Describe the different types of market research and the methods of gathering this, including:
Market Research is a term that is used to refer to a process of gathering or collecting information about target audience or target market. The main role of the concept of market research is to provide a company or a business organization with an in-depth view of the customers or consumers in order to be able to satisfy their needs better. The process of market research is integral to be able to compete with other players in the same industry and helps to analyze things like market size, competition and market needs.
Market research makes use of analytical and statistical techniques and methods to gather and interpret information in an organized fashion. This process also involves opinion and social research and is important in today’s increasingly complex business environment. In such a scenario, businesses cannot just rely on their ‘gut-feeling’ to run things, and this is why market research is needed.
Factors to be investigated through market research
Market research can be considered as a method of getting an idea of the needs of the customers, and some of the factors that can be investigated through this process are given as follows:
Trends in the market – Market trends or trends in the market are the movements of a market in a given period of time.
Segmentation of the market – This is the division of a market into subgroups with similar features. This is needed to create a distinction between demographics, choices, genders, and personalities, etc.
Information available – Market information is the information about prices of different products available in the market.
SWOT analysis – This analysis is an analysis of the Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to a business or company.
Effectiveness of marketing – Marketing effectiveness takes into account risk analysis, product research, customer analysis, and competitor analysis, etc.
Benefits of market research
Tapping opportunities – One of the biggest benefits of conducting market research is that it enables you to find out the various market opportunities and makes it possible to tap into them effectively. For example, it may help you to find whether your product is suitable for the audience you have targeted or not, and if it isn’t, then market research helps to identify the suitable audience.
Encouraging communication
– Market research helps you to find out the best way to communicate with your customers. After obtaining research results, one tends to know the audience nature, personalities, likes, dislikes, etc. and this makes it easier to connect with them and reach out to them.
Minimization of the risks
– Another major benefit of market research is that it helps businesses minimize risks by taking actions on certain subjects. For example, it may help to add certain qualities to products that may reach out to number of people, thus decreasing chances of the product going not used.
Establish trends and market standing – The market changes continuously and constantly. In such a scenario, only thorough market research can help to establish the ongoing trends and then formulate plans according to the current customer needs and requirements.
Find out possible problems – Since market research brings out the customer reactions, choices, and preferences, a business can alter the product while it is still in the manufacturing or designing process. It is easier to find problems and then work on them if one has research results in hand.
Types Of Market Research Techniques
Primary Market Research.
Primary market research is a kind of market research which is done by the business or company itself with the objective of gathering information that can be used to improve the products, services, and functions. Primary market research is also known as field research since it is research done from scratch, without using any information that is already made available through other sources. One can gather primary data or information through qualitative research methods as well as quantitative research methods. Primary market research is the most common type of a market research method and is also the most valuable type. It is a method that only answers specific questions and not irrelevant issues.
Secondary market research
Secondary market research
As opposed to primary market research, secondary market research is a research technique that does not aim to gather information from scratch but relies on already available information from multiple sources. This research focuses on data or information that was collected by other people and is available for either free or paid use for others. Secondary market research takes into account many different sources for collection of information including government data, office data, newspapers, magazines, the internet, etc. One of the benefits of doing secondary market research is that it is mostly free and takes a lot less time.
Qualitative research.
Qualitative research.
Qualitative research or qualitative market research is a kind of a research method which mainly takes into account the opinions and feelings of a customer as far as a business’s products and services are concerned. This type of research tries to get behind the customer’s mind to fathom what they see lacking or whether they truly like the product or not. Some common examples of qualitative research work include doing face to face interviews, being part of focus groups, etc.
Quantitative research.
Quantitative research.
Quantitative market research is a kind of market research work that is based on hard facts and statistical data rather than the feelings and opinions of the customers or consumers. This type of research can prove useful both in terms of primary market research and secondary market research. Some of the common examples of quantitative research include exit surveys, questionnaires, on-site fieldwork and the shopping bag survey. In fact, another example of quantitative research includes researching of the previously existing financial reports, research papers. This type of research comes out with a wide range of statistics and helps to find out the size of the market as well.
