The Swiss population is characterised by a high standard of living and is one of the wealthiest nations in the world on a GDP per capita basis. Located at the intersection between Central, Western, and Southern Europe, Switzerland is a multicultural and multilingual country with four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh.
Although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union (EU), the country has access to the EU single market through bilateral agreements and also employs certain EU policies and takes part in EU programmes (such as the Digital Europe Programme, Erasmus+, and EU4Health).
When asked what Switzerland is famous for, most people would probably mention watches, chocolate and banking. While this is a bit of a cliché, precision manufacturing, food processing and financial services are indeed some of the important sectors in the Swiss economy, along with life sciences, information technology, chemicals and, of course, tourism.
As in most advanced economies, most of the GDP is generated by services industries. Swiss banking is internationally recognised for its confidentiality and stability and features strong investor protection under the Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA). Zurich is the country’s financial centre, and an excellent place for financial services market research to take place. However, manufacturing still accounts for 25% of GDP.
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Focus groups allow participants to combine experiences and perspectives to explore ideas in depth. Commonly used during creative and conceptual development, they help you understand your customers’ needs, perceptions, and beliefs.
In-depth interviews (IDIs), where a moderator interviews a single respondent, can be conducted face-to-face, online, or over the phone. They are ideal for B2B research and for exploring delicate subjects with consumers and hard-to-reach groups.
Ethnographic research is a qualitative research method in which the researchers observe participants using a product or service, or carrying out other activities, in their own environment, typically at work or at home.
An online bulletin board (OBB) is an online forum for qualitative market research that enables participants to log into to carry out research tasks or reply to questions asked by a moderator at their own pace, typically over a period of a few days.
A market research online community (MROC) is similar to an online bulletin board (OBB). However, unlike an OBB, on online community may be used to serve multiple purposes, and the community may remain active for weeks, months or even years.
User experience (UX) testing is a qualitative research methodology which involves directly observing and interviewing a participant using a product or service. It is widely used for testing new versions of apps and websites before they are launched.
Customer experience (CX) testing evaluates how customers interact with a product, service, or digital platform. It helps identify usability issues and overall satisfaction to improve the customer journey and ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience.
A video survey is a type of unmoderated qualitative research in which survey takers respond to a series of instructions or questions by making short videos using their smartphone, either in ‘selfie’ mode or to record an activity.
Vox pop research involves making recordings of people, usually members of the public, responding to questions. These clips are often used in research to illustrate public opinion on widely known topics, brands, or products.
Online surveys are a cost-effective research method with great flexibility in design. Automated data handling allows the results to be available quickly and many online surveys can be completed on smartphones, helping to improve the response rate.
CATI (computer-assisted telephone interviewing) leverages technology to reach those who aren’t online. CATI interviews follow an electronic script with built in routing and type in the respondent’s answers to each question as the interview proceeds.
CAPI (computer-assisted personal interviewing) is a form of face-to-face interviewing where the interviewer reads the survey questions from a tablet device and inputs the respondent’s answers directly to the device.
FieldworkHub helped a leading healthcare consultancy to conduct face-to-face interviews in Basel, Switzerland with patients who have Multiple Sclerosis (MS) or arthritis and their carers for a study about the packaging of medicines used to treat these conditions.
A leading fast-food restaurant operator, wanted to find out perceptions on a new plant-based meat burger and asked us to recruit ten non-vegan respondents from Switzerland who recently purchased plant-based meat items in any fast-food restaurants. We carried out recruitment and interview scheduling.
We explored the preferences and shopping habits of food and non-food department store shoppers in Switzerland by recruiting participants aged 25-55 living in different types of household in Basel and Geneva to take part in 90-minute online in-depth interviews and shop-alongs.
