Ethnography for the masses

by Paul P Roberts Posted on January 16, 2012

Few weeks ago at an investor meeting I was asked what I thought the size of the mobile ethnography market was, leading question I thought, so not being sure I decide to plead the 5th and take the question away.

I am partial to great questions, think questions are more important than answers. Quite often they start as one-liners, which take on a life of their own. For me this was one of them.

So when I started to look for number, even looked to work it out from our clients it became apparent that this was not going to be easy. What is mobile ethnography? What types of research do people put in this category? Well anything they want to. It is what it is in the eye of the beholder.

Ok, So taking a step back Ethnography in its truest sense is Ethnographers visiting houses or people filming, cutting audio, text, making their own observations of other people lives. Ethnography is a labour intensive, specialist subject; therefore projects can take up a lot of people time, which can lead to a project incurring a high cost. A highly used though not mass market solution, not met a client yet running 10’s of ethnography projects on a monthly basis.  You could observe that the largest users of formal ethnography are those with the largest global research budgets.  Though informal ethnography does exist in most businesses, most connected business leaders take some time to go observe their own business and its customers.

So is mobile / self-ethnography different, well it is in that you remove house visits / store visits but not the analytics so the difference between the two in cost terms is what, between 20% and 50%, self-ethnography being cheaper. Yes it faster, you may get different results, people I am told being observed do act differently so the change in methodology can bring additional benefits.

So in the end what did I conclude, what was my response, well there is no market number, the market is there, it is regardless, what ever people want to define it as, what people believe it be. The market is getting bigger, end clients are beginning to value more highly the visual medium and would they buy more if you could reduce the overall project cost, yes.

The answer, to get ethnography to the masses, in all its disguises, you have create a system which supports ethnography by the masses, the small to mid, the mid to large companies. Be they clients or research companies.

Be interesting to see what the investor thinks of the response.

Posted in ethnography, ethosapp, market research, mobile ethnography, Mobile research | Leave a comment

It’s not what you see, its what you don’t see

by Paul P Roberts Posted on November 22, 2011

EthOS app hosted the first of our webinars today. As usual Siamack went through the deck sharing sometimes more than he should but in his laid back and relaxed style imparted some of the wisdom he has collected in his many years in Ethnography. More wisdom and experience based webinars to follow.

However there was one comment he passed that I had to record, particulary as I am someone  still learning about the vagaries of self ethnography.

It’s not what you see, its what you don’t see.

Ever walked into a room where a discussion is already taking place and feel that there is something not natural about the conversation, almost like something is being held back, something you are not being told . Well its the same with ethnography, if your not capturing the whole life experience, literally living with them and instead , allowing the respondent to record what they think is of interest then how do you know that this is their natural behaviour. You have to ask yourself whether the video looks natural, does it feel right. Not easy when you may have 100″s of video’s to review.

So the next time you are reviewing that video or picture for that killer insight perhaps you might want to spend a little more time thinking through whether the insight may be in what they don’t show you, rather than what they do show you.

An interesting thought!

 

Posted in ethnography, ethosapp, market research, mobile ethnography, Mobile research, paul roberts, siamack Salari | Leave a comment

Our first webinar

by Paul P Roberts Posted on November 11, 2011

So November 22nd has been set as the date for our first webinar. We are going to look to cover Mobile Ethnography as it is today and how it is likely to evolve, as we see it so some opportunity for discussion.

Registration details can be found on Eventbrite, please feel free to forward on the link to anyone that may be interested.

http://www.eventbrite.com/org/1655161592

Posted in ethnography, ethosapp, mobile ethnography, Mobile research, Qualitative | Leave a comment

Apple and Samsung – The market share long game

by Paul P Roberts Posted on October 28, 2011

Interesting statistics on Samsung 28% of smartphone market vs Apple 17.1%.

Had a couple of conversations with people wondering what Apple would do, would there be a cheap iPhone launch, everyone assumed further lawsuits but I was struck by the actions of another tech company, Amazon and its actions over the past few months.

Investing heavily operational support and new technology it is looking to play a longer game, yes it loses some support on wall street in the short term but when it becomes the largest supplier of tablets, even my 8 year old daughter knows they are about to launch the kindle fire, and then adds to this the title of the largest supplier of electronic books, music, apps and as well as the largest online shop this may he heralded as a moment of genius.

