The business issue:
A manufacturer of super premium pet foods needed to understand new trends in consumer attitudes towards pet foods, as well as new factors that were driving purchasing behavior.
The challenge:
As many of the behaviors we needed to study took place in the home, we felt it was essential to conduct some of our research in homes. However, timing and budget constraints would only allow us to do a small number of in-home interviews—no more than 10, and we felt this would be too small an amount of interviews upon which to base key business decisions.
The solution:
A hybrid approach. We conducted a two-week online bulletin board in two markets, during which we acquired basic information on the respondents’ families, pets, homes, attitudes and behaviors. Out of this pool of participants we selected 10 for an in-home visit. These were conducted over four days the week following the conclusion of the online bulletin board.
The outcome:
This study generated new, unexpected knowledge about the category and how customer expectations had changed profoundly over the past two years. This led to clear, actionable recommendations leading to significant improvement in business performance. Lots of wagging tails.