Please describe the story behind the Voxpopme: How did it all start, and how has it evolved so far?
It all started on Thursday nights in the early 2010s when the founders brainstormed over pizza in Birmingham, England. They thought: There’s the potential of using mobile to replace the traditional voice of the customer strategies.
Smartphones – like the iPhone – were just a few years old, and there was already an uptick in everyday use by consumers. So why not make their participation in qualitative and quantitative research easier and part of their mobile experience as well?
The founders moved from Thursday pizza collaborations to going all-in on making mobile research much easier by forming Voxpopme. The company name originated from Vox populi (/ˌvɒks ˈpɒpjuːli, -laɪ/ VOKS POP-yoo-lee, -lye), a Latin phrase meaning “voice of the people.”
Voxpopme launched with the Influence App for instant access to the voice of the people. Consumers can now quickly answer questions from brands in seconds by simply recording selfie-style video responses. Insights pros, marketers, and product teams can watch respondents’ answers about their brands. They got the answers they were looking for while also seeing the consumers’ body language and verbal expressions. In the last few years, we’ve also added automatic transcription, analysis, and reporting through video highlight reels.
With that, the company was on its way to revolutionizing how brands gather insight from their customers with a new level of detail. Previously, this would have taken days to capture and analyze. Instead, video surveys and the attached analysis capabilities take just a few hours for a fraction of the cost.
What services do you offer and who is your main target market?
We offer a
video survey software platform that makes it easy for brands to have customer conversations at scale. The platform also automatically transcribes and analyzes the feedback given.
Market researchers, marketers, and product professionals are typical users of the platform.
Has Covid-19 affected your business, customers, and industry?
More businesses have seen the value in connecting with consumers on a variety of channels. Video surveys allow brands to reach consumers anywhere. They don’t have to be near each other at all. It’s making the opportunity to give feedback to a brand more accessible for anyone with a smartphone and an opinion.
Why is qualitative research important in marketing?
Qualitative research gives marketers the why? Why are people doing something? How did they decide? In other words, quantitative research uses
numbers and graphs to test theories and assumptions, whereas qualitative research gives a more in-depth view on matters that are yet not fully understood.
Quantitative research certainly can give us an overview of themes and what is going on, but qual allows us to go deeper and ask questions about why something is happening or not happening.
Can you share your best practices for creating effective video surveys?
Basic
survey design best practices apply here as well. At a very basic level, that includes, knowing what you are trying to accomplish, who you are trying to talk to, and then determining the best questions to ask.
In your opinion, Which trends or technologies will reshape the marketing industry in the next years?
This year really needs to be about making better decisions that are based on
actual consumer trends. It’s so easy for companies to make decisions in vacuums or based on personal experiences. But, we need to talk to our consumers, hear them, and understand them to make better decisions based on how we can better serve them.
In short, it’s about bringing the
voice of the customer to the table.
