Qualitative data analysis: how market researchers can crack the code

When numbers fall short and you need the full story, qualitative data analysis comes to the rescue. Instead of following assumptions based on numerical data, qualitative data analysis methods let you dig deeper. Qualitative data analysis examines non-numerical data – words, images, and observations, to uncover themes, patterns, and meanings. 

And in this article, we’ll tell you exactly how to do it yourself, in-house. 

What is qualitative data?

Qualitative data analysis uncovers the stories and feelings behind numbers. Qualitative methods gain information from conversations, interviews, and observations, capturing what people think and why they act a certain way. Unlike hard numbers, qualitative data helps us see the color and texture of people’s opinions, experiences, and emotions. 

Examples of the textual data that often makes up qualitative data pieces are a user’s detailed feedback on a mobile app’s usability, a shopper’s narrative about choosing eco-friendly products, or observational notes on customer behavior in a retail setting. 

This type of qualitative data collection helps us understand real feelings and thoughts, and goes beyond numbers and assumptions.

What are the ingredients of a good qualitative data analysis?

There’s a big difference between knowing that 50% of customers prefer your new product and understanding the nuanced reasons behind that preference.

It’s easy to get blinded by shiny numbers. In this case, a preference signals that you’re doing something great. But not knowing what, means you can’t replicate it, or double down on it to crank up that 50% even more.

So what you’ll need to do is dig into the ‘why’ behind the ‘what’. And we mean really dig. A strong qualitative data analysis process really aims at not putting words inside your customers mouths but letting them speak for themselves.

Another example is when a company finds out through a quick quantitative data survey that customers rate their service 4 out of 5. Which isn’t bad. But how can they improve it – or even work to maintain it? Guesswork is lethal here, yet it’s what so many companies resort to.

Which leads to obvious follow-up actions that are usually not customer-centric. Let’s say that this company assumes people are mostly happy because of their quick response times. So, they implement chatbots to take care of the first part of conversations, to speed things up even more. What could be wrong with that? 

But what if through in-depth interviews, they could have discovered that the personal touch from the staff right from the get-go is what customers really value? 

In consumer research, these nuances are gold. They allow your team to make finely tuned adjustments that resonate deeply with your audience. It’s what helps you move beyond the one-size-fits-all approach suggested by quantitative data. 

So if you want to start making experiences and products that feel personal and relevant to each customer, here are some ways to approach qualitative data research.

Content analysis: unveiling customer sentiments

What it is: Content analysis involves examining texts, reviews, and comments to identify frequently occurring words and sentiments, providing a quantitative measure of qualitative feedback.

Good to know:

• Focus on reviews, comments, and social media posts.
• Look for repeating words and sentiments to identify trends.
• Helps prioritize actions based on frequently mentioned topics by customers.

Chances are, you already have a lot of content that can be analyzed for qualitative data research. In that case, content analysis is your go-to approach to getting started. Content analysis means zooming in on recurring words, phrases, and sentiments scattered across reviews and comments.

Dig into reviews, comments, and emails and start flagging words and phrases that keep coming back. These can help you identify areas for improvement, but also show you what really is working.

This way, content analysis offers a quantitative measure of qualitative feedback, enabling you to prioritize actions based on what’s most mentioned by your customers, when they’re not prompted or asked anything specifically.

By systematically categorizing and quantifying this feedback, you’ll be able to make informed decisions on product features, marketing messages, and even future design innovations.

Narrative analysis: connecting through stories

What it is: Narrative analysis delves into customers’ stories to understand their experiences, decisions, and emotions throughout their journey with your brand.

Good to know:

• Analyze customer stories from initial contact to purchase.
• Focus on customers’ thoughts and feelings at each stage.
• Useful for identifying communication and support opportunities.

A lot of times brands are mostly interested in the beginning and end of a customer journey: how do I get in front of customers, and how do I get in their shopping basket?

But the story of what happens between those two moments is just as, if not more important. And with narrative analysis, you can help connect the dots.

You won’t just be looking at the touchpoints there were, but also what customers were thinking and feeling at each stage. By interpreting qualitative data, you can create a full story from start to finish on how customers think and feel and make decisions in your market.

And that is so much more than just a nice story. Narrative analysis shows you where you can swoop in, where you should change your communications or where you should offer more support — for a happy ever after.

Discourse analysis: shaping perceptions through conversation

What it is: Discourse analysis examines language and communication on platforms like social media to understand how they influence public perception and consumer behavior.

Good to know:

• Explore broader conversations around topics relevant to your brand.
• Understand cultural, social, and environmental contexts.
• Align your messaging with audience values and lead discussions.

