The Covid-19 health crisis has triggered a reflex to work online even more than in the past. This phenomenon is completely understandable. But do we really have to accept the disappearance of face-to-face market studies? Certainly not, says Isabelle Fabry (founder of ActFuture and co-representative for ESOMAR in France), for whom these methods are irreplaceable. Backing up her words with action, she is behind an initiative to launch #HumansAreStillAlive, a movement aiming to bring together people who share this conviction and to gather evidence of best practice in this area. Her responses to the questions raised by MRNews:
MRNews: The health crisis has stimulated online market studies to the detriment of the face-to-face mode. This, of course, mainly concerns qualitative studies, with a strong decline in the practice of traditional “focus groups” or face-to-face interviews. How do you see this phenomenon?
Consumers are very willing to travel to a physical location, wearing masks and using hand sanitizer: what is wrong with that? I think we are experiencing a mental block with respect to face-to-face studies that is limiting and penalising the healthy balance and development of our profession. Whether we like it or not, the depth and wealth of the insights provided by our profession depend on the deployment of multiple, relevant methods that aim to achieve the desired objectives. For each context, issue, expectation, there is a related ad hoc methodology that should be applied. It seems to me to be a mistake to think that, because of the COVID-19 situation, we can solve everything by just doing everything on line. We cannot nourish ourselves and thrive if we cut ourselves off from the living …
What are the precise issues involved in the decline of face-to-face interaction and more generally of face-to-face market studies? What do we lose by abandoning this type of protocol?
Once robots are able to project, desire, perceive, resonate, feel, have fun and want to start over, we can talk about this subject again. But, for now, only humans are endowed with these faculties. But a consumer is above all human in his relationship to products and services. It is these waves of the human essence that we can capture in face-to-face market research. The ability to express one’s thoughts requires a degree of sophistication that few people master: self-analysis, raised awareness, the ability to dissociate oneself, accurate power of expression. Only face-to-face interviews, with the appropriate “eye to eye” prompts that these involve, are able to produce the right depth and accuracy of the comments made.
When expressing desires and feelings, the spoken word is essential. Speaking, remaining silent, hesitating, reformulating, progressing one’s thoughts…all this is what being human is. And, as we know, a lot of things are revealed by the non-verbal register, by body language…
Some of these elements can nevertheless be understood online, right?
Yes, that is true. But avoidance strategy is infinitely easier behind a screen than it is face-to-face, which is the most effective way of obtaining real answers to the questions being asked. The face-to-face interview is a guarantee of the depth, the nuances, the veracity, the sensitivity, the humanity and the vivacity of the information gathered. And all this is essential if you want to work with finesse on a specific concept or market positioning. Let us not forget that investments of several million or even hundreds of millions of Euros are sometimes decided on the basis of the results of a study. Accuracy and nuance are therefore key to the success of the project from one end of the production chain to the other, especially in our mature markets where the potential levers come from weak signals.
The health crisis and the systems developed by governments, in France or elsewhere, impose strong constraints, which of course apply to market research professionals. And, moreover, we cannot ignore psychological barriers: consumers can be afraid. It seems far from easy to do these studies in person, right?
The constraints are real and must be observed, but the professionals working in the field have already put everything in place very simply and practically: we have masks, gel sanitizer, we disinfect everything before, during and after, we have our own food, drink, pen. There is a greater risk when you go to the supermarket or take public transport than when participating in market research.
Consumers are not afraid, all recruitment professionals will tell you, as long as they know that health measures are complied with, they are happy to come and talk. The same goes for our advertisers, who are protected by one-way windows, but who can also opt for Zoom or Teams type solutions, whether in France or internationally.
Since March 2020, the ActFuture agency has conducted numerous face-to-face focus groups, interviews, semi-quantitative interviews with translation and in interaction with clients’ teams all over the world. And everything went very well – this must be the case for many other institutes and providers as well. Face-to-face Interviews in the COVID-19 period are an everyday reality: we have to speak out about this, open up the workshops of our craftsmen and above all, we must not remain in the shade!
You are starting a movement, #HumansAreStillAlive. What is its aim? And how do you intend to keep it alive?
The idea is extremely simple: it is about receiving reports and accounts. Everyone in their own specific field (translation, dedicated room rentals, facilitators, etc. and of course the institutes, agencies and clients), whatever role we play, we think and act every day. We must shed light on our experiences, show what we do and thus prove to the world of marketing and communication that we are still alive!
One last practical question: what should the people who wish to participate in this movement do?
Here too, quite simply – like everything that really works in life – they will be able to share their experiences on #HumansAreStillAlive a LinkedIn group that has been especially created for this purpose. By not forgetting what is key, “Together we are stronger”, to use the tagline launched by ESOMAR.
I of course thank in advance all the people who will contribute to #HumansAreStillAlive!
Join #HumansAreStillAlive on LinkedIn
Article initially published in French on MRNews.
