Decoding
Session Structure
A series of very unique focus groups called
"Decoding Sessions" are conducted to determine product imprints. Each
session, comprised of approximately fifteen respondents, begins with focused discussions
and the administration of a carefully designed questionnaire.
At that point, the semblance to traditional market
research ceases, and facilitators begin to gather information below the surface through
the application of proprietary research methodology.
Every word of the decoding session is subsequently
transcribed and combined with questionnaire data for customized computer analysis. Armed
with the emotionally rich data, Decoding.com analysts assemble the emotional structures
behind the behavior.
Generally four sessions (about 60 customers) are
required for a complete imprint mapping for a client's product. In addition, a decoding
session is usually conducted with the client, involving company personnel from:
advertising, marketing, sales, product management, and the executive team. This helps the
client understand the research process so they can quickly integrate the customer imprint
data into powerful marketing strategies and programs.
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Examples
of the "Relationship Drawing" activity which is part of most Focus Group
Decoding Sessions
These Particular drawings are examples from a session of senior
executives. The research concerned the concept of "risk" in financial
investments. This particular group of executives is responsible for $12
Billion in company assets. It's amazing how much can be learned from a simple
little drawing such as this. This research showed that the concept of
"risk" learned as a child guides risk related decisions as an adult. |
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Mine is a picture of a rocket ship taking off over water, and shooting
for the moon which is symbolized by the dollar symbol. But for me the perfect relationship
is if you miss that, you still have a safety net and it shows a capsule coming down in a
parachute and it's going to land softly, not in the water but on good solid ground. So the
perfect relationship between risk and financial investment to me is that you can make a
lot of money on a good investment but if it goes bad, you won't lose a lot. |
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Remember I am handicapped with this drawing deal, so mine is a house,
sitting on a lake in a beautiful pastoral scene with a nice tree and all that. Above it is
a large storm cloud coming (thinking of Verge losing his roof), the house representing the
biggest investment a person can make and the threat being from the storm or the rising
water which would create a flood and destroy the whole thing. |
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My drawing is a graph. One time frame deals with money and the lower
part of the graph is a period of time. You start out with an investment and over a period
of time the investment goes up and down. The long term goal is a cabin on the lake which
is symbolized by a lake with trees and smiling face. That being the emotional long term
goal for the investments over that period of time. |
| In fact, a very interesting finding from this research
project is: if you want to sell financial services to highly educated, highly compensated,
American baby boomers, you would FEATURE THE RISK but at the same time, PUT THEM IN
CONTROL!
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Examples
of the "Build It" activity which is a part of most Focus Group Decoding Sessions
Respondents have a lot of fun in a Decoding Session. They get to
be a kid again. They each have their construction kits full of the things they played with
as children. And they get to make cool stuff that they show off to their neighbor.
Do you think they're trying to sound intelligent and impress people when they're
building their personal creations? No way!
What they don't realize is that to a Decoding.com researcher, they just
unzipped their mind and left the real good stuff on the table. This is what I
call "richness of data." |
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Okay, my name is Kelly and my modem shows the lights,
4 stars, you can connect with anything in the world. The cotton balls so far as that you
can go anywhere with this modem, it's in the class. One way access. That's pretty much it. |
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Th s is Libby and this is my modem. I have push pins
here for the lights dialing and connecting and all that. And I have one line to hook to
your computer and then I have an antenna for a wireless so we don't have to worry about
the phone wires. It could be cellular or satellite, I don't know. |
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My name is Susan and my modem is a rubber band with
the string and then the little clothes pin, and it hooks on very easily and then with the
clothes pin I can hook to any place I want to go with hardly any effort, hassle or
frustration. This thing I'm hooking on to is my little sponge. It has hair pins, and push
pins and tooth picks sticking out of it so I can connect my little clothe pin modem to it
very easily to get to the different places I might want to visit and that's my little
modem. |
If you haven't guessed already, this study was all about modems. The results and
analysis of this study are confidential so "the real reason people buy computer
modems" can't be disclosed here. The good news is that The Client Knows! |
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