1. A Leading Mobile Application Developer —Integrated Online Surveys and In-Person User Testing
Cell phone applications are a small but growing portion of the US mobile market - and one client wanted to gain the competitive edge by understanding what real users truly want, and need, on their mobile devices.
Brookside conducted small group interviews integrated with online quantitative surveys to solicit feedback on cell phone applications, understanding their reaction to concepts ranging from vague ideas on lifestyle applications to specific games that had been storyboarded but needed more specific input.
In the end, the company has released several games and applications that have been not only accepted by, but eagerly anticipated by mobile carriers that have featured them prominently in their game decks.
2. High-End Household Appliances—Online Segmentation Study & Ethnography
A high-end household appliances company was getting ready to launch a new product line, and they wanted to enhance its understanding of the marketplace, its segments, and their motivations and behaviors in order to come out running in this very style-conscious market.
As a first phase of research, we conducted an extensive online segmentation study, which helped to profile, and better understand, their consumers. As a second phase, we helped to dig beyond this cursory understanding of their target audience – getting to know them better—knowing their faces, expressions, voice, and finding out how they actually used their appliances in their own home. Ethnography was used to better understand what their daily lives were and how people really conducted household chores at their home.
Having a deeper understanding of their target audience helped the client to create compelling marketing campaigns—communicating effectively with this audience and meet their needs—and has become a critical component in training sales associates as they launch their product line.
3. A Major Web Search Site—Online Usability Research
A Web search leader wanted to ensure their potential advertisers receive enough information during their site visits to make their advertising decisions as quickly and easily as possible. The company also needed to explore the satisfaction level among potential advertisers while they surfed the Web, so the company could make its sites more appealing and informational for customers.
To support this effort, we conducted an online exploratory research study. We found out where their potential advertisers went while they surfed the Web, and followed-up with specific questions about their experience on those sites. We also integrated clickstream analysis with the attitudinal and satisfaction aspect of site visits.
Based on our recommendations, this Web search site honed-in specific sites and made more user friendly—contributing to a greater than 50% year-over-year increase in search revenue.
4. A Gift and Greeting Card Leader—Retail Ethnography
A major gift and greeting card company saw declining sales due to increased competitions in the market place and felt stagnant with their learning. In order to turn these sales around, they wanted to better understand the connection and disconnection between what people want, versus what they were providing.
We helped to introduce them to the idea of ethnography as a marketing research tool, and they turned to us to help them explore what people were looking for when they shop for Mother’s Day cards. They specifically wanted to explore how people felt about the text of the card, the poetry or the written message about Mother’s Day. We were to find out what might be unmet needs of card shoppers. We conducted retail ethnography and talked with people while they shopped for their Mother’s Day cards.
Based on our recommendations, the greeting card company launched an entirely new line of Mother’s Day cards the following year, and also adopted the line to another series of holiday cards—which led to increased venues for the years to come.
5. Educational Grant—Ethnography and Focus Group
The overall goal was to better understand the challenges faced by the Southeastern Asian refugee community accommodating U.S. culture and environment. The study was investigating the hypothesis that this community was exposed to higher levels of mercury due to their consumption of self-caught fish in a known, contaminated local environment.
We used various methods in different contexts—impromptu in-context focus group, participant observation and in-depth interviews at their home, and a series of observations through training sessions. Cultural identity is deeply integrated with what types of food they consume and who they consume with when.
The data rejected the hypothesis and the team was able to move to investigate next environmental issue facing the community.
1. A Leading Mobile Application Developer —Integrated Online Surveys and In-Person User Testing