Case Studies
Integrated Qual/Quant: A Research and Innovation Powerhouse?
An evident market shift since the economic downturn – i.e., shrinking budgets, shrinking teams and shrinking timelines – forces marketing, research and innovation individuals alike to re-evaluate measurement strategies. Until now, research typically falls into one of two areas: qualitative or quantitative methodologies. Both have limitations that often fall short of insights that are generalizable and predictable of market success, increasing type 1 and type 2 errors (false positives).
In a quest to extract deeper learning about each methodology and an alternative to both (i.e., integrated qualitative with quantitative), we will discover that integration of the two provides the most powerful methodology on several fronts. This paper discusses the key points of difference across methodologies throughout the research lifecycle (questionnaire design, data collection, reporting and analysis) to make a thorough comparison of each.
What can innovation learn from Biology?
Mother Nature shows the way to developing new ideas and products. Of all the processes in the universe, evolution is perhaps the most inspiring. What is more, it is beautifully simple:descent (continuity) with modification (change), powered by a simple mechanism of natural selection. Evolution and its effects are all around us today; emerging, designing, producing species adapted to their environment, antibodies adapted to infections and knowledge adapted to the world. We have found a way to harness this process to help design new product concepts and messages highly adapted to customers.
Adaptive Idea Screening & Prioritization (Predicted Ideas/Insights)
The success of an innovation process is highly dependent on the quality of ideas that feed the concept planning and development process. Following a successful idea generation exercise, a company might easily be left with hundreds of ideas generated by experts, employees, or consumers. The next step is to screen and prioritize these ideas and identify those with the highest potential. This paper proposes a scientific and mathematical approach to involving consumers in idea screening and prioritization.
Characteristics of a High Market Potential Product Concept
Customers are changing and so should they way new products are developed and marketed. This article will help understand….
- Product/ Brand characteristics required to develop a high market potential concept.
- Steps to be taken to minimize risk within each step of the NPD process.
- The strategic importance of involving customers early on in the process.
- Build new products that have high market reach and high market strength.
Customer Discovery - Identifying High Value White Space
To sustain & grow your business, it is important to continuously discover new revenue streams. The QualQuant Signals team would like to share an article related to identifying revenue streams through white space opportunities (Gaps). Learn about an integrated QualQuant systematic method, to identify high value white space which are gaps that have high market reach & strength for which no products exists and intent to purchase is high if product introduced, available or improved.
Key Takeaways
- Learn about a model that helps minimize innovation risk due to misclassification of white space opportunities.
- See how customer discovery can lead to identifying high market potential white space opportunities.
- Develop new products or improve existing based on opportunities that have high market reach & strength.
What can brands learn from open source software development (innovation)?
An article written by QualQuant Innovation labs that provides a peep into the success of collective human intelligence/creativity and how software developers around the world collectively innovate and develop successful software. Read more to learn how brands can apply this similar best practice to sustain success in this era of increasing expectations of customers. A possible future scenario could be where customer will be loyal to products that meet or exceed their expectations versus being loyal to a brand.
Quirks - Concept Testing : Best Practices / Case Studies
Enhance Concept Test Research Rigor with Hybrid QualQuant Survey.
