Every time a consumer makes a product transition, there is an opportunity to either lose or win that consumer. It is crucial to understand the drivers behind consumer product transitions, as these decisions can cumulatively represent millions of dollars in sales. Recently, P&G's Babycare division faced a product transition dilemma. Sales data showed they were losing volume and market size when moms switched diaper sizes. Sales data couldn't provide the reasons for these customer losses during transition. Ultimately, the answers lay in the ground truth of the consumer transition experience. This presentation shows how digital qualitative research enabled P&G to have in the moment access to their consumers and solve a million dollar product transition challenge.
Since its inception in the late 1990s, online qualitative research has been primarily confined to replicating focus groups via bulletin boards and chats. However, with the advent of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and RSS, the ubiquity of digital media and the proliferation of compact wireless, there are new possibilities for qualitative researchers online. This paper explores how Web 2.0 technology and contextual research methods can be fused to enable researchers to capture the day-to-day narratives of customer experiences as they unfold.