RBI does not apply a standard methodology to every brief. The research design follows the question, not a template. Every study is constructed from the ground up for the specific client, market, and decision it is designed to inform.
Quantitative research is where RBI has its deepest roots. We have delivered large-scale surveys across African markets since 1989: consumer studies, brand tracking, customer satisfaction measurement, U&A work, and media research. The infrastructure is proven, digital CAPI fieldwork, a dedicated CATI call centre, online survey capability, and CLT facilities in Harare.
African markets present specific design challenges that require genuine expertise. Literacy rates vary significantly. Smartphone penetration is uneven. Informal settlements do not always align with census boundaries. A sampling framework that functions well in Johannesburg requires meaningful adjustment in Blantyre or Lusaka. Our teams know this and have been navigating it for years.
Standard consumer studies of 300–1,000 respondents across one market are typically delivered within 3–4 weeks of approved questionnaire. Multi-country studies add 1–2 weeks per additional market. If you have a hard deadline, tell us upfront, we will design the study to fit it, or tell you honestly if the quality cannot be maintained under that constraint.
Numbers tell you what is happening. Qualitative research tells you why and why matters when you are trying to change behaviour, reposition a brand, or understand why a product that should be winning is not. RBI’s qualitative team includes experienced moderators, ethnographers, and in-depth interviewers who work across consumer and professional audiences in all our operational markets.
Our moderators are fluent in English, Shona, Ndebele, Tswana, Nyanja, and other regional languages, critical for authentic, unfiltered consumer dialogue.
RBI operates its own viewing facility in Harare, with observer lounge, live streaming capability, and catering. Partner facilities are available in Gaborone, Lusaka, Blantyre, Maputo and Windhoek.
Your distribution data says 85% reach. Your shopper data says the shelf is empty on Fridays. Retail and field research bridges the gap between what the numbers report and what is actually happening at the point of sale. RBI maintains trained field auditors across formal and informal retail channels in all six of our markets, enabling real-time tracking or periodic studies at a scale and cost that most clients cannot achieve independently.
Qualitative research is not soft research. Conducted rigorously, it surfaces what quantitative data cannot reach: the reasoning behind a choice, the emotional relationship with a brand, the unstated assumption driving a behaviour. Those insights are frequently more strategically valuable than the numbers and impossible to obtain any other way. RBI's brand and product research practice has supported dozens of category leaders and challenger brands across FMCG, financial services, telecoms, and consumer durables in Southern Africa.
Your brand is one of your most valuable assets and one of the easiest to lose without noticing. Regular tracking of brand awareness, imagery, usage, and loyalty metrics gives you the early warning signals you need to defend equity, respond to competitive threats, and assess whether your campaign investment is actually working.
From early-stage concept screening through to final pack and formulation testing, RBI uses monadic, sequential monadic, and comparative test designs calibrated to your decision-making context.
Evaluate executional strength, message comprehension, and emotional resonance before media spend is committed — with normative benchmarks from the Southern African context.
Your customers have an opinion about you whether you ask or not. The question is whether you find out before they leave. RBI has designed and operated continuous customer satisfaction programmes for leading financial institutions, utilities, retail chains, and telecoms operators across Southern Africa, turning CX data into actionable intelligence that drives operational decisions, not just reporting.
RBI runs ongoing customer satisfaction tracking programmes for leading financial institutions, utilities, and telecoms operators, some continuously for multiple years. This work has compounding strategic value: the first wave establishes a baseline; by the fifth wave you can see whether anything has genuinely changed, and why. CSAT, NPS, and CES measurement, benchmarked against sector norms and tracked over time to identify improvement priorities and demonstrate ROI from service investment.
End-to-end journey mapping combining quantitative touchpoint measurement with qualitative depth, identifying friction points, delight moments, and prioritised improvement areas across physical and digital channels.
Employee research follows the same principles as our customer work. Engagement surveys, culture assessments, manager effectiveness measurement, and organisational health diagnostics. The critical design consideration here is psychological safety: employees respond differently when anonymity is credible. Our programmes are structured to create the conditions where honest responses are not only possible, they are the norm. Confidential surveys cut by department, location, tenure, and seniority, with action-planning workshops available.
Sometimes you do not need a study you need a senior practitioner who has seen this problem before in this market and can help you think it through. RBI’s Strategy and Advisory practice draws on thirty-three years of applied research across FMCG, financial services, public health, and development sectors to provide the kind of grounded, market-specific strategic input that purely analytical consultants cannot offer.
Research-grounded brand positioning, architecture, and portfolio strategy from insight synthesis to actionable brand frameworks.
Comprehensive market assessment for organisations entering new Southern African markets, consumer landscape, competitive dynamics, regulatory environment, and go-to-market recommendations.
Stakeholder research, public opinion studies, and policy impact assessments for corporates, NGOs, government agencies, and development finance institutions.
Our research specialists bring category knowledge that means faster briefing, smarter questionnaire design, and more relevant insights across the sectors that matter most in Southern Africa.
Thirty-three years of consumer goods research across food, beverages, household and personal care in both formal and informal trade channels across Southern Africa.
Banking, insurance, mobile money, and fintech understanding adoption, satisfaction, and financial decision-making.
Operator satisfaction, device adoption, data usage behaviour, and digital service experience across all LSM segments.
Public health KAP studies, NGO programme evaluations, and social impact research in partnership with UCSF and NOIC.
Trade and stakeholder research, distributor studies, and B2B satisfaction programmes across industrial categories.
Public opinion polling, policy impact assessments, citizen satisfaction, and electoral/governance research.
Student experience research, institutional brand audits, and education sector surveys for universities, schools, and training bodies.
Visitor experience, destination perception, and hospitality brand research tailored to Southern Africa's tourism landscape.
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