The universe of consumers is made up of people from different socioeconomic levels. The bulk of the population belongs to medium to low levels. For this reason, they are groups that do not represent a challenge to contact; even if a large number of individuals is required. However, there is a segment that, due to its small size, costs more effort to reach. We refer to those who are part of the highest strata of society.
In Latin America this group may be smaller if possible. The number of individuals in this stratum is not the only obstacle for researchers who need to work with them. As is already popular knowledge, our territories suffer from certain safety indices that force us to take additional precautions when it comes to daily life. For these and other reasons, we list in our weekly blog post four elements of doing high-income studies.
Concept. It may seem obvious to some, but determining what characteristics people with a high acquisition level should have can be problematic. This makes more sense when we want to work with the scoring rules of the Marketing Research Associations of each country. According to these instruments, many people who do not meet the stereotype of wealthy people can be considered as such. For this reason, sometimes the fact that these people consume certain brands or have a certain minimum amount of expenses per month are considered filters.
Experience. Dealing with people at the top of the social ladder can be an area of opportunity. The latter is explained because consumers in this sector do not usually live with other people than themselves and therefore have codes and customs that can result in obstacles for an analyst who is poorly versed or uninformed of such a group. Although it is not necessary for researchers to belong to a high level, they must have the expertise to coexist with them in the greatest possible equality of circumstances.
Incentives. When we work with ordinary people we can think of traditional incentives to retain their attention. However, people who may sometimes view work as an optional task do not require any incentive or promise of a gift to collaborate in our studies. People from wealthy classes may be more appreciative of an innovative experience or having access to some of the research findings.
Budget. The investment of a study can be directly proportional to certain parameters. The economic level of the participants is one of them. This sector is smaller, inaccessible and with little interest in earning a reward for participating in our projects. The target audience forces the designers of the research protocols to be more creative to achieve the goals without demanding unaffordable prices.
Market research with very small group members or contact restrictions is an opportunity for an agency or group of researchers to test their capabilities; even more so if these types of tasks are outside your usual area of practice. When we talk about teams dedicated to this segment, we can say that they have high-level suppliers such as exclusive venues or restaurants such as appropriate catering.
At Acertiva we tend to focus on consumers from the majority of the population due to our areas of expertise. However, on occasion we have worked with people like those described today. This has been possible because we found informants of this nature in segments such as pharmaceuticals and education. If you have a Market Research project for LATAM coming up, you can contact us. In response we will tell you how together we will make your next success story a reality.
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