Discourse analysis looks at the broader conversation around topics relevant to your brand. This qualitative data analysis method looks at how language and communication on platforms like social media shape public perception and influence consumer behavior.

Discourse analysis not just about what’s being said about your brand and products; it’s about understanding the cultural, social, and environmental currents that drive these conversations.

For example, when customers discuss “sustainability,” they’re not just talking about your specific packaging; they’re engaging in a larger dialogue about corporate responsibility, environmental impact, and ethical consumption.

Discourse analysis helps you grasp the nuances of these discussions, revealing how your brand can authentically contribute to and lead within these conversations.

This strategic insight allows you to align your messaging with your audience’s values, build credibility, and position your brand as a leader in meaningful sustainability efforts.

By engaging with and influencing the discourse, you can adapt to current consumer expectations but you can even take it a step further, and shape future trends and behaviors in alignment with your brand’s values and goals.

Thematic analysis: finding overlapping themes in chaos

What it is: Thematic analysis seeks to find common themes within qualitative data, moving beyond individual opinions to uncover broader patterns.

Good to know:

• Organize feedback into distinct themes.
• Requires systematic data collection and coding.
• Offers clear, actionable insights for different business areas.

Plenty of brands are already sitting on qualitative data from thousands of customer interactions, which might seem like a jumble of individual opinions and experiences.

You might look at them and think ‘ha, humans really all want or value different things’. But there will be overlap, and that is where the real value lies.

Thematic analysis aims at finding common themes in this qualitative data. You move beyond surface-level chaos by categorizing all pieces of feedback into distinct themes.

These themes could range from specific product features, such as “battery life” in electronics, to broader experiential factors, like “customer service excellence” or “ease of use.” By identifying these recurring patterns, you gain a clearer, more organized understanding of your customers’ priorities and pain points.

One of the benefits of thematic analysis is that it helps you organize a wide range of feedback into clear, actionable insights for each team in your business. You may uncover themes about the product, about communication, or other parts of your business that customers get exposed to. In other words: every business could benefit from some thematic analysis.

Grounded theory: building strategies from real feedback

What it is: Grounded theory uses early feedback from users to develop theories and strategies that meet their needs, focusing on continuous improvement.

Good to know:

• Start with feedback from early users or testers.
• Engage deeply with feedback to guide product development.
• Ideal for new services or products, ensuring they align with customer expectations.

For those launching a new service, grounded theory takes feedback from early users and starts building from there. It uses real, raw customer thoughts to shape a strategy that better meets their needs.

This approach isn’t just about collecting data; it’s about letting qualitative data direct your next moves, ensuring your innovations are not just shots in the dark but informed, strategic decisions aimed at fulfilling genuine customer needs.

When you adopt grounded theory, you commit to a process of continuous improvement and adaptation. As feedback starts rolling in from those first users or beta testers, you’re given a unique opportunity to see your product through the eyes of those it’s meant to serve.

This early-stage feedback is gold—unfiltered, direct, and incredibly insightful. It tells you what’s resonating with your audience, what’s missing the mark, and, crucially, how to adjust your offering for better alignment with customer expectations.

Bear in mind that when done right, grounded theory goes beyond merely reacting to feedback. It’s about proactively seeking it out and engaging with it. This means not just reading comments or reviews, but diving deeper through follow-up questions, interviews, or focus groups to really understand the why behind the feedback. 

How to conduct an enlightening qualitative data analysis

Diving into qualitative data analysis can feel like a big task for many brands. There’s often worry about how much time it’ll take. Or how much money. And then there’s the question of whether all that detail might lead you off track instead of to clear answers.

After all, businesses move fast these days, and spending a lot of time on a research project doesn’t always fit the schedule.

But those worries don’t have to stop you. With the right plan and the best tools, you can dodge those issues. Start by creating a roadmap, so you know what the next few days, weeks or months will look like. See? It’s less daunting already.

Below, we’ll break the whole process down into simple steps. We’re going to walk through how to tackle qualitative data analysis without getting bogged down.

1. Transcribing interviews and collecting qualitative survey data

When it comes to qualitative research, if something’s said, it’s crucial. And that means you gotta write it down. Or at least have a tool to do it for you.

‘’I don’t wanna miss a thing’’ is your theme song for this step.

Every chuckle, pause, or sigh can give you insights into what your customers really think and feel. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Transcribing interviews sounds like a lot of work. Let alone conducting all of them!” 

But here’s the good news—using Attest makes this step a pleasant breeze on a hot summer night. With Attest, you can send out surveys that dive deep into all the qualitative questions you’ve been itching to ask. Our platform is designed to capture rich, detailed responses in a way that is easy to search and analyze. 

