Deep Dive

Here, we don’t just ask your customers what they think — we observe what they actually do.

We step into your real-world environment and experience your service where it truly happens: in your locations, alongside your teams, and in the context of your customers’ everyday lives.

Depending on your service, audience, and research questions, we travel on-site across Europe — and can explore opportunities to conduct research further afield where it adds value to the project.

Our approach combines qualitative research methods to uncover the visible and invisible parts of the customer experience: what people do, what they struggle with, what they expect, what employees experience behind the scenes, and where the service breaks down between intention and reality.

How the on-site research works

1. Define the research focus

We begin with a discovery session to understand your organisation, service model, customers, current challenges, and what you already know — or suspect — about the experience.

Together, we define the key research questions and determine what needs to be observed in the real-world environment.

For example:

• Where do customers experience friction or uncertainty?

• What happens when customers move between different touchpoints?

• Where do people get stuck, hesitate, or drop off?

• How does the experience differ from what the organisation intends to deliver?

• What challenges do frontline employees face when delivering the service?

• Where are there opportunities to create a more human, seamless, or effective experience?

We then select the locations, participants, interactions, and research methods needed to answer these questions.

2. Go into the field

We travel to your service environment and conduct research on-site, observing the experience where it actually happens.

Depending on the project, this may involve visiting one location or multiple locations, comparing different environments, customer segments, or ways of delivering the service.

Our research can include:

• In-depth semi-structured interviews — speaking with customers, users, employees, and other relevant stakeholders to understand their needs, expectations, motivations, frustrations, and perceptions.

• Ethnographic observation & contextual inquiry — observing people in their natural environment and asking questions around their behaviour to understand not only what they do, but why.

• Shadowing — following customers or frontline employees through real interactions to uncover behaviours, routines, workarounds, and friction that may not emerge in an interview.

• Service safari / mystery shopping — experiencing your service ourselves from the perspective of different customer types and documenting the end-to-end experience.

• Focus groups — facilitating group discussions to explore shared experiences, expectations, attitudes, and differences between customer segments.

• Diary & experience studies — capturing experiences over a longer period when the service journey extends beyond a single interaction.

• Touchpoint analysis — examining the physical, digital, human, and communication touchpoints that shape the overall experience.

We adapt the methodology to your service rather than applying a fixed research template.

3. Observe the experience from multiple perspectives

Being on-site allows us to see things that traditional research often misses.

We look beyond individual interactions to understand the entire service ecosystem — including the physical environment, customer behaviour, employee behaviour, processes, communication, technology, and the moments where these elements come together.

We compare what people say with what they actually do.

We look for recurring patterns, invisible friction, workarounds, unmet needs, emotional moments, and breakdowns between different parts of the service.

We also bring together different perspectives — customers, frontline employees, management, and other stakeholders — to understand where perceptions align and where they differ.

4. Map the end-to-end experience

We synthesise the research into a clear picture of how the service is actually experienced.

This includes mapping the customer journey across key stages and touchpoints, identifying:

• moments of friction and frustration

• points of uncertainty or confusion

• drop-off and break-off moments

• unmet customer needs

• emotional highs and lows

• operational pain points

• gaps between frontstage and backstage processes

• opportunities to improve the experience

• moments where small changes could create significant impact

Where relevant, we connect the customer experience with the internal processes supporting it — making visible what customers experience and what needs to happen behind the scenes to deliver that experience.

5. Turn research into an actionable strategy

The goal is not to leave you with a research report full of observations.

We translate the findings into practical opportunities for improvement and a clear direction for what to do next.

We prioritise opportunities based on their potential impact on the customer experience, business value, and feasibility — helping your organisation understand not only what should change, but where to start.

Depending on the scope of the project, we may also work with your team in a collaborative session to validate findings, explore opportunities, and align on the next steps.

What your organisation gets

At the end of the research, you will have:

• A deep understanding of how customers actually experience your service

• Evidence-based insights from real-world observation and conversations

• A comprehensive Customer Journey Map showing key stages, touchpoints, emotions, needs, and friction points

• A Service Blueprint connecting the customer experience with the people, processes, systems, and backstage activities supporting it

• A clear view of critical pain points, drop-offs, and unmet needs

• Insights into frontline and operational challenges

• A prioritised set of opportunities for service improvement

• Concrete, actionable recommendations your organisation can use to improve the current experience

• Strategic directions for future service development and innovation

• A stronger evidence base for making customer experience and business decisions

How long does it take?

The timeline depends on the complexity of your service, number of locations, customer groups, and depth of research required.

A focused on-site study can typically take 2–4 weeks, including preparation, fieldwork, analysis, and synthesis.

For more complex services involving multiple locations, customer segments, or markets, the research may extend to 4–8 weeks or longer.

Before we begin, we define the scope, research activities, locations, and expected timeline together — so the process fits your organisation and does not create unnecessary disruption to your day-to-day operations.

The outcome

The outcome is more than a snapshot of what customers think.

You gain a evidence-based understanding of how your service works in the real world — from the customer's perspective and from behind the scenes.

Instead of relying on assumptions, internal opinions, or isolated feedback, you can see where the experience succeeds, where it breaks down, and why.

You leave with a clear customer journey, a view of the service ecosystem, prioritised opportunities, and concrete recommendations that can inform your service improvement roadmap, development strategy, and future innovation.

We turn real-world observations into a clearer direction for what your service should become next.