A location-based application
- from a consumer perspective
Author(s): Maria Andersson Marketing Program Felix Ekman Marketing Program Björn Sahlquist Marketing Program
Tutor: Ph. D Hooshang Beheshti Examiner: Ph. D Pejvak Oghazi
Subject: Innovation and Technology Level and semester: Bachelor Thesis,
The authors would like to thank supervisor Ph. D Hooshang Beheshti for guidance throughout the writing process, Ph. D Vinit Parida and the examiner Ph. D Pejvak Oghazi for important inputs during the seminars and Dr. Magnus Hultman and Ph. D Rana Mostaghel for specialist assistance regarding the methodology- and empirical chapter.
The authors also wish to express gratitude towards the respondents part-taking in the empirical study, without whose time the thesis would not have been possible and the opposition group’s inputs.
Linnaeus University, VÄXJÖ Spring, 2012 Maria Andersson 881026 +46734449800 Felix Ekman 890924 +46733704550 Björn Sahlquist 870903 +46738482229
Abstract
The rise of mobile phones as the number one leading personal communication device make mobile phones very attractive for marketers, as they are always on, always with the consumer and always connected. Smartphones has the ability to update their location (thus the location of the consumer) by themselves. Through this an automatic location-dependent advertisement, triggered by the location of the mobile device, may be sent to any customer in a predetermined area. However, a current problem is how to not misuse this opportunity. For example, even though a consumer is in the nearby area of a store it does not mean that they are interested in receiving an offer. Consumers are also very keen on feeling in control of the access to their personal information. The purpose of this bachelor thesis is thus to investigate what attributes a location-based application may have to increase customer usage by enhancing, facilitating and developing the customers shopping behaviour. Theories used as a basis for investigation are marketing strategy, marketing innovation, direct marketing, mobile marketing (location-based marketing and permission-based marketing), consumer behaviour (customer value, attitudes and monetary- and non-monetary promotion). A deductive, qualitative research approach was chosen, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted among students at the Linnaeus University in Växjö. The interviews regarded application attributes; the results obtained were used as a base for the focus group studies. In the analysis, the findings from the focus groups linked with theory outlined the attributes and how such an application should be designed. The most important categories are customisation and value, followed in descending order by functional, external, registration and privacy. Also concluded is how the customers shopping experience may be enhanced, facilitated and developed on the basis of these attributes. In the conclusion similarities and differences between the two focus groups were discussed and theoretical and managerial implications were outlined.
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 A MOBILE MOVEMENT ON THE RISING 1
1.1.1 SMARTPHONE USAGE 1 1.2 PROBLEM DISCUSSION 2 1.3 PURPOSE 4 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 4 1.5 DELIMITATIONS 4 1.6 OBJECTIVES 4 1.7 THESIS OUTLINE 5 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 7 2.1 MARKETING STRATEGY 7 2.2 MARKETING INNOVATION 9
2.2.1 THE MOBILE PHONE AS MARKET INNOVATION 11
2.3 DIRECT MARKETING 11
2.4 MOBILE MARKETING 12
2.4.1 LOCATION-‐BASED MARKETING 13
2.4.2 PERMISSION BASED 17
2.5 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 18
2.5.1 CUSTOMER VALUE 18
2.5.2 ATTITUDES 19
2.5.3 MONETARY AND NON-‐MONETARY PROMOTION 19
3. METHODOLOGY 21
3.1 RESEARCH APPROACH 21
3.1.1 INDUCTIVE VS. DEDUCTIVE RESEARCH 21
3.1.2 QUANTITATIVE VS. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 22
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 22
3.3 DATA SOURCES 24
3.4 RESEARCH STRATEGY 25
3.5 DATA COLLECTION METHOD 26
3.5.1 CONTENT ANALYSIS 26
3.5.3 FOCUS GROUPS 28
3.6 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT 28
3.6.1 OPERATIONALIZATION AND MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES 28
3.6.2 INTERVIEW GUIDE 35
3.6.3 PRETESTING 37
3.7 SAMPLING 38
3.7.1 SAMPLING FRAME 39
3.7.2 SAMPLE SELECTION AND DATA COLLECTION 42
3.8 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD 43
3.9 QUALITY CRITERIA FOR QUALITATIVE METHODOLOGY 44
3.9.1 CONTENT VALIDITY 44 3.9.2 CONSTRUCT VALIDITY 44 3.9.3 EXTERNAL VALIDITY 45 3.9.4 RELIABILITY 45 3.10 METHODOLOGY SUMMARY 46 4. EMPIRICAL STUDY 47
4.1 SEMI-‐STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS 47
4.2 FOCUS GROUPS 49
4.2.1 DEMOGRAPHICS 50
4.2.2 SUMMARY OF THE FOCUS GROUPS 50
4.2.3 CATEGORY IMPORTANCE 60
4.2.4 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN FOCUS GROUP ANSWERS 60
5. ANALYSIS 63
5.1 ANALYSIS – SEMI-‐STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS 63
5.2 ANALYSIS -‐ FOCUS GROUPS 64
5.2.1 MARKETING INNOVATION 64
5.2.2 DIRECT MARKETING 65
5.2.3 MOBILE MARKETING 66
5.2.4 CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 69
5.2.5 MEASUREMENT ANALYSIS 73
5.2.6 DEMOGRAPHICAL DIFFERENCES TO BE NOTICED 74
5.3 ANSWERING THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS 76
6.1.1 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN RESEARCH QUESTION ONE 81 6.1.2 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN RESEARCH QUESTION TWO 82
6.2 IMPLICATIONS 84
6.2.1 THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS 84
6.2.2 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS 86
6.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 89
6.4 FURTHER RESEARCH 89
6.5 CONCLUDING REMARKS 90
REFERENCES 92
Appendix 1: Letter of intent - semi-structured interviews
Appendix 2: Interview guide - semi-structured interview
Appendix 3: Transcriptions from the semi-structured interviews
Appendix 4: Letter of intent - focus groups
Appendix 5: Interview guide - focus groups
Appendix 6: Focus group one - transcription and demographics
Appendix 7: Focus group two - transcription and demographics
Appendix 8: Essence of the focus groups
Appendix 9: Wordlist - attributes from focus groups
Wordlist
Verified by VISA Verified by VISA gives customers extra protection when shopping online. More
than 300 000 web pages in Europe uses Verified by VISA. It protects the customers VISA-card from unauthorized usage and grants that the webpage prioritises payment security. The service is delivered by VISA (VISA, 2012-05-01)
QR-code A code is a two-dimensional code for optical mechanized reading. The
QR-code consists of a black and white chequered pattern. These QR-codes may be read with applications downloadable to smartphones. One way is to scan the code using the camera function in the phone, the phone then interpret the code into text (Nationalencyklopedin (c),).