I must admit Amazon are my most admired company, being somewhat technical, and enthusiastic about technology I admire the ability of company that does not have a technical heritage creating the kindle, the leading devise in its market. Most companies fail miserably when making that breadth of a jump.

So back to Apple, it sells phone and makes a not insignificant profit, it would be interesting to speculate what the profit per percentage share of market is worth. I suspect in profit terms Apple’s 17.1% may be worth in profit more that Samsungs 28%.  I forgot who said that only a fool decides what size boat they should buy based on their revenues, not waiting to see the profit.

I suspect Apple will live with a drop in market share in one of the fastest growing market. It will continue to create an even bigger pile of cash it can use to both create the next breakthrough product in the next breakthrough market. Perhaps a phone my dog can’t eat would be a good place to start.

I suspect what ever it is it won’t lessen the Apple brand and as long as it continues the create the same level of profit I suspect Apple will not be unduly concerned over its market share.

 

Posted in apple, business, Mobile, Sales | Leave a comment

Fast Food Word of Mouth – Coming to Social Media Stream near you

by Paul P Roberts Posted on September 5, 2011

Had an interesting conversation with a business partner yesterday about the continued increase in the way video is being used in research, we were talking mobile ethnography in retail.

The conversation was triggered after we got onto the subject of fast food. I had been doing some research on what people posted on youtube in relation to fast foods, just to see what was there. My expectation was to find probably a few in and out of focus reviews from people detailing either a bad or interesting experience inside one of these outlets. There are a few of these however….

It was therefore  interesting to find youtube channels dedicated to the review of fast food, much like a food programme. I was struck not only by the depth of the reviews, some were able to comment on the history of specific food items,  but also the follower community existed, keen to hear and see the reviews existed.

I suppose I had always assumed a word of mouth process existed in relation to most products, technology, services, cars, etc. and have been on youtube  several times to find such reviews. Was not expecting fast food. So I conclude that nothing is likely to be out of bounds to social media reviews and that I should always expect the unexpected.  If you interested here is one reviews I found  Mc rib Review

I then wondered was I missing out, I am the only that doesn’t review the new mcdonalds before I visit and came across an interesting report from Lightspeed that shows that social media does not factor highly when people looking for reviews, I am not alone then. The unstructured nature of social media makes it difficult even for the most ardent fans of fast food to find out what the new burger tastes like before the get in their car to fetch one. Lightspeed paper

I suppose given the complexity, and work required for us as individuals it may fall to the manufactures themselves to farm this data and provide a service, I therefore expect a mcdonalds review RSS feed anyday soon.

 

Posted in Customer experience, Customer Services, marketing, mobile ethnography, Mobile research, Twitter | Tagged , | Leave a comment

MR Web EthOS Launch Article

by Paul P Roberts Posted on August 15, 2011
EthOS Officially Rolls Out in 15 Languages
 

Ethnographer Siamack Salari has officially launched the EthOS mobile app, designed to enable brand owners to view how their products and services are used by consumers. The tool is now available in 15 languages on iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices.

Siamack SalariSalari claims that the EthOS (Ethnographic Observation System) is the first global ethnographic research tool to have been brought to market.

The app allows brand owners to create projects and workspaces on the web and then invite consumers to upload their own video clips, pictures, text or audio using their smartphones, to show how products, brands and services fit into their lives. 

http://www.mrweb.com/drno/news13938.htm

Posted in ethnography, ethosapp, Mobile research, Qualitative | Leave a comment

Hotels? Do they really care?

by Paul P Roberts Posted on March 18, 2011

You arrive late into Geneva, they have your reservation, sleep well and don’t embarrass yourself at breakfast, so all is well.

All you have to do is hand in the key as your as your travel company has paid. Well not quite. They have left their credit card details with explicit instructions that their card and not the guest be charged. But this more work for the reception staff so they refuse to process the travel agents card and force it’s guest to pay. The “My shift finishes at 6pm what time do you have to be at your meeting” stand off was particulary interesting from a customer experience perspective.

Its probably no surprise that the correlation between customer experience, profitability and hotels is almost 0, ie the profitability of hotel chains doesn’t correlate to how it treats it’s customers.

Perhaps they know I am unlikely to return, perhaps they know I am too busy to start a “I hate them Facebook group, either way hotels will always be the enigma of all the service industries.

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