Quantitative research is a critical component of any product management team. It can drive growth, improve retention, and provide product direction. Many software companies make a habit of tracking the quantitative performance of their product. It’s easy enough to monitor the use of your product, the growth of the user base, customer retention, etc. This quantitative data is informative and definitely tells you what is happening in your product and your market. Quantitative data doesn’t explain why something is happening. Capturing the Voice of the Customer (VoC) through qualitative data provides the insights needed to understand these underlying reasons.
The Importance of Qualitative Research
A friend of mine recently shared a story that illustrated the importance of using qualitative research. As a product manager, he noticed a trend in the data: customer acquisition was up; however, so was attrition. Their customers weren’t renewing their contracts. The CEO went into a panic. My friend sent a survey to non-renewing customers to gain insights into the issue. As it turned out, a part of their product was malfunctioning. It was not charging the customers who were up for renewal. Crisis (mostly) averted!
As a product manager, you might panic when aggregate data doesn’t reveal the reasons behind customer behavior. Therefore, you need to explore additional insights. Sitting and analyzing the quantitative data isn’t going to get you any closer to the why. You need qualitative data to get there.
As the pragmatic marketing NIHITO principle states, Nothing Interesting Happens In the Office.
Qualitative research is personal, field-based, and iterative. This type of research requires you as a product leader to connect with your market. Ask them questions and think deeply about their answers. As you collect insights through these methods, you organize them, and patterns start to emerge. Pairing these patterns with quantitative data reveals incredible insights.
I’m not telling you that you should go out and conduct surveys and one-on-one interviews every single day. But there are some key situations where qualitative data makes a difference.
Before we dive in to the why and how, let’s take a quick look at the difference between qualitative and quantitative data.
Qualitative Versus Quantitative: At a Glance
Qualitative data collection helps to influence product direction, identify problems, assess sentiment. Pairing qualitative data with quantitative data helps you make better decisions.
Quantitative research relies on a hypothesis identified before starting the research and uses a deductive approach. Qualitative research is inductive and does not require a hypothesis in order to start the research process.
The data collecting process in qualitative research is personal, field-based, and iterative or circular. As you collect and organize data during analysis, patterns emerge. These data patterns can prompt a researcher to explore new questions or concepts. This process is similar to rolling a snowball downhill, gaining momentum and complexity.
Got it? If you’d like to go deeper into the discussion of these two data types, read our blog, Quantitative Versus Qualitative.
Ready to keep going? Let’s look into when and how you should use qualitative data in your research.
When Should You Use Qualitative Data?
- Service or product improvement needs have surfaced: If your NPS score is decreasing, support team call volume is increasing, or general product usage is declining, qualitative research can help identify the problem. It also uncovers the reasons behind these issues.
- There are brand sentiment uncertainties: By understanding how your customers see your brand, you can react to problems and brand awareness issues. Alternatively, qualitative research can reveal social proof through testimonials and case studies. You can use this information to drive new customer acquisition and enhance customer loyalty.
- Demands for product development and innovation: You can use customer (and non-customer) feedback to understand trends. This insight can support the development of new products to drive business growth. Google excels at this by developing ancillary and complementary products. These products support their existing users and expand their market share. Examples are Google Flights, AdMob, Google Play, etc.
- Need to improve marketing effectiveness: Qualitative research provides your marketing team with valuable customer insights and detailed buyer/user personas. These insights enable the team to create better, more targeted content. You can also use these personas to improve your product’s language and usability.
- Identify market fit and clarify positioning: If your sales team is losing deals, your product team should be conducting Win/Loss analysis. These conversations can reveal critical information about market needs and gaps in your value proposition. They also provide insights into which competitors’ customers are considering and other important details. This can help to clarify and inform your positioning and packaging and your general go-to-market strategy.
Some Easy Qualitative Research Methods
This is not an exhaustive list of methods for gathering qualitative data. Here are few accessible options for conducting research that we recommend you try.
- Phone interviews: This is the simplest, fastest, and most universal way to explore your market. Going in with a hypothesis is useful. Ask open-ended questions that give the interviewee a chance to fully share their experience, needs, and observations. Having a question list helps guide the conversation, but you don’t need to stick rigidly to a script. In fact, don’t. Let the conversation flow, follow its path, and practice active listening. You will inevitably learn something.
- Use a survey tool: By creating a short three-to-five question survey with open-text fields and disqualification questions, you can collect the answers and feedback that you need quickly. If you lack enough survey recipients, leverage a panel service to access a larger audience. If you’re not familiar, these services help field respondents for you, so you can gather enough information for statistical significance.
- Use existing feedback systems: If you are surveying about product or customer service satisfaction, you may already have a wealth of data available. Ask your service team for ticket content and feedback forms that have open text fields in them. You may also have past surveys and exploration studies. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle — it’s not just for the environment anymore!
Of course, as with the other methods there is a “gotcha” here too. Just because the data is available doesn’t mean it’s appropriate or unbiased. Customer support transcripts and tickets provide a wealth of information. However, the individuals who contact support may not represent your entire customer base. Remember to qualify the data before you base decisions on it. - Ask the front lines: In some cases you simply may not be able to access your customers or target audience directly. Consider interviewing the front-line customer service and sales teams that interact with your audience. It may not be as effective as going directly to the source. However, these individuals usually have a good understanding of customer needs and issues within the organization. We recommend getting as close to the end-customer as possible for these interviews. Avoid interviewing management because they tend to pre-filter their responses.
Qualitative Research Can Be Used to Clarify Quantitative Findings
If some quantitative information is unclear during data analysis, researchers can screen and identify respondents who might clarify the results. This process helps to shed more light on the findings.
With online surveys, you can ask respondents directly if they would be willing to speak with you about their answers. Offer respondents the option to leave their email or preferred contact method. Your researchers can then reach out to them to gain additional clarity.
Using a modified member check technique common in qualitative research, investigators can discuss participants’ responses. This discussion helps them understand why participants answered as they did.
Qualitative data can address questions that clients and decision makers have about the quantitative research. It provides rich descriptions and specific illustrations that enhance the quantitative data. This combination adds significant value and utility to the survey. And, by extension, bring clarity and direction to your next business move.