Facebook Facebook is a web based community for building social networks, launched in
2004. The site is to a large proportion the users profiles, which are linked to different networks in which the interaction takes place. Facebook is one of the ten largest pages in the world (Nationalencyklopedin (a), 2012-05-02).
App-store App-store is where the company Apple provide customers with applications for
their products (for example iPhones). It contains more than 500 000 applications. Some are free of charge some need to be bought. The customers’ buy them with an ID, which has been pre-filled out at registration. Each app is displayed with a few screenshots. They show new apps in ”Featured”, where you may check out the top 25 or just browse the store (Apple, 2012-05-07).
Campadre Campadre is a web based ”private shopping club”, sending the members offers
from different brands within fashion, design and beauty (Campadre, 2012-05-01).
”Watch-list” The authors notion is that a watch-list is a list where customers may receive
updates on products they previous has registered interest in.
GPS Global Positioning System, a satellite navigation system for deciding positions
with great accuracy (Nationalencyklopedin (b), 2012-05-02).
Android market Changed name 7th of march 2012 to Google Play. Google Play has applications for
Android phones. They are delivered instantly to the mobile device. They provide first-rates and catalogues providing songs and e-books (Android, 2012-05-07).
Pricerunner Priserunner is a website where customers may compare prices, in order to find the
products at the lowest possible price (Pricenunner, 2012-05-02).
Application An application is a type of software that may be used in electronical platforms,
such as smartphones. They are distributed and downloaded through the Internet. (Nationalencyklopedin, 2012-04-04).
Groupon Groupon is a company providing daily offers to a specific location, which can be
received either through E-mail or an application in a smartphone (Groupon, 2012-05-18)
al., 2009). Today, all of the larger mobile phone manufacturers have developed so called smartphones (Nationalencyklopedin, 2012-02-04).
1
1. INTRODUCTION
In the following chapter, the purpose of this study is presented based on an introduction and discussion of the problem to be investigated. Also presented is the relevance of the study, delimitations and objectives.
1.1 A mobile movement on the rising
Benefits for consumers arising through direct marketing and marketing through new technology, such as the Internet, are that the needs for information, entertainment and shopping are fulfilled faster, more flexible and with more interactivity (Patwardhan & Patwardhan, 2008). Implications for marketers are that the consumers today have the possibility to seek out the wanted information by themselves instead of just listening to the marketers’ message (Armstrong & Kotler, 2008).
As 2,7 million people in Sweden owns a smartphone it can be said that Swedish consumers no longer are bound to their computer for online information search (Dagens Media, 2012). In June 2011 there were 2,3 million subscriptions containing at least 1GB data traffic, a year earlier this type of subscriptions where 800 000 (Gustafsson et al., 2011). This growth in smartphone users and usage has made the smartphone emerge as a flexible media for direct marketing and advertising for marketers (Wei et al., 2009). Unni and Harmon (2010) agrees stating that the rise of the mobile phones as the number one leading personal communication device indicates mobile phones’ attractiveness for marketers to be used as a potentially lucrative platform. This platform could increase the effectiveness of traditional media channels (Wei et al., 2009).
There is a mobile movement on the rising as more and more people get smartphones. Endless possibilities are created, not only marketing wise, as they are “always on, always with us and always connected” (Google, 2012-01-27).
1.1.1 Smartphone usage
In a study made on American smartphone users in 2010, it was found that in the course of a week, 81% browses the Internet through their smartphones, sometimes even while
consuming other media. 79% of smartphone owners use them to help them while shopping. It is also used to find retailers (54%), compare prices (49%), get promotions and coupons (48%) and read reviews and product info (44%). 74% of consumers make their shopping decision based on what they found conducting a smartphone search (Google, 2012-01-27). Mobile targeting is the next big opportunity and every webpage and service will soon be able to tell where you are, using location-based marketing. Customers may be targeted through this location-specific advertising in their smartphones (Patel, 2010). Location-based services may be defined as services enhanced by, and dependent on information about a mobile device’s position. These services are, for example, entertainment, navigation or specific advertising and promotion (Unni & Harmon, 2010).
Smartphones are thus very potential in regards to sending targeted and personalised advertisements to customers’ on the go. It is a marketing tool no manager should ignore (Salo & Tähtinen, 2005).
1.2 Problem discussion
In the last decades marketers have been applying the art of mass marketing, defined as selling standardized products to a mass of customers. Although today’s marketing managers have been forced to develop new marketing communications to reach the consumers (Armstrong & Kotler, 2008). This has to do with the problem that mass marketing may not be seen as a relevant tool for marketing anymore, as it most likely will not reach out to the customers (Dudgeon, 2011). There are several factors why this forced change in marketing communication has occurred, one example being consumer change. Consumers today have better access to information and have greater potential to communicate; this due to their presence in a digital and wireless age. Instead of just relying on the information provided by marketers, consumers nowadays have the opportunity to use the Internet and other technologies to seek out information on their own. Therefore marketers have to address the problem of how to reach consumers in new and unpredicted ways (Armstrong & Kotler, 2008).
Numerous customers of today perceive that companies neither understand them nor give them the information needed. One customer in four has the feeling that companies
Introduction
3
do not know how to communicate with them properly and that they, problematically enough, still use meaningless marketing messages (Dudgeon, 2011).
The fast development of the Internet and the need for companies to be present online, has led to many companies stressing to get out there with a focus on attracting as many customers as possible, forgetting the importance to work on how to keep them as customers (Reichheld & Schefter, 2000). Forgetting that loyalty needs to be earned, also online, creates a problem for companies in the long run. Fast sales could be created through an aggressive interrupt-and-repeat broadcast model online, called spam (Wei et al., 2009). However, this is not recommended since the approach is often perceived, by the customers, as intrusive and as an invasion in privacy (Dolnicar & Jordaan, 2007). According to a study by Forrester research in 2001 a survey conducted in the USA found that 79% of the respondents would be irritated by ads appearing on their mobile phones without their permission (in Wei et al., 2009). Despite marketers great interest in advertising through mobile phones it has not been clearly investigated if the customers feel positive about this new media for advertisements (Khalifa & Chneg in Soroa-Koury & Yang, 2010).
