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RIVA Qualitative Market Research

Qualitative Market Research

Hear from your consumers

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Reveal intent, explore customer behavior, and unlock growth

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RIVA Market Research was founded in 1981 by Naomi Henderson and for over 40 Years RIVA has been providing insightful and valuable qualitative research for its clients. RIVA has been a premier source for insightful and valuable qualitative research for an array of industries over the years.

As well as moderating for corporate clients, RIVA has been able to provide assistance to clients that need additional qualitative moderator’s for their projects. The RIVA team of qualitative moderators includes people of Caucasian, African-American, Latino, and Asian descent.

Over the years, RIVA Market Research has assembled a staff of nationally recognized qualitative moderators, researchers, and analysts who work as a team to meet with clients to define the research project and establish objectives. We recommend suitable approaches and conduct relevant qualitative research activities, analyze results, and present comprehensive findings to clients.

RIVA Market Research provides each client with a full-time staff, including an Executive Research Director and a Research Analyst who together manage all of the logistics to setting up and managing the facilities to providing in-depth analysis through careful review of findings.

Our mission is to conduct insightful qualitative research and translate findings into useful information that clients can trust to help them make sound, strategic decisions. To ensure that our work represents your target market accurately, RIVA Market Research adheres to rigorous qualitative research principles. Members of the RIVA team work closely with clients to focus only on outcome-oriented questions that impact the study to help uncover beliefs and perceptions that genuinely reflect respondents’ opinions and to provide a safe environment to allow the respondents to express themselves candidly. This commitment allows RIVA to scrutinize preconceived notions, and investigate preliminary conclusions to reveal underlying market attitudes and likely behaviors.

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RIVA WORKS WITH GLOBALly-recognized brands like:
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OUR TYPICAL 12-step PROCESS:
1 - Client Request Icon
1
Client Request Received
2 - Purpose Icon
2
Project Purpose Determined
3 - Proposal Dev Icon
3
Proposal Developed
4 - Client Review Icon
4
Client Review Meeting
5 - Logistics Icon
5
Determine Key Project Logistics
6 - Location Icon
6
Identify Facility/Location
7 - Screener Icon
7
Develop Screener and Recruit
8 - Mod Guide Icon
8
Write Moderators’s Guide
9 - Research Icon
9
Conduct Research
10 - Analyze Icon
10
Transcribe and Analyze
11 - Report Icon
11
Write Report
12 - Present Icon
12
Present Report to Client

RIVA’s 12-Step Process for Qualitative Research Projects

RIVA has been working with clients for more than 40 years on Qualitative Research Events (QRE’s). We know how important it is to hear from your target audience and to ensure your needs are met, we have defined twelve steps that we follow for each project. It starts with the client request, and ends with an optional client presentation, the steps in the middle progress along a timeline. Timelines can be changed depending on client needs, research dates, and deadlines. Here’s how a typical project unfolds:

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CASE STUDIES

Take a peek inside our research projects:

NOVA Skincare Systems
FOCUS GROUPs

NOVA Skincare Systems

RESEARCH Problem

While there are hundreds of home skin care and cleansing systems on the market, most are applied to the skin directly by hand or cloth. Estheticians and other skin care professionals may use very expensive cleansing machines to achieve deeper, more effective cleansing, but these are not typically available to the consumer.

RESEARCH WRINKLE

In the retail market there are only a few cleansing appliances available for home use, but almost all of them provide cleansing by the action of spinning brush heads. Sometimes these can irritate or damage sensitive skin. Valcent, the maker of the Nova Skin Care System wanted to know if upscale consumers would be interested in a new style of hand-held cleansing appliance that cleans and moisturizes by a supersonic pulsing action rather than a circular brushing motion and if consumers perceive this as a significant advantage for the product.

Research ProCESS

Focus groups with affluent women who purchase a variety of skin cleansing and skin care products were conducted to assess interest in the product and obtain reactions to proposed packaging.

KEY FINDING

The prototype and the packaging options garnered a highly favorable response from respondents and supported the perception the product would be likely to fill the gap between regular salon facials and current home cleansing options.

