Mustard has launched a new smartphone app for real-time qualitative research.
Pickles has been designed by its Manchester team, to enable its clients to see and hear from their customers in context. It has already been trialled by JD Williams, Next, Carlsberg and Greggs.
“Our industry undeniably remains in the midst of a period of significant change. Fast insight is no longer enough – in the world of instant gratification our clients need instant learning. That said, the Pickles app is about much more than speed – it allows us to uncover more genuine insights, and real rather than recalled experiences,” explained Colin Auton, managing director at Mustard.
“We were also keen to approach this differently. There seemed to be a gap in the market and a demand from clients for an approach that would go “deeper”, creating an environment for researchers to get to know consumers over extended periods of time, more akin to digital ethnography. We know how wedded people are to their phones – so a new mobile app was the obvious choice.”
Carlsberg explained that they’d used the system to explore and understand ‘on trade’ decision making – the processes involved in choosing a new beer. The app captured live respond to a new television commercial, as it aired.
“It was brilliant to see an instant reaction,” said Hannah Searle, category development manager at Carlsberg UK.
“Unprompted and in situ responses provide an extra dimension when we talk to both customers and colleagues about the evaluation of the advert. It’s a great innovative way to approach research on-the-fly.”