This means you don’t have to worry about spending hours transcribing interviews. The responses are already there in writing, ready for you to analyze. This doesn’t just save time; it ensures accuracy. You’re getting the unfiltered voice of your customer, directly and conveniently. No more playing detective with hours of audio recordings.

2. Organize data and identify common patterns

Next, sift through your transcribed interviews, survey responses, and notes. Your goal here is to spot patterns or themes that crop up repeatedly.

This could be similar sentiments about a product feature or shared experiences with your service. Organizing data helps you identify themes that move from scattered bits of feedback to clear, common threads that tell a bigger story.

3. Using tools to make the process easier

There are plenty of software tools out there designed to help with qualitative data analysis. These tools can help you code your qualitative data, which means tagging parts of the text with keywords or themes, making it easier to organize and analyze textual data. They can save you a heap of time and help you stay accurate and consistent in your analysis.

That’s where Attest’s innovative Video Responses come into play, offering a seamless and impactful way to gather and analyze qualitative data directly from your target audience – all in the same platform as your quantitative data.

Here’s how we transform qualitative research:

• Easy to use: Attest’s platform lets you quickly add video questions to surveys, making it straightforward to collect in-depth feedback.
• Fast insights: With automated transcriptions, you can swiftly analyze video responses, identifying key themes without the wait.
• Reliable data: Attest ensures feedback comes from a diverse, representative audience, giving you confidence in the insights you gather.
• Rich context: Video responses capture the full spectrum of customer emotions and nuances, providing a deeper understanding than text alone.
• Seamless integration: Mix qualitative and quantitative data effortlessly, for a comprehensive view of your customer base.

As consumer behaviors and preferences continue to evolve at lightning speed, it’s products like Video Responses that will help brands win more based on decisions made with a deeper understanding of their customers.

Jeremy King, CEO and Founder of Attest

4. Highlight context alongside data where relevant

Understanding the context in which feedback is provided is crucial in qualitative analysis. It’s not just about what your customers are saying; it’s also about why they’re saying it at that particular moment. This deeper layer of insight can significantly impact how you interpret and act on the data you collect.

Why context matters:

• Timing: Feedback given right after a new product launch can contain initial impressions that might evolve over time. Similarly, responses collected during a major sale or promotion might be influenced by the excitement or urgency of the moment.
• External factors: Consider the broader environment. For example, feedback during a major social event, a public holiday, or even a global crisis can be colored by the emotions and experiences of that time. This can shift priorities or change the way people interact with your brand.
• Customer journey stage: The stage of the customer journey at which feedback is given can also provide important context. Early-stage feedback might focus on first impressions and expectations, while later-stage feedback could offer deeper insights into user experience and satisfaction.

How to account for context in your qualitative analysis:

• Document the circumstances: When collecting data, make a note of the timing and any relevant external factors.
• Consider the source: Different platforms can also provide context. For instance, feedback from a public social media post might differ from what’s shared in a private survey due to the public nature of the medium.
• Use context to guide action: Let the context inform how you prioritize and respond to feedback. Initial excitement might warrant a quick thank-you message, while deeper, contextual insights might lead to product or service improvements.

5. Seek participant validation

Once you’ve got some preliminary findings, it’s a good idea to circle back to your participants. This could mean confirming your interpretations with them or diving deeper into certain areas.

This will help you be sure your analysis aligns with your respondents’ intended meanings and experiences. Plus, it shows respect for their contributions and can uncover even richer insights.

6. Compile a final report with a mix of data and visualization techniques

Finally, bring your analysis to life in a report that mixes clear, concise writing with visual elements like charts, graphs, and quotes.

Visualization helps make complex insights more accessible, engaging, and persuasive. Your report should not only present what you’ve found but also tell the story of how these research findings can influence decisions and strategies.

7. Put insights into action

The real value of qualitative data analysis lies in its application. Use the insights to inform decisions, refine strategies, and better meet your customers’ needs. This is where your analytical journey makes a tangible impact on your business.

Previously when we’ve had to do qualitative research, it’s taken months and months. Attest gets the information that we need quickly. By the very next day we’re able to implement some of the changes and then go back for round two.

Simon Gray, Head of Marketing, Zzoomm

The pros and cons of qualitative data analysis

Qualitative data analysis looks at the human side of data. It offers insights that numbers alone can’t provide. But like all research methods, even qualitative data analysis methods have their strengths and weaknesses, especially when it comes to shaping a marketing plan that hits the mark.

Advantages of qualitative data analysis

Bringing qualitative data into your strategy brings about transformative advantages that can significantly transform how your business connects with your audience and adapts to the market. Without further ado, let’s look at the benefits it brings.

