We partnered with our friends at Measure Protocol to take part in a first-of-its-kind trial to harness blockchain for market research. Watch the video to discover what we learnt about the potential for this new technology.

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Head of Global Research and Strategy, Phil Steggals, shares his top tips on running workshops that translate research findings into business action.

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Who do you listen to when it comes to responding to a global pandemic? Doctors? Virologists? Economists? Eccentric Billionaires, who operate a ‘space taxi’? Politicians? Surely not politicians!?!

The term expert has been losing its social credibility for years – as it has become politicized – and ‘alternative facts’ have risen on social media. It used to be that an expert had been there, done that, and could advise on what type of t-shirt you really should be buying. That has changed so that anyone with time to spare to go down the rabbit hole of YouTube can suddenly become an ‘expert’ in vaccines or the shape of the Earth. There is a school of thought widely circulated that if you spend 10,000 hours practicing something – you will have mastered it. Even if you did spend 10,000 hours on You Tube (which is probably doable in a lockdown!) then are you an expert in world affairs? Perhaps playing the guitar…or martial arts. But is 5 years’ experience really enough to become an expert in your industry or on what do to as we emerge from this global pandemic?

The short answer is no. Not at all. The world (and your industry) is changing so fast that your expertise may not be relevant. Playing the guitar is fundamentally the same now as it was 100 years ago. Automotive, telco, and food and beverage industries are not! 5 years ago – Uber in the US and Gojek in Indonesia were tiny entities. WeChat in China has become the dominant force for all news, social interaction and even payments. 5 years in the future, will we need mechanics to fix our cars or just a software engineer to adjust the GPS sensor in our self-driving Tesla?

And now for COVID-19. A global pandemic requires multiple people, with multiple points of view to come together. A serious virus outbreak can never just be classed as a ‘health issue’ – because economics, logistics, government policy, and commerce all get impacted. A global pandemic means this is, even more, the case with global supply chains. From a consumer perspective, all the past norms, assumptions, and consumer behaviour have been upended! Where they purchase products, their purchase journey is obvious changes. However, the mindset shifts and the self-reflection on what is important and what brands play a role in their lives are also changing in ways that we have not seen before. The point of this post is that expertise is needed but there can be no experts that KNOW what brand strategy post-COVID looks like!

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People can always learn more. There can always be something new that they discover. These are the sort of people who are modest in their claims of expertise. They talk of experience. They have anecdotes and examples. But they never proclaim to know it all. They read blogs, they start conversations, they debate accepted norms – and they look to push boundaries. More importantly, they look to other people and industries. Even the biggest consultants are pooling their knowledge of expertise to provide ideas and thoughts on the future (check out McKinsey’s collection of virus points of view.) Relying on a single source, or single individual has always been dangerous – but today – with so much uncertainty – no one person can be a guru ‘for change’ anymore. Instead, we should be looking at a range of EXPERTISE.

At Kadence, this is how we operate. We are experts in market research of course, but only because we apply our EXPERTISE and keep an eye on the latest trends. We embrace new technology and methods and refresh the way that we ask questions to remain as up-to-date as possible. When a client brief comes along, we bring together a number of ‘experts’ to make sure we have covered as many angles as possible. Industry experts or specialists are brought into a wider team. We read around the subject, we look outside of the target market and industry for new ideas, and constantly look to push ourselves to deliver new thinking and a new perspective to our clients.

So now, more than ever, do not seek out an expert. Seek out a range of EXPERTISE and a range of sources to make sure you have looked at a problem from every angle. Now, more than ever, market research can become the industry to collect and organize a range of opinions and ideas and help brands navigate this ‘next normal’.

Market research in Japanhas been transformed by the emergence of online research. While other Asian markets continue to favour more personal, face-to-face techniques, Japanese culture is perfectly suited to this more arms-length approach, especially when it comes to researching conventional, mainstream audiences. Online research means that Japanese consumers don’t have to personally interact with researchers in person to complete surveys; a factor that circumvents a Japanese antipathy towards personal interactions with strangers. The idea of sharing personal information can make some Japanese consumers deeply uncomfortable and extends itself to a desire to avoid picking up phone calls from unknown numbers, which means telephone research in Japan is difficult to execute, too. 

On the other hand, online research methods remove human interaction from the research process, encouraging participation from respondents who may not enjoy the process of a face to face interview or focus group. Respondents can relax without the pressures of sharing directly with another individual and are more likely to give honest and detailed responses when giving answers at their own leisure. Likewise, online research methods provide a sense of control to the respondent.

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Unlike in a face-to-face interview, every question in an online survey is predetermined, and while this impacts the level of insight a researcher can reach, it provides a safer environment for respondents who are concerned that the spontaneity of a ‘live’ interview may lead them to revealing too much information, or at least a feeling of great social awkwardness.