Another problem today is how to not misuse the opportunity that a smartphone can update its location by itself, thus the location of that customer. Through this automatic update location-dependent advertising, triggered by the mobile device may be sent to any customer in a pre-defined area (Unni & Harmon, 2010). Through this opportunity, one important issue is the one of customers’ privacy. Only because a customer is in a location close to your store, it does not mean that they are interested in what your company has to offer (Dudgeon, 2011). This problem is strengthened by Unni and Harmon (2010), who found that consumers’ concerns about their privacy are high in regards to location-based advertising, while the benefits and value is perceived, as low. Marketers perceive location-based advertising as splendid and that most problems are solved if the customer has signed up for the service. However, customers may still feel that this form of marketing is intrusive and may prefer to choose by them when they want to receive the advertising (Unni and Harmon, 2010).
85% of adults in a study were found to feel it was very important to control the access to their personal information (Madden et al. in Bélanger & Crossler, 2011). Privacy is a
moral or legal right while others see it as a person’s ability to be in control of what information is given out about him (Bélanger & Crossler, 2011).
The technique is there today for marketers to link existing knowledge of the customers’ identity, financial status and buying history with attributes of location-based services such as exact time, place, purchasing behaviour and situational concept. This however creates privacy issues among the customers and consequently there is a great need for further studies to be made within the area of customers’ perception of the use of this new technology (Unni & Harmon, 2010).
1.3 Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate what attributes a location-based application may have to increase consumer usage by enhancing, facilitating and developing the consumers shopping experience.
1.4 Research questions
RQ1: What attributes should a location-based marketing application contain in order to increase consumer-usage?
RQ2: How do the consumers perceive that a location-based application may enhance and facilitate their shopping experience?
1.5 Delimitations
This study is limited within its research design to solely be conducted with a qualitative approach. This due to the time constrains and requested scope of a bachelor thesis. The empirical data were gathered in Sweden among students at the Linnaeus University in Växjö because of the limited resources and the study being seen as an initial step in the process of exploring and problem stating. Thus having a purpose of gaining a deeper understanding rather than a broad, generally applicable view.
1.6 Objectives
The authors’ intention with the study is to contribute to existing knowledge regarding location-based applications. The intention is also to provide a consumer view regarding the attributes of a location-based application and how it may enhance and facilitate the
Introduction
5
consumers shopping experience. Theory regarding location-based marketing and mobile marketing are emerging and the intention with the thesis is also an attempt to provide a theoretical contribution as well as a managerially applicable aspect.
1.7 Thesis outline
The thesis is divided into six chapters, each representing a different stage in the research process.
Chapter 1: presents the purpose and research questions of the study, done through an
introduction and discussion of the problem concerning the topic.
Chapter 2: outlines the key theories. Initially the basis of marketing strategy is
presented followed by reasons for marketing innovation, and specific innovation regarding mobile phones. Thereafter theories regarding direct marketing and mobile marketing are presented. The chapter ends with presenting consumer behaviour.
Chapter 3: discusses different methodology approaches and asserts with justifications
for the methodology employed in this thesis. As a summary, a figure is displayed to present the steps taken for the progress.
Chapter 4: is a compilation of the empirical data collected during three semi-structured
interviews and the two focus groups.
Chapter 5: provides an analysis of the empirical data. First, grouping of the attributes
found in the semi-structured interviews are presented. Second, findings from the focus groups are put in relation to relevant theory and lastly the analysis is divided into two parts, each answering one of the research questions.
Chapter 6: starts with a discussion, providing a snapshot of the study’s findings, it
thereafter provides managerial and theoretical implications, limitations and further research.
7
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter outlines the key theories. Initially the basis of marketing strategy is presented followed by reasons for marketing innovation, and specific innovation regarding mobile phones. Thereafter theories regarding direct marketing, mobile marketing, location-based marketing and permission-based marketing are presented. The chapter ends with highlighting consumer behaviour, customer value, attitudes, and monetary- and non-monetary promotion.
2.1 Marketing strategy
A definition of marketing strategy is ”Marketing strategy refers to an organization´s integrated pattern of decisions that specify its crucial choices concerning products, markets, marketing activities and marketing resources in the creation, communication and/or delivery of products that offer value to customers in exchanges with the organization and thereby enables the organization to achieve specific objectives” (Varadarajan, 2009, p.128).
Marketing strategy is about understanding and managing competition, which is about distinguishing failure from success of a company (Porter, 1985; 2008). The competitive strategy objective is to establish a profitable and lasting position in an industry and to explore a position in the specific industry where the company can distinguish itself best from the competitors (Porter, 1985; 2004). To determine which industry a company should choose is based on two main questions. The first is about the attractiveness of the industry for sustainable profitability and which factors that establishes it, and the second is the determinants of relative competitive position in the industry (Porter, 1985).
A primary factor of a company’s profitability is the attractiveness of their products/services they offer to the consumers and the company must understand the competition rules that define the industry´s attractiveness. Regardless, if an industry is originally national or international, produces goods or services, the pronounced rules of competition are to embrace in what is known as the five competitive forces, which will
define the capability of a firm to be profitable within an industry because they affect the prices and costs and also analyse the competition of the industry. These five competitive forces are the entry of new competitors, the threat of substitutes, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers and finally the rivalry among the existing competitors. The strength of these forces determines the industry structure (Porter, 1985; 2008).
Another factor, in the competitive strategy, is the company´s position in the industry, which defines if a company’s profitability is below or above the average (Porter, 1985). A combination of these two types of competitive advantage with the extent of activities a firm seeks to achieve lead to the three generic strategies for accomplishing above-average performance. These three generic strategies are cost leadership, differentiation and focus (Porter, 1985). The first two strategies apply for competitive advantage in a broad range of industry segments, but focus strategies strive for a cost advantage, called cost focus, or differentiation, called differentiation focus in a target segment (Porter 1985).
