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Category: Micro Topics

Ideas for a Survey Grading Site

I saw some great interest this morning in the idea of a survey grading site. Inspired by yet another awful questionnaire design (one that had been sent to the market research community itself, ironically), I threw out the idea half-joking.

I was thrilled to see responses to the idea from great tweeps like  @MDMktingSource  @conversition @MargaretRoller.

Could this crazy idea have legs?

One idea: Perhaps a volunteer committee of 6 experienced researchers would get together once a month or so (virtually, of course), to review and grade questionnaires?

Computer-Based Training for Market Research Excellence

Computer-based training (CBT), also known as eLearning, is a time-efficient, cost-effective training option for busy professionals.

Market Segmentation for Saving Money, and Making Money

Market segmentation is all about sales and marketing ROI. The premise is that to maximize success with a large population of customers, it is best to divide it into logical subgroups. By dividing one large, generalized market into subgroups, you can fine-tune your product, messaging, promotional, distribution and related strategies to meet the specific needs of unique customer groups.

YouTube Preview of Online Market Research Training

Have you been waiting to take a Research Rockstar class, but just not yet gotten around to it?

Maybe it would help if you could see what an online class looks like. So here’s a video:

Self-Reported Data is Problematic, or Worse

Self-reported information is not perfect. But it is even less perfect in some cases than in others. Point: I can tell you from having conducted 100s of studies with IT… Continue reading Self-Reported Data is Problematic, or Worse

Avoiding Mediocrity in Market Research

In your organization, what happens when someone proposes a market research study?

* Do people roll their eyes?
* Do people perceive it as a decision making delay tactic?
* Do people readily volunteer to be involved in designing the project?
* Do any executive-level folks readily endorse the idea?

When Good Enough is Good Enough: Seeking Balance in Product & Pricing Research

The difference between good market research and great market research can be significant.

But sometimes the incremental time, cost and sweat of that extra effort simply doesn’t make sense. Sometimes, “good” is just perfect.

I was reminded of this last week at the Launch Camp conference in Cambridge. The event, for entrepreneurs seeking social media wisdom, had some interesting speakers, though the one from whom I learned the most was Dharmesh Shah, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of HubSpot (on Twitter as @Darmesh).

Bringing Life to Market Research Results

Have you ever delivered a big market research study, and had your internal clients completely ignore it?

It is an unfortunately common and painful experience.

Sometimes the challenge is that audience members find numbers too impersonal. They see charts and graphs and they just don’t seem to represent living, breathing customers. And nobody is going to take action based on market research data in which they don’t completely believe.

Online Communities for Market Research: Let’s Not Oversell Them

Yes, online research communities have their place. I ardently believe that there are many organizations that can benefit from structured online communities (MROCs or ORCs, as many now call them), or even just well-run, online customer advisory boards (link). In fact, there are some markets for which I think online communities can be one of the best ways of getting honest, objective customer insights. But let’s not oversell it; if we do, we’ll only cause a lot of heartache (and wasted research dollars).

So, please, some reality checks: …

Case Study in Controlling Unsanctioned Research: Are Your Customers Over-surveyed?

A Research Rockstar client shared a great story yesterday, one that I just have to pass on. I have sanitized it a bit, to “protect the innocent.”

Theresa is a market research manager at a consumer electronics company. Her team of 4 researchers used to be a team of 7, so workloads are pretty rough.

She recently had an executive from another department share his concern that customers were being over-surveyed. He knew some non-research employees were using SurveyMonkey and similar tools to conduct customer surveys. He asked Theresa to recommend a course of action.

Knowing that the issue is a lot more complex than just telling people to “stop,” she recruited six people from the different departments involved in the rogue activity. Once gathered in a conference room, she showed them the Research Rockstar class, “Embracing Rogue Research.” The 1-hour class acknowledges the pros and cons of decentralized research, suggests policy options, and even tools to make everyone’s life easier.