Ethnographic Consumer Research Is a Superpower

What is Ethnographic Consumer Research?

Ethnographic consumer research is a qualitative research method where researchers get the amazing job of observing and interacting with consumers in their natural environments. Unlike traditional surveys or focus groups, ethnography looks at consumer behavior in a holistic way.

Cultural, social, and emotional factors count as data. That’s important because it’s become increasingly hard to predict consumer decision making. When we understand the user and the environment, all sorts of lightbulbs go off in terms of what they need, and how to message to them.

You’re on a Design or Development Team. How Will Ethnographic Consumer Research Help You?

1. Uncover Hidden Insights: Ethnography can reveal insights that traditional research methods miss. When we see people hiding their incontinence products underneath their stairs, we immediately know something can be done with the packaging. We gain a deeper understanding of motivations, behaviors, and purchasing habits that would go unnoticed in a survey or maybe even a focus group.
2. Empathize with Customers: LUR brings clients along, as colleagues, and a magical bond forms when designers and brand teams come face to face with who they’re creating for. We can’t count how many Day-In-the-Life interviews feature a good participant cry or a deepest darkest secret revealed. It’s then our job to translate those challenges and aspiration into recommendations for your product and service development.
3. Identify Opportunities: Ethnography can help identify new product or service opportunities. By observing how consumers interact with existing offerings, researchers can identify gaps in the market and uncover unmet needs. In the same incontinence example, we heard women say that their male partners would also love design and packaging for men’s products. It’s kind of like fashion in general – women get all the attention! The client listened and made a men’s line.
4. Getting Your Messaging Right: When you’re in early development, you want to use Forward Iteration™, meaning conducting consumer research before crafting your marketing messages. Almost all companies hire agencies who write the messages, then test them. We do this in the reverse. Copywriters attend the research and we let consumers tell us what’s important and how they’d talk about it. Forward Iteration creates inherently meaningful campaign messaging.

How Is It Done? In-Person, Remotely, or a Combination of the Two. 

• Observation: Researchers observe consumers in their natural environments like home, work or public spaces. Virtual platforms also exist and do a great job for certain studies.
• Interviews: Here’s where we sit down for a long-form interview. LUR invites clients to come along whenever possible, or listen in to virtual interviews.
• Diaries & Journals: Consumers may be asked to keep diaries or journals to record their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to a particular product or service. This can be done virtually, in tandem with interviews to get at the why.
• Shadowing: Researchers follow consumers throughout their day, or an experience.
• Participatory: Researchers attend an event, like an election rally or a concert, to observe as participants. Others don’t know they are gathering observations.