“The University costs too much.” “I don’t like the location. I don’t know why, but I don’t.” Or “the dorms have a funny smell.” As a market researcher, there is nothing more frustrating than getting short, nondescript responses like these, especially when they’re coming from prospective students, a critical audience for our clients. While we certainly always expect one or two quiet individuals, we have found that we’ve had to adjust our approach to more closely reflect prospects' photo-based and video-based communication habits to encourage response and participation.
Although I think it’s safe to say that Millennials and Gen Z are more likely than any other generation to proactively share their experiences via social media, their willingness to share doesn’t often translate to market research. We’ve found that they do not like to be put on the spot and are much more willing to share deeper, more thoughtful answers when we give them something to prepare in advance. Furthermore, they are much more comfortable telling a story than answering a question they are unprepared for. Integrating these principles into our qualitative research methods has been key to our success in encouraging prospects to engage and respond. We’ve been able to test a few creative approaches to encourage open, insightful conversations that, in the end, help us get the most out of a phone interview or online focus group with them.
- Mind maps: Mind maps are a great way to understand a prospective student’s journey. We find this exercise to be extremely effective when asking about why prospects chose to enroll in a specific school or what they envision their student experience to look like. The mind map captures the emotional responses prospects have when looking for a school of choice, which is very difficult to tap into through traditional Q&A.
- Photo sharing: Asking prospective students to find a photo and be prepared to share it and talk about it is another compelling tool. It’s a nice way to figure out what is most important to them when making a college decision. For some it is a photo of a picturesque campus, and for others it is a tangible outcome like being prepared for the workforce. Either way, we end up with candid clips that illustrate the attributes of an institution most important to them through storytelling.
- Video Interviews: We’ve found that prospects are eager to share video testimonials. This approach gives them the opportunity to respond to our specific questions after they’ve had a chance to review them. This ability to prepare in advance, and to simply stop and re-record, gives them a greater sense of comfort and increases their willingness to share candidly. In turn, it has given us and our clients a new level of insight, richer and deeper than anything conveyed in writing. It’s one thing to read about the relationship between campus visits and a prospect's interest in your school, for example. But seeing a prospective student’s face light up while she talks about it—now that’s something else entirely.