Well, “abuse” may be a little strong…but market research results certainly do get misused. Sometime intentionally; twisting results to confirm existing opinions, or ignoring results perceived to be inconvenient. In other cases, the misuse is accidental—issues such as poorly labeled charts or unclear methodology documentation can easily lead to erroneous conclusions.
Clients seeking to conduct a market research project typically choose one of two paths: do it in-house or outsource to a full-service market research agency. Pretty simple.
But now, a third option exists: out-tasking.
Even if we put aside self-serving forecasts that are patently optimistic, many market forecasts are based on a rather murky mix of supply-side assumptions, total available market estimates, and compound annual growth rate hunches. In some markets, the forecasts rely heavily on input from suppliers to the market (for example, analyst firms ask PC manufacturers how many units they expect to ship).
These days, there are innovators out there. Agencies using cooler tools, applying newer sample quality processes, and even offering new deliverables. Their methods may push you out of your comfort zone. Their proposals may be harder to read because they won’t be full of the same boilerplate you’ve been seeing for years.
If you need to set expectations with colleagues about the quantitative market research process, here you go (see bottom of post): the key steps layed out in a simple flowchart.
I have used this diagram to walk market research newbies through the process many times, and it always gets rave reviews. While the chart is pretty self-explanatory, a few items are worth pointing out…
As researchers, we talk a lot about matching the methodology to the first objective. But given low response rates and the preciousness of qualified respondents, we need to focus a lot more on matching the methodology to the audience.
If you allow employees to invite customers to take customer satisfaction feedback surveys, make sure they aren’t saying things like, “The highest score is a 10. I hope I earned a 10!” You have probably experienced this yourself, perhaps at an auto dealership or retail chain. Upon completion of your transaction, the clerk give you the feedback survey instructions (perhaps advising of a phone call you will receive, or giving you a URL to use), and then says something like, “I’m hoping you rate me as “extremely helpful.”
If you do an annual employee survey to gather current perceptions and attitudes—great! This is an area of research that can uncover real opportunities to boost employee satisfaction and productivity, and even identify ways to save money. But do be sure to include technology-related content—especially if your employees use computers, communications and related technologies as part of their jobs.
Quality is a concern no matter what country an outsourcing provider is based in—the US, India, France, Canada…anywhere. If you work with an agency and they outsource, you need to have some evidence that the outsourcing partner provides great work—and was not selected simply because they had the lowest price or a well-connected brother-in-law.
I mentioned that I would be writing up some more faves in a Part 2. The cool thing is that while I had my Part 2 blogs already in mind, several readers suggested others that were not on my planned list. Some are blogs I knew of but hadn’t visited recently, but others were entirely new to me! So I took some time to check them all out, and rounded out my favorite Market Research blogs, Part 2, below.