More in depth, cost leadership requires a massive aspiration of cost reductions, cost minimization in areas as research and development, service, and advertising. This low cost strategy in relation to competitors becomes the foundation through the whole strategy. However, it is vital for companies to not ignore quality, and other areas totally. To apply this low overall cost position it is often craved that the company has high market share or other advantages in relation to its competitors, like favourable access to raw materials. It may also be necessary to maintaining a wide amount of related products to spread cost, and target several customer segments to achieve building volume. However, there also exists some risk of using this strategy, as for example the inability to identify required change of product or marketing due to the company’s attention only on cost, and technology change that reverse earlier investments or knowledge (Porter, 2004).
The second generic strategy is about differentiating, how to be able to create product or services that is perceived, from the specific industry, as unique. To manage this, the company has to differentiate itself from the competitors. This can be achieved by, for example, technology and is a suitable strategy for earning above-average returns in an
Literature review
9
industry (Porter, 2004). Differentiated marketing apply for competitive advantage in a broad range of industry and market segments (Porter, 2004) and designs separate offers for each segment (Armstrong et al., 2009). By targeting variations of segments, companies strive for higher sales and a stronger position within each segment and this position may in return create higher sales compared to simply targeting the whole market with one offer (Armstrong et al., 2009).
Another strategy approach a company may apply is, in accordance to Porter (2004), the focus strategy. This is when a company focus on a specific buyer, a particular segment or a specific geographic market. The objective of focus strategy is to manage to serve a detailed target group more effectively or efficiently than the competitors (Porter, 2004). With this, the company generates either differentiation in order to better meet the requirements of the specific segment, or lower cost when a firm strives for cost advantage in its specific segment (Porter, 1985; 2004). However, it is vital for the company to understand that a focus strategy not achieves a low cost or differentiation or competitiveness for the entire market, but rather the specific market segment (Porter, 2004). With this in mind, focus strategy does not generate a total competitive advantage, but a competitive advantage only for the chosen segment (Porter, 1985). Companies can also focus to select targets and segments, which are least vulnerable to substitutes or where the competitors are perceived the weakest (Porter, 2004).
As stated in the second generic strategy, differentiation, competitive advantage may be gained through marketing innovation (Porter, 2004). Marketing innovation should lead to competitive advantage being a strategy that is not used by other competitors (Naidoo, 2010).
2.2 Marketing Innovation
Innovation is a successful exploitation and conversion of new ideas in the organization into profitable products, processes and/or services (Damanpour, 1992). The traditional view of innovation was to develop new technologies internally, for their own products (Ahlstrom, 2010; March, 1991;Wyld & Maurin, 2009). However, this strategy changed as companies increasingly started to complement their internal knowledge with external technologies (von Hippel, 1988). Firms also began to actively commercialize their
technological knowledge and with this as a base, monetary as well as non-monetary benefits were received (Lichtenthaler, 2010). Srivastava and Gnyawali (2011) also emphasize that the quality and diversity of technological resources contribute to breakthrough innovations. This was the base for the expression “open innovation”, stated by Chesbrough (2003), describing the innovation process with firms participating interactively as leading to exploration and exploitation of external knowledge. Dyer and Singh (1998) strengthen this by stating that collaborations with partners with rich resources provide firms with access to valuable knowledge. This combined with their internal knowledge increases the ability to create breakthrough innovations. This type of innovation has a technical focus, although marketing innovation follows the same principles and is often of a non-technical type. It is however of great importance to the competitiveness of a firm (Camisón & Villar-López, 2011).
Marketing innovation is often based in an improved market orientation. Market orientation is central in marketing today and may be defined as understanding and satisfying relevant stakeholders, with intention to be more profitable. To have focus on innovation as new or modified products, improved organizational structure and striving for a superior performance based on satisfying customer needs better than competitors make market orientation and innovation linked. Market innovation may also be seen as the actual mechanism that turns market orientation into this superior performance (Naidoo, 2010). Marketing innovation may be seen as the implementation of new marketing methods, for example regarding product promotion or product design. Innovation in product promotion involves using new concepts when promoting a firm’s products or services (Camisón & Villar-López, 2011). Innovation and performance is linked to the ability the firm has to develop and sustain competitive advantage, the ultimate goal (Naidoo, 2010).
The popularity of different marketing strategies and ways to reach customers are coming and going. It is important to be innovative in the ways of marketing in order to communicate with the consumers, create brand awareness and an image of a modern brand. The mobile phone has emerged as an innovative medium of interactive marketing and advertising (Wei et al., 2009).
Literature review
11 2.2.1 The mobile phone as market innovation
Along with the growth of mobile phone users, advertisers have become more and more eager to explore these innovative, individualized, and interactive features of smartphones, with their increasing effectiveness of traditional media channels (Wei et al., 2009). This is strengthened by Unni & Harmon (2010), stating that this rise of mobile phones, as the number one leading personal communication device, indicates their attractiveness for marketers to be used as a potentially lucrative platform. In the course of a week 81% browses the Internet through their smartphones. 79% of smartphone owners use them to help them while shopping, 70% while inside the store. It is also used to find retailers (54%), compare prices (49%), get promotions and coupons (48%), read reviews and product info (44%) and search in-store inventory (34%). 74% the make their shopping decision based on what they found out doing a smartphone search. Finding local information by the help of your smartphone is used by 95%, this information is then used by 88% in the same day, 59% actually visiting the local business (Google, 2012-01-27). Mobile phones are essential in regards to sending targeted and personalised advertisements to customers’ on the go, a type of direct marketing (Salo & Tähtinen, 2005).
2.3 Direct marketing
The development of today´s marketing is to focus on targeted consumer segment, and to do this direct marketing may be useful (Armstrong et al, 2009). Benefits for consumers arising through direct marketing and marketing through new technology, such as the Internet, are that the needs for information, entertainment and shopping are fulfilled faster, more flexible and with more interactivity (Patwardhan & Patwardhan, 2008). This consumer-direct channel permit and enable marketers to better reach niche markets and bring a more direct response from consumers. This type of marketing also generates many benefits to consumers, like avoiding the hassles of traffic congestion and lack of time (Wilkinson et al., 2007). Direct marketing also have the tendency to deliver relevant information to the consumers (Dolnicar & Jordaan, 2007). With the use of direct marketing consumers have the opportunity to get a larger selection of products in relation to retail outlets. These pronounced advantages have developed the expansion of direct marketing, especially in the USA (Wilkinson et al., 2007). However, Thomas (2007) emphasizes that companies have an ability to have too many segments and niches and therefore experiences difficulties to manage all. Most companies want to
target the largest segment but there are several problems with that. For example the larger segment has the most competition and focusing on this segment generates more expenses (Thomas, 2007). In accordance to this Armstrong et al. (2009) have developed a concept called micro-marketing which concerns adapting products and services to a specific segment. The objective is to see the individual in every consumer. This marketing type can be divided into two smaller types, local marketing, which is an approach to adopt brands and marketing to demands and needs for a local consumer group, and also individual marketing, where products and services are adapted to target individual needs and preferences (Armstrong et al., 2009).
