It keeps coming up, like a bad lunch. Planning, whether it is an event, a product launch, or a communications campaign, often spells the difference between success and failure. This is certainly true for a marketing research study. In his "Research Playbook" blog, Carey Azzara, of AtHeath, LLC, writes about nine milestones in marketing research planning (http://tinyurl.com/3ajl8st); steps that are necessary to having a productive outcome to your research. Here's my take on it.

 

The most important part of planning for a research study is the articulation of objectives--preferably in writing. If you make them too broad (I want to know everything about the ABC market), you will wind up with a very long questionnaire, a very complex analysis, and you will learn very little of importance. Pick two or three things that are mission critical and focus on those things. Try not to let your marketing/management team tamper with it too much or you will wind up with the proverbial camel (a horse designed by a committee).

 

Allow a professional to design the survey instrument. He or she will certainly ask for input, especially when it comes to jargon, competitors, and attributes of your product, service, or brand. However, an experience researcher will know best how to frame questions in order to facilitate respondents to answer. For example, telephone surveys and self-administered surveys (either online or snail-mail) should be worded differently. The ear needs to hear shorter, more direct questions, while the eye can cope with longer, more complex ones.

 

Sampling is another critical piece of the puzzle. The most reliable quantitative study results come from a random probability sample. However, not all studies are conducted among a general population, so a random probability sample can be obtained from a list, especially when the universe of possible respondents is small, well-defined, and relatively homogeneous. For example, a customer survey in a B-to-B marketplace must be done with a list. On the other hand, the desire to gain knowledge of a large marketplace, including users of a certain product category and non-users should NOT be conducted among a list of customers. The bottom line is: review your objectives and use a sampling design that matches them.

 

Data collection methods follow a similar process. Choose a method that matches your objectives and sample population. Focus groups may not be appropriate if you want results that are generalizable. Check with your consultant for advice.

 

Finally, leave enough time for planning, design, data collection, and report preparation. Make sure your consultant (or internal staff) knows WHEN you need the results; you might need to adjust your study design to accommodate your time frame. Nobody likes surprises--especially when they may denigrate the product or the results.

 

Planning adequately will yield reliable research results. They may not be what you hoped, but they are invariably instructive; which is why you decided to conduct research to begin with.