Luxury research: when €5,000 is only the first screening criterion
International customer-service study for a Swiss luxury watchmaker: recruiting buyers of high-end watches (≥ €5,000) across Europe, the USA and China – with one consistent target definition across all markets.
How do you recruit people for qualitative research who have spent at least €5,000 on a wristwatch in the past two years – simultaneously across Europe, the US and China? That was exactly the brief for an international customer-service study on behalf of a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer.
The real challenge
On paper, the screener looks simple: a high-end watch purchase, a minimum value of €5,000, bought within the past two years. In practice, that is where the work begins. For qualitative research, finding someone who formally meets the criteria is not enough. Participants need to remember the purchase journey, the advice they received and the service they experienced in concrete detail – and be willing and able to talk about it in a nuanced way. On top of that, the same target definition had to work consistently in at least five European countries as well as the US and China.
How WMM approached it
WMM coordinated recruitment across markets and made sure the agreed purchase and audience criteria were applied as consistently as possible in every country. With exclusive, low-incidence audiences this is critical: a respondent who fits the profile on paper is not automatically a strong qualitative participant.
Why this case matters
International luxury research takes more than reach. What counts is access, rigorous validation and the ability to tell a matching profile on paper from a genuinely suitable conversation partner. This is where recruitment quality directly shapes the quality of the research that follows.
- ≥ €5,000 watch purchase
- Purchased within the last 2 years
- 5+ European markets
- US & China
