Qualitative Research, Branding & Marketing Strategy Guide

Qualitative Research in Marketing: Advantages and Disadvantages

There are several significant advantages to using qualitative measurements in marketing research. The most significant is the ability to capture the voice of customers that may have evaded more structured, numerically-based approaches that force respondents to provide a specific set of answers. Qualitative research can also lead to entirely new insights into a new market or service that has not been explored previously, given the open-ended questions inherent in this approach. Qualitative research techniques can also be used to capture the shared knowledge of experts, as the Delphi Technique is well known for demonstrating. Capturing the tacit expertise and knowledge of a specific group of thought leaders can likewise be accomplished using qualitative techniques.

Additional advantages of qualitative measurements include the ability to conduct greater exploratory or primary research into a specific subject, often following a specific line of questioning as it develops within an interview. A further advantage is the ability to understand how prospects and customers make trade-offs on substitute products and services. While price elasticity studies are often highly quantitative in scope, the use of interactive discussions of pricing trade-offs can be highly effective in determining just how much a prospect is willing to sacrifice in price for a given feature or benefit. The total value of a brand can also be ascertained through qualitative techniques, giving respondents the ability to define in their own terms the value of the experience a brand delivers. The many advantages of qualitative research are predicated on having more interactive sessions with respondents, including the ability to ascertain how they make trade-offs over time on value versus price.

For all its advantages, qualitative measurement also carries several disadvantages. First, the results of any study predicated on this approach cannot be analyzed at higher levels of statistical analysis. Because the results of qualitative studies are not nominal, ordinal, or interval in terms of data orthogonality, they cannot be used to represent an entire customer or segment population. At best, they can serve as a means to capture nominally-based data that leads to only a rough approximation of an overall market size or set of market dynamics. Qualitative data can only be as useful as the means used to capture it; if a methodology is very informal and focused on loosely-guided objectives, the overall data will be of mediocre quality at best.

When the goals and objectives of a research study — along with the sampling frame and methodology — lack rigor or precise focus, the resulting research can also lack precision and meaning. It is more difficult to create greater levels of meaning and transferability of data when the methodologies are highly qualitative in scope; the data is relevant only for a specific series of objectives and is often defined by its applicability to a given point in time. Qualitative data is also frequently open to interpretation, as the methodology can be debated in terms of its relative appropriateness, robustness, and long-term value. Finally, qualitative data cannot stand entirely on its own; it must be combined with a series of other research sources to ensure relevancy and accuracy of interpretation, especially over time. In conclusion, qualitative data must be taken in context and often balanced with quantitative data to ensure a 360-degree view of a given situation or strategy, yielding a greater level of insight from research efforts.

The Strategic Role of Branding for Companies and Consumers

Branding is, by definition, the personality of a product, service, or company, and it acts to galvanize the emotions that marketers want to associate with the value they deliver. A brand is a very powerful force in marketing because it creates a persona for a given company. Many globally-based corporations have a multi-branding strategy that seeks to convey an overall corporate brand message, with each subsidiary product contributing a specific aspect of the total branding platform. Disney, Nike, Harley-Davidson, and many others excel at this multi-product, multi-segmented approach to branding. Disney, for example, treats each character as a franchise within the overall branding strategy, often creating entire branding platforms around each character to ensure a high degree of consistency.

All of these companies view their brand as a long-term investment in their overall marketing strategy — foundational to the organization's long-term strategic marketing plans. Companies that invest heavily in branding to create an effective long-term identity tend to measure Return on Investment (ROI) more in the context of Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and less in terms of individualized sales churn or period-to-period sales. A well-executed branding strategy sets the foundation for multi-year growth and the potential to create a long-term, highly measurable level of strategic performance. In the highest-performing companies, branding strategies deliver a cumulative effect over time, successively contributing to the overall position of the company within its industry and with key customer audiences and segments. The ability to both unify existing branding strategies toward a common objective while also taking a longitudinal view of their performance can lead to greater long-term brand value when branding initiatives are orchestrated to fulfill long-term goals and objectives. The world's most well-known brands have worked, in some cases for decades, to create synchronization across their many global branding initiatives — all aimed at supporting a strategic vision of the value the company strives to deliver.

For the consumer, the benefits of branding are equally significant. A successful brand can create a level of trust that would take years for a late market entrant to attain. The absence of trust that a new brand faces in a market can take years to overcome, often at significant expense. Consumers view brands as trusted advisors, shortening the purchasing decision process for the products they rely on most. This includes personal care products such as soap, toothpaste, paper goods, and certain types of food. Consumers see brands as a means to save time through the trust they provide, in addition to assuring that experiences will meet expectations. New mothers buying products from Procter & Gamble offer one example, while business travelers often prefer Marriott due to the predictability and quality of the experience.

Brands are indispensable for consumers navigating the many options available today for products and services. In addition to these benefits, brands are increasingly creating communities and providing customers with opportunities to share experiences and insights. An example is the level of customer participation Quicken has achieved with its accounting applications, where loyal customers routinely go online to answer questions from less-experienced users. Brands are also powerful from the standpoint of defining a consumer's identity, as demonstrated by the annual events Harley-Davidson hosts for its customers — many of whom are dedicated motorcycle enthusiasts. All of these factors combine to deliver a high level of trust, assurance of a positive experience, and the chance to socialize and learn from other customers.