Direct marketing is the marketing tool that grows fastest, with sales approaching $2 trillion. The objective with using direct marketing is to acquire a direct response and develop sustainable relationships with the consumers and one form of doing this is online (Armstrong et al. 2009). Sales through the Internet have grown rapidly the past years and marketers believe in and are optimistic about online marketing in the future (Finkle in Mallin & Finkle, 2007). It may be emphasized that online direct marketing may have been the most vital business method in the last 50 years due to its ability of reaching targeted audiences (Berry &Wilson in Mallin & Finkle, 2007). However, the main problem and challenge with this method is to ensure that the message will not be perceived as unsolicited (Mallin & Finkle, 2007; Chang & Morimoto, 2011). One solution to this may be to build a relationship with the customers (Grönroos, 2007).
2.4 Mobile marketing
Internet has for long been a platform for marketing, however with the rapid development within the mobile technology industry new opportunities have been derived. An increase of mobile use in marketing activities has aroused and is now a mainstream marketing element (Cengiz & Tetik, 2010). “Although a large amount of literature exists on mobile marketing, a common agreement on its definition is still lacking” (Smutkupt et al., 2010, p 127). However, one definition is that mobile marketing is a set of practises enabling organisations to communicate with their audience, through any mobile device, in an interactive and relevant manner. Another definition is that it uses a wireless medium to provide customers with time sensitive, personalised, location-based information to promote goods or services (Smutkupt et al., 2010).
Literature review
13 2.4.1 Location-based marketing
As previously stated, location-based marketing is a sub-concept of mobile marketing (Unni & Harmon, 2010) and is defined as an application, service or campaign that is using geographic location to deliver or enhance a marketing message (Mobile Marketing Association, 2011). The expansion of mobile devices has taken traditional marketing one step further, amplifying the importance of location, time and personalization (Scharl et al., 2004). Location-based marketing is a new and exceptional way of targeting consumers, delivering highly relevant messages to them in a time and place when they are most likely to act on them (Mobile Marketing Association, 2011). The customers are targeted through the location-tracking technology used in mobile networks. The precise location of mobile devices may be determined through the GPS technology used in most smartphones (Levy & Birkner, 2011). The smartphones’ update the location of that individual mobile by themselves and facilitates thereby services such as location-dependent advertising and promotion that is triggered as the mobile device, and thereby the customer, is in a specific pre-defined area (Unni & Harmon, 2010).
There are different subsets of location-based marketing. Location-based marketing is the whole mix in the mobile location-based setting (Unni & Harmon, 2010). Location-based advertising is focused only on the advertising strategy and communication elements (Levy & Birkner, 2011). Location-based advertising may be defined as “targeted advertising initiatives delivered to a mobile device from an identified sponsor that is specific to the location of the consumer” (Unni & Harmon, 2010, p. 28). Location-based services are services dependent on information about a mobile device’s position. These services may be, for example, navigation, directory and city-guides or specific advertising and promotion (Unni & Harmon, 2010). Location-based services are growing rapidly and as consumers embrace these services, the potential for location-based marketing grows (Mobile Marketing Association, 2011). Two benefits of location-based services may be stated, locatability and personalization. Locatability is as previously stated the technical capability to see where a wireless device is located. This is the main aspect of making it possible to market based on location. However this locatability should not be seen only through its technological possibility but also through the perceived value it has to the customers, to be able to receive the needed information at the right time in the right place. The personalization adds to the user
experience and smoothens interactions. Consumers may be more motivated to disclose personal information if they in exchange receive personalised services or access to given information (Xu et al., 2009).
The consumers of today more or less expect tailored and location-based services (Scharl et al., 2004). Benefits for customers when using location-based advertising may be receiving personalised marketing messages and promotions for products and services they prefer, at a location relevant for them (Kakota & Robinson in Unni & Harmon, 2010). The customers would then not need to sort through a lot of material to find advertising relevant for them, but have it served directly, tailored to their needs (Pine et al., 1995). There are different types of location-based marketing. One example is the location-triggered notifications that use proximity information to provide application alerts based on user preferences or opt-ins. These may be automated or requiring a check-in. Once the customer has opted-in, alerts are sent whenever the consumer is nearby a store and may be specifically tailored to a specific store (Mobile Marketing Association, 2011).
The delivery of timely and location specific services directed at the user enhances the efficiency of the advertising message and makes the targeting much more precise, cost-effective and result-oriented. The users of mobile phones often feel moderately attached to them, giving the mobile device a higher value for the customers’ location-based product promotion (Wei et al., 2010). It may be highlighted that location-based marketing is a quite new tool for marketers, which emphasizes the importance to investigate more on how the consumers feel about this service (Unni & Harmon, 2010). This location-based advertising approach has great potential in becoming a powerful way for marketers to reach and interact individually with both current and prospective customers whenever and wherever they are ready to buy. It would create a customer-centric marketing approach, addressing the needs of individual customers on a one-to-one basis (Sheth et al., 2000).
Privacy issues
One thing to remember when creating location-based marketing is the privacy issue; every single customer within a nearby location of your store may not be interested in
Literature review
15
your offer (Levy & Birkner, 2011). Consumers are very sensitive regarding their information being collected and used by marketers (Mobile Marketing Association, 2011). This is however not seen as a problem by Wei et al. (2009) who instead state that the mobile phone operators try to avoid spamming in mobile phones by trying to target the advertising better, this targeting being the usage of location-based advertising. Considering that sending the message only to customers’ within the vicinity of the service as being the solution instead of the issue. The study made by Wei et al. (2009) also showed that user tolerance of such location-based texts was moderately high. They also found that many customers were willing to accept location-based texts, which were more effective in triggering purchases and that consumers were more positive towards location-specific texts that offered a discount or a coupon. In opposition, Unni and Harmon (2010) found that consumers’ concerns about their privacy are high in regards to location-based advertising, while the benefits and value is perceived as low.