Unlike in a face-to-face interview, every question in an online survey is predetermined, and while this impacts the level of insight a researcher can reach, it provides a safer environment for respondents who are concerned that the spontaneity of a ‘live’ interview may lead them to revealing too much information, or at least a feeling of great social awkwardness.

What’s more, Japanese infrastructure lends itself to online research. Commute times into Tokyo and other major cities like Osaka and Nagoya are typically an hour in duration, which means that many Japanese have at least 2 hours each day of ‘dead time’. And, with incentives provided to all who take part, online research is arguably one of the best ways to monetise this time. With high quality 3G and 4G networks in existence for years now, this has allowed online research to flourish during the commute.

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Although face-to-face research benefits researchers elsewhere, creating a personal relationship with respondents and opportunities for spontaneous questions that lead to deeper insights, these advantages are negated for researchers in Japan. The dominance of online research in Japan can be surprising to those less familiar with the country, but its capabilities to reach huge numbers of respondents quickly, cheaply and comfortably, mean that it is by far the best option for gaining accurate, primary quantitative data. 

We at Kadence are big advocates of brands creating their own futures, rather than try to predict it. Earlier in the year, before the whole pandemic went global, we brought together trend watching experts from across our global boutique to identify four key trends that we believe will define the next 12 months, inspiring innovation across Asia, the US and Europe, that we outlined in this report.

How to conduct online market research in Asia: The Go-To Guide
Interested in understanding how to approach online research across other Asian countries? Download the guide here

With 51 million active social media users – that’s 67% of the total population and 82% of internet penetration – the growing potential for online research in Thailand cannot be ignored. 

In a country where the prevailing culture means that people can be reluctant to share their opinions in a group setting, the anonymity of online research can be powerful. It provides an opportunity for people to freely communicate their point of view without the boundaries of social restriction, enabling us to dig deeper and explore sensitive topics in a setting where they feel most comfortable – their own home. That said, there are number of aspects to bear in mind to execute online market research in Thailand successfully. 

The first is recruitment. The quality of online panels in Thailand can vary, so we’d recommend using pre-identified respondents for online projects, for example, sourcing them from a customer list, so you can ensure you’re reaching the right people. For complex categories such as durable products or if you need to reach people based on their brand preferences, we’d recommend that the process for pre-identifying respondents has both online and offline elements. Despite sometimes requiring additional investment, the offline element is important in Thailand for recruiting qualified respondents that meet your criteria. In this instance, make sure you working with agency that has a relationship with one of the top-tier panel providers, and has the expertise to design a sophisticated screening questionnaire to ensure you’re reaching the right profile of respondent. We’d also recommend developing enhanced offline quality control processes before the research starts, such as phoning each respondent to check they meet the desired criteria for your project. 

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The second thing to consider is to think about the goals of the project and whether online research will deliver against these. Whilst there are some projects that are better suited to face-to-face, there are others that lend themselves to online. One example is ad testing, particularly when you’re looking to evaluate video ads. Exposure to online media in Thailand is much higher than to traditional media so taking part in an ad testing project at home or on a smartphone mimics the way that consumers behave, allowing us to conduct research in a real-life setting. Another typical and popular use case for online research in Thailand is customer satisfaction research especially in the retail and service industries.

The benefit of using an online approach for this is that the research can be conducted immediately after the product or service is used, helping us to understand reactions in real-time, and guaranteeing greater accuracy.

When it comes to online quantitative research, it is vital that this is mobile optimised. The length of questionnaire should be such that it can easily be done on a smartphone – the penetration of active social media users on smartphone is 71% of the total population. This will ensure a higher response rate from the respondents. 

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For online qualitative research, there’s a big opportunity to harness increased familiarity with the online tools adopted as a result of social distancing measures for digital depth interviews or online focus groups. We’d recommend using these tools over online communities or digital ethnographies in this market, where the fear “losing face” is likely to influence what respondents project about themselves in these environments. 

Online research has great potential in this market and provides a useful alternative to face-to-face research in particular use cases such as ad testing and customer satisfaction. That said, offline recruitment is an important consideration for any online project to ensure maximum success. 

We at Kadence are big advocates of brands creating their own futures, rather than try to predict it. Earlier in the year, before the whole pandemic went global, we brought together trend watching experts from across our global boutique to identify four key trends that we believe will define the next 12 months, inspiring innovation across Asia, the US and Europe, that we outlined in this report.

How to conduct online market research in Asia: The Go-To Guide
Interested in understanding how to approach online research across other Asian countries? Download the guide here

Tulika Sheel, Associate Vice President

Varun Sahai, Associate Vice President 

Sandeep Kaul, Insights Lead 

In India, online only accounts for a small share of the market research market. The overwhelming majority of market research projects here take place face-to-face. But the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in brands beginning to consider online options. 

