The Perfect Interviewer
“Anything else?” Grace asked in her soft voice. Bill reflected and wrote down another reason to indicate why he is attracted to the new product that Grace had just described to him. Reluctant to air any negatives, he skipped over the question on dislikes and proceeded to the next section. “Please mention whatever you dislike about the product, however small it may be. Please remember that all your comments will help the manufacturer to improve their products.” Bill forced himself to get back and type in a few points which did actually reduce the appeal of the product in his mind.
“Thank you, Bill,” Grace said in a tone seeped in charm and gratitude. “That will be really helpful.” Grace then proceeded to explain the next task, “The next question is a bit of challenge to you and also an opportunity to win some extra points”. Aware of John’s fondness for word games, Grace urged, “ Bill, given below are some phrases that people like you have used to describe the new product. Can you please tell me which of these phrases would you use yourself, to describe the product. But first you need to unscramble these to decipher what they were talking about!” Always ready for a verbal challenge, Bill proceeded to unscramble “ R.N.T,S.I.O.U.T.I.U … nutritious.” Bill arranged the letters in the appropriate sequence and proceeded to check the box, as he recalled the mention of Vitamin E in the concept and felt that it did describe the product.
Grace as the name implied, was elegant and graceful. She was the kind of person that Bill felt comfortable with and would have liked to spend time getting to know better. Unfortunately Grace would not be that person. In fact Grace was not a person at all, but a creation of programmers from the research agency to conduct online interviews. Her job was to motivate, engage and to entertain the respondents to make their experience more interesting and participative. The agency realized that in order to maintain the quality of the responses they had to enhance the engagement and interest of the respondents and make the whole exercise worthwhile from their point of view. The agency did this in recognition of the need to more effectively tap into the consumer views and creativity and to convert the normally one-way, interview process into a dialogue. Grace was programmed along with several other virtual interviewers based on consumer idealizations of a perfect interviewer. The idealizations differed from person to person and so did the interviewer that agency sent to dialogue with the respondent.
Grace, therefore, was not only attractive, had a charming manner, but also had a personality that strongly appealed to Bill. Grace also followed the cardinal rule for interviewing – to come prepared for the interview, not only to master the subject but also to be familiar with the interviewee. And Grace was in a perfect position to do so, having full access to Bill’s demographics, life-style and answers to several questionnaires that he had responded to in the past.
She knew that Bill was a cinema freak and would love to know about what lay in store for the coming vacations. “I have some nice previews for you, Bill, that I am sure you would love to watch. Please have a look at this and call me back whenever you are ready.” Having a dinner appointment that evening, it was not till the following day that Bill fixed himself a coffee and settled snuggly in his favourite chair to see the trailers.
He sent a message to Grace to tell her that he was ready and she was back instantaneously. Beaming cheerfully from the screen she said, “Hope you enjoyed that Bill.” “Can I now ask you a few questions about some commercials that you saw along with the programme. Can you please write down the names of the products whose advertisements you noticed while watching the previews.”
“I now need you to accompany me to the supermarket, Bill. It will only take five minutes, but if you have the time, would you like to race me to the market for an additional 20 points?” A racing enthusiast Bill could not resist the temptation and clicked the button on the screen to assume the persona of Michael Schumaker and braced himself to race with Grace. Grace gave a tough fight and was leading for a long stretch of the road where the traffic was relatively dense. However, hitting the suburbs Bill came into his own and hit the accelerator. Finally he beat her to the destination and earned his additional 20 points.
Grace guided Bill to the yoghurt shelf of the supermarket. “Please carefully have a look at the products displayed here. It may have some products that you are not familiar with as we have created a common shelf across the country. Please pick up the products that you will like to buy to meet your needs till you visit the market again.” Bill browsed the shelf, zoomed in to have a closer look. Sometimes picked a virtual pack to examine the label and dropped it in the shopping basket if it seemed attractive. Finally approached the check out desk, paid with virtual money that Grace had provided him and was ready to race back home.
Grace, and the tribe of virtual interviewers will transform the way companies collect information to aid in marketing decisions. A virtual interviewer has several advantages over the flesh and blood species that research companies have been working with since the start of the business, Virtual interviewer is a disciplined and indefatigable worker, follows instructions to the tee, ensures that questions are asked in a uniform manner, is patient and encouraging, minimizes interviewer bias and is not tempted to cheat. Virtual interviewer can overcome the physical barriers of fences and guards, and easily access the hard to get respondent through comfortably squeezing through the broadband connection. Employing elements of gaming and interactivity, the virtual interviewer can engage, stimulate and entertain the respondent and convert the one way interview into a bi-directional dialogue – something which has been sorely needed for some time now.
