Techniques In International Marketing Research
Otilia Otlacan
This article is meant to be a brief review and reminder of some
valuable yet often bypassed techniques to collect data on
international markets and consumers.
When thinking of market research, surveys are most likely the
first technique that comes to ones mind. However, surveys are a
quantitative research and, in order to understand customer
behavior and the social and cultural context in which our
business will operate, we will need to perform some qualitative
research as well.
Qualitative methods are most certainly a more appropriate
option when in need of researching patterns and attitudes in
customer behavior, understand the depth of the environment
around the customer, and understand the cultural
characteristics then influence a customer – especially when the
marketer is not familiar with the country of culture.
There are certain situations where qualitative research alone
can provide the marketer with all insights needed to make
decisions and take actions; while in some other cases
quantitative research might be needed as well.
We will stop by the main qualitative techniques and see how and
where they can be employed in international marketing. Craig and
Douglas (2000), mention three major types of qualitative data
collection techniques:
- observational and quasi-observational techniques;
- projective techniques and depth interviews;
- creative group sessions (synectics).
1. Observational and quasi-observational techniques
Observational techniques involve direct observation of
phenomena (in our case, consumers' behavior) in their natural
settings. Observational research might be somehow less reliable
than quantitative research yet it is more valid and flexible
since the marketer is able to change his approach whenever
needed.
Disadvantages are given by the limited behavioral variables and
the fact that such data might not be generalizable – we can
observe a customer's behavior at a given moment and situation
but we cannot assume all further customers will act the same.
Quasi-observational techniques are reported to have increased
in usage over the past decades, due to the large scale employ
of surveillance cameras within stores. Such techniques cost
less than pure observational ones since costs associated with
video surveillance and taping are far lower than a researcher's
wage; the tape can be viewed and analyzed at a later time, at
the marketer's convenience. When performing videotaping of
consumers' behaviors, they can be asked to give comments and
insights upon their thoughts and actions while the conversation
itself can be recorded and be further analyzed.
Pure observation: the marketer watches behavior of customers in
real-life situation, either in situ or by videotaping the
consumers (less intrusive). Videotaping can be specifically
recommended when studying patterns of different cultures, since
we can easily compare behaviors taped and highlight similarities
and / or differences.
Trace measures: consist in collecting and recording traces of
consumers' behavior. Such traces can be fingerprints or tear of
packages, empty packages, garbage cans analysis and any other
ways a marketer can imagine (it's all about creativity here!).
In eMarketing, trace measures come under the form of recorded
visits and hits – there are numerous professional applications
that can help an emarketer analyze the behavior of visitors on
his company's website.
Archival measures: can be any type of historical records,
public records, archives, libraries, collections of personal
documents etc. Such data can prove to be of great use in
analyzing behavioral trends and changes in time. Marketers can
also identify cultural values and attitudes of a population at
a given moment by studying mass media content and advertisement
of the timeframe questioned.
Entrapment measures: those are indirect techniques (by
comparison to the previously mentioned ones) and consist in
asking the respondent to react to a specific stimulus or
situation, when the actual subject of investigation is totally
different. The marketer plants the real stimulus among many
fake ones and studies reactions. The method is quite
unobtrusive and the marketer can gather valuable, non-reactive
facts. When the respondent becomes aware of the true subject
under investigation (s)he might change the behavior and
compromise the study.
Protocols: are yet another observational marketing research
technique which asks respondents to think out loud and verbally
express all their thoughts during the decision-making process.
Protocols are of great value for determining the factors of
importance for a sale and they can be collected in either real
shopping trips or simulated ones.
2. Projective techniques
Such techniques are based on the respondent's performance of
certain tasks given by the marketer. The purpose is to have the
consumers (respondents) express their unconscious beliefs
through the projective stimuli; to express associations towards
various symbols, images, signs.
Cooper (1996) suggested that projective techniques can be
successfully employed to:
- indicate emotional and rational reactions;
- provide verbal and non-verbal communication;
- give permission to express novel ideas;
- encourage fantasy, idiosyncrasy and originality;
- reduce social constraints and censorship;
- encourage group members to share and "open up".
Projective market research techniques can take the following
forms, presented below.
Collages – used to understand lifestyles and brand perceptions,
respondents are asked to assemble a collage using images and
symbols from selected sets of stimuli or from magazines and
newspapers of their choice.
Picture completion – certain pictures can be designed to
express and visualize the issue under study and respondents
have to make associations and / or attribute words to the given
pictures.
Analogies and metaphors are used when a larger range of
projection is needed, with more complexity and depth of ideas
and thoughts on a given brand, product, service, organization.
The respondents are asked to freely express their association
and analogies towards the object being studied; or they can be
asked to select from a set of stimuli (e.g. photos) those that
fit the examined subject.
Psycho-drawing is a technique that allows study participants to
express a wide range of perceptions by making drawings of what
they perceive the brand is (or product, service).
Personalization consists in asking the respondents to treat the
brand or product as if it is a person and start making
associations or finding images of this person. This technique
is especially recommended in order to understand what kind of
personality consumers assign to a brand / product / service.
3. In-depth interviews
These techniques of marketing research put an accent on verbal
communication and they are efficient especially when trying to
discover underlying attitudes and motivations towards a product
or a specific market / consumption situation.
Individual in-depth interviews are performed on a
person-to-person environment and the interviewer can obtain
very specific and precise answers. Such interviews are common
in B2B practices of market research, for example when a company
conducts a research about a product among their existing
corporate customers.
Interviews can be conducted by phone or via internet-based
media, from a centralized location: this can greatly reduce
costs associated with market research and the results are
pretty much as accurate as the face-to-face ones. The only
disadvantage would be the lack of non-verbal, visual
communication.
Focus groups are basically discussions conducted by a
researcher with a group of respondents who are considered to be
representative for the target market.
Such meetings are usually held in an informal setting and are
moderated by the researcher. Videotaping the sessions is common
these days, and it can add more sources of analysis at a later
time.
Focus groups are perhaps the ideal technique, if available in
terms of costs and time, to test new ideas and concepts towards
brands and products; to study customers' response to creative
media such as ads and packaging design or to detect trends in
consumers' attribute and perception. One of the important
advantages of focus groups is the presence of several
respondents in the same time, providing a certain synergy.
Disadvantages refer mainly to the costs involved and the
scarcity of good professionals to conduct the interviews and
discussions.
To conclude, we have to keep in mind just how important
non-survey data collection techniques are in today's market
research. Not only they provide more depth of analysis but they
can be performed in significantly less time than surveys and
they're more suitable to be employed during the exploratory
phases of international marketing research.
About The Author: Otilia is a certified Marketing consultant
with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business. She developed and
teach her own online course in Principles of Marketing
You can contact Otilia through her Marketing resources portal at
http://www.teawithedge.com
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