Qualitative data gives you truly rich insights

Want to go beyond meeting the explicit needs of your customers, and also address their unspoken desires and creating experiences that truly matter to them? Qualitative analysis offers an unparalleled depth of understanding by capturing the subtleties and complexities of customer behavior and sentiment. 

By engaging directly with your audience through interviews, focus groups, or social media interactions, you gain nuanced perspectives that quantitative data alone cannot provide. These rich insights enable you to craft marketing strategies and product innovations that resonate on a deeper level with your audience. 

Qualitative data is a lot more flexible than numbers

Numbers can be quite limiting. The benefit of qualitative analysis is that you’re not confined to a predetermined set of questions or outcomes. 

Instead, you have the freedom to explore new directions, probe interesting findings further, and let the data guide your research process. This flexibility means your research process can evolve in real-time, responding to unexpected insights or shifting market dynamics. 

Qualitative data is great for strategic decision-making

The insights gained from qualitative analysis can significantly inform strategic decision-making. By understanding the nuances of customer feedback, you can make informed and detailed choices about where to allocate resources, which product features to prioritize, and how to position your business in the market.

You can go beyond generic moves in the right direction and make sure you hit the nail on the head on the first try, instead of slowly creeping towards it.

Qualitative research data fuels innovation and differentiation

Businesses are always looking for ways to innovate, but where to look? It’s often less obvious and loud than you think. And innovation doesn’t always have to be massively disrupting or a big pivot. Sometimes small changes made by listening to your customers’ unmet needs and emerging desires will tell you everything you need to know for your next product launch.

Innovation that brings information in from customers is often much more to-the-point than innovation that comes from inside the business, where people tend to be focused on the product and possibilities around it a lot. But try a different approach every once in a while. Listen to the people that use your product, not just the ones who create it.

Qualitative research data will fuel a customer-centric culture

Qualitative data puts your customer’s voice front and center. It highlights their stories, opinions, and feelings, making your marketing strategy more empathetic and customer-focused. This will allow you to build stronger connections with your audience.

Not by any marketing gimmicks, creating online communities or carefully curated UGC campaigns, but by speaking directly to customers’ experiences and emotions. Using qualitative data across your organization brings transformative effects, deeply embedding a culture of attentiveness, adaptability, and unwavering focus on the customer at every level of your business.

This approach does more than just inform product development or marketing strategies—it reshapes the very foundation of how your business operates and interacts with the people it was created for. 

Disadvantages of qualitative data analysis

We’re not going to pretend that qualitative data analysis is something you can do on autopilot. But while qualitative data analysis brings its set of challenges, understanding these can help you navigate through them more effectively.

Moreover, with the right tools and strategies, the benefits you gain far outweigh any of the potential drawbacks we’ve listed below. Here’s a closer look at these challenges and how to turn them into opportunities:

Qualitative data analysis can time-consuming

Yes, qualitative analysis often* demands time and resources. The depth it requires—from collecting detailed narratives to transcribing and interpreting vast amounts of text—can seem daunting. However, this investment in time is what uncovers the nuanced insights that quantitative methods might miss.

*… but not always. With Attest’s Video Responses, you get reliable qual insights fast, alongside your quantitative data!

Qualitative data analysis is pretty subjective

Of course, the interpretive nature of qualitative data analysis does introduce the risk of subjectivity and bias. But ignoring all opinions and thoughts around your product or brand is arguably worse. What this challenge underscores all the more is the importance of a structured, systematic approach to analysis.

By implementing standardized procedures for coding and analyzing data, and employing tools that facilitate consistency across the process, you can mitigate the risks of subjective bias.

And if you involve a diverse team in the analysis process and make sure you pick a representative set of respondents, qualitative research can enable a deeper, more empathetic understanding of ALL your customers; experiences and perspectives.

Qualitative data analysis methods come with scaling issues

Qualitative data collection can indeed be tricky to scale and generalize across a broader market. But who said you can only do qualitative research with in-person interviews? With the right survey tool, like Attest, you can ask quantitative questions at scale, to an audience that is large and diverse.

Our participant audience consists of 125 million people spread across 59 countries, and once you send out a survey, results can come back in mere minutes or hours. So if scalability is holding you back, online surveys with video responses are the answer.

Get great results from qualitative data analysis

Unlock the full potential of qualitative data analysis with Attest. Gain actionable insights, bridge the gap between raw data and emotional intelligence, and make informed decisions. Discover how Attest can support your journey to deeper consumer understanding at Attest for insights professionals and learn about our commitment to data quality.