PRIMARY MARKET RESEARCH
The following are the five Primary market research techniques that are most commonly used and applied:
Focus groups.
One of the main ways used to conduct primary market research is through focus groups. This method involves getting a group of people in a room or a place and asking them insightful questions regarding the product, its development, their preferences, and feedback, etc. These types of focus groups can be run or conducted at any location feasible for the company or business. These days, with advancements in technology and the internet, it is possible to conduct them virtually as well, through the method of video conferencing. But the main thing here is that the group of people brought together have something in common, for example, either they should belong to the same age group, the same gender and so on. This division of the group or the selection process must depend on the audience targeted or the product of service of the company. Participants in such focus groups are then compensated by either free coupons, vouchers, gifts or money, etc. Focus groups fall under the qualitative research method and help businesses know a lot about customer or market trends.
Surveys and questionnaires.
Another superb and highly effective way to conduct primary market research is through surveys and questionnaires. The term ‘surveys’ is a broad term that covers a lot of things such as survey questionnaires, survey forms, survey interviews and customer satisfaction cards, etc. One of the most common examples of this research method is the feedback form given to customers at the time of billing at a restaurant. It is a straightforward method of knowing whether or not the customer is satisfied with the business’s existing services and products or what kind of changes would the consumer like to see. Surveys are also conducted in the form of web questionnaires these days that enable businesses to collect a lot of feedback and then analyze it for further administration.
Observation.
There are two major observation techniques or research methods used in primary market research, and they are observation through interaction and communication with the subject and observation through no interaction and communication with the subject. This form of research method comes under the quantitative primary research since through it; researchers evaluate or measure the behavior of the respondents or the users in general. This is more of a personal approach in comparison to surveys and questionnaires, etc.
Trials and experimentation.
This method of primary research involves scientific tests where hypotheses and variables, etc. are used. This is a quantitative type of market research which may either be controlled out in the field or within controlled environments. In order to understand this form of research, here is an example that you can refer to: A food product company created 3 different food packaging styles and then sold the products to different consumers. After a limited period of time, it analyzed the sales and came to a conclusion about the preferred packaging style or design.
In-depth Interviews.
One may think of an in-depth interview to be a quantitative approach to primary market research, but this method, in fact, is a qualitative research that takes into consideration the kinds of choices and preferences a customer base has. Interviews, unlike focus groups, involve interaction between one moderator and one respondent and several types of modes and methods may be used to conduct them. Interviews may not always be restricted to a set pattern of questions but can also be in the form of a conversation with the target customer base or audience. This kind of a research method helps to dig further into what the customer wants, and the answers can later be analyzed to come to a conclusion for the final product delivery.
SECONDARY MARKET RESEARCH
Secondary market research is mainly based on collecting information from different sources and then coming to a conclusion. The following are the two main types of Sources of Secondary market research data:
Internal sources. Internal sources are those kinds of secondary market research sources that already exist and are collected in the business’s database or file system. Internal sources include information that has already been collected by the company and proves useful for future projects, etc. For most businesses, internal sources may prove enough to develop new products and services, and this may not require them to look outside.
Examples:
Balance sheets – Previous balance sheets of the business can be referred to in order to find stats and figures that may prove useful for evaluation.
Profit and loss statements – Profit and loss statements can be consulted to find out what kinds of products and services resulted in profits previously.
Inventory records – This is another piece of data which can be used as a source for secondary market research and puts into focus many stats and figures.
Sales figures – Companies store their previous sales figures so that they can be analyzed and used for further research.
External sources. In case the internal sources don’t fetch enough or sufficient information, external sources can be use. External sources are those sources that present data that is collected by other businesses or people. These are collected from outside the business’s environment and include multiple sources.External sources can be wide and varied and hence one must follow a controlled approach to assessing them.
Examples:
Government sources – Several government sources can be used to collect a lot of useful information about multiple subjects.
Universities and colleges – Several college students and researchers collect and file information that can be further used by businesses.
