Many businesses want to conduct market research because they ‘feel’ like it’s something they should do. However, without a purpose this can become quite a confusing exercise. Every piece of market research should always be undertaken with an objective in mind. What is it that you want to measure or find out? Once you have a clear objective we can create a tailored market research plan that is specific for your needs.
If you want to measure things like satisfaction, brand attributes, awareness, or perhaps create a benchmarking study that can be tracked over time, then quantitative research is probably best for you. If your research wants to understand ‘why?’ then perhaps qualitative research is better for you. However, even qualitative research is good to be backed up by some good quant statistics.
Nobody likes taking a questionnaire that seems to go on and on with no end in sight. That’s why we recommend that they length of a questionnaire goes for no longer than 10 minutes. Any longer than this and participants will expect to be rewarded for their time. Otherwise they might drop out, and you are left with an incomplete survey. Keeping it short will make sure you find the sweet spot with your respondents, ensuring a good response rate and better quality data.
Choosing either phone surveys or online may have a big impact on the cost of your project. Traditionally online surveys are much cheaper to run. However, choosing one or the other really depends on who you want to talk to. Landlines may slowly be becoming an archaic concept to many, but they are very useful in reaching households with older demographics. Perhaps you want to survey your existing client database and you only have their mobile numbers – then texting an online survey might be better for you. A combination of both can also create a more balanced approach. Think about who it is you want to talk to and how they might best be contacted before choosing the ‘cheapest’ route.
At Woolcott Research we have in-house capabilities to conduct both online and phone interviewing and can help recommend the best approach to reach the right respondents for you.
In order to keep your respondents interested in the survey (and ensure they make it through right to the very end) we recommend you switch it up. The question types that is! The ordering of questions is key too. Leave the dull and boring ones for the end, like age and location (unless you’ve got quotas), and keep it interesting up front.
These days’ online surveys offer an array of more interactive question styles too. These include, sorting piles, ranking questions and image interactions. Again is all comes down to what you are trying to measure. This is where getting an expert like us involved can really pay off.
Quantitative data can really only be used effectively if the amount of data you collect is large enough. While 100 respondents might seem like a lot, this number can become insignificant when you start slicing and dicing it by different segment groups, such as demographics. A good way to mitigate for this is to set quotas, and perhaps think about weighting your data to the correct population size to make up for inadequacies. This is where a stats genius can come in handy! Get in contact with us today and see how we can help you.