AI In-depth Interviews
Scale in-depth research with less time and cost
- Conversational AI interviews
- Multilingual follow-up questions
- Structured qualitative and quantitative analysis
The challenges of in-depth interviews
Recruitment and fieldwork demand extensive coordination
Recruiting participants, scheduling and running interviews takes significant effort. Time and costs increase as studies grow
Fixed questions miss individual reasons
Standard questions can overlook ambiguous answers and personal circumstances, leaving important reasons unexplored
Research consistency is harder across languages
Language, culture and interviewer differences affect how questions are understood and explored, making comparisons across markets and segments more difficult
Organizing and analyzing interviews still takes manual work
Transcription, coding and segment comparisons require substantial manual effort, delaying the use of findings in product, market and management decisions
A more efficient path from interview design to analysis
Interview Design
Turn research objectives into an interview guide
Design question sequences and follow-up boundaries around your objectives, or import and adapt an existing interview guide
- Define participants, research topics and hypotheses to test
- Use open-ended questions, multiple choice, images and video
- Keep a record of guide revisions for team review
Participant Invitations & Selection
Find the right participants for your study
Invite participants recruited by your company and screen for eligibility. Use consumer segment insights separately to understand audiences and develop hypotheses before fieldwork
- Invite your recruited participants through a URL or QR code
- Use screening questions to confirm eligibility
- Use consumer segment insights to inform audience understanding, hypotheses and study design
- Recruitment support in China can be assessed for individual projects
Adaptive AI Interviews
Follow each answer to understand the reasons
Ask follow-up questions within the interview guide and agreed scope to explore the reasons behind behavior, attitudes and decisions
- Conduct one-to-one interviews by voice or text
- Explore ambiguous answers, contradictions and important details
- Interview multiple participants in parallel across languages
Automated Organization & Analysis
Turn conversations into comparable findings
Automate transcription, organization and thematic coding, then compare opinions by segment or question
- Organize recurring themes, key opinions and representative quotes
- Compare attitudes and reasons across segments
- Identify common ground, differences and hypotheses for further testing
Quality Review & Outputs
Check findings against original responses
Link analysis to the original responses and incorporate researcher review to produce outputs your team can continue using
- Trace important conclusions to original answers and interview context
- Review findings, adjust tags and refine the analytical structure
- Export research reports, structured data and charts
Balance scale, depth and speed to insight
Explore individual reasons, even at scale
AI runs multiple one-to-one interviews in parallel, following each participant's answers within the agreed guide and follow-up boundaries. Scaling a study does not have to mean repeating a fixed questionnaire
Combine interviews with exploratory consumer research
Invite members, customers, employees or channel partners recruited by your company. When live interviews are unnecessary, use Consumer Segment Insights to explore audience needs and refine research hypotheses. Recruitment support in China can be considered based on project requirements
Apply consistent research criteria across languages
Conduct interviews using shared objectives, question logic and follow-up rules while retaining local language and cultural context, making differences across markets and segments easier to compare
Keep evidence connected from answers to outputs
Move through transcription, organization, thematic coding and segment comparison in one workflow. Trace important conclusions to original responses and context, with researcher review and adjustments to the analytical structure
Research customers, consumers and the workplace
Customer & Member Experience
- Understand the reasons behind purchase, usage, renewal, upgrades and cancellation
- Compare experiences across customers, members and business users
- Improve customer journeys, service experiences and retention initiatives
Product & Concept Testing
- Check how people understand product concepts and proposals
- Test prototypes, packaging, names, value propositions and advertising
- Identify concerns, misunderstandings and areas for improvement
Multimarket & Multilingual Research
- Interview participants in Japan and international markets
- Compare views across languages and regions using a consistent analytical framework
- Inform market entry, product localization and communications
Employee & Frontline Research
- Hear directly from employees, sales teams and channel partners
- Understand workflows, customer concerns and barriers to execution
- Inform organizational improvements, sales training and channel strategy
Case Studies
Leading Coffee Brand
- Interviews
- Hundreds
- Fieldwork period
- 1 week
Hundreds of multilingual interviews in one week to understand member satisfaction
Client voice
We use Agent V across our stores to replace traditional satisfaction follow-ups and mystery shopping, helping us manage our direct relationships with customers.
International Advertising Agency
- Participants
- 200
- Fieldwork period
- Half day
200 interviews across audience groups in half a day
Client voice
With such a tight timeline, we could not have delivered on time without AI interviews, recruitment support and the right tools. The brand was very satisfied with both the speed and the findings.
Leading Insurance Company
- Interviews
- 1,150
- Fieldwork period
- Half day
1,150 interviews in half a day to improve a software product
Client voice
With Agent V, we completed the analysis report in half a day and received positive feedback from management. We are considering Meritco as a strategic partner for AI applications.
Reports & Insights
View all insightsArticles in Japanese
2026年の中国化粧品市場——どんな商品が売れ、消費者はなぜ選ぶのか
平均販売価格が1,000元を超えるブランドも、200元前後のブランドも成長する中国のスキンケアEC。セット商品、メイクの一工程を担う単品、小容量の香水を手がかりに、消費者が何を比較し、どの場面で使うために購入するのかを考えます。
FAQs
What are AI in-depth interviews, and how do they differ from online surveys?
AI in-depth interviews follow a research objective and interview guide, asking each participant follow-up questions based on their answers. While online surveys primarily collect structured responses to fixed questions, AI interviews are suited to exploring the reasons behind behavior, attitudes and choices
Can AI interviews fully replace traditional interviews?
Each approach suits different research needs. AI interviews work well when you need to reach many participants quickly, apply consistent criteria or conduct multilingual research. Sensitive topics, complex behavioral observation and questions requiring expert judgment may call for traditional interviews and researcher review alongside AI
Who can take part in the interviews?
Participants can include consumers, members, business customers, employees, sales teams and channel partners who meet your study criteria. Invite participants recruited by your company through a URL or QR code and use screening questions to confirm eligibility
Can you help recruit participants?
You can recruit and invite your own participants. In China, Meritco can assess recruitment support based on eligibility criteria, timing and recruitment difficulty. Elsewhere, recruitment methods depend on your existing audience, partner resources and project requirements
Which languages and interview formats are supported?
We support multilingual voice and text interviews, with images and videos available as question prompts. We will confirm specific languages, speech recognition performance and available formats after reviewing your trial request based on the market, research topic and project requirements
How are participants informed about AI interaction and audio recording?
Before a study begins, participants are told that they will be interacting with AI, whether audio will be captured or recorded, and how responses will be transcribed and analyzed. Where audio is collected, we confirm any consent required for the study and its intended use.
How are responses and audio data handled?
We may use AI to transcribe, summarize, categorize and analyze responses. Before each study begins, we explain how responses, audio data and analysis results will be used and retained, how service providers will handle them, whether processing will take place overseas, and whether any data will be used for AI model training. We also explain how participants can withdraw from the study or contact us about the handling of their data.
Can you support studies involving sensitive information, such as health data?
We assess these studies individually. We do not ask participants to provide health information, medical history, religious beliefs, political views or other sensitive personal information unless it is explicitly necessary for the study. If such information is needed, we explain why it is required, what information will be collected and how it will be handled, and obtain any required consent in advance.
Are study responses or audio data used to train AI models?
Neither we nor our service providers use study responses or audio data to train general-purpose AI models.