BUSINESS DECISION

To expand product production and marketing plans for distribution in upscale department stores.

Beech Aircraft
Mock Jury

Beech Aircraft

RESEARCH Problem

Beech Aircraft has been making small aircraft for private pilots for decades. They have a high safety record and their products are well liked. From time to time, however, they are the subject of lawsuits over issues related to assignment of responsibility when airplane design is deemed to be a factor in a crash.

RESEARCH WRINKLE

For an upcoming lawsuit case in Federal court, which strategy should Beech take as the defendant side of the case?

Research ProCESS

A series of “mock juries” with citizens very much like the ones that will be jurors in the actual case. Mock Jury #1 hears strategy #1 and the “deliberations” are viewed by the lawyers through a one-way mirror to determine what evidentiary elements created the verdict reached. Mock Jury #2 hears strategy #2 and the process is repeated. The lawyers can then decide which approach will create a significant chance for winning the case.

KEY FINDING

One of the strategies worked better than another to reach the verdict desired by the lawyers. That is the route they chose to present in Federal court and Beech won the case, avoiding a payout of millions of dollars in settlements.

NOTE

The case hinged around whether the pilot ignored six warnings by Beech to retrofit specific safety materials. The actual jury indicated that it was not the responsibility of a company to call each of its 56,000 customers to see if they complied, the responsibility was to insure that the warnings had been received.

BUSINESS DECISION

Based on the success of the “Mock Jury” process, Beech has determined that they are an important research tool when the outcome of a case cannot be predicted on the face of the evidence.

McNeil Pharmaceuticals
IDI’s, Dyads, Triads, Focus Groups

McNeil Pharmaceuticals

RESEARCH Problem

In the United States, over 70,000 people of African American and Middle East descent are living with Sickle Cell Disease, an inherited disorder of the red blood cells that makes them shaped differently and function not as well as typical red blood cells. The name comes from the characteristic shape of the dehydrated red blood cell as they collapse into crescent shapes and clog up the blood flow to different parts of the body. When these backups of cells occur, there is often intense pain and weakness in the patient called ‘pain crises’ and hospitalization is required along with potent pain killers. There is no known cure for the disease so far and the average life span is in the mid forties.

RESEARCH WRINKLE

Frequency of pain crises can be as seldom as once or twice a year. However, others may suffer the pain crises as often as once or twice a month. Hospitals often mislabel these patients as ‘drug seekers’ and may refuse to offer the proper pain medication without a lengthy delay. There is very little medication available that can improve the body’s ability to manufacture healthy red blood cells and alleviate the pain crises. McNeil wanted to know more about the daily life of sickle cell sufferers and obtain feedback on a new medication being developed.

Research ProCESS

Qualitative research in the form of individual (IDI), dyad and triad interviews, along with focus groups were conducted with individuals with sickle cell disease to create a better understanding of issues in daily life and obtain reaction to the product concept.

KEY FINDING

McNeil Pharmaceuticals developed a greater understanding of the effects of pain crises on the day-to-day lives of respondents and a unanimously favorable reaction to the concept of the new medication.

BUSINESS DECISION

Continue with clinical trials to prepare this product for the market.

Kimberly Clark Corporation
FOCUS GROUPS

Kimberly Clark Corporation

RESEARCH Problem

Kimberly Clark had created a new “disposable fabric” from the by-products of producing consumer paper products. The “fabric” was discovered by accident [much the same way Post-its were discovered by accident when the incorrect glue was used as an adhesive]. Now that KCC had this “fabric,” they needed a use for it. Engineers and market researchers inside of the company could not agree on the best way to use the material, so it was decided to test it with consumers.

RESEARCH WRINKLE

Past research had indicated that the need for “disposable clothes” was currently limited to the health care industry and that there wasn’t much “need” for disposable clothing items among general consumers, so the problem was finding a target market that could use the “fabric.”

Research ProCESS

Six focus groups with homeless men and women to see if they could find a use for the “fabric”.