According to a study made by the Mobile Marketing Association (2011), consumers are shown to be more and more interested in receiving location-based offers to their phones, especially if it comes from one of their favourite retailers when they are nearby. This positive interest is however dependent on them having opted-in and them having the control of the experience. An average of 34% were found interested of receiving coupons to redeem in nearby stores but only 14% were positive to receiving promotional offers or advertisements for products tailored to their current location (Mobile Marketing Association, 2011).
The Mobile Marketing Association (2011) has developed some general considerations regarding location-based marketing:
• The consumer should be notified how the information of their location will be used, disclosed and protected.
• User consent should be obtained before initiating a precise location fix or disclosing location information to provide requested services.
• The consumer should have prior consent to the collection of their location by the marketer.
• Security measures should be taken to ensure that the user’s information is secure and not shared with non-affiliated third parties.
• Data retention should be limited to commercially useful, still ensuring privacy and security.
• The consumer should in exchange to providing this precise location information receive only relevant and useful information.
Pull and Push
There are two approaches in how to deliver the location-based advertising: pull and push (Unni & Harmon, 2010). The different approaches may provide customers with different levels of control over their personal information (Xu et al., 2009). Wireless pull advertising is a message containing an ad, sent to a wireless subscriber after their request on a one-time basis. It is specific to the location of the customer but only delivered when explicitly requested. The customer then has the opportunity to choose from preferred product categories that is in their nearby location. Push advertising on the other hand is controlled and sent by a marketer to a wireless mobile device at a time not requested by its owner. It is sent based solely on the customers’ location and previously stated preferences. Push advertising may potentially be effective in triggering impulse buying (Unni & Harmon, 2010). However, Dudgeon (2011) state that the era of push marketing seems to have come to an end now that customers choose by themselves what information they want, using so called pull marketing.
Pull-based location-based services may be described as when the consumers initiate the request for information based on their location and push-based location-based marketing as when technologies for positioning autonomously push information to a mobile devise based on its location, what may be perceived by the customers as provocative (Xu et al., 2009). The consumer may find location-based advertising relatively more effective when it becomes available upon an explicit request. Thus, even if marketers may prefer to push the location-based advertisement to the customers after they have signed up for the service, the customers may still find it intrusive and prefer to pull the location-based advertising by themselves (Unni & Harmon, 2010). However, it may be stated that according to studies in customer privacy concerns, consumers perform an analysis of the risk against the benefits to all the factors related to the information disclosure situation in order to assess the privacy concerns. This is called the privacy calculus. Furthermore, people with a higher interest in innovation, with a
Literature review
17
more open and curious mind-set has less problem with giving up personal information (Xu et al., 2009).
The technique exists for marketers to link existing knowledge of the consumer’s identity, financial status and buying history with attributes of location-based services such as exact time, place, purchasing behaviour and situational concept (Unni & Harmon, 2010). A mobile phone may be uniquely identified through its SIM card (Xu et al., 2009). This however creates privacy issues among the customers (Unni & Harmon, 2010). However, the presence of justice, with concerns for fairness, transparency and accountability provide the customers with psychological benefits such as confidence and control that make them more willing to disclosure personal information (Xu et al., 2009).
2.4.2 Permission based
One subject concerning the privacy issue among the costumers could be unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) or bulk e-mails that has become substantially present in both individuals and corporate everyday life during the 21st century, this due to its low-cost and mass reaching dimensions together with the increase in Internet use (Moustakas et al., 2006; Morimoto & Macias, 2009). UCE may be defined as “e-mails sent with a commercial intent, without explicit permission of the receiver, as a result of which the e-mail communication may not be welcome by the receiver” (Moustakas et al., 2006, p.40). Mobile phones may be seen as the successor of the Internet as the mainstream marketing element (Cengiz & Tetik, 2010). Hence it is of the authors’ of this papers’ notion that the underlying problem of UCE would transcend to the approach of mobile marketing.
A large reason for mobile marketing’s popularity is due to the personal aspect of the device (Yuan & Cheng, 2004). With benefits and opportunities follows great responsibility for the company since the messages cannot risk to be seen as spam i.e. unsolicited or irrelevant messages. To avoid the perception of unsolicited messages, the permission-based approach is often applied when the company initially ask the consumer for permission to send messages directly, if the consumer accept, the company will respond with personalised offers (Smutkupt et al., 2010& Tetik 2010). An important issue with permission-based marketing is that they are of relevance and
contain personalised offers so the consumers’ trust is not put at risk (Cengiz & Tetik 2010)
“…asking for a customer’s permission is better and easier than asking for forgiveness” (Barnes & Scornavacca cited in Cengiz & Tetik, 2010, p. 103).
2.5 Consumer behaviour
2.5.1 Customer valueThe term, customer value, considers what the organization´s customers want and what they believe that they will receive when buying and using a specific product in relation to what they have to refrain like cost or sacrifice (Smith & Colgate, 2007; Woodruff, 1997). Each customer perceives customer value individually. It is perceived differently depending on the situation or product and it is changing within individuals over time (Smith & Colgate, 2007).
There are different classifications of customer value, for example five categories of value that can be provided from a product and drive consumer choice. These categories are functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and at last conditional value. Functional value represents the ability to perform its functional, practical, or physical purposes. Social value instead represents perceived utility of an alternative resulting from its image and symbolism in demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural-ethnic referent groups. Emotional value refers to the perceived utility developed as a result of its capability to produce or maintain feelings, such as comfort, security, excitement, passion or guilt. The epistemic value is the experienced utility that comes from an alternatives ability to develop curiosity, offer novelty or satisfy desire for knowledge. At last, the conditional value is the perceived utility, acquired from an alternative, as a result of a specific situation or the physical or social context in front of the decision maker (Sheth et al in Woodruff, 1997 and Smith & Colgate, 2007). Holbrook (in Woordruff, 1997) also stated that customer value can be in two different types; intrinsic- or extrinsic to the product.