Written by Ashok Sethi
Head of Consumer Insights – Emerging Markets, TNS
“Anything else?” Grace asked in her soft voice. Bill reflected and wrote down another reason to indicate why he is attracted to the new product that Grace had just described to him. Reluctant to air any negatives, he skipped over the question on dislikes and proceeded to the next section. “Please mention whatever you dislike about the product, however small it may be. Please remember that all your comments will help the manufacturer to improve their products.” Bill forced himself to get back and type in a few points which did actually reduce the appeal of the product in his mind.
“Thank you, Bill,” Grace said in a tone seeped in charm and gratitude. “That will be really helpful.” Grace then proceeded to explain the next task, “The next question is a bit of challenge to you and also an opportunity to win some extra points”. Aware of John’s fondness for word games, Grace urged, “ Bill, given below are some phrases that people like you have used to describe the new product. Can you please tell me which of these phrases would you use yourself, to describe the product. But first you need to unscramble these to decipher what they were talking about!” Always ready for a verbal challenge, Bill proceeded to unscramble “ R.N.T,S.I.O.U.T.I.U … nutritious.” Bill arranged the letters in the appropriate sequence and proceeded to check the box, as he recalled the mention of Vitamin E in the concept and felt that it did describe the product.
Grace as the name implied, was elegant and graceful. She was the kind of person that Bill felt comfortable with and would have liked to spend time getting to know better. Unfortunately Grace would not be that person. In fact Grace was not a person at all, but a creation of programmers from the research agency to conduct online interviews. Her job was to motivate, engage and to entertain the respondents to make their experience more interesting and participative. The agency realized that in order to maintain the quality of the responses they had to enhance the engagement and interest of the respondents and make the whole exercise worthwhile from their point of view. The agency did this in recognition of the need to more effectively tap into the consumer views and creativity and to convert the normally one-way, interview process into a dialogue. Grace was programmed along with several other virtual interviewers based on consumer idealizations of a perfect interviewer. The idealizations differed from person to person and so did the interviewer that agency sent to dialogue with the respondent.
Grace, therefore, was not only attractive, had a charming manner, but also had a personality that strongly appealed to Bill. Grace also followed the cardinal rule for interviewing – to come prepared for the interview, not only to master the subject but also to be familiar with the interviewee. And Grace was in a perfect position to do so, having full access to Bill’s demographics, life-style and answers to several questionnaires that he had responded to in the past.
She knew that Bill was a cinema freak and would love to know about what lay in store for the coming vacations. “I have some nice previews for you, Bill, that I am sure you would love to watch. Please have a look at this and call me back whenever you are ready.” Having a dinner appointment that evening, it was not till the following day that Bill fixed himself a coffee and settled snuggly in his favourite chair to see the trailers.
He sent a message to Grace to tell her that he was ready and she was back instantaneously. Beaming cheerfully from the screen she said, “Hope you enjoyed that Bill.” “Can I now ask you a few questions about some commercials that you saw along with the programme. Can you please write down the names of the products whose advertisements you noticed while watching the previews.”
“I now need you to accompany me to the supermarket, Bill. It will only take five minutes, but if you have the time, would you like to race me to the market for an additional 20 points?” A racing enthusiast Bill could not resist the temptation and clicked the button on the screen to assume the persona of Michael Schumaker and braced himself to race with Grace. Grace gave a tough fight and was leading for a long stretch of the road where the traffic was relatively dense. However, hitting the suburbs Bill came into his own and hit the accelerator. Finally he beat her to the destination and earned his additional 20 points.
Grace guided Bill to the yoghurt shelf of the supermarket. “Please carefully have a look at the products displayed here. It may have some products that you are not familiar with as we have created a common shelf across the country. Please pick up the products that you will like to buy to meet your needs till you visit the market again.” Bill browsed the shelf, zoomed in to have a closer look. Sometimes picked a virtual pack to examine the label and dropped it in the shopping basket if it seemed attractive. Finally approached the check out desk, paid with virtual money that Grace had provided him and was ready to race back home.
Grace, and the tribe of virtual interviewers will transform the way companies collect information to aid in marketing decisions. A virtual interviewer has several advantages over the flesh and blood species that research companies have been working with since the start of the business, Virtual interviewer is a disciplined and indefatigable worker, follows instructions to the tee, ensures that questions are asked in a uniform manner, is patient and encouraging, minimizes interviewer bias and is not tempted to cheat. Virtual interviewer can overcome the physical barriers of fences and guards, and easily access the hard to get respondent through comfortably squeezing through the broadband connection. Employing elements of gaming and interactivity, the virtual interviewer can engage, stimulate and entertain the respondent and convert the one way interview into a bi-directional dialogue – something which has been sorely needed for some time now.
Written by Ashok Sethi
Head of Consumer Insights – Emerging Markets, TNS
Labels: computerised interviewing, gaming in data collection, Intelligent interviewing
posted by Ashok Sethi at 6:47 PM
0 comments