KEY FINDING

Yes, the homeless “community” could find a practical use for the “fabric” and, in fact, determined six different ways the product would be useful to them and to the organizations that serve the homeless.

BUSINESS DECISION

KCC manufactured items from the “fabric” and made donations of the materials created to a number of social service agencies

HelpAge USA
Focus Groups

HelpAge USA

RESEARCH Problem

HelpAge USA is a non-profit organization focusing on advancing the well-being of seniors and finding ways to include them through community organizations, local and federal government programs. They had a desire to understand the potential for older people to make a greater impact within their families to encourage and increase the low vaccination rates against COVID-19 among Black adults between 18-40.

RESEARCH WRINKLE

The vaccination rates in this age group are considerably lower among Black adults than the general population and the reasons are myriad. Reasons may range across these themes: personal health safety considerations, potential long term side effects, government conspiracies and more.  Many of these issues are discussed freely in social media, but seldom backed by scientific proof.

In the past, for many Black families, the grandmother (more so than grandfathers who may be absent or deceased) typically served as the “voice of authority” and exerted significant influence over her extended family.  Today however, with grandmothers no longer living in the same residence and no longer having unlimited access to younger family members, the need for examining those family dynamics with fresh eyes arose as a focus for research.

Research ProCESS

Focus groups with low-income Black adults ranging from 21 to 65+ and also professionals who provide support to this population, were held along with two brainstorming sessions to expand, and develop ideas generated from the focus groups. The purpose of the groups initially was to explore the dynamics of cross-generation family communication.  

KEY FINDING

As the study evolved, the groups provided sufficient confirmation of the continuing influence of grandmothers.  Therefore, increasing emphasis was given to exploring options for involving grandmothers in a loose alliance or affiliation to support them in stepping up and actively interacting with younger family members, and providing them with information and support to make direct appeals to family members to receive vaccines.  The groups all demonstrated interest in and support an alliance of Black grandmothers and the necessity of providing them with mentoring and factual informational materials.  Brainstorming sessions provided numerous ideas to improve the odds for success.

BUSINESS DECISION

The development of a pilot program to see how best to develop a “Grandmothers Alliance “ and test best options to increase the effectiveness of the alliance with the initial focus on communicating the importance of vaccinations for all family members. 

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Coca-Cola
FOCUS GROUPS

Coca-Cola

RESEARCH Problem

In 1985, Coca-Cola wanted to launch a sweeter Coke product to go to head-to-head with Pepsi and blind taste tests showed that even Pepsi fans liked “New Coke” better than regular Pepsi. Through the power of metrics, it became clear that “New Coke” might achieve a whole new set of users. Based on very positive survey findings, Coke decided to “retire” its flagship beverage in favor of “New Coke” and ran out first ads to promote the new product. No one was ready for how consumers would respond to the “retirement” of regular Coke. Stories emerged around hoarding regular Coke and boycotting stores that carried “New Coke.”

RESEARCH WRINKLE

Coca-Cola management wanted to know the hearts and minds of their loyal fans to determine how to solve the problem created by the launch of “New Coke.”  Qualitative research design called for segmented studies across age, race, and gender groups in key US cities.

Research ProCESS

RIVA won a portion of the bid to conduct a series of focus groups with men and women in the mid-Atlantic states in mirrored facilities with observers from Coca-Cola headquarters in attendance.   The moderator’s guide started with respondent history and perceptions about brand image of Coke products and moved on to their “take” on the idea of “New Coke” on store shelves. 

KEY FINDING

Across the country, no matter the moderator or the respondents, four elements emerged:

  1. Coca-Coke is not just a product, it is an icon 
  2. Coca-Cola did a terrific job, for nearly 100 years building an unshakable brand image 
  3. Consumers revered Coca-Cola on the same platform as the American flag and the   National Anthem 
  4. Yes, “New Coke” might have tasted better than Pepsi in a taste test, but the brand called Coke stood for more than taste 
BUSINESS DECISION

“New Coke” disappeared from shelves and “Coke Classic” returned. While Coca-Cola has launched a number of “line extensions,”  since the retirement of “New Coke”, now they know to always honor their flagship product.