer to have been involved in any part of that product’s design or production, as this may lead to them possessing a pre-conceptualised bias towards that particular product, which is something that could come across during the interview. If this were to happen, then this in turn could potentially affect the responses given by the interviewee.
Having looked at the role of the interviewer, we must now focus on the importance of the proper selection of the interviewee. To do this we must first establish precisely what our objectives are with regard to the interview. What is it that we are trying to find out – is the market research that we are carrying out pre-product design or post-product design? Do we want to talk to existing customers of the company or potential ones? Both of these types of interview can be very useful when looking at buyer behaviour. For instance, by talking to customers about a product which you are about to design or launch, you can start to gauge exactly what it is that the market actually wants – your product would then be considered to be ‘market-led’. However by talking to your existing customers about what they think about a product of yours which is already on the market, you may be able to discover ways to improve that product and perhaps increase your market share. This latter form of research will often take the form of a ‘customer visit’. This is where a company carefully selects a number of its existing customers to visit and interview about a product which they know that the customer uses.
As with any form of research, one of the most important aspects here is sample selection. The very nature of performing an individual in-depth interview means that realistically, you are not going to be able to have a particularly large sample without some kind of massive expenditure, which is obviously something which most firms would prefer not to do! As such it is particularly important that the sample which you select will give you as good an overview as possible of buyer opinion. One of the easiest mistakes to make here would be to select a purely local sample of people. The nature of the interview means that it must be conducted face to face, and so for a company based in Hull for example, it would be very tempting to select a sample which was also based solely in Hull. This would reduce costs (eg travelling) and may also speed up the processing of results. However by doing this, it is very unlikely that you will get a true and fair overview of what people actually think of your product (unless of course your entire market is locally based).
Additionally the participants you select must be willing and able to talk at length about the product in question – it would be a very expensive mistake to send an interviewer half way across the country, only to find that the person whom he or she is interviewing ‘does not have time to talk’.
In addition to sample selection, it is very important prior to commencing interviews to establish a number of clear and concise objectives for what exactly you want to achieve from the interview. Although the whole point of an interview like this for the respondent to be able to talk freely, the interviewer must still retain some degree of control over the conversation in order for the results to be useful and relevant. A good way of achieving this is through the use of a discussion guide. This is what the interviewer will use as a sort of loose structure for the basis of the conversation. It may include a mixture of concise and general questions, as well as sometimes just being a series of words which the interviewer uses to spark discussion around a certain topic. Again it is very important for these guides to be put together carefully and thoughtfully – they cannot afford to be too general or vague, however equally they do not want to be constricting or too precise.
The in-depth interview method of researching buyer behaviour has a number of advantages and disadvantages – some more obvious than others. Peter Taylor describes the ability to ‘think like a customer’ as being the ‘core marketing competency’ and it is this which ultimately, all marketers are trying to achieve. An interview can be the best possible way in which to achieve this, as it allows you to hear the thoughts of your customers in their own words. What you get back, is pure and largely unfiltered information. Also, your depth of understanding is greatly increased by speaking to someone face to face. If a customer identifies a particular problem or desire, it is then possible for the interviewer to explore this avenue there and then. This sort of flexibility is something which can only be done in an interview and is almost wholly impossible when using other forms of market research such as surveys, etc. In-depth interviews are often thought of as being the best possible way in which to handle complex, ambiguous or novel information.
Another distinct advantage of this method of researching buyer behaviour is that it makes a customer or potential customer feel valued. By taking the time to ask someone their opinions in this manner it shows that you value their input, despite the costs which you may incur in doing the interview. This may make that particular customer more pre-disposed to your brand or product in question, and may also have a positive effect on the company’s image in general.
There are of course a number of disadvantages also associated with this method of research however. We have already touched upon the relatively high costs of carrying out these sorts of interviews. For starters, it is important to have a well trained and experienced interviewer conducting the interview, as this should enable a firm to maximise what they get out of the process. A well trained interviewer will be well spoken, intelligent and have the ability to be flexible. This type of person however is not likely to come cheaply. Secondly, we have the potential of travel costs. Many firms have their customer base spread far and wide across the globe and ideally, the sample selection would take this into account. Again however, this can be very expensive.
Another area which we have briefly touched upon is that of interviewer bias. Despite the best efforts of a firm, there will always be some trace of interviewer bias. There is no completely comprehensive way of overcoming this, although the adverse effects of it may be somewhat alleviated by the use of ‘follow-up techniques’ such as surveys or second interviews.
Also, the small sample sizes which may be involved can sometimes lead to low confidence levels in the results. Smaller sample sizes may be imprecise, and are certainly of little use when it comes to trying to formulate quantitative statistics.
Having looked closely at the three methods of investigating buyer behaviour highlighted in this essay, it seems fairly clear that there simply are no right or wrong answers when it comes to selecting a particular method. Perhaps the best way to approach a buyer behaviour research task would be to actually try and combine some of these methods, as well as some of the many others which were not addressed in this particular essay.
The differences between these methods are broad; however there are a number of factors which ring true for them all. Firstly, there is sample selection – be it a sample of two people, or two thousand people, it is still equally important that the process which is gone through in selecting this sample is measured and thorough. Secondly, we must always think closely about how we interpret our results. How much confidence can we have that our results are representative? And finally, we must not forget our ultimate objective – to give the customer what he or she really wants.
Sheth, J. N. Mittal, B., & Newman B.I., (1999) “Customer behaviour: consumer behaviour and beyond”
Dryden Adcock, D. Bradfield, R. Halborg, A & Ross, C. (1993) “Marketing Principles and Practice”
Pitman Lancaster, G & Massingham, L (2nd Edition) “Essentials of Marketing”
