1. Observation
The simplest and most under-used technique in commercial research. We arrange to be present where your product is actually used — a kitchen at 7am, a clinic waiting room, a Bengaluru auto, a tier-2 retailer's counter — and we watch. We notice the placement of your jar on the shelf, the order of apps the customer opens, the conversation she has with her mother before she clicks buy.
Observation gets to the parts of behaviour the customer cannot self-report because she is not consciously aware of them.
2. In-context interviews
A ninety-minute conversation conducted where the behaviour happens, not in a sterile facility. The customer can show us things. She can open her cupboard mid-question. She can re-enact the moment she switched brands. The setting is the data.
3. Diary studies
For decisions that unfold over weeks — a churn pattern, a category switch, an onboarding journey — we run two-week diary studies on WhatsApp. Customers send us voice notes, photos, and short videos in real time. We get the unguarded thought at 11pm on day six, not the rationalised version on day fourteen.
4. Digital ethnography
For digital-native products, observation extends into the screen. We watch customers use your app and your competitors' apps. We sit through their WhatsApp groups and Reddit threads. We follow the breadcrumbs of how a category is being discussed before we ever go in to ask a question.
5. Interpretation
Most research projects fail at this step. They produce a faithful summary of what customers said, and stop there. We refuse to stop there. The deliverable from an Avant Amour project is a point of view — a small number of clearly stated, defensible claims about what is happening and what you should do about it.
Why ethnography over focus groups for digital products
Focus groups select for the customer who is articulate, opinionated, and comfortable in a conference room. That is not your customer. Your customer is the one who never finished the onboarding flow, who couldn't articulate what she wanted, who chose your competitor in twelve seconds without knowing exactly why. Focus groups produce confident answers to the wrong questions. Ethnography produces uncomfortable answers to the right ones.
We run focus groups occasionally — for stimulus testing, for early concept reactions — but they are not the spine. The spine is observation.