With Quantitative research, open-ended verbatim response questions have always been a part of the equation. They can provide additional clarity and dig deeper on larger KPI questions; for example, “Why do you rate your overall satisfaction with your recent hotel stay a 4?” If you are using a 10-point scale, a 4 is probably considered “not that great.” If this was my study, I would love to know a few facts around why the respondent decided to give a rating of 4. Letting the respondent further define their reasoning is very beneficial and will help in the analysis of what drives higher and lower scores, BUT most of all… how to improve as a company/organization.
Technology has advanced in many ways to allow for faster and easier ways to capture feedback. Online survey capabilities have opened up new and exciting ways to go deeper…especially with verbatim comments. Sure, you can still have open-end text capture in an online survey…. but what if you could allow respondents to freely verbalize their thoughts? And beyond that – what if you could put these comments together (in a video fashion) to help tell that story? It is common for us to watch videos that capture our attention.
Video verbatim feedback, within an online survey, can encourage respondent commentary because they now have the luxury of talking instead of typing. Using the illustration above and the “normal” typing method, a respondent can then type in their reason for a less than satisfactory hotel stay. “Well, the check-in was slow and the bathroom wasn’t great.” Ok…that helps, and it provides a little clarity around the check-in process and the state of the room, but I would love to know more. These days, when we type, we truncate and cut down our thoughts. Hey – long text messages anyone…with my fat fingers they take forever, so I don’t go as in-depth.
Now imagine the ability for your online survey to ask the respondent to click a button and talk freely…just like a selfie video (using their mobile phone or camera on their computer). Guess what typically happens? The length and depth of the feedback is now significantly longer and more descriptive to the tune of 6x given simple word count analysis. Now with video capture ability, the example could look like this, “Well, we were so tired when we checked in and there were so many people that we had to wait and wait and wait. When we were finally greeted the associate had to answer two phone calls! Ugh…the waiting! We just want to shower off and go to dinner and not stand around. And by the way, don’t get me started on the bathroom. Geez, the shower had no water flow, and the hot water was never hot enough. This was not the perfect way to start my vacation let me tell you!” We all do this – when given the chance to talk we go on and on – especially if there was something significant. Sure, there are instances where too much talk may be a bad thing, but I would rather make that decision at the backend. I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. The example above simply showcases what we typically see.
So – what’s next?
You have video comments now, and how will this help? Don’t worry – you still need to code all comments into themes for quantitative measures like “bathroom dissatisfaction” and “slow
check- in experience.” But now imagine that you can harness several different respondent videos and splice them together into a Show Reel. You place the reel into your analytic report and boom – you can see and hear how people feel by watching an impactful 40 second video! Remember the check-in process example and the general feeling the respondent had? Now imagine you can hear their voice and watch their face when they speak about this negative experience.
Here is a sample:
That’s All Folks!
In conclusion, business leaders want to understand what drives customer behavior. By offering an easy-to-use method for respondents to elaborate and provide deeper meaning behind how they feel can really impact the storytelling of your data analysis. Videos are compelling. They are tangible and allow us to see and hear how someone really feels.
And oh, by the way – I still don’t understand/get the allure of TikTok’s, but I know that my daughters watch these a lot. I digress!
