Find the Moments: Harnessing Emotional Insights from Online Qualitative

In our first blog of the 3-part series, Harnessing Emotional Insights from Online Qualitative: Leveraging Online Behavior, we outlined four techniques we found effective for leveraging online behavior with consumers. We discovered that in order to harness the emotional insights that you need from consumers during online qualitative you have to first earn the right to get those emotional responses and build that empathy with your customers.

In this second blog of the series, we will lay out four approaches we have found successful for finding the moments with consumers.

1. Define What “In the Moment” Is

In the moment research is incredibly important, and there is a great use for it during shopping explorations and activities where the time and place really matter. For the participants, finding the moment is really all about allowing them to define what “in the moment” is for them.

For emotional needs, we love to allow our people to define what in the moment is for them. We have found that by not dictating where they have to be and when they have to complete our research questions, we uncover more authentic findings. This is because it allows them to pick the moment where they feel most comfortable to reflect and share with us and do not feel rushed in their responses.

2. Meet Them Where They’re Comfortable

Online research is very flexible, and there are a magnitude of devices, platforms and techniques we can use to connect with people in our studies to ensure we are finding a way that they are comfortable using.

We use a lot of mobile or computer devices in our studies and this effort to be device agnostic really pays dividends. It allows us to meet participants where they feel most comfortable. If that is on their mobile devices that they have with them all day and they feel most comfortable using then we provide the ability for them to use those devices. If that’s in the privacy of their own home on their laptop then we can do that as well. This flexibility allows each individual in our study to contribute in a way that they feel emotionally comfortable.

3. Practice the Moment

“Practicing the moment” is a technique we like to use when we’re trying to understand a particular story or emotional state of a situation. In doing so, we like to build several different moments or feedback from participants.

By doing this, we’re not forcing one story to tell the whole tale because we know as emotional beings that our daily lives can really impact the way we feel and react in different situations. We all have good days and bad days; and with that in mind, we really like to practice the moment by capturing the magnitude of feedback and taking those emotional states into consideration.

4. Consider Context

What we mean by considering context is that we want to immerse ourselves into the lives of the individuals in our studies. At the beginning of the project, it’s important for us do introductions with our participants and take the time to welcome them. This gives us the opportunity to get to know them as unique people that we can learn from. We need to understand where they’re coming from because their lives and emotional state is really what impacts their choices and behaviors.

Again, we recommend these four techniques for finding the moments with participants in online qualitative studies:

• Defining the moments
• Meeting them where they are comfortable,
• Practicing moments, and
• Consider context

Stay tuned for the final part of the series where we’ll provide best practices for acknowledging intimate material.