Saturation
The point at which new groups or interviews stop adding new ideas about the study's question.
Why does it matter for a brand?
It answers a practical question: how many groups to run. Too few, and an important reason can be left out; too many, and you invest in hearing the same thing again. Saturation is judged per segment: customers no longer adding new ideas says nothing about non-customers, who may have reasons nobody has heard yet. That is why the number of groups is decided per segment, not for the study as a whole.
How does WAV handle it?
We set the number of groups by how many segments the decision needs to compare, because each segment gets its own group. In the analysis we mark which ideas repeat across groups and which appeared only once, so the brand can see where there is saturation and where it is worth listening further in a next wave.
What should you ask before a study?
- How many groups does each segment I need to compare get?
- Which ideas appeared only once and could grow with more groups?
- Does the report say where it is worth listening further?
This term is part of the qualitative research glossary, which defines the fifteen terms that come up in any study; it is most closely related to insight, customers and non-customers and findings report. To see it applied, browse the sample report, built from a fictional study: it is the same format a client receives.