Ethnography is the study of social interactions, behaviors, and perceptions that occur within all manner of social groups, from professional organizations to organic communities. With roots that trace back to anthropological studies of small, remote societies in the earlier 1900s, Ethnography has become an invaluable process for marketing teams, customer experience professionals, and software developers.
The original Ethnography researchers studied societies over a period of time and documented all manner of aspects of citizen’s lives. From social arrangements and belief systems to what they ate and how they went about their daily chores, all in the pursuit of complete understanding.

Now, Ethnography seeks to provide rich, holistic insights into people’s views and actions. This helps create an idea of their individual natures. At Ethnogram, we use ethnographic research methods to ‘get inside’ the way each group sees the world, uses products, and experiences life.
With this information, a business can understand their ideal target market. You can know what they prefer to buy, why they prefer it, and what to do to avoid falling out of favor.

The Customer Journey Map is a visual representation of an individual’s relationship with a brand, product, or service across their lifetime. The journey extends across all channels, from social media to the real world.
A detailed Map allows you to view the lifespan of a customer’s interaction with your organization, every step of the way. Using a Map correctly will show you where customer personas experience friction in the process, what causes them to hesitate to buy, and how they feel about each interaction.

The Personas are archetypes built after an exhaustive observation of potential customers. Each Persona is an avatar that gathers up the features of the studied social group. This avatar represents the common attributes of the group it represents, from social and demographic characteristics to needs, wants, common habits, and cultural background. After a research phase, Ethnogram creates a Persona that allows businesses to tailor their new services to a particular target behavior.

Empathy Maps in qualitative research emerged out of the world of traditional website design. As designers sought to create the most pleasing user experience, they mapped out visualizations of customer needs to help understand what customers looked for. These Empathy Maps were so successful they were adopted by customer experience professionals.
Empathy Maps vary in shapes and sizes, and the end result depends on your business and target audience. However, all maps include four quadrants that are broken into the following aspects:

• Thinking
• Seeing
• Doing
• Feeling

Using an Empathy Map will allow you to get inside the head of your customers, to make sure they are well taken care of.

Lean Canvas is the adaption of Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas. Originally created to capture the Lean Startup spirit (fast, concise, and effective), the Lean Canvas is an ideal template for businesses of all types. By focusing on actionable business plans, the Lean Canvas focuses on problems, solutions, and key metrics to give your business the power to expand and grow in the spirit of a startup.
Ethnogram uses Lean Canvas to quickly formulate various business models, service launches, product ideas, and more. Extending beyond the brainstorming section, the Lean Canvas can be used to communicate to possible stakeholders and investors.

In qualitative research, the Service Blueprint is an operational tool that describes the nature and characteristics of a business’s service. The Blueprint is an in-depth explanation of how to verify, implement, and maintain each particular service. Once created, developing and rolling out a new product or solution is simply a matter of following the steps.
The Blueprint is based on a graphical technique that displays the functions above and below the line of visibility to the customer. All aspects of the service, from what the customer sees to the various back-stage processes, are documented and aligned with the user experience.
The Service Blueprint is best used when analyzing service experiences with multiple, complex processes. It helps your team understand what backstage events are directly affecting the customer’s experience.