The covid pandemic has transformed multi-market qualitative research. Historically these projects entailed researchers traveling to meet with local respondents and meet with client observers on the ground.

With flights grounded, social distancing in place, and hybrid working becoming the new normal, connecting with international respondents became virtually impossible and as a result, nearly all multi-market research projects have undergone a digital transformation and migrated to online approaches.

The first shift during the pandemic was towards tools such as Zoom or Google Meet. This allowed researchers to re-invent their approach to multi-market research and transitioned to remote qualitative research as a default. As researchers and research participants became more comfortable in the new normal, the drawbacks of a synchronous, video-only approach became more apparent and they began to explore options like mobile qualitative research.

Unable to read body language or to pick up on cultural nuances, video only interviews lack the depth of in-person research. Without local moderators, many researchers can struggle to build a relationship with the respondents, leaving them with very little valuable feedback and often with more questions than answers.

At Indeemo we were able to bridge the gap between an online-only and traditional approach to multi-market research. In this short case study, we explain how our pioneering mobile-first, pre-tasking approach allowed our client to run a multi-market project, and elicit rich, contextual, and in-the-moment feedback without ever leaving their office.

How a sports brand used pre-tasking software for multi country market research

In the competitive world of sports footwear, our client provides the ultimate running shoe designed for the most challenging conditions. As a global brand, our client was keen to understand the experience of runners across multiple markets.

However, really understanding the exercise habits of consumers was proving difficult for our client. To guide their marketing strategy, they needed to capture and diary contextual, everyday behaviors of marathon runners right down to recreational runners. However, as with anyone on the move, it was proving a challenge to intimately understand consumers’ habits, routines, and needs. Early mornings, late evenings, and weekends can be particularly hard time periods to research, as they fall outside regular working hours and usually falls into an individual's personal space.

Not alone is it personal, but running can serve as a form of escapism as well as fitness training for many. This means that getting authentic insights is also a challenge using traditional qualitative research methodologies that require the physical presence of a researcher. Add COVID to the mix, and the inability for researchers to travel and the project brief was looking challenging to say the least - that is until they considered Indeemo.

Why choose mobile pre-tasking for international research?

Remote mobile pre-tasking (aka Mobile Qualitative Research) focuses on using mobile phones to capture in-the-moment photo, and video footage. With the explosion of affordable smartphones, 4G networks, and multimedia social sharing, remote mobile pre-tasking is now more accessible than ever, making it possible for researchers to remotely connect with respondents in any location, at any time, without ever leaving their desks, thus ensuring most authentic response. Given the wider context, the ability to generate insights remotely from disparate geographies was a very powerful alternative to the previous approach that had been used pre COVID.

Define your multi-market research project goals

Our clients was looking to

• Get inside the heads of runners of all abilities to understand their motivations when it came to their workout routines

• Capture media-rich posts showing everyday routines and actions of runners

• Discover what running shoe brands were favored by different levels of runners and the experience offered by each

• Understand whether there was a material difference across different geographies

The research solution: a multi market pre-tasking tool

We agreed that a week-long diary study would be the perfect methodology to embed in the true routines, rituals, and behaviors of respondents. With 14 markets, respondents segmented by 3 different ability levels, it would also mean that they would have quite a substantial bulk of data to analyze. The richness of the data surfaced using this Mobile Ethnography approach meant that one week of fieldwork should provide adequate insight and a true reflection of runners’ routines.

How mobile qualitative research app addressed the client’s research requirements

With vast experience in multi-market research, our strategists were able to make the necessary introductions to ensure that the client had adequate recruitment and moderation resources to make the project a success.

Indeemo was also able to assist in rolling out the project to 4 different countries, in 4 different languages gaining an understanding of how behaviors varied throughout different geographic regions. For such a wide-reaching and comprehensive study, our mobile qualitative research app was invaluable in enabling our client to cut down the costs of such a large-scale project. Indeemos’ ability to task in any language was critical in enabling them to get authentic feedback from respondents in these different markets.

Respondents were tasked with taking photos of their current running-wear (including footwear), diarying their running routines over the week, and evaluating their learnings from the week.

Indeemos’ unique ability to moderate in real-time also allowed our client to probe the insights from the 6 AM runs to the late-night treadmill grinds.

Multi-country pre-tasking: the research results

At the end of the week, our client was sitting on a wealth of raw, in-the-moment, and contextual data from runners’ lives. They had a visual insight into the life of runners across 4 vastly different markets to compare and contrast. Our Researcher Dashboard offered them the ability to see how the segments differed by market and by ability level.

Throughout the fieldwork, 104 respondents uploaded over 1,100 videos, photos, and screenshots of their workouts, routines, and rituals. Indeemos’ comprehensive and intuitive set of analysis tools and filters enabled our client to complete their analysis over a much shorter period than was previously possible.

When it came to actionable insights, our client was delighted to note that they could now tailor their marketing efforts and offerings relevant to the needs and motivations of different running personas and markets

Benefits of using Mobile Pre-Tasking tools for multi country market research

Fast and agile research participants require a fast and easy methodology to truly understand them. Mobile pre-tasking offered our client this opportunity. The flexibility of the Indeemo platform, coupled with expert support and guidance from our strategists meant that our client was able to execute their multi-market diary study in a fast, efficient, and successful manner.

The pre-tasking methodology, even without the support of video interviews, allowed our client to gather rich, actionable data - without ever having to leave their desk.

What we are seeing across many of our client projects is just how powerful pre-tasking is at the exploratory stage before the video interviews. Pre-tasking allows to de-risk the research. Working on a smaller mobile qualitative research project is the perfect way to capture rich, raw data in a much more cost-efficient way than a traditional IDI.

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