“If you don’t know where you are going…no road will get you there”

The online research process begins with this key question: What do you want to accomplish? More specifically, what business decisions do you want to make from the information you gather? Planning doesn’t begin until you clearly envision the end result. Working backwards is usually the best way to begin designing the research program you want to execute. All of the program’s activity will work toward addressing the key question(s).

Having made the decision to obtain your customers’ feedback on how you are doing, resist the strong tendency to begin scribbling questions on a legal pad or furiously typing your thoughts into your PC. In fact, this is the time to put the pen down and spend some moments thinking about what you want to achieve with this endeavor. This is the time to plan, to outline the path you will take to increase the likelihood you will accomplish your objective.

Establishing Survey Objectives:
Define what your idea of “success” is concerning the research process: What specific information you wish to obtain, and how you plan to use the information? Think through the times when you have made critical marketing/ advertising/ sales decisions – What do you wish you would have known to make the best decisions possible?

Consider asking questions about the decision process your customers went through to choose your business. What information was critical to their decision making? This approach provides insight into ways you might affect the decision process. Who did they compare you to? What advantages and disadvantages do you have compared to your competition? What sources do your customers rely on for information? How satisfied do you believe your customers are? Find out how loyal they are to you. What would it take for them to switch away? Why do they stay with you? Are there any new product ideas you would like to get customer response to? Any proposed changes in processes you would like to get their thoughts on? What ideas do they have?

Before you confirm your research objectives, consider how you will use the information to the benefit of your business. Objective setting is the most important decision you will make in this process. The issues that you have to address in each stage of the research will reflect the objectives you decide to pursue.

As you think through this beginning stage of the process, keep these two points in mind:

1. In the survey process, less is more. While you may want to address a wide variety of issues and make the most of the dialogue with your customers now that you have their attention, we recommend that you resist the temptation. Time won’t permit such a lengthy online questionnaire! Focus 2-3 business issues and create a 3-5 minute survey at most. You do not want to fatigue your respondents to the point that they just drop out of the survey or do not provide thoughtful answers to your questions.

2. Stay true to your research objectives. Do not abuse your customers’ time by asking questions that are not germane to your objectives. Be strict with yourself and focus on factors that you can influence. All survey questions should relate to the research objectives and the different ways you might analyze the information for the greatest learning.

Colin Wahl

Today’s competitive landscape which knows no geographic bounds demands smarter approaches to getting and keeping your customers– especially in these economic times. It is common to think that just offering lower prices will draw business. Though pricing is a key element, it is NOT the primary reason that drives thriving businesses. Customers will pay premium prices for value.

Understanding your customers’ definition of ‘value’ is the cornerstone of the strongest research and marketing plans.

Colin Wahl, CEO
Client Opinions, Inc.

Don’t be a “fair weather friend” to your customers!  Let your competitors cower and run for cover while you stand side-by-side with your customers.  True friends, like true business partners, listen to you and stand by you in tough times.  Here are three key reasons why now is the BEST TIME to reach out to your customer base, listen, and develop creative solutions for them.

1.   Listen now…when your customers will really open up.  Many customers tend to open up when times are tough. They need someone to tell their problems to. Someone who will listen. Someone who can help them.  Be proactive! Reach out and engage your customers NOW and they may reveal information they would not normally share.

2.  Hang on to everything you’ve got.  Our first priority in tough times is to make sure we don’t lose the customers we’ve already got.  Customers are facing pressures that put even the best relationships at risk.  Take the pulse of your customers now so you can identify and manage any potential risks.

3.  Stand by them now and they will remember you later.  In today’s economy, most businesses don’t have time to listen to their customers.  Taking the time to connect with them now shows your commitment and will set you apart.

Smart leaders will identify ways to make the best of these challenging times by protecting the business they have and finding ways to strengthen their customer relationships while the competitors are hiding in fear. 

Rick Thompson

EVP, Client Opinions

 Defining the Vision

 Thinking backwards is usually the best way to begin to define the vision for your survey.  Think deeply about the end result of the research process…what charts and information would you like to see? What data and information will be on each of the charts? How will the charts be labeled? What business decisions would you like to make from the resulting charts?  What demographic information will you need (e.g., gender, information, location, etc). You need to know how you’ll want to use and segment the data so you can determine what should be included in the survey questions. Go through each survey question and ask yourself two questions. What business insight will the answer to this question provide? What business decision(s) will the answer to this question help me make? If you can’t relate the answer to a meaningful insight or business decision, then get rid of the question. Survey real estate is precious, so each and every question has to “earn the right” to be in the survey.

Suggestion:

Take out a piece of paper and sketch the charts you would like to see at the END of the survey process, be sure to label the axis of any graphs and headings, sub-headings where appropriate. Going through this process will help you derive the proper questions, anticipate data breakouts and ensure your survey program is structured to capture the appropriate information. 

Colin Wahl, Founder & CEO

Online Research significantly reduces the cost of research by replacing expensive telephone, face-to-face, and direct mailed research with Internet-based surveys distributed by email.  This means that proprietary research that used to be prohibitively expensive for all but the largest, most well funded companies is now available to the masses.  This opens up critical research not only to small and mid-sized companies, but also to many departments of large-sized companies that previously had all their research requirements centrally controlled.

While powerful, Online Research is not a panacea and it still requires “professional help” to ensure you are designing, deploying and analyzing high quality research.  One watch out with any research is that having “bad information” is worse than having no information at all.  This is because when you have no information, you know you are shooting in the dark and can plan accordingly.  But with bad information you develop a false sense of confidence.  You think you are aiming in the right direction, but you’re not.  So, you can end up wasting a lot of resources shooting in the wrong direction.

If you haven’t already looked into the capabilities of Online Research, now is a good time to elect to do so.  It has high reach, relatively low cost and the flexibility to conduct deep dive research or quick response feedback.  As such, there is no longer a good excuse for any company to make critical business decisions without getting critical feedback.  How ever you choose to use it, Online Research is a Great Equalizer.  

Rick Thompson

Executive Vice President

Business leaders and executives typically have extensive business intelligence (BI) that provides reporting on sales, revenue, profits for the previous month, quarter and year.  These “Tail Lights” provide great detail about what has happened in the past and can help an organization determine where problems are and what parts of the business need attention.  However, looking in the rear view mirror does not help determine the best path forward. 

To chart the best path forward, business leaders need Headlights and Insights.  Well designed market research provides Headlights into where the market is headed and what new trends are emerging that may alter the industry landscape.  Capturing quantitative and qualitative information on customer insights can transform an organization from making decisions based on incomplete and anecdotal information to one that supports a “fact-based” decision-making process. 

One of the most significant impacts of the Internet is its potential to “level the playing field” for Market Research.  Traditionally, well designed, high quality market research studies were affordable only to the largest companies with big budgets and market research departments.  Online market research fundamentally changes the game and enables companies of every size to develop and field market research that will help them make sound business deicisons regarding every aspect of their business.  Today, there is no longer an excuse for any company to make important decisions about their brand image, product strategy, pricing programs, custmer service, partner program, website, or any other aspect of their business without guiding those decisions with well designed market research.

Here at Market Headlights and Insights we will have an ongoing discussion about how every company can increase their success rate and build their business by making high quality, affordable online market research a central part of their decision-making process.

Rick Thompson, Executive Vice President