I recently received a request from a client, a large equipment manufacturer. They were under pressure to gain insight as to why customers were buying a particular type of farming equipment. They needed answers, fast. While they had drafted an initial questionnaire design, they were forced to choose between re-shuffling resources on their end to finalize the survey, or facing a possible delay on the business side.
This is a common challenge we see in our clients. Qlarity Access partners with many companies to act as an extension of their internal research teams. It is quite common for us to receive requests from corporate researchers for non-traditional research projects. In these instances, researchers are often pressured for time and may be seeking answers that secondary data and data analysis teams simply cannot provide.
Designing questionnaires the right way
Given the pressure of time and the fact that they just need answers, fast, these teams turn to Qlarity Access for assistance. Often times, corporate researchers will craft an initial list of survey questions. They may include expected outcomes and featured responses. While our corporate research partners send us these projects in anticipation of a quick turnaround, we like to add value not just in saving time, but also in designing questionnaires that are thoughtful and effective. This ensures not only quick answers but also extremely reliable data.
To revisit the case with our large equipment manufacturing client: They explained they were seeking insights as to why customers were buying certain pieces of equipment, specifically. What features or qualities of the equipment were driving the purchase? This client drafted an initial list of questions and shared their expected outcomes with me. I leveraged their initial questions as my foundation for creating a proper research survey. I used skip logic and wrote an introduction. I made sure survey participants would be screened in properly, and that there was a proper flow to how questions rolled out. I took this equipment manufacturing client’s ideas on featured responses and performed additional research to narrow the list to get more detailed and realistic choices.
Time saved designing questionnaires can lead to huge benefits in the field
Frankly, this was a small project; this wasn’t anything extraordinary. But because they were able to leverage Qlarity Access, the project was turned around quickly and the benefits were enormous. Our client did not have to slow down business. They did not have to reprioritize internal projects or engage on of their own research analysts. Qlarity Access was able to deliver the answers they needed quickly so that they could get sign-off on business initiatives. This led them to be able to move their sales efforts almost immediately to the field versus being delayed, possibly for weeks.
Questionnaires designed in the correct way and turned around quickly can provide corporate researchers with the powerful information that will add value to their organizations and keep things moving. If you have a survey you would like to discuss, we would be interested to learn more about your research needs. You can contact us today. Or download our Survey Design Best Practices and Screening Question Template for a guide to making your survey's work for you.
