Consumer solutions
Digital Ethnography
Go beyond claimed actions and observe real behaviour in the moment. The gap between what people say and do is often where the most valuable insights live.
Use incling's video, photo, screen-record, and audio-based tasks to bring participants' worlds, behaviours, and experiences to life. Instead of asking people to recall their behaviour, this approach captures real moments in real time, giving you the unfiltered context and unconscious behaviours that traditional methods can so often miss.
(participant filming their daily routine)
The approach
How it works in practice
Use incling's video, photo, screen-record, and audio tasks to bring participants' worlds, behaviours, and experiences to life, in real time and on their own terms.
01
Photo and video diaries
Participants document their daily routines, environments, and product interactions using their own devices, in the moment and on their own terms.
02
In-context observation
Observe first hand how people actually use a product or service in their home, at their desk, or on the go, rather than in a controlled environment.
03
Unfiltered in-the-moment reactions
Capture genuine emotional responses as they happen, not a retrospective version shaped by time or social desirability bias.
04
Structured task prompts
Guide participants through specific activities such as a shopping trip, a morning routine, or a product trial, and gather rich, contextual responses at every step.
Why incling
Why incling beats traditional research
Traditional ethnography is expensive, slow, and geographically limited. Digital ethnography with incling removes each of those barriers without sacrificing the richness of what you find.
| Traditional ethnography | Digital ethnography with incling |
|---|---|
| Researcher must travel to participant locations | Participants self-document in their own space |
| Limited to one geography at a time | Runs across multiple geographies simultaneously |
| Researcher presence can alter behaviour | More natural behaviour, less observer effect |
| High cost and long timelines | Faster and more cost-effective at scale |
Outcomes
What you will uncover
The insight that comes from watching behaviour rather than asking about it.
Hidden context
The mood, environment, and micro-moments that shape decisions, which remain invisible in a survey.
Workarounds and friction
The clever fixes participants have stopped noticing, and the pain points they have learned to live with.
Real-world routines
How your product fits, or fails to fit, into the rhythm of everyday life.
Emotional truth
Genuine reactions and unconscious behaviours that go beyond stated preferences to reveal what people truly feel.
Success story
Assessing DTC Subscription Opportunities with Purina and Clear Strategy
Working with Clear Strategy, Purina saw a chance to sell direct by subscription, but only if it understood the whole pet-care journey. Real-world trials across the UK and Italy, with owners testing rival subscriptions, showed exactly where competitors won or lost, giving the brand a foundation for its own DTC proposition.
Read the full storyReady to see incling in action?
Talk to the team about your research challenge and see how digital ethnography could work for your project.