Literature review
19 2.5.2 Attitudes
The functional theory of attitudes may be presented as a means of social behaviour and states the aim of attitudes to be a way of preparing people for future events. When the consumers experience a situation for the first time and then expect to be in the same situation in the future, the consumer will begin to create an attitude for the so called attitude object. Attitudes fulfil a social function and may occur in four different ways, the utilitarian function where the consumer's attitude is based on reward and punishment. The value expressive function where the attitude is based on the consumer's values and self-image, i.e. consumer’s attitude toward products would be positive if they reinforce the consumer's self-image and the opposite if the product does not match the consumer's image. The ego defensive function is formed in pure self-defence, the consumer develops a negative attitude towards something that threatens his or her function. The knowledge function is based on the knowledge consumers have about the product, knowledge gained through, for example, word-of-mouth (Solomon et al., 2009).
2.5.3 Monetary and non-monetary promotion
A company offering a discount is offering a monetary incentive to the customers (Yoon & Tran, 2011). One potential problem with sales promotion in the long run is that it may destroy brand equity and increase price sensitivity (Mela et al. in Chandon et al., 2000).
Both monetary and non-monetary promotions provide the customers with hedonic benefits, such as opportunities for value expression, entertainment and exploration, and utilitarian benefits, such as savings, higher product quality and improved shopping convenience. The effectiveness of a sales promotion is determined by the benefit, either hedonic or utilitarian, that it delivers as well as the congruency these benefits have with the promoted product. The value a sales promotion has for a brand is naturally related to the benefits it gives the consumer (Chandon et al., 2000).
A promotion, such as a coupon, has a monetary benefit to customers. Personal traits mentioned in regards to customers that are deal-prone are “coupon proneness” or “value consciousness” (Chandon et al., 2000). Some consumers, called coupon prone customers, seek deals to obtain these price reductions. As they are more price conscious
and value conscious, they are willing to spend time to save money. They still feel that high prices means good quality and they also have a higher level of shopping enjoyment and deal involvement and view themselves as smart shoppers (Garretson & Burton, 2003). This is strengthened by Dickinger and Kleijner (2008), stating that coupon prone customers enjoy the search for coupons and feel accomplishment when saving money.
However, only monetary savings are not enough to explain why customers actually respond to a sales promotion (Garretson & Burton, 2003; Chandon et al., 2000). Consumers respond differently depending on where and how the coupon is presented. Further, customers also respond to insignificant price reductions and switch brands because of a coupon but then not redeem it. Some explanations may be achievement motives, self-perception or price and quality inferences in low-involvement products. A coupon may also reduce customer search and decision costs, thus enhancing the shopping convenience, enhance the self-perception of being a smart shopper and help fulfil need for information and exploration (Chandon et al., 2000).
Mobile coupons are those send to a mobile device, such as a smartphone, but is in most other ways the same as a, for example, paper coupon. Just as regular coupons, mobile coupons are highly used by coupon prone and price conscious customers. As the economic saving of the coupons increase, the customer evaluation of the coupon becomes more positive. A redemption effort is the investment the consumer has to put in, in order to obtain the coupon. The greater the effort, the less positive the consumer will be and the more negative the impact on attitude will be. Issues that may arise are the number and clarity of the steps needed to be taken, clarity of commands and symbols and help functions. The economic benefit will seem less valuable if the redemption is hard, demanding significant mental effort and time. The control the customers perceive to have over the receiving of mobile coupons has a direct, positive effect on the intention to redeem it. On the opposite, the fear of spam has a direct negative affect (Dickinger & Kleijnen, 2008).
21
3. METHODOLOGY
The methodology chapter states a base for further empirical investigation and discusses different approaches and contains justification for the chosen ones. As a summary, a figure has been developed, presenting all the methodology steps.
3.1 Research approach
In the following section, choices between inductive vs. deductive and quantitative vs. qualitative will be made and justified.
3.1.1 Inductive vs. deductive research
Inductive and deductive research strategies are used to describe the nature of the relationship between theory and research (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
Deductive research is the most commonly used one; the research has its base in existing theory (Bryman & Bell, 2011). Regarding an inductive approach, theory is the result of the actual research. The inductive research begins with observations, resulting in findings from which generalizable conclusions may be drawn. These conclusions, based on the observations, are what may become theory (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
A qualitative research does not only generate theory, but theory is often used as background to quantitative investigations. The beginning in a deductive research, where theory comes first, is what drives the empirical investigations. However the last step of deduction may include induction, as the researcher infers the findings back into theory (Bryman & Bell, 2011). Deduction is influenced by a slower analytical process and has therefore typically a more accurate reasoning (Heit & Rotello, 2010).
Consequently it may be derived that this study takes a deductive research approach as it has its base in relevant theory, which is what drives the empirical investigations.
3.1.2 Quantitative vs. qualitative research
Quantitative research emphasises quantification in the process of collecting and analysing the data and it involves the study of meaning in form of attitude scales. The quantitative researcher strives to, by the use of numbers; apply measurement procedures to social life. The researchers are the ones deciding and their concerns structure the investigation. However, the researchers are uninvolved with their subjects, which help in being objective. A typical quantitative study is structured; this way precise concepts and issues can be examined with a clear view. The findings should be generalizable to the relevant population (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
Qualitative research emphasises words in the process of collecting and analysing the data. It concerns the way individuals interpret the social world and embody social reality as an ever-shifting emerging property of an individual’s creation. Hence, it is the way of studying the world through the eyes of the person being studied. Thus the use of a scale may be far too pre-formulated and imposed; therefore words instead of numbers are used when presenting the analysis of the study. It is the respondents’ perspective that provides the point of orientation in a qualitative study and to achieve this, the researcher seeks a close involvement with the respondents. The approach chosen is normally unstructured, so that the respondents meaning and concepts emerge out of the collected data as greater. An understanding of values, behaviour and beliefs, in the context of the research, is the goal (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
As stated above, qualitative research has a nature of an unstructured and open approach. The qualitative study gathers in-depth information and collects the participants meaning (Calder, B. J., 1977). Thus, since the authors based the study in the perceptions and free inputs of the population, the use of a qualitative study approach was found appropriate.
3.2 Research design
The purpose of research design is to demonstrate the research aim and objectives to resolve the study´s specific problem (Yin, 2009). It involves the gathering and clarification of data, collected from different sources, for example consumers (Dacko, 2007). The type of research design chosen is critical since it will affect a large number of following research activities (Yin, 2009). Three types of research designs may be
Methodology
23
conducted: exploratory research design, descriptive research design and casual research design (Dacko, 2007; Churchill & Iacobucci, 2005).
