Reaching customers becomes more challenging as new businesses gain an online presence. With more people shopping online than ever before, choosing the right retail strategy and building on it is crucial to success. You must seek ways to stand out from the competition.
Key Takeaways
- Ethnographic market research observes customer behavior in real-life settings, providing deeper insights than traditional surveys.
- AI-powered ethnography helps close the gap between what customers say and what they actually do.
- Benefits of ethnographic research for e-commerce include improved customer retention, better user experience, and more effective marketing campaigns.
- Top ethnographic research firms include Lux Research, Digital Analyst, Sago, End to End User Research, Smarty Pants, Azimuth Labs, and Voxpopme.
- DIY ethnographic research tools like Maiz AI, Indeemo, Hotjar, and Dynatrace can help smaller businesses gather valuable customer insights.
Finding the top ethnographic research platforms of 2024 can take time and effort but the payoff is in the unique value you offer your audience.
Fortunately, we’ve done the research for you and come up with a list of the top tools to help you grow your audience and your business. Before we dive into the best ethnographic market research firms and tools, let’s talk about the concept.
What Is Ethnographic Research?
Ethnographic market research takes a deep dive into customers, paying attention to daily habits, personal preferences and how they form decisions. Whether hiring companies using AI in ethnography research or conducting your own, you’ll utilize a systematic approach to figure out how your target audience behaves.
Approximately 80% of companies conduct market research and around 91% feel using such data increases sales. However, people sometimes answer surveys in one way but their behavior takes another path. Artificial intelligence (AI) ethnographers seek to close this gap and test customer actions in a real-life environment to see how they truly behave.
One example might be that you surveyed your customers before carrying a product. They all said they wanted it. You ordered the item and it sat in inventory for months on end until you discounted and took a slight loss. Examples of customers saying one thing and doing another abound.
With ethnographic research, analysis digs more into the actions customers take than what they say they will do. Getting such additional insight drives success over time and makes you much more intuitive to what your customers want.
How Do Ethnographers Collect Data?
Rather than asking for input, ethnographic market research observes consumer behavior and collects data. Many store owners use this type of information gathering and may not even realize it. Observing people’s behavior online and offline tells you more about their pain points and priorities than simply asking or guessing.
Someone comes into the store, goes directly to a bright display and buys the item. This shows they are drawn to flashy signs, even if they say they are not. Knowing how your core audience behaves allows you to market to them more effectively and saves the customer time by giving them exactly what they want.
With advances in AI, e-commerce stores can scrape the web for large amounts of information on social media, websites and user forums. They then can analyze the input for patterns. Once patterns are identified, researchers make hypotheses and recommend a few actions based on what they see as the most likely result of any marketing effort.
How Ethnographic Market Research Benefits E-Commerce Stores
Companies perform best when they look at marketing from a holistic perspective that takes into account various research methods and factors combined with experience over years of being in business. Adding ethnographic data into the mix offers numerous bonuses for small brands.
1. Improved Customer Retention
When you understand your customers’ behaviors, you can ensure they have the best customer experience (CX) possible and drive loyalty. They’ll be more likely to buy from you repeatedly.
2. Better User Experience (UX)
You can design the store layout and e-commerce experience in a way that is more intuitive for users. An improved UX can increase sales and ramp up how many recommendations you receive. Once you get someone in your store or on your e-commerce website, you want them to stay there long enough to make a purchase. Improving the overall experience based on audience behavior is a great starting point for engaging customers.
3. On-Point Marketing Campaigns
Once you get a handle on what drives your customers, you can create campaigns that solve their pain points and taps into their typical behavior patterns. The more you know about how they react to various situations, the better your marketing methods will be.
