Pet Friendly Living Lab: When the Pet Tells the Real Story
A documentary producer and journalist takes product research into hotels, homes, apartments and senior living communities, so emerging pet brands can see what owners say and what their pets actually do before they spend more.
A pet product can collect plenty of compliments and still not sell. Friends and family want to be kind, a paid influencer is paid to be enthusiastic, and a survey score doesn’t explain itself. And a pet can’t fill out a survey at all.
That gap is where Pet Friendly Living Lab (PFLL) works. Founder Kamala Appel conducts documentary-style interviews with pet owners and their pets in the places they already live and gather, then documents what the owner says, what the owner does and, most importantly, what the pet does. “Sometimes the pet will surprise even the owner,” she says.
Pet Friendly Living Lab | At a Glance
Service: Qualitative pet product research and ethnographic observation
Specialization: Documentary-style interviews with owners and their pets in homes, apartments, senior living communities, restaurants and other pet-welcoming places
Built for: Emerging pet product and service brands deciding where to spend their next dollar and their next hour
Method: The same neutral questions and the same limited context for every participant
Website: petscango.com/pet-friendly-living-lab
A Research Service That Unfolded Like a Documentary
Kamala didn’t set out to build a research company. The Pet Friendly Living Lab (PFLL) grew the way a story unfolds when she produces a documentary: organically, and without an agenda.
She began with her own pilot, taking new products into the field and letting pet owners try them. “I was originally thinking, ‘Okay, maybe it’ll be a content line for the PetsCanGo.com series of articles,’ but it evolved into my seeing, ‘wow, this really is valuable to developers,’” she recalls.
The next question was whether the approach could be repeated. Her answer was a set of standardized questions for short interviews that can be run efficiently in places research firms don’t usually go: hotels, apartments, homes and assisted-living communities.
“A lot of people forget about seniors and their pets, but that’s a huge market that’s largely untapped.”
Going to where owners and pets already are also opens the research to people and animals who might not take part comfortably in a focus group held in a corporate or unfamiliar setting, where owners and pets may be more inhibited.
What a Session Looks Like
Each PFLL session follows the same sequence, and the camera simply keeps rolling.
- Establish a baseline. What does the owner already use, expect and value?
- Introduce the product with minimal context. It’s presented the way a shopper would find it, with no added coaching.
- Let owner and pet interact. They try it naturally.
- Observe. Kamala documents what they do, not only what they say.
- Follow up. Questions come from what the interaction reveals, because “sometimes you need to have a back-and-forth questioning to really get to the root of what they’re trying to say,” as she puts it.
A surprising reaction from a pet, or a gap between what an owner says and what they do, is often where the most useful findings turn up.
The Same Questions, Every Time
Consistency is the backbone of the method. Every participant is asked the same neutral questions and is given the same limited context about the product, so each owner starts with the same amount of information. Nobody is coached, and nobody gets a sales pitch.
That discipline is what makes the results comparable. Kamala wants developers to see the value of “small, focused interviews with consistent neutral questions” in which responses and reactions are documented.
When the same finding surfaces independently with three or more separate participants, The Pet Friendly Living Lab (PFLL) identifies it as an emerging trend. It is not presented as a market-size estimate or a statistical forecast. A standard The Pet Friendly Living Lab (PFLL) study includes 5 to 8 individual sessions, and the sample report from two pilot studies drew on 14 owners and their pets across seven Greater Bay Area locations.
The patterns can be practical. In one pilot, owners admired the tactile quality of a bed that was sold only online. “People really liked the tactile aspect,” Kamala says, “but they were only selling online, so potential customers couldn’t experience one of the identified strengths.”
Not a Survey, Not a Focus Group, Not a Friend
Kamala sees three common substitutes for formal qualitative research, and each leaves something out.
- Surveys produce a score without the reasoning behind it. Sitting across from someone lets her ask follow up questions and observe nuances, body language and pet behavior.
- Focus groups invite peer pressure, which can skew responses. PFLL interviews happen one on one, in settings that are familiar to the owner and the pet.
- Friends, family and paid influencers have a relationship with the developer. “They may just say what they think you want to hear,” she explains, “not what may actually benefit product development and positioning.”
A neutral third party interviewing strangers, she argues, is more likely to surface something a developer never thought of.
The interviewer is also part of the difference. Kamala is an award-winning documentary producer with more than 20 years of production experience and a background in print and online journalism, skills she employs to get to the root of who the ideal customer is and why they would or wouldn’t use a product.
Who Benefits Most
The Pet Friendly Living Lab (PFLL) is built for emerging brands at a decision point. Kamala points to a few common ones:
- A brand that is just launching and isn’t sure how to position its product
- A product that has been selling on the brand’s own site or Amazon, and no one knows why it isn’t selling
- A prototype, where the developer is deciding which direction to take
- A brand testing at pop-ups and pet events before committing to a large inventory
The best moment, she says, is before a big inventory investment, when a product has moved beyond concept but exists only as a prototype or a small run. It also needs to be a developer who is committed to the brand rather than a hobbyist, “because research is an investment.”
The Step in the Middle
The misconception Kamala hears most is that a product can jump from idea to big sales. She has met founders who figure that friends, family and a few paid influencers mean they are ready to pitch a big-box retailer.
She compares that approach to an episode of South Park featuring the underpants gnomes, whose business plan goes from “Step 1: Steal underpants. Step 3: Make Million Dollars” and skips the meat step in the middle of a half-baked sandwich.
For pet products, that step is research and talking to users. “You have kind of two customers,” she explains. “The pet is really your customer, but the one who pays is the owner, so you need to get both of them on board.”
The cost of skipping research can show up later. A retailer as large as Costco, she notes, will likely wonder whether a product was tested and whether the issues that surfaced were addressed.
Research can also change how a product is presented or market positioning. Kamala points to Lutron’s dimmable lights, which were first positioned around energy efficiency and took off once the company began talking about mood lighting. Her point is that product positioning can come from research, not from influencers or friends and family.
Research Within Reach for Emerging Brands
Big companies invest in research and development because they know it can prevent costly failures. Emerging brands, Kamala notes, can’t afford research and development that can run from $5,000 to $300,000, so many rely on friends, family and influencers instead.
The Pet Friendly Living Lab (PFLL) is her attempt to close that gap. She offers the service at a level emerging brands can afford, with a goal of helping them grow into viable competitors and develop products that solve real problems and offer genuine comfort to pet owners and their pets.
She also sees herself on both sides of the table. “I’m a lifelong pet owner, so I understand and want to help other pet owners,” she says. “I am also an emerging brand, so I also understand the entrepreneurial spirit of emerging brands.”
Her hope is that The Pet Friendly Living Lab (PFLL) connects those two groups in a way that benefits both. For developers who are serious about investing in a product’s success, it offers a step bigger companies already take.
See How Pet Friendly Living Lab Works | View the Sample Summary Report | Meet Other Members of Team RSQ