3. How to conduct a precise study using targeted qualitative surveys

There are several ways of carrying out targeted surveys. As indicated in Step 1, they should be entrusted to specialists (internal to the company), or to specialized consulting firms, or to junior companies at business schools (which have the merit of doing the job much more cheaply).

The consumer panel method (or group meetings, or focus groups, or round tables) is one of the most effective.

It consists of bringing together in a room a sample of consumers from one or more segments. The composition of the sample, as well as the number of samples (i.e. group meetings), obey the laws of statistics as regards the CSP origins of the participants. It is also advisable to select several samples in different geographical areas (for example, at least one regional metropolis and one rural area per country to be covered).

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