Customer feedback is at the heart of market research. Companies need to understand their consumers’ behaviour, thoughts and the way they live and consume products, media and services. Organisations who conduct research produce goods and services that are relevant and in demand.
Collecting customer feedback using video allows organisations to share their research in a powerful and engaging way. For a detailed look at how video can be implemented alongside real-life case studies, download our ebook – A Guide to Video Research. Vox Pops International has been at the forefront of using video to conduct and deliver customer feedback for over 30 years.
Vox Pops
Vox Pops in a traditional sense are face to face interviews, used to collect customer feedback on video. There are two ways this can be done. Using a team of 2 or going alone.
It is best to use a trained researcher and camera operator when a client is looking for depth and considered responses. Having a team of 2 ensures that the interviewer is concentrating on the respondent. This means they can focus on the responses and include questions that explore themes in more detail. It’s important to obtain comprehensive and full responses. Having a team of 2 also means you can test products, concepts and advertising.
A one-person videographer or researcher can conduct vox pops as well. The negative is that it can compromise the interviewing and filming. This is a technique best used when you require quick and short soundbites, not long considered answers.
Mobile Video Diaries
Mobile video diaries are a type of remote vox pop interview which have seen a huge growth in popularity over the last 5 years. One significant difference, besides the self-filming, is participants in these projects are pre-recruited.
The role mobile devices currently play and will continue to play in obtaining customer feedback using video is very important. Most leading research agencies offer a platform using online communities to generate video responses. These are uploaded by the respondents.
Organisations benefit as this is a quick way to obtain feedback. The videos submitted are analysed and edited together by theme to bring the research and respondents to life.
Video Diaries are a great way to capture in the moment events and feelings. They are wonderful for companies following a journey, for example an insurance claim, buying a car, organising an event and tracking a specific period of time.
Quality control with Video Diaries
It’s really important to ensure quality. This is both in the actual responses and the way the video is filmed. Ideally, it’s important for the research agency to spend time moderating the respondents to make sure the research findings are insightful. It’s also important to make sure they are trained a little bit in filming techniques.
In Home Interviews
In home, or depth interviews are a very important part of the research mix. These interviews are again pre-recruited and are an opportunity for skilled researchers to spend time with carefully selected consumers. This enables them to really understand their lives and their opinions. Spending time with someone in their home and immersing themselves in their lives helps break down barriers and create relationships. This is key to getting quality market research insights.
The moderator sometimes films these in-home interviews. Another way is to have a team of 2, consisting of a moderator and a camera operator. Traditionally this is how VPI has done it. We obtain customer feedback using video to get audio responses and to film them in situ. We interview the respondent for at least 1 hour and use a questionnaire with clear key themes and topics.
We then film them walking around their house, interacting with their household, using social media, opening their fridges, etc. We call these cutaway shots, or B roll.
Once the interviews have been completed there is a lot of footage. We review it all, using skilled researchers and editors. We blend the spoken insights with the filmed shots. We create a storyline with clear themes. We can also add extra text, graphics, music and subtitles.
The end result are short films of real people and they act as mini consumer documentaries. These films are used to illustrate segmentation studies, bring a target group to life and prove a point.
Video Sharing Platforms
Video sharing platforms have gained popularity over the last few years. There has been an explosion in the amount of video generated. Therefore it makes sense to sort it and have it easily accessible for everyone to watch, download and share.
Companies such as Unilever, Costa, Highways England and others have done this successfully for many years, sharing their customer feedback using video across their organisation. This helps put the customer at the heart of the business.
The Unilever project resulted in over 350 videos featuring real consumers around the word taking about issues from water shortage through to mother/daughter relationships.
The Future
We have been a leading video market research agency for over 30 years. We are passionate advocates of collecting and sharing customer feedback using video.
Video in research will continue as a trend. It is fuelled by technology. With the advent of cameras on mobile and sharing apps, it has never been easier to gather video diaries and access a wide cross section of the public’s opinions, thoughts and feelings on anything from Brexit to Beyonce.
In terms of getting cut through, video research helps researchers make an impact. Videos and animations are a key tool for turning data and insight into a story. Storytelling is memorable, impactful, creates emotional connections with consumers and drives action throughout an organisation. We talk more about packing a punch with insight in our 5 Ways to Create Actionable Insights article.
If you need help bringing customers, colleagues, insight or data to life through engaging videos, get in touch.
