If your company invests in market research that generates fresh customer insights, should you hold it tightly, or should you share it?
There are some obvious cases where you hold it tightly. Data that is specific to proprietary product ideas is a good example. But other cases aren’t so clear-cut.
Market research is successful when it leads to decisions being made and actions being taken. The research is the star, not the researcher.
When we deliver a market research project and no decisions are made nor actions taken, we fail. And it has repercussions. The next time a study is proposed, the audience knows that research can result in wasted time and money—after all, they have seen it happen before.
When conducting survey projects, should you survey your own customer base (people who actually by from your company), or non-customers? Or both?
After all, you may very well have a list of customers that would be convenient for you to use for your survey project. But is that a wise choice? Maybe, maybe not.
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?
Never skimp on budget for:
* Quality sample. Having quality sample is critical. Avoid sources that can’t talk credibly about their recruitment tactics or list sources. You don’t want to bake a cake with spoiled eggs.
* Sufficient sample quantity. If you…
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).
The original article recommends NPS (Net Promoter Score) as the optimal standard for customer satisfaction with telecommunications providers. Ummm, no. So since I didn’t get to share on the TMCnet site, let me share some information here for those of you interested in measuring customer satisfaction in the telecommunications space. “There are many scenarios in which customers may be satisfied with certain service levels or offerings yet refrain from recommending or referring the larger offering to their friends.” Yes, this is very true…
It’s great to hear a social media authority praise—even promote—the benefit of asking customers’ about their views. In this case, Peter was making the excellent point that companies need to ask customers how they want their information delivered. In today’s presentation in downtown Boston, Peter specifically advised the business folks in attendance to take the time to ask their audiences (clients, prospects, whatever) how they want to receive information. He points to the fact that the way information is delivered these days is extremely fragmented. Nobody can afford to simply guess how their audience wants to get information.
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.
A tricky part of successfully delivering client insight data is knowing how much data your audience really wants. So, be honest with yourself: do you understand your colleagues’ or clients’ data appetite?
