Conveo vs. Shop-alongs

Understand the why behind purchase decisions without following customers down the aisle

Shop-alongs are powerful. They give you a window into how people think in the moment of choice. But they’re slow, expensive, and hard to scale especially across markets, personas or categories.

Conveo delivers the same decision-making insight through 1:1 voice-led interviews, without the overhead of in-person observation.

Why research teams are replacing shop-alongs with Conveo

Why teams trust Conveo to get their research right

Why research teams are replacing shop-alongs with Conveo

Real-world purchase insight

Observer influence

Setup time

Cost per participant

Sample size

Depth of rationale

Speed to insight

Internal storytelling

In-Home Visits
In-Home Visits

Real-world purchase insight

High

Observer influence

Medium (Hawthorne effect)

Medium (Hawthorne effect)

Setup time

High

High

Cost per participant

Very high

Very high

Sample size

Small (5–10 typical)

Depth of rationale

Variable

Speed to insight

Weeks

Weeks

Internal storytelling

Difficult (field notes, long videos)

Resolution

Real-world purchase insight

High (voice-based reflection)

High (voice-based reflection)

Observer influence

None (private, async)

Setup time

Low (launch in hours)

Cost per participant

Low

Sample size

Scalable (10 to 1000+)

Depth of rationale

High (adaptive, reflective prompts)

High (adaptive, reflective prompts)

Speed to insight

2–4 days

Internal storytelling

Easy (quotes, themes, shareable synthesis)

Easy (quotes, themes, shareable synthesis)

Conveo retains what shop-alongs do best: understanding choices in context. AND it removes everything that makes them hard to execute.

How Conveo captures shopping behavior — without being in the store

Real purchase journeys, retold in the shopper’s own words

Participants walk through how they made their choice: what caught their eye, what confused them, what drove the final decision.

No social pressure, no performance

Faster across categories, channels and countries

Insight that lands internally

Conveo interview with floating insights

How Conveo captures shopping behavior — without being in the store

Real purchase journeys, retold in the shopper’s own words

Participants walk through how they made their choice: what caught their eye, what confused them, what drove the final decision.

No social pressure, no performance

Faster across categories, channels and countries

Insight that lands internally

Conveo interview with floating insights

How Conveo captures shopping behavior — without being in the store

Real purchase journeys, retold in the shopper’s own words

Participants walk through how they made their choice: what caught their eye, what confused them, what drove the final decision.

No social pressure, no performance

Faster across categories, channels and countries

Insight that lands internally

Conveo interview with floating insights

What this looks like in practice

What this looks like in practice

With Shop-Alongs

Plan + recruit

Schedule 1:1 with field team

Conduct session, take notes

Transcribe or review hours of footage

Summarize with inconsistent detail

Repeat for multiple markets

Conveo Workflow

Conveo Workflow

Conveo Workflow

Set your category or purchase goal

Launch adaptive voice interviews

Participants reflect on recent purchases, freely and in-depth

Get instant transcripts, themes, and actionable insights

Scale across SKUs, categories, or audiences — fast

CPG, Food & Beverage

"We used Conveo after a quant study with 3 concepts and chose an entirely different version. We’re glad we did, and our customers too."

Pieter Vanpaemel, Head of Insights at Edgard & Cooper

CPG, Food & Beverage

"We used Conveo after a quant study with 3 concepts and chose an entirely different version. We’re glad we did, and our customers too."

Pieter Vanpaemel, Head of Insights at Edgard & Cooper

CPG, Food & Beverage

"We used Conveo after a quant study with 3 concepts and chose an entirely different version. We’re glad we did, and our customers too."

Pieter Vanpaemel, Head of Insights at Edgard & Cooper

Conveo dashboard
Conveo dashboard
Conveo dashboard

When to use Conveo instead of shop-alongs

When to use Conveo instead of shop-alongs

You want to explore how people make choices without physical presence

You’re under pressure to deliver insight before the next campaign brief lands

You need qual feedback across more SKUs, audiences or markets than a field team can handle

You’re testing packaging, messaging or promotions and want emotional reactions, not just behavior

Still want the real story behind the shelf? 

Just ask the right way.

You don’t need to follow people through stores to understand how they think. You need a way to let them explain it clearly, reflectively, and at scale.