Answering the “Why”: How PetSafe Used dscout to Unpack Quant Data
The research team at PetSafe turned to dscout to reach their customers throughout the country while staying within their budget and time constraints.
As mixed methods-trained researchers, PetSafe’s Hannah Ferguson and Katie Taylor have acted as guides for their stakeholders—going beyond standard quantitative studies to reach deeper information about their client base.
We met with Hannah and Katie to talk about the dscout tools they are using to shine light on that humanity in their research.
Helping stakeholders identify their needs
While the team’s quantitative research provided great numerical insights into their audience, qualitative research helped Petsafe support that data by answering the elusive, “Why?”
Hannah: About four years ago, PetSafe realized we needed to do market research and started wondering how we could get the most bang for our buck. We started with quantitative research because it allows you to quickly gather a large amount of information. The organization fell into a quantitative research cycle, and the by-product was we had a lot of numerical data, but we still really did not know who our customer was on a human level.
The question we consistently heard across our team was: Why are people saying that? What makes them say that? How are they using this? Questions that quantitative research really can’t give you.
Katie: Our stakeholders tell us that they want the numbers, the statistically significant evidence to support their theory or ideas. But when we share that information, they often ask why the customer did something.
We’re walking this fine line between giving them what they want in the form of quantitative information while also telling the full story. We were never able to do that before, and now we’re able to come at it from a mixed methods approach starting with dscout.
Going nationwide without breaking the bank
Hannah and Katie wanted to shift from a large quantitative sample to a smaller, more refined group of users that was still within budget.
Hannah: We had some projects where we needed to answer the “why,” and from a budget standpoint, it didn’t make sense to fly someone all around the country. But we knew we couldn’t only interview people here in Knoxville.
Doing mobile remote research with dscout allows you to “go to them,” without catching a flight.
In addition to being able to speak to consumers across the country from our office, dscout’s panel allows us to save on recruiting costs—which is huge. If you look at the number of projects we field on dscout, the cost savings, it’s incomparable.
Keeping up with fast-paced research environments
The team was able to use dscout for quick-turn research that not only produced robust insights, but supported their sales team.
Hannah: Being able to start a project on a Monday and finishing the entire study itself in one week is something you cannot do anywhere else. We’re able to speed up the rest of the process that allows us to make time for ample analysis.
For example, a sales representative came to us on a Thursday asking to see how people shop at two of our partner retailers. dscout helped us get a screener launched by end-of-day Friday; we had fully recruited and launched the mission by Monday.
By the end of the mission, we were able to tell the story of how participants shopped at the two retailers, helping our sales team succeed in a meeting with the retailers’ buyer the following week. There’s no other platform where we would have been able to conduct this kind of study so quickly or thoroughly.
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