If you think you’re in need of some more current business intelligence, you’re probably right.  But, market research = a serious commitment.  So, before heading down that path, ask yourself these questions to ensure you’ll get a reasonable ROI. 

Is a decent amount of the required information already available?  You may discover that some of the information you need is already accessible for a fraction of the cost of conducting primary research. So make sure to explore secondary sources such as trade pubs, internal customer databases, government documents, syndicated studies, and so forth. From there, you can assess if primary research is needed to fill in any gaps.

Can we afford to conduct research the right way?  The right methodology and sample size are critical to getting reliable data, If you don’t have the budget, it may be smarter to wait on research until it can be properly funded.  Cutting corners could lead to invalid results which could send you down the wrong path.  Your research partner can help you price an appropriate study based on your research objectives and advise on whether it can be scaled down to fit a pre-determined budget.

Is management willing to act on the results? Change is hard.  Especially if it requires substantial investments of time and money or if it takes a person too far out of their comfort zone.  Seek out the scope of improvements your management will support beforehand. This feedback could influence how the survey is scripted or even if it makes sense to conduct the research at all.

Is it even possible to act on the results?  Most of the time, this issue relates more to specific research questions rather than whether or not a study should be conducted at all.  For example, why ask customers about their preferences on your office location if you have a 15-year lease that you can’t break? 

Be realistic when assessing these issues.  And, seek the input of a research partner to do a reality check on whether conducting the research you have in mind makes sense or not.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 8:23 am and is filed under Market Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.