7 Best Ethnographic Market Research Firms
Finding the best tools and firms to help you gather your behavioral data and analyze it can be the difference between success and failure. Here are some of the top companies to consider:
1. Lux Research
With clients such as McDonald’s, Honda and Clorox, Lux Research digs deeper than surface data to come up with behavioral insights based on AI and analytics. Some of the business models tap into areas such as innovation, a go-to-market strategy and potential partnerships to enhance what you already provide customers.
| Real-time access to ethnographic data | Help interpreting insights |
| Customized research options | Integrates with other analytics platforms |
2. Digital Analyst
Digital Analyst offers a wide variety of research methods to boost your retail strategy. They collect survey data but then observe behavior and trends to take advantage of consumer behavior patterns and help you build a marketing strategy that works.
| Offers less expensive digital ethnography studies | Respondents continue normal routines |
| Longer time periods of study | Follow-up for focus groups |
3. Sago
SAGO specializes in market research for consumer goods companies, financial services and healthcare. They offer ideas for connecting more deeply with your customers. They consult on the best approach to grow your business through data analysis.
| Offers real-time insights | Help with pricing for target audience |
| Connects to third-party survey tools | Interactive reporting within dashboard |
4. End to End User Research
End to End User Research is another option, offering multifaceted research methods. They focus on AI digital observation by creating website experiences and collecting information on behaviors. They then analyze the behavior and figure out the motivations behind actions.
| Find focus groups | Digital Studies |
| In-depth analysis | Help with facility and event setups to observe behavior |
5. Smarty Pants
Smarty Pants offers a personalized service to small business owners. Research can be customized to each client, but the brand also looks at syndicated studies for those on a budget, pulling insights from a variety of sources. Their clients include Target, Paramount, Frida Baby and Hasbro.
| Works with all budgets | Multiple locations across the US |
| Varied ethnographic approaches | Service-minded business |
6. Azimuth Labs
Azimuth Labs starts with some analysis of where your retail strategy is and how you can improve it. They dig into insights from surveys, research, general data and behavior observation. The company focuses on learning about anthropology through AI. Much of their work comes in the form of consultative sessions.
| In-depth research using anthropology, AI and data science | Research is holistic |
| Engage with your users in a non-disruptive way | Complete solution through execution |
7. Voxpopme
Voxpopme helps clients figure out how to create empathy with their customer base. Some of their clients include Mars, McDonald’s, Verizon and Pepsi. Some of the techniques they use include video surveys, qualitative research with real users, live interviews and data from a huge repository.
| Work on concept testing before you offer a new product. | Find out about shopping experiences and their expectations |
| Learn why you win or lose customers | Various levels of services depending on your budget needs |
4 Top Ethnographic Research Tools
Along with research firms, there are a number of do-it-yourself tools you can tap into until you grow enough to afford a more comprehensive reporting method. These include:
1. Maiz AI
You can utilize Maiz AI to help speed up the data collection process. They mention that their tools will help uncover bias, which can change the way you perceive user actions and create future marketing campaigns. Combined with ethnographic research, Maze can be a game changer. You can request a free demo to see if the platform suits your marketing research needs.
2. Indeemo
Indeemo is an app you install on your phone that adds ethnographic AI insights. You can check out details about people or experiences as they interact throughout their normal day. You’ll get snapshots of a week in their life and see how they interact with your products.
The platform boasts around three million global participants, but you can also pull in your own customers for more specific feedback. You can customize it as much as needed to get the results you desire.
3. Hotjar
If you want to see how users behave on your website, Hotjar is a well-respected software to use for insights. Some of the sites utilizing Hotjar include Hello Fresh, Unbounce, HubSpot, Mixpanel and 15Five.
The insights can help you find issues with the CX and fix them before your next campaign or even test to see if people are interested in a product you’d like to offer. Hotjar integrates with other analytical third-party providers.
4. Dynatrace
Offering some similar features as Hotjar, Dynatrace is another option for analyzing user behavior on your e-commerce website and digging into some basic ethnographic data. Some of the things this program focuses on include entry points and if users remain engaged throughout the process. You can also see where they bounce away from your site and figure out why they aren’t completing the purchase.
Elevate Your Retail Strategy with Ethnographic Insights
In today’s competitive business landscape, understanding your customers on a deep level is critical to successfully setting yourself apart. Ethnographic market research provides crucial insights that go beyond traditional data collection methods, allowing businesses to grasp the nuances of consumer behavior. Through these insights, you can optimize your retail strategy, enhance customer experiences and create marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience.
