How to solicit views of Opinion leaders

Soliciting views of opinion leaders and high net worth individuals has always been a big challenge to both companies and market research practitioners. This group of people is very busy, and very difficult to get them to commit to an interview.

People in this group include business owners, high-level executives, community and business leaders, key opinion influencers, technicians, specialists, politicians and other professionals. In order to solicit views of such people, a market research technique called in-depth interviewing is used.

In-depth interviews are a marketing research interviewing technique used to gather expert opinions or detailed information from customers or users of competing products or services. It is a one on one interview conducted by a qualified moderator, using a semi-structured questionnaire to solicit views of the respondent in an informal setting. The goal of the interview is to deeply explore the respondent’s point of view, feelings and perspectives on a topic of discussion.

Interviewing Process

The actual interview consists of three main parts. The first part involves personal introduction and the survey. It is critical for the moderator to establish a good rapport with the respondent. The moderator should endeavor to put the respondent at ease. The moderator’s main responsibility is to listen and observe as he/she guides the respondent through a conversation until all the important issues on the interview guide are explored. This, of course, is one of the most difficult aspects of an in-depth interviewing process. However, there are some strategies that have been used by researchers to improve the quality of the in-depth interview experience for both the moderator and the respondent. The actual interview consists of three main parts.

• Active listening. This entails listening and rephrasing what is said to insure that you are on the same page with the respondent.
• Patience. The moderator must not rush the respondent; allow him/her to speak freely while guiding the conversation to cover important issues.
• Flexibility. Moderator must be open to slight deviations from the topic, which may require rearranging/reordering the questions or coming up with new questions. If the respondent deviates too far from the topic, then carefully return him or her to the topic at hand.

Before commencing the interview, always ask permission of the interviewee before audio/video recording the interview for later reference and increased accuracy.