The dominance of face-to-face market research can be explained by a number of factors, and these need to be carefully understood in order to successfully pivot to an online approach. In metro and tier 1 cities, laptop ownership is commonplace and as a result online panels are fairly well established. But metro and tier 1 cities aren’t representative of India as a whole, and in suburban and rural areas it’s a different story. Panel coverage is limited and this, combined with low levels of literary and a cultural predisposition to trust in-person over digital interactions, means that face-to-face is the preferred approach for conducting research in these areas. 

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What’s promising though is the high levels of mobile penetration in suburban and rural areas. Thanks to new mobile data plans, most households in these areas have access to at least one mobile phone between them, and this only looks set to improve.

So what does this mean for online research in India? The first thing to be mindful of is that there is no one size fits all approach. Of course the methodology used for any project needs to be carefully considered, but in India it’s of crucial importance that you bear in mind the target group of respondents you want to reach and the devices they have access to.

Of course the methodology used for any project needs to be carefully considered, but in India it’s of crucial importance that you bear in mind the target group of respondents you want to reach and the devices they have access to. 

In metros or tier 1 cities for instance, digital depth interviews conducted on a laptop or desktop via Skype will be a good way to reach more niche audiences that can’t be accessed through online panels, for example, people who own a particular model of car or buy a certain brand. 

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For conducting research beyond these cities, you’ll need to turn to mobile – but it’s important to bear in mind that bandwidth can be an issue. Because of this, you should avoid any methodologies that are too heavily reliant on lengthy video inputs from respondents. Instead, online surveys or online communities, which combine text, image-based and short video tasks are a better option. To encourage participation, an app-based platform that is easy for respondents to download, access and engage with should be used. 

With online research proving a feasible option for many types of project, it will be fascinating to see how the market for this develops in India.

We at Kadence are big advocates of brands creating their own futures, rather than try to predict it. Earlier in the year, before the whole pandemic went global, we brought together trend watching experts from across our global boutique to identify four key trends that we believe will define the next 12 months, inspiring innovation across Asia, the US and Europe, that we outlined in this report.

How to conduct online market research in Asia: The Go-To Guide
Interested in understanding how to approach online research across other Asian countries? Download the guide here

I’ve been a market researcher for more than 15 years, during which I’ve done countless projects conducted through online and offline methodologies, both in Singapore, and across Asia. It’s a common research cliché to say that ‘one size fits all’ does not apply in Asia, and that the only unifying factor across all Asian markets is their very uniqueness. As such, I’m happy share my view on why Singapore is a market where brands stand to benefit from online research alongside offline research. 

Singapore is one of the most technologically-advanced countries in the world, with internet penetration not that drastically different from the US and indeed higher than many European nations such as Spain, Portugal and Austria. The government’s ‘smart nation’ ambitions are laid out in a masterplan that constantly gets revisited and progress against it tracked. Digital device ownership is high, and digital literacy is something that’s improving, even amongst elderly Singaporeans. It is becoming a common sight in the suburbs to see older Singaporeans making their way to the local community centre for regular lessons on smartphone usage or getting online, while savvier ones conduct video calls with distant loved ones across time zones, with a smile plastered on their faces. 

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What this all means is an increasing willingness amongst clients to explore digital means of qualitatively engaging Singaporean respondents. Though still not the mainstream methodology of choice, we at Kadence International have interacted with consumers in Singapore via online communities on the topic of financial management, understood their preferences when it comes to beer via mobile diaries, and even explored their attitudes and expressions online on the topic of camera usage via social listening.

Online quantitative surveys have always been the norm in Singapore, so it’s good to see an increasing willingness on the part of clients to adopt a similar way to engage and understand local consumers qualitatively. 

From these experiences, we have honed best practices that guide every piece of online work that comes our way. For example, because Singaporeans are generally quite experienced and savvy with tech platforms, we are able to make our task introductions concise, thereby focusing on what we want them to complete or achieve. Also, culturally we may not be as open to casual acquaintances, but the right tonality on the mobile platform will definitely encourage very effusive inputs when it comes to tasks, sometimes even through the form of videos and images! On top of that, working with the right recruiters / fieldwork managers is even more crucial for online fieldwork compared to offline, as they are the crucial link to ensure sustained participation, especially for longitudinal studies (i.e. more than 10 days).

Despite Singapore’s position as a digital leader, over the past 5 years, there have been sporadic episodes of data breaches, even at government agencies, which have affected the daily lives of average Singaporeans. This is on top of the occasional ‘phishing’ instances and increasingly common episodes of white-collar crimes conducted on the digital / mobile platform. 

