Archive for the 'Research Methods' Category

Cost-Effective Focus Group Venue: Conferences

Auto Date Monday, August 2nd, 2010

From New York and Rome to Manila and Cape Town, Market Connections has conducted many focus groups on-site at user and association member conferences to help clients explore new product or service concepts, potential marketing strategies, organizational priorities, and more. Indeed, conferences often represent a highly cost effective opportunity for conducting focus groups when companies are in need of qualitative insights from a geographically dispersed target audience.

With prospects and customers convened in a central location, conducting research at such conferences reduces normal recruitment, facility rental, and transportation costs typically associated with a focus group program. However, to keep costs down and also maximize the success of the on-site focus group, we always advise clients up-front that it’s important they commit internal resources to support some of the planning and execution. Read the rest of this entry »

Best Practices for Researchers: E-mail

Auto Date Monday, July 12th, 2010

A recent session at Marketing Research Association’s Annual Meeting highlighted different laws that affect market researchers. A session exploring the possible perils for companies involved in B2B research outlined laws regarding sending communications (telephone, fax, or e-mail), data security, privacy, and trade secrets.  Read the rest of this entry »

Managing the Scope

Auto Date Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

scopeIf you’ve never led a market  study, take it from us – research is fascinating. In fact, it’s so fascinating that a study can easily creep beyond the initial scope.  This can happen because clients are so excited about getting market insights that they have a tendency to add new requirements to the study during the development phase. This can slow down the process, increase costs, and can lead to respondent fatigue.

The key to avoiding scope creep is to allow the researcher to gather the requirements up front from all stakeholders involved. Often, when requirements are filtered through only one person, the research provider loses the opportunity to ask questions of the stakeholders that only research experts would know to ask. Read the rest of this entry »

One Strategy Does Not Fit All

Auto Date Saturday, February 6th, 2010

chessSome government contractors mistakenly assume that their winning go-to-market strategy in one sector will perform equally well in another. For example, a prospect recently shared his company would soon launch a new set of solutions for defense agencies – an audience they had never really served. Based on their success in federal civilian and commercial sector markets, management felt they knew which strengths to leverage when they targeted the defense market.

That’s certainly understandable. After all, a cardinal rule of selling is to know and lead with your strengths. However, it’s important to not overlook another adage – know and provide what your customer wants. Read the rest of this entry »

Taking the Guesswork out of Messaging

Auto Date Friday, October 16th, 2009

iStock_000006087639XSmallEffectively marketing products or services can sometimes be tricky.  Of course, it starts by developing a compelling message. But even a slight change in the message phrasing, emphasis, or even alignment with the company’s brand can make a big difference in how the product or service is perceived.

Research can reveal if the market understands your product or service and if the messaging is effective. For example, last year one of our clients launched a completely new service to its traditional core audience. After sales for the service languished, they came to us to learn why. It was indeed perplexing, as our client was one of the top market leaders.

Our strategy was to conduct focus groups with members of the target audience. Read the rest of this entry »

Using Industry Events to Conduct Focus Groups

Auto Date Thursday, May 7th, 2009

istock_000000619286xsmall-1.jpgConducting in-depth, open-ended discussions with your target audience can give great insight,?? including the “whys” behind their thinking and decisions,?? that just aren’t possible with large quantitative surveys.  Such qualitative research is used for testing branding and marketing campaigns before they’re launched, assessing product features and benefits, uncovering the market’s unmet needs, better understanding the impact of various factors on buying behaviors, and more.

The most common qualitative methods are in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus groups.  IDIs are certainly effective, especially if the targeted titles are senior-level executives who aren’t willing to leave their offices to participate in a group discussion.  However, they lack the interactive dynamic of focus groups, where participants often build upon each other’s ideas.

Yet, focus groups can be a challenging and expensive undertaking for companies that serve geographically dispersed markets.  In such cases, Market Connections often recommends conducting focus groups during industry conferences.

Click here to learn some tips for success:

How to Make Sure your Samples are Balanced

Auto Date Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

scale.jpgIt is likely that when you conduct your next research study, you’ll need to survey more than one population segment in order to meet your market intelligence needs. In this case, you’ll want to set the same survey quotas for each of them in order to achieve a balanced analysis. However, segment quotas are sometimes difficult to achieve. In this situation, professional researchers would likely weight the survey data during the analysis phase of the study to compensate for over or under representation in the sample, thereby balancing the samples to be more representative of the real world.    Click here to learn more about how data weighting enables more balanced sampling.

Declining Response Rates for Online Surveys Got You Down?

Auto Date Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

surveygirl.jpgsurveygirl.jpgDon’t fret.  You’re not alone. Over the past few years, frustration has grown over declining response rates to online survey recruitment emails. Some of that decline can be blamed on emails being intercepted by spam or virus filters, which block them from reaching the in-box. And, for a variety of reasons, recipients don’t open and read many of the emails that do make it through the filters.

But we all know that online surveys have become more and more important for market research. So if you are looking for some tips on how to boost the open and response rates for your next online study recruitment… Read the rest of this entry »

Evaluations: The Insiders Guide

Auto Date Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

evaluations.jpgWhile most of us commonly use the word “evaluation” in our day-to-day business vocabulary, in the world of research it’s used more precisely to categorize different means of assessing both proposed and existing programs, policies, personnel, products, and so forth.  (In fact, believe it or not, there is even an American Association of Evaluation.) 

Of course, these assessments then drive more intelligent decision-making and performance improvements.  Generally speaking, evaluations fall into two main categories:  formative and summative.

Read the rest of this entry »

Protecting your Advertising ROI

Auto Date Monday, June 16th, 2008

tools3.jpgMost B2G and B2B marketers concur that advertising is an investment and often plays an important if not leading role in many campaigns.  Yet, with print ads, knowing which creative approach will resonate most effectively can be a challenge for even the most experienced marketers.

Pre-testing creative options prior to the start of the campaign can reveal important insights, thereby removing much of the guesswork from the creative development process.  Based on the results, you can make informed decisions on how to best evolve or enhance the most promising creative option.

You (or your ad agency) might wish to conduct ad pre-testing research at the creative concept stage and/or the copy and layout stage.  The creative concept stage, the very important first step in the development of new advertising, focuses on identifying the optimal approach for conveying the strategic message behind the ad.  Typically agencies or marketing departments create several different concepts for consideration, and each one should clearly represent the idea for the ad. Read the rest of this entry »