Exploratory research design is used to gain insights and ideas. It is often used to help breaking large and vague problem statements into smaller and more precise sub-problem statements. Exploratory studies are also useful to increase marketer´s familiarity to a problem, specifically when marketing managers or marketing researchers are new to the problem. Therefore, exploratory research design can be used for several purposes as; expressing a problem to do a more precise investigation or for developing hypothesis, define priorities for further research or clarifying concepts. It is also stated that exploratory research should be conducted if the study investigate a new product launch or investigate a products early life cycle (Churchill & Iacobucci, 2005).
The second research design is the descriptive one, it may be used for different purposes such as describing or defining characteristics of specific groups, evaluating the number of people who act in a specific way, or make specific predictions. Descriptive research design answers primarily questions like who, what, when, where and how. A study that is descriptive presupposes prior knowledge about the phenomenon and rests on one or more certain hypotheses (Churchill & Iacobucci, 2005). Descriptive research design is used when the drive is to understand more about a phenomenon on its own (Dacko, 2007). This type of research design can be divided into two types called longitudinal and cross-sectional. Studies that are longitudinal rely on panel data that is a fixed sample of people or entities where repeated measurements are taken over time. Cross-sectional studies are measured at a single point in time, from a sample of the relevant population. A great emphasis should be on the selection of the sample, to ensure that the members are representative of the population of interest (Churchill & Iacobucci, 2005).
The third and last research design is casual research design, which investigates whether one variable causes or determines the value of another variable, the casual relationship (Churchill & Iacobucci, 2005). It is thus used when an understanding of the cause-and-effect of a phenomenon is needed (Dacko, 2007).
Exploratory design was chosen considering the nature of the studied problem. The authors´ intention is to increase the familiarity of the problem studied, and to summarize
the main characteristics in a comprehensive form and lastly provide further research recommendations.
3.3 Data sources
To be able to generate the appropriate type of data it is important to distinguish secondary data from primary data.
Secondary data is gathered from other researcher’s data and is therefore data that has been collected for other research purposes (Bryman & Bell, 2011; Churchill & Iacobucci, 2005). Secondary information may be used prior to the collection of primary information in order to provide a base and a way to organise this collection (Nair, 2009). The main advantage with the use of secondary data is that it saves both time and money for the researcher. Another advantage is that it may generate data of high quality, for example due to the collector’s experience and skills. However, there are disadvantages to be considered. The researcher using secondary data may not be familiar with the material since it was collected by someone else, the collected data may be too complex for the researcher and the data may not necessarily be relevant for the current purpose (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
Primary data is generated and collected by the original researcher and tailor-made towards the given research questions (Bryman & Bell, 2011; Churchill & Iacobucci, 2005). The information is collected by directly approaching the market and the consumers (Nair, 2009). The advantages with this type of data are, in addition to generating tailor-made information, that it provides present information and information that is specific to a particular study (Bryman & Bell, 2011). It may also be information that has never been collected before (Nair, 2009). The disadvantages with primary data are its high cost and time-consuming process (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
In terms of this study, primary data was used as data source. The authors wanted to gather data not previously generated, more accurate towards this study´s specific purpose; thus justifying the choice. The reason to not use secondary data is explained by the researchers’ definition above and to avoid running the risk of applying misleading data.
Methodology
25
3.4 Research strategy
There are five available research strategies. These are experiment, survey, archival analysis, history and case study (Yin, 2009).
Research conducted, as experiment, changing the variables thus determining differing effects, is suitable when the aim is to verify/falsify or establish validity of a hypothesis. A survey is suitable when the population need to be statistically generalised by the use of a sample. Archival analysis should be used when accumulated documents should be examined. History is naturally the collection and analysis of historical documents and lastly a case study is appropriate when an individual unit need to be analysed with the aim of investigating developmental factors put in relation to relevant theory and context (Yin, 2009).
Table 3.1 Research strategies
Research strategy Form of research
question
Requires control over behavioural events
Focuses on
contemporary events
Experiment How, why Yes Yes
Survey Who, what, where, how
many, how much
No Yes
Archival analysis Who, what, where, how
many, how much
No Yes/No
History How, why No No
Case study How, why No Yes
(Yin, 2009, p. 8)
For this study the chosen research strategy was case study. Further described, a case study is an empirical inquiry that deeply investigates an up-to-date phenomenon in a real-life context (Yin, 2009). Through this a deeper understanding of the processes and concept variables may be achieved, such as the participant’s self-perception or their intentions (Woodside, 2010). This explanation justifies the choice of a case study through the authors research aim, being the investigation of newly developed factors regarding contemporary events, needing to be put in relation to existing theory. Control over the development of the study is neither needed nor wanted. Questions to be asked in this study regards how applications should be designed, thus what attributes play a
key-role in the development. Although a research-question asking “what” is not recommended by Yin (2009) the authors found it suitable in regards to the purpose of the study needing statement of what attributes were important.
3.5 Data collection method
The method of data collection is based with regards to the different research strategies. Previous strategic research choices rule out data collection methods thus the strategies of experiment, archival analysis, survey and history. The strategy case study includes in-depth interviews, focus groups and content analysis as methods for collecting data (Bryman & Bell, 2011).
3.5.1 Content analysis
A content analysis is a technique of research that is objective and systematic with the aim of identifying specified characteristics of a message. Through an observation schedule the rules for assigning the raw material into different categories is determined in advance. Through this pre-categorization subjective bias is reduced and a higher level of objectivity is achieved. The systematic approach results in another suppression of the bias as it becomes consistent. With the analysis being objective and systematic, anyone should be able to apply the same rules, ending up with the same result (Bryman & Bell, 2011). As a qualitative study most likely will generate an extensive amount of data, a content analysis will be beneficial and thus used in order to specify characteristics from the original transcripts.
3.5.2 In-depth interview
A research interview is suitable for both quantitative and qualitative research (Bryman & Bell, 2011). Interview as a method may be used when there are a small number of people involved, these are accessible and the questions needing to be answered are mostly open and requires an extended response with prompts and probes form the interviewer to be clarified (Gillham, 2010). Advantages of interviews are the flexibility, the in-depth probing of personal opinions, beliefs and values and the rich depth of information. Disadvantages are for instance the time consuming process, the requirement for skilled interviewers, the tendency some people has to consistently