Though not catastrophic in nature, these instances do reduce overall consumer confidence in digital platforms to a certain degree, while highlighting increasing consciousness amongst consumers about their rights to personal data and digital privacy. This needs to be considered when implementing any form of online research. 

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The impact of this is that we need to think carefully about how we set up a study and what we say to reassure respondents participating in online research. Clarity around what kinds of information will be collected, how it will be used, and giving people the option to opt in and out of some of these, will definitely work towards reducing reluctance to participate, as well as increasing willingness to be even more open towards sharing their thoughts and the data points that we ask of them. It can’t just be a ‘blanket’ set of generic text filled with jargon, because that will not sufficiently explain the importance of them sharing their information, and of us respecting what they have shared. 

As mentioned, offline research is still a popular option in the Singapore and there are a number of reasons for this in spite of the efficiencies that online alternatives can offer. The small size of this ‘red dot’ island nation means that it can be easier and quicker to track hard-to-reach individuals in person rather than online. Offline is often favoured by government-related agencies, because more Singaporeans are choosing to forgo having a landline in their homes, instead relying on a mobile phone number. That means while it used to be possible to achieve representativeness on a neighbour level via the home telephone, going face-to-face is now a more effective method. 

In Singapore we see a matrix of reasons why considering both online and offline research is important. From demographic shifts and technological adoption, to legislation and daily behaviour, we see that the market houses consumers that can be optimally reached through a mix of methodologies. This is the key takeout from my years of experience running both kinds of research across Asia, and underlies my belief that any brand that wants to truly understand Singapore as a market will stand to maximize that understanding if it starts by recognizing the value that combined methodologies can bring.

How to conduct online market research in Asia: The Go-To Guide
Interested in understanding how to approach online research across other Asian countries? Download the guide here

For tens of years, market research in Indonesia has been conducted face-to-face, using pen and paper. Even up until now, face-to-face interviews are still the dominant methodology used for market research in Indonesia. There are many reasons for this – mainly a historical preference for face-to-face and its value in reaching people across the country, beyond the urban areas. However, the need to collect faster responses to inform more rapid decision-making, has brought a new wind of change to the market research industry, especially in the last three years. 

This is where mobile or online surveys have a part to play. Cost efficiency and shorter project turnaround means this online methodology is gaining popularity, particularly as internet connectivity increases across the country. According to a recent study from Google, the number of internet users in Indonesia has reached 175.4 million – a penetration of 64%, up by 17% from the previous year. 96% of these internet users are already using smartphones. These numbers demonstrate that there’s a real potential for mobile or online research in Indonesia. At Kadence, we are at the forefront of this, having built our own proprietary online panel. 

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What this all means is an increasing willingness amongst clients to explore digital means of qualitatively engaging Singaporean respondents. Though still not the mainstream methodology of choice, we at Kadence International have interacted with consumers in Singapore via online communities on the topic of financial management, understood their preferences when it comes to beer via mobile diaries, and even explored their attitudes and expressions online on the topic of camera usage via social listening.

When designing the research, the length of the questionnaire should be as short as possible to encourage completion, particularly as many people will be taking part in the research via smartphones. The type of smartphone used will vary widely – so testing across multiple devices is essential. It’s also important to remember that Indonesia is a country with numerous islands and a broad geographical area. Whilst there is internet penetration in rural areas, not all consumers will have the same internet speed or network connection.

Hence, long videos or too many pictures in your survey is not advisable. Finally, when it comes to language, the survey should be written in Bahasa, with English provided as a secondary option. 

To encourage people to fill out the survey, we think beyond in-app notifications, which some users can turn off. We recommend notifying users via text message or WhatsApp instead of via email. Whilst this is used widely across the country, consumers in rural areas of Indonesia still have limited access to email and even those that do have email, are not regularly checking their inbox. 

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Finally, when it comes to monitoring the quality of the data, we recommend tried and tested techniques such as using algorithms to ensure the answers are from genuine respondents and are not randomly answered and also matching the length of an interview and the time gap of the questions selected. Another quality control metric that’s important to consider in Indonesia is that each respondent has a valid ID number that matches their Kartu Tanda Penduduk (a National ID card that is compulsory for all Indonesian citizens), commonly known as KTP to ensure all respondents meet the intended demographic profile for the research sample. 

Online research in Indonesia might still be in its infancy but it has real potential, particularly as internet penetration in the country is growing rapidly. We are looking forward to being at the forefront of this fast-moving development as we seek to meet the evolving needs of our clients. 

How to conduct online market research in Asia: The Go-To Guide
Interested in understanding how to approach online research across other Asian countries? Download the guide here