QualQuant Signals presents a unique and different hybrid QualQuant concept testing approach with stronger research rigor that solves market pain points and delivers results quickly. This approach dramatically expands the amount of insights gained from traditional concept testing because it uses:
- Hybrid Qual/Quant questions to identify the most important concept optimizations (in addition to traditional quantitative evaluation)
- Compares overall concept performance against open whitespace opportunities
- Investigates high/low performance patterns to create best practices
Concept Testing Case Studies Best Practices
QQS demonstrates that Concept Testing can be designed more powerfully than just an evaluation: “go” vs. “no go”. Learn about Concept Testing Best Practices that discuss ‘how to’…
- Identify winning concepts based on consumer choice & behaviors
- Uncover category success triggers by investigating category whitespace upfront
- Improve concepts by Co-Creating with consumers about “influencers, turn offs and optimizations” using a Hybrid Qual/Quant method
Internal Insurance Ideation (Employee Engagement & Program Development) Reducing Internal Churn
A Human Resources department for a large insurance firm was experiencing a higher than normal internal churn rate in comparison to previous years. In order to reduce churn rates:
- Research was conducted to identify the underlying cause driving this behavior
- Ideas for improving the workplace (such as: forming new employee programs, perks, benefits, and career pathing /planning), were considered
- Types of programs that could be designed to have the most impact over employee motivation were evaluated
Hair Care Ideation (New Product Development) Closing the Gap on Unmet Category Needs
A leading global consumer hair care brand:
- Plans to roll out a new hair coloring product line
- Wants to learn how to break through the First Moment of Truth (at the shelf)
- Wishes to use the package design and uncover unmet needs during the decision making process for hair color
Social Media Ideation (Digital Innovation) Providing Branded Material Fills a Void Among Fans
Food & Beverage Ideation (Packaging Concept Test & Improve) - In Store Display Success
Quaker Oats (Pepsi) brand extension strategy lead to the development of a chewy snack bar. There were other strong and established competitors in the market that commanded a high market share. Beyond the healthy and tasteful features of the new product, Quaker Oats needed to develop a highly curious and persuasive packaging to win the customer at the in-store shelf battle.
QualQuant Signals Concept Excellence provided the triggers that would influence the customers to pick up the package by providing improvements to the packaging that led to significant improvements for purchase intent and frequency scores.
Telecommunication Ideation - (Customer Acquisition & Customer Retention) Uncovering Market Strength Opportunities
Airtel was facing customer defection resulting in reduction in recurring and new revenue. A thorough understanding of customer selection behavior (choice and tradeoff) was required to understand the customer and marketing landscape that would help develop new or improve existing services and plan effective marketing marketing communication. QualQuant Signals generated predictive ideas/insights that guided development of strategies to…
- Increase market share (increase customer acquisition)
- Reduce churn & increase recurring revenue
- Develop product features, marketing communication to influence competitive users to defect to Airtel
Travel Ideation (New Product Development & Communication) - Identify Brand Selection Drivers
An airline company was facing the threat of brand defection due to competitive airlines offering services at lower costs. The airline industry being a commodity (low price play), airlines needed to identify profitable niche areas where it can meet customers expectations and deliver great travel experiences. QualQuant Signals generated predictive ideas/insights to identify opportunity (niche) areas to deliver a new era of air travel services by uncovering…
- Existing pain points
- Services that would provide incremental value
- Gaps in communication
- Factor that lead to favoring brand
Beauty Care Ideation (Brand Strategy Insights & Path to Purchase) - Revive Brand Sales Growth
A global beauty care brand (moisturizer) was facing stiff competition resulting in declining sales. The brand was at the juncture of ‘Maturity’ & ‘Decline’ stage within the product life cycle. QualQuant Signals ‘Customer Expectations’ framework led to developing an in-depth understanding of customer’s outcomes desired (emotional, functional and economic value) providing an landscape audit of…
- Path to Purchase Success Factors
- Purchase Barriers – Current & Projected
- Trending in Skincare Leading to delivering predictive ideas/insights to…
- Improve brand messaging
- Identify product innovation opportunities
- Present the brand more effectively within the customer’s ‘Path to Purchase’
Food & Beverage Ideation (Concept Screen/Test/Improve) - Getting Ready for Market Success
The RTD coffee market is very competitive. Success can only be achieved by acquiring and building loyalty with current drinkers of competitive brands. The Georgia Coffee team needed to test and screen concepts related to differentiation where insights would up the odds for success.
This case study illustrates the QualQuant Signals approach to test/screen and then improve upon product/service concepts. A “winning” concept was selected and then further optimized by having the target segment improve by collaborating in an integrated qualitative/quantitative session, guiding concept refinement towards market success.
The final outcome delivered recommendations to develop concept refinement and the launch strategy.
- Able to launch revised concept based on filling gaps, leveraging concepts strengths, etc.
- Development of a brand messaging strategy to generate initial product life cycle demand
Upon implementing the new strategy that focused on high level pet care knowledge, the fan relationship started to change.
Therefore, the QualQuant Signals approach was used to diagnose: