Ask Follow-up Questions

That is probably obvious.

But asking open follow-up questions is one of the easiest ways to uncover deeper insights about how your marketing campaigns resonate with your target audience. Of course, the principal difficulty with them is coming up with the questions themselves in the moment. I've shared a range of questions that are widely applicable across many marketing research conversations. For instance, if you end up discussing an individual's reaction to your campaign, their relationship with your brand, their experience with your product category, or their decision-making process, you can try asking open questions like:

•What stands out most to you about it?
•What resonates with you most about this message/campaign/brand?
•What first caught your attention or drew you in?
•What, if anything, feels confusing or unclear?
•What do you think we're trying to say with this?
• What part of this feels like it was made for someone like you?
• What doesn't?
• How does this compare to what you'd expect from [our brand/this category]?
• What would make this more relevant or appealing to you?
• What's missing that you wish were there?

If delivered free of leading or defensive phrasing andwith genuine curiosity, questions like these can signal that you truly value the consumer's perspective. and since they're open questions (not just requiring a "Yes" or "No" response), they give your research participants a chance to share what actually matters to them, often revealing insights you didn't think to ask about directly.

However, merely asking questions is not the same as attentively listening to the answers, so your job is to listen far more than you speak. Too many questions fired in rapid succession can make the conversation feel like an interrogation rather than a dialogue, and participants may shut down or give superficial answers. One thing I practice is keeping my speaking to around 20% to 30% of the conversation, which seems to be just enough to guide the discussion with thoughtful questions and the occasional clarifying probe. Most people will share more openly when they feel heard rather than interviewed, and some of your most valuable insights will come from what they say when you simply stay quiet and let them think out loud.

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” ― Ernest Hemingway