Every great study starts before the first interview.
Designing a study that will actually answer your question is the hardest part of research, and the easiest to rush. The Motives AI research agent helps you draft the perfect plan. An expert researcher reviews it before the interviews begin.
The plan governs everything that follows.
A Motives research plan spells out the question the study has to answer, the sample that can answer it, the stimuli it needs to show, and the questions and follow-ups that get you there. Recruitment, interviews, and analysis all begin here.
From one research question to a complete discussion guide, in minutes.
Pick a research template
Pick from a library of templates (creative concept test, brand perception, consumer journey mapping, packaging test, and more), or design your study from scratch.
Define your sample
Demographics, cells, and comparisons made simple.
Chat with our assistant & build your project plan
Chat with our assistant who builds your background, objectives, and recruitment criteria in real time. One click generates the discussion guide.
Review, share, submit your discussion guide
Edit the guide, share with your team, submit. A Motives researcher reviews each one before recruitment begins.
Built on qualitative research principles.
Designed by qual researchers for qual researchers. The following principles are the foundation of every Motives research plan.
Clarification before generation
The AI agent asks clarifying questions to refine the brief — what "switching" means, who the audience is, what the stimulus is — before any questions are written.
Purposive sampling
Recruitment is structured against the decision being made. Segments are defined before the panel is approached.
Guides optimize for the depth at which each topic is explored, not the number of questions asked.
Guides optimize for the depth at which each topic is explored, not the number of questions asked.
Bias controls
Leading-question checks, open/closed question balance, balanced stimulus order. Applied by default.
Structured follow-ups
Every main question carries planned follow-up guidance.
Cross-cultural calibration
Multi-market guides are adapted, not translated. Phrasing and stimulus tuned per market.
The research quality was great, and the speed was great. It was also unbelievably easy to get started with the study - we talked to a Motives researcher about it and used the AI assistant, and within about 30 seconds we had a discussion guide 95% done.
NSPCC: testing Christmas ad creatives
The NSPCC is one of the UK's leading children's charities, and its Christmas campaign is a major moment in the fundraising year. The team came to Motives with a practical question: could they test their Christmas creative concepts properly without commissioning a large new production?
Read the full Case Study →Plan a study at any stage. Plan another tomorrow.
From early discovery to last-minute validation, Motives seamlessly fits into your design process at any moment.
Discovery
Get under the skin of who buys from you, why they do it, and what would make them do it more.
- →Consumer journey mapping
- →Segmentation & profiling
- →Needs & motivations
- →Category drivers
- →Shopper behavior
Development
Test ideas, packaging, and positioning before committing budget. Identify the directions worth carrying forward.
- →Product development
- →Innovation pipeline
- →Packaging testing
- →Concept validation
- →Naming & positioning
Validation
Understand what's landing with your audience, what's not, and where the strongest signal sits.
- →Creative & messaging testing
- →Brand health tracking
- →Campaign evaluation
- →Customer retention
- →Competitive landscape
