The Hidden Cost of DIY Qual

If you’ve worked in consumer insights for any length of time, you’ve probably felt a shift in the way teams operate.

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In past, working in insights typically looked like joining up with a talented in-house team, having some research partners in place, and having dedicated lanes to drive both strategy and research for your organization. 

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Fast-forward to today and things look a little different. Teams are smaller than before. Many teams that used to operate with multiple people are down to one or two – and wearing more hats than they ever thought possible. An explosion of ResTech tools made opting for DIY all too easy. Companies want smarter, more consolidated ways to spend. 

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At the same time, the need for nuanced insights could not be more pronounced. As customers change their shopping habits and brand preferences, companies need to turn the dial up on qualitative insights, not down.

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It’s a perfect storm that’s landed many insights professionals into the murky waters of “DIY research.”

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The DIY Qual Era

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The tailwinds of DIY Quant have propelled many to apply this to their Qual research too. Maybe you’ve been deputized as the resident Qual expert, and are ‘just winging it’ to get interviews done on top of your normal role to keep insights moving. Or maybe you’re a seasoned insights professional but don’t have enough hours in the day to schedule interviews, recruit participants, and report insights back to the team with the fidelity that you want. 

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“In 2024, Insights professionals are expected to be strategic advisors, data analysts, tech support, and expert moderators – all rolled into one superhuman package.”

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Whatever your experience with DIY Qual may be, there’s one critical downside we see time and again: when Qual is led by untrained, or underequipped team members, your insights suffer.

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The Hidden Cost of DIY Qual

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For teams doing DIY Qual, there are a handful of pitfalls we see time and again. Here are a few of the worst offenders:

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1) Untrained moderators produce amateur insights

It doesn’t matter if you have a team of A-players, or ‘roll up your sleeves’ types keen to try their hand at moderating (“how hard could it be?!”). Great insights come from people trained to get them.

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Moderation is a skill. One that takes years of practice to refine. It’s all too easy to inadvertently steer participants towards answers you want to hear, rather than uncovering genuine insights. Professional moderators know how to avoid asking leading questions that produce biased answers. They also know how to probe deeper, use projective and enabling techniques designed to go beyond surface-level responses.

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2) Your interview format (and time) matters

We often see untrained moderators default to one type of research style. It’s usually whichever one they’re most comfortable with, or have time for. This is a mistake. It severely limits your insights. Sometimes, you need different approaches beyond a basic individual interview to get the data you need.

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The time of day you conduct the interviews also matters. For people running DIY Qual, it’s tempting to try to squeeze your interviews into your 9 to 5 routine. But the problem is, your participant is doing the same. Running interviews when it’s convenient for you, means you probably don’t have your participant’s full attention – so you won’t get complete insights, either.

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3) You become a project manager, instead of a strategic advisor

For most teams, DIY Qual is a time vampire. Instead of driving strategy, you spend hours scheduling interviews, being a project manager, and analyzing data.

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All these hours spent doing Qual could be time spent moving key decisions forward to impact the business. For insights professionals who want to operate at a leadership level, this is a massive missed opportunity both on the career front and for the company’s growth.

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4) Customer advocacy takes a back seat

Perhaps the most significant hidden cost of all, is the one your consumers pay. Part of your role as an insights lead is to bring the voice of the customer back to your organization. When you're too busy drowning in Qual tasks, there's little time left to truly advocate for the consumer’s voice. 

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This is the ultimate cost of DIY Qual. You end up doing less and less of it – or worst case scenario, stop running it altogether.

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Reimagining Qual: From DIY to DIFM (Do It For Me)

If any of this resonates, you’re not the only one. Many teams we’ve spoken to have swung a bit too far into the DIY camp, and are looking for a way back. 

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For many teams, there’s a pressing need for a middle-ground solution. One that sits between high-touch research providers, and DIY Qual solutions. At Studio, this is where we aim to fill the gap.

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We offer a “Do It For Me” (DIFM) model. What does this mean? Perhaps it’s best explained by all the things you are not going to be doing. With DIFM, there’s no more: 

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• Writing screeners, question sets, project briefs
• Spending time recruiting and scheduling participants
• Moderating yourself
• Analyzing, coding, interpreting consumer feedback
• Project-managing logistics

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Each of these are capabilities that are either built directly into the Studio platform, or are taken care of by the expert moderator that you select from the Studio marketplace. 

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This “Do It For Me” (DIFM) model is a game changer for many teams that are tired of the DIY burden. And you benefit from professional moderators who are trained to probe deeply for insights, at a level of participant-interviewer fit that would be difficult to achieve yourself. 

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“Just imagine, having an army of Qualitative experts at your fingertips where you could spin up a Qual project with the same confidence and speed that you do with Quant.”

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Today’s teams are left to decide between high-touch, high cost full service partners and scrappy, time consuming DIY approaches. With Studio, we’re offering a hybrid option. So you have more tools to get Qual done with the budget, time to insight, and agility that works for you.  

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Long Story Short

The future of Qualitative research lies in right-sizing your toolkit. For many, this means tapping into the sweet spot between DIY and full-service solutions.

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At Studio, our aim is to help more researchers step into the role of strategic insights partner so they can drive meaningful growth for their teams.

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Let’s talk about how Studio can support you in optimizing your Qual research solutions.  

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