A case study on putting quant and qual back together for online concept testing

1. Q+Q=?
A case study on putting quant and qual back together for
online concept testing

2. In the good old offline days combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques
was considered to be a desirable approach to any nontrivial research story. In
such cases qual was either meant to set the stage shaping the subject for
consequent quant part and/or to explain the results of the latest.
Nowadays modern technology offer new ways for more seamless integration of
qual and quant. Can we researchers benefit from putting Q and Q back together?
Why re-marrying Q and Q?

3. Scope
Client: a major consumer electronics
retailer.
Problem: the Client is constantly
launching new promos. Generating new
promo ideas and mechanics is
becoming increasingly difficult.
Objectives: 1) test 13 new promo ideas,
2) enhance them, 3) co-create new
ideas.
Our approach. We opted for a mix-mode 3 step study:
1. Initial evaluation (Quant) — a sequential concept test.
2. Idea enhancement (Qual) — a moderated bulletin board discussion.
3. Result validation (Qual) — same as step 1, a research-on-research step.

4. Concepts: look and feel
Name «NAME» «NAME» «NAME»
Insight
Mechanics
RTB

5. Project design
Step Design Outcome
Initial evaluation
(Quant)
13 concepts, N=2400
respondents, LOI=20 min, one
respondent tests 2 concepts for.
Concepts were ranked based on
overall liking and perceived
uniqueness. Five concepts have
been chosen for further
development.
Idea enhancement
(Quant)
Five concepts and 40
respondents from the Step 1, 5-
day moderated bulletin board.
As the result of the stage two
concepts were rewritten and two
brand new concepts were co-
created. Seven concepts in total.
Result validation
(Quant)
Seven concepts from the step
2; 1080 fresh respondents,
LOI=20 mins, one respondent
tests 2 concepts for.
The seven concepts from the Step
2 incl. rewritten and new once
were re-ranked again in order to
evaluate if the Step 2 was effective
or not.

6. Experiment flow
Concepts are ranked.
13 initial concepts
Five concepts are
chosen for further
development.
Two concepts re-
written and two new
concepts (grey balls)
are co-created during
the Step 2.

7. Co-creation pays off
New (co-created)
concepts rock!
One of the re-written
concepts appeared to be
slightly improved
(number 13 moved from
red to yellow).
And one of the re-written
concepts was ruined :).

8. Conclusions
Overall the mix-mode approach allowed to achieve actionable business
significant results at the same time cutting both time and money
budgets.
Recruiting participants for qualitative (enhancement) stage from the prior
quantitative (initial idea evaluation) stage proved to be a smooth and
streamlined process that is also paid off in higher than average
participant engagement during the qualitative stage.
As a result, the Client not only got the initial concepts ranked, but also
enhanced them and developed entirely new ready to use concepts via
the co-creation process.

9. Questions?
Ask me: valeriya@soqual.co