Keys to Custom Research Success
OK, so you have decided to do some custom research. What now? Achieving valuable research results depends on the quality of the sample source, a well-defined questionnaire and efficient project implementation.
To ensure high-quality results, be sure to:
- Recruit sufficient respondents that closely fit the target customer profiles – Only results from recruits who fit the criteria should be included in the study.
- Enlsit enough recruits to conform to statistical targets – To reach a certain level of confidence in results, a certain sample size is required. Ensuring a sufficient sample size is a key to obtaining meaningful results.
- Reach knowledgeable, willing recruits – Participants with recent, deep experience regarding the research subject provide the most useful data. Extracting relevant data requires experienced interviewers who can put participants at ease.
- Ensure the completeness of each response – Long questionnaires lead to incomplete responses. The upper limit for on-line surveys is 20-30 minutes. For telephone or one-on-one interviews, 60-75 minutes is the upper limit.
A well-executed research project can yield valuable survey responses. By grouping data into industry segments you can get superior insights.
The payback for a well-executed research project is an accurate reading on what customers your are thinking, what is important to them, what they are focusing on and what their challenges are. Then you can use these insights as inputs to the definition of marketing programs or as a steering direction for the marketing organization in competitive scenarios.