Video is here.
The trends indicate that video is going to push the data traffic usage over the next big peak. First text was all the rage, then came the time of pictures and everyone was taking a ‘selfie’ and now we are moving into the next age of content – the video age. With the increased abilities of smartphones, tablets and webcam, video content is exploding around the internet.
Mobile industry data sites are expecting the use of video to be the main usage of data over the next few years. It already has seen some growth, but the expectation is that it will soon eclipse anything else that we do on the smartphone.
Social media is no exception, given that users are the creators. Facebook is catching and overtaking YouTube as the number one social video channel. The amount of video being uploaded is staggering - 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and 6 billion hours of video are watched monthly on YouTube. These numbers, I’m sure you agree, are mind blowing.
Now when you look at news, travel, sports, real estate or any other site, there is an expectation that there will be some video content to view. Nothing allows you to position your brand, service or accommodation like video. This will only continue and the usage of video will increase.
What about Marketing Research?
The fear previously has been around video quality or video analysis, both of these concerns have been overcome with the advent of better smartphone with a conscious improvement in the camera and also with the increase in video analysis tools such as VoxPopMe, Big Sofa and Livings Lens to name a few.
With this improved technology we can truly see the power of video. We have mostly known what it could bring to Market Research but restrictions and time have not enabled us to see its true potential. Now with the shackles released we can see what the fuss has been about. Video can provide some much and can enrich both client and respondent’s journey through market research by:
- Provide emotional content instead of bland ‘open-ended’ responses
- Allow story-telling and create relationships
- Allow us to get close to the respondents – really understand them and how products/ service are used in their lives
- Enliven the clients’ brief and insights
This does not mean that it is all plain sailing and with all new techniques there is a time of initial teething that we need to work through. This is no different with video. With the recent analysis we have done we can categorise the opportunities as such:
- Quality – making sure we get the best quality video from respondents and helping them to produce these with instructions and tips
- Privacy and Trust – we need to build upon the trust built up within panel community and make sure that respondents feel safe – not only for themselves but also for any information or data that they provide
- Reach – with all new things there can be a tendency for different to adopt at different rates. We just need to be sure who we are talking to and what segment they currently represent. With time this will adjust itself and be less of an issue.
- Flow of information – the operational linkages that will allow safe and secure movement of video and respondent needs to be in place such that this can be automated as much as possible along secure networks
- Incentive – this work requires more effort and data usage so we need to consider how we compensate respondents for this additional effort
- Willingness to capture the video – there can be various reason that respondents might not do this such as ‘I'm not sure how you would use this video’ or ‘I am not photogenic’ or ‘I do not feel comfortable making a video for everyone to see’. All valid reasons and things we have to help respondents overcome.
Whereas none of these issues are insurmountable, the rewards for a correctly positioned and executed survey that includes a video component can provide a rich vein of data. Consider the following:
With video we can also look to address two areas of constant pain within market research, especially for the respondents – long surveys and non-engaging surveys. A video response might take less time but it also depends on the question and what additional actions you might ask of the respondent. The response from respondents about video has been positive – it has allowed them to answer with freedom and also answer more with less effort.
Video allows us to gain better insights into:
- Usage of products – how product might fit into a respondent’s routine
- Validate the respondents – we can see that who we want to talk to is actually answering the questions
- See real emotion and decision making
- Gain a better insight into the respondent and how they interact with the product/brand/services
Video is already becoming the main stream of most websites and becoming more and more popular on social media – the numbers don’t lie. Engagement with respondents who do video has also been very positive and we also learn more from them when we don’t restrict their ability answer freely. Market research is about gaining a true reflection of what respondents think and feel – video is one way to gain that insight.
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