Let's Dig a Little Deeper?

Why can a real estate developer need in-depth interviews

In-depth interviews are a qualitative research technique, a type of personal interviews. Such conversations are held one-on-one with the respondent in a semi-structured form

This format features several significant advantages:

• Absence of a clear structure allows to ask additional guiding questions or to develop a separate topic that was raised in the conversation but was not originally intended to be covered.
• One-on-one conversation excludes the group's influence on the opinion of the respondent. At the same time, it is important that the interviewer have sound experience in conducting in-depth interviews and not lead the respondent (accidentally or on purpose) to a specific desirable answer.
• Focus groups are always divided into two sub-groups: those who mostly speak and those who mostly listen. The moderator switches from one group to another to ensure the diversity of opinions. In personal interviews, this problem naturally disappears.
• The respondent is open and focused on the questions that they are asked. The interviewer, therefore, can establish trusting relationships with the respondent and receive deeper information, which is difficult to do with group formats.

The duration of the conversation depends on the list of questions in the original structure of the questionnaire. But we think that the interview should last at least one hour in order to get into rapport with the respondent. The structure of the conversation should lead from the general to the specific: warming up questions first, and then deeper and more focused on a certain subtopic.

Application of the in-depth interview technique can be limited only by two factors:

• imagination of the researcher;
• research topic.

For each issue and population, it is necessary to select the proper research technique.

In some cases, it is preferable to apply several methods together. It can be a combination of qualitative methods (for example, in-depth interviews and focus groups), or their integration with quantitative methods (like a quantitative survey of the target audience with a more detailed study of certain topics though in-depth interviews).

The first reason for choosing in-depth interviews is the limited population (for example, real buyers of a particular project) or its inaccessibility (for example, it's easier to find 30 people for an interview than 300 for a quantitative study in the business segment), as well as the need for a deeper and detailed information from respondents.

Here is a short list of people a developer can talk to when applying this technique:

Your potential buyer is under stress. First, it seems to them that they know exactly what they want. But then, the sales manager of the first site says that the apartment must have niches for wardrobes, at the second one, warm balconies are advertised to them, and the third office is already invitingly waving a coupon for a discount on underground parking.

Many offers mix up in their head, it is difficult to distinguish really needed features from those imposed by sellers.

Having talked to the buyer one-on-one, without too much informational noise and pressure, you can understand what they really want to have in their future apartment. Here it is important to remember that choosing an apartment is not only a multi-factor model but also an interpersonal one since often the decision is made by several family members.

Apart from that, in-depth interviews can be used to find out what people think about your company, project, advertising campaign, etc.

Most real estate developers forget about their customers as they leave the sales office, and remember again only upon receipt of requests to the warranty department. Then they successfully forget them again.

In the new apartment of my friend, cracks appeared in the walls. At the beginning of the year, she enquired with the warranty department. Two months later, the developer's representatives came for inspection and then disappeared. They recently contacted her again to inspect the apartment one more time. The following dialogue took place:

The situation is pretty anecdotal, right? How many similar ones happen in your company? Are you sure you know about all the problems that can prevent customers from making a repeat purchase?

In-depth interviews with the dwellers of your facilities allow to learn about all the difficulties they daily face living in the building you created. Along with that, it is advisable not to introduce yourself on behalf of the developer, so that people are as open as possible and do not restrain their emotions.

Are there any consumer prejudices about your brand or project among professionals? What do realtors say to clients when asked about your project? What are the psychological boundaries of your location? What are the benefits and drawbacks of the project location?

These and many other questions can be answered through in-depth interviews with market experts, such as representatives of real estate agencies, market analysts, etc.

The main thing is to correctly determine the category of experts based on the list of questions of interest. Each expert group is often strong only in one specific topic.

Of open partnering relationships are not well developed in the market, this will be the most interesting but also effort-consuming type of in-depth interviews. How do customers react to a new housing format? Are the sales going well? What do competitors consider as your weaknesses or strengths? It is sometimes useful to have a third-party opinion from a similar market participant who sees the situation from outside, not from inside.

If you have any doubts about whether you need to do everything yourself when choosing the technique(s) or creating a questionnaire, we recommend you to read our article «Research: Doing Ourselves or Outsourcing».