Market Research Design Should Match the Brand
Today the importance of data and market research touches every department within a company. Everyone wants to get their hands on data, every department wants access to quality feedback. Parallel to this, there are numerous free or affordable online questionnaire tools, accessible to anyone with a desire to ask questions and learn more.
These tools may appear to be simple ways to design market research, but to a marketer or other non-researcher they can become burdensome quite quickly. Even short and simple of surveys require strategy and management in order to drill down to desired insights and garner a high response.
But beyond the survey management, the real issue I want to address is the importance of unifying market research design with your brand. It is critical to consider the nature of your relationship to those you are surveying. You also need to consider the way your survey participants may want to (or be able to) participate, and which way is easiest for them. Digital questionnaires may not be the right choice.
Using a simple online tool, only to receive lackluster results
One of our clients is a printing company that targets buyers at financial institutions. A marketing contact at this client recently contacted us and said she wanted to gather data on what their 100 or so buyers thought of their respective account executives. She was using a free online survey tool in order to gather feedback, but the response rates were dismal at best. Plus, she was spending countless hours creating questions, dealing with the survey set up and coordinating the entire process. She eventually received feedback from a few participants that they weren’t allowed to respond to online surveys, since they worked for financial institutions.
The solution: make a phone call
Given the limitations of digital surveys and the sensitive nature of the relationships with these particular buyers, we suggested phone surveys versus online surveys. An email notification would still be sent out first, once a quarter, but only to alert buyers that our client was interested in feedback and greatly valued their business. The email would be personable, concise and friendly. After all, these buyers were spending millions of dollars on printing products; it was a relationship that needed to be treated with sensitivity. The email notification would provide an option to call or go online to schedule the quick feedback interview.
Sometimes, the best market research design means picking up the phone; this method can far outweigh the benefits of survey automation. This was one of those times. Given that these buyers worked for financial institutions, were spending large sums of money and there were a small group, we felt strongly that this warranted a phone call out of respect for the relationship.
Your survey represents your business
A phone call is not only a nod of respect to the relationship, it’s a classy and honest representation of our client’s business. A phone call asking for feedback elevates our client’s brand and presents them in the right light, whereas a free online survey has the potential to be taken as an annoyance.
Qlarity Access crafted thoughtful survey questions, set up the email notification process and managed the feedback interviews from start to finish. Our marketing contact was able to focus on what she does best while still receiving the feedback she desires. We transformed what was a dismal response rate into a process that has the potential to achieve an incredibly high response rate. In fact, ideally, this client would be hearing from each and every one of her buyers. Picking up the phone is the right way to go about that.
If you’re seeking feedback, Qlarity Access can help you gather it the right way and represent your business well. If you have a market research question you would like to discuss, we would be interested in seeing how we can help. Tell us more here.
