Market research is an important tool for businesses of all sizes. It can help you to understand your customers, your competition, and the market overall. In qualitative research, popular methodologies include focus groups and one-on-one in-depth interviews. 

What are In-depth Interviews?

In-depth interviews are a method of data collection that provide valuable insights into the experiences and preferences of a target audience. In-depth interviews are one-on-one conversations between a trained moderator and a single research participant that typically last for 30 minutes to an hour. They can be conducted in person or online, and they allow you to explore a variety of topics in detail. In-depth interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information about your target market. 

These conversations are flexible and interactive. While the interviewer prepares a set of questions, the conversation should feel natural and one question should lead to the next. These questions are typically open-ended, which allows for the collection of a large amount of rich information about the behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions of the interviewee.

The main purpose of in-depth interviews is to make well-informed decisions by better understanding a target audience.

Benefits of Conducting In-depth Interviews

• Allow researchers to observe and make notes on the interviewee’s body language and gestures.
• Are typically easier and more convenient for participants, especially busy or hard-to-reach segments, because they can schedule their interview at a date/time that is convenient for them.
• Researchers can easily revisit important questions, ask follow-up questions, and have enough opportunities to get to the root causes of specific likes/dislikes, perceptions, or beliefs. 
• A one-on-one setting provides a safe and comfortable space to discuss sensitive topics.
• A one-on-one setting eliminates any “group think” that might influence participants in a group discussion.
• A one-on-one setting truly allows participants to go into detail on their own, unique experiences or opinions without the need for moderators to seek “equal air time” in a larger group discussion setting.
• Fewer participants are needed to gain rich insights.

Conducting the Interviews

Limelight Insights by Shugoll conducts qualitative market research for a variety of industries, and is known to provide some of the most insightful analyses, report writing and debriefings in the industry. We have four highly skilled moderators/interviewers with multi-cultural and multi-generational research expertise.

In an in-depth interview, the interviewer must be well-prepared and follow the interviewee through active, reflective listening. In preparation for the interview, a set of core research questions are always identified. However, each in-depth interview is different; depending on the respondent’s answers, the conversation may go in a different direction.

It is important for an interviewer to establish rapport with the interviewee. The interviewer-interviewee relationship should be professional but friendly, as this will encourage the interviewee to open up and share candid insights. It is also important to ensure that the interviewee feels comfortable and relaxed throughout the process. One way to do this is to start with some icebreaker questions before moving on to more probing questions about the topic at hand. Finally, it is important to be prepared to pivot if the conversation takes an unexpected turn. By being flexible and adaptable, you will be able to gain valuable insights from your one-on-one interviews.

If you’re considering conducting qualitative market research, be sure to contact Limelight Insights to see if in-depth interviews would be the best methodology for you.