Maximizing the Value of Consumer Research: Best Practices

More complex business issues often require more complex market research beyond a simple freebie survey. However, that can make those studies more expensive, which is why maximizing the value of consumer research is critical.

Whether you're using a DIY platform or completely outsourcing to a vendor, you want to make sure the whole process, not just the research study itself, is done well.

Let's go through 5 best practices to ensure a strong return on investment.

Ensuring the Value of Consumer Research Through Clear Objectives

Research is only as valuable as the question it’s set up to answer. Spending time to uncover the core question is not fluff – this can take some digging! Different objectives will impact the methodology and subsequently the results.  Getting to the right research objective starts with nailing down the business issue.  Once that’s set, define the research question – what do you need to know to answer the business question. 

For example, let’s say you want to change your product formula because sales are declining due to consumers leaving the brand.  The business issue is that sales are declining and the cause is consumers leaving.  So, the research question to ask is why are consumers leaving the brand, not necessarily how should you change your formula.  Maybe consumers are very happy with the product, but it’s become too expensive.  Or the packaging has become outdated and is no longer highlighting the right benefit.  Setting up research to answer the question “why are consumers leaving the brand” rather than “how should we change our product” will lead to a very different research methodology, but one that will provide actionable data for the business.  Look at the blog on How to Define Research Objectives that Drive Action to go more in-depth on this subject.

As you work through this, avoid these common pitfalls:

• Don’t do research against questions that you already know the answer.  Using the example above, you’ve already determined the cause of the sales decline, so don’t focus the research on that question.

• Don’t do research that won’t lead to decision making, that is just nice-to-know, but not actionable.

• Don’t try to answer too many questions in one research study.  It can get overly complex, tax the respondents and take your focus away from the most important questions that will be actionable.

Take the time to think about what actions might be taken from these results, what decisions the team needs to make.   This will force clarity and focus.

It’s also important to consider the budget in your objective discussions.  Without constraints, scope creep is real and can become expensive.  Keeping your budget in mind will also help you focus on what will be most actionable.

Tip: it’s important to get team and stakeholder alignment during this step.  Getting buy-in from key decision makers upfront means there is less likelihood that results are challenged or ignored.

Managing Details is Important to Making Consumer Research Valuable

There are many steps and logistics to manage from selecting the methodology to deciding on the stimulus (what you want to show consumers, if anything, during the research, like a new product concept.)  Below are some key items that need to be completed with any study:

• Select a vendor or do-it-yourself (DIY) platform

• Determine the methodology

• Nail down the inputs and questionnaire

• Determine what stimulus is needed and create it

• Analyze the results or review the vendor report

• Share out the findings and recommended actions to the organization

That means it’s really important to be clear on who is leading the research study, especially if there is no internal research department.  And depending on the complexity of the project, you may want to hire a research expert who can help lead the team strategically and manage all the details.  Refer to the blog Manage Market Research Projects for Actionable Results for more details on creating a project plan.

Design your study with a Budget in Mind to Maximize Value

I’ve touched on both the methodology and budget above, but to make sure you maximize your ROI, those two things must come together.  Your objective will mostly determine your methodology, but budget will also play a big role in the design of the study.  Consider the following things in your design as they will greatly impact the budget.

• Sample size: the larger the number of respondents, the more money it requires.

• Length of the questionnaire or interview: how much time you are asking a respondent to spend impacts the size of their incentive.

• Complexity of the analytics on the back end: heavy modeling can be more costly than simple survey responses.

• If using a vendor consider whether you need their full report or not: some vendors will charge extra for a full report

Choose Your Approach – Each provide value

HIRING A RESEARCH VENDOR

Hiring a research vendor to do the research for you can save a lot of time and money.  They know what they’re doing and should be able to guide you to the right methodology and take the burden of creating questionnaires and analyzing results off your shoulders.  But there are a lot of vendors out there, so it’s good to check these areas before landing on a specific vendor.

• Do they have a sound methodology?  Ask them why they’re recommending that approach and how it differs from some other options.  Ask if they have some case examples of their work that they can share.

• Do they have a quality questionnaire?  Ask about their process for generating the questionnaire, is it standard, custom or a combination of both?  What level of input do you have?

• Do they recruit high-quality participants?  Where do they get their participants?  Many us panel-specific companies, but many also maintain their own panels.  If so, how do they verify the quality of participants?  Another big question is how they manage bots and fake panelists.  It happens quite often, so you want to be sure that actual humans are in your research study.

• Is their report writing and analytics solid?  Asking for examples is a great way to understand this.

• Lastly, check for any red flags

-Unrealistically cheap pricing

-Lack of transparency about consumer panels,

-No quality checks

-Unresponsive or unhelpful client service

-Unrealistic timing for results – either too long or too short

DOING IT YOURSELF

Research platforms are now ubiquitous, so you can run your own research, but keep these things in mind:

• A platform usually requires a subscription, so make sure you want to use it on-going.

• Still check for quality respondents and how they handle bots.

• Check if they support different methodologies but also know that most may price them differently.  Meaning, more complex research designs will still cost more even if you’re doing them.

• Check how easy it is to use their platform from creating the design and questionnaire to downloading the results.  And do they have statistical testing capabilities and how easy is it to access that?

Post-Research Steps That Multiply Consumer Value

Even though the research study may be done, it will only be actionable if the organization understands it and knows what to do.  Here are a few things to keep in mind as you socialize the research.

• Communicate the findings effectively, including actionable recommendations.  Look at the blog on How to Communicate Market Research Findings that Inspire Action for a more in-depth look at how to do that.

• Follow-Up at a later date to measure the business impact or the decision that was made.

• Archive for future reference - make sure to have a system in place for this.  Re-Purposing research for other questions is a tremendous value in terms of time and money.  You don’t want to have to spend time looking for the study or forgetting that it was even done and spending money again on similar research.

Summary

Research can be a big part of business success but to get the best ROI, it’s worth including these steps in your project:

• Clearly define the research objective so it’s focused and can answer the business question.

• Actively manage the project, even if you outsource it to a market research vendor.

• Choose a high-quality vendor or DIY platform.

• Retain its value by communicating effectively, measuring the business impact and archiving it in an organized system.