As featured in the October, 2008 issue of Crain’s Cleveland.
By: Laura Sheridan
You know it’s valuable to understand what’s important to your customers, but you’ve put off research because it’s too expensive. However, you can find out what your customers and prospects want and do it on a limited budget.
One of the best ways to minimize the cost of research is to be clear about what you want to get out of it. Narrowing your focus and understanding what information you need are prerequisites to conducting research on a limited budget.
Unclear about the product benefits to highlight in your ads, brochures and on your web site? Need help prioritizing what new services to develop? Unsure about the image you’re conveying with your logo and the look of your communication materials? Fresh, objective research into the needs and attitudes of customers and prospects is critical to answering these questions.
Here’s how to conduct research on a limited budget:
- Step 1: Define your business problem. Are you considering a new product but aren’t sure if customers want it? Want to confirm that your sales message resonates with prospects? Are sales sluggish and you don’t know why? What business problem is keeping you up at night? Write it down. Be specific.
- Step 2: Establish your research goals. If you have a new product, you need to determine which benefits are most relevant to your target audience. If customer loyalty is waning, you need to understand if your customers are buying from a competitor, cutting back on the product or finding another alternative altogether. Identify what you want to learn. Your “wish list” should include no more than three goals. Narrow your focus; you’ll save money.
- Step 3: Start with secondary research. Published articles and data are free and will provide you with insights that can shortcut your primary research efforts. Visit association and trade publication web sites. Check out blogs. See how your target market talks about your issues. Use that phraseology in your research study. You’ll more effectively communicate with your audience. Use free information first.
- Step 4: Develop a research plan. Get outside expertise to help design and implement a study that will net results you can use quickly. Have the patience to rethink each step of your approach to ensure you are addressing your business problem and research goals. Hire an experienced researcher. Plan well; you’ll spend less.
- Step 5: Determine the type of primary research you need. Qualitative research, which consists of a survey, interview or focus group, provides an understanding of human behavior and reasons guiding the behavior. It investigates the whys and hows of decision making. You solicit input from a small number of people, and hear, firsthand, how they describe your services, your strengths and weaknesses, and their unmet needs.Need data and statistics from a large population? If so, you need quantitative research. A quantitative approach will provide you with statistically significant data.Consider inexpensive online survey tools such as surveymonkey.com, zoomerang.com or constant contact.com. These economical survey sites provide prewritten survey templates, e-mail invitations and response tracking and reporting tools that are often free for up to 100 survey responses a month or $15 to $30 a month for larger sample sizes and more bells and whistles.Test the research tool before implementing it to ensure you don’t squander your total investment. Make sure the questions are clear and that the answers guide your decision making. Asking fewer, better questions will save you money. Less is more.
- Step 6: Work the results. After you conduct the research, spend time digesting the output. Many companies breeze through the research report. Slow down, invite others to review the work and get every penny of value from your investment. Use the data to make better decisions. Embrace the results. Then take action.If you still think research is too expensive, consider the cost of not conducting research. Fine tuning a new product or message before introducing it can save you thousands of dollars.Understanding your target audience is critical to effectively selling to them. Knowing what they value and how they make their purchase decisions can be uncovered with research. It doesn’t require a big budget. Instead, it requires a clear articulation of the business problem you’re trying to solve, specific research goals, and a well-thought-out plan.Ms. Sheridan is president of Viva La Brand LLC, a branding, advertising and marketing firm.
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