The internet – The internet is the most used secondary market research source but has the disadvantage of several non-credible sources with incomplete information.
Competitor data – Often, businesses use the information collected and filed by other business organizations including that gathered by their competitors.
MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN DOING MARKET RESEARCH
Doing only secondary market research – While doing market research, one must avoid making the mistake of doing only secondary research and neglecting primary market research. It is true that secondary research is important and time-saving but primary research may bring about a fresh perspective, updated and latest results and offers a better take at the market.
Things like customer’s values, psychology, attitudes, lifestyle and interests can only be known when one conducts primary market research.
Doing only primary market research – Another common mistake that must be avoided when doing market research is doing only primary market research. Businesses often make the mistake of spending so much time on primary research that they forget that using secondary sources for data could also prove useful and a lot more time-saving. Secondary research may offer some data and stats for free and may eliminate the need to go an extra mile for the same information. Hence, all businesses must make it a point to do a little bit of both the research works.
Using only the web for research – It is true that the internet or the web is the greatest database for a wide variety of information and data but just relying on it and not using any other source could prove to be a big mistake as far as market research is concerned.
One must remember that the internet may not always offer reliable sources and complete information. And, as they say, incomplete information is dangerous. Thus, one must always make it a point to try out other more credible sources as well such as government sources, previous business files, etc.
Limited vision – It is common for people to see what they wish to see, but you just cannot afford to have tunnel vision if you are handling and running a business. A mistake that businesses often tend to make is to remain within a certain enclosure and not seeing what is outside it.
They must rather make the effort, no matter how long it takes to peep outside and take a glimpse at the larger picture. Businesses must extend their vision, learn more and then apply their functions to attract maximum people of different demographics.
Not being able to identify your target audience – One of the most common reasons or causes for the failure of products, services, and business is the inability to identify the target audience.
While with some products, it is easier to tap the potential customers but with some others, finding who your real audience is can be tough. For example – food products. But just because it is difficult doesn’t mean it is impossible. It is highly important for all business companies to know exactly who their target audience is and then focus their marketing and other efforts towards them in particular.
Not giving consumers an incentive to communicate with you – Consumers are smart and need to be given benefits in order to get them attracted. Asking consumers to respond to a survey questionnaire without giving them any incentive can be a big mistake. But, on the other hand, offering the consumers a free coupon or a free voucher in return for their time could suddenly turn the tide in your direction.
What is qualitative and quantitative research?
Market research generally falls into two main methodological groups: qualitative and quantitative.
Qualitative research is an in-depth exploration of what people think, feel or do and, crucially, why. If you want to know why your customers behave as they do and what barriers there may be to their changing that behaviour, you would use qualitative research to explore those issues. Qualitative research does not give statistically robust findings.
Quantitative research provides a measure of how many people think, feel or behave in a certain way and uses statistical analysis to determine the results. If you want to know how many of your customers support a change in a product or service - and how strongly they support it — so that you can determine whether you have a business case for making that change, you would use quantitative research.
While these are often used as standalone methodologies they can also be valuably combined into mixed-methodology research. You may be considering a customer satisfaction survey for the first time. While you may have an idea of what is important to your customers, they may have a different view. An initial piece of qualitative research could identify their needs and priorities; a subsequent quantitative survey could measure how satisfied your customers are that you are meeting those needs.
How does qualitative research work?
Qualitative research follows a semi-structured discussion guide to ensure that all topics under consideration are covered and that the discussion stays relevant. However, the questioning is open and participants are encouraged to explore the reasons for their responses. The discussion process can reveal underlying views and motivations, behavioural triggers and barriers. It can explore reactions to messages, printed material, design features and new products, test understanding of terminology, help generate new concepts and much more.
The most commonly used qualitative approaches are focus groups and depth interviews.
Focus groups (also called group discussions) normally comprise five to eight participants brought together to discuss a number of topics, guided by a moderator. The dynamics of the interaction between participants is an important feature of a focus group.
Depth interviews are one-on-one interviews conducted by telephone or face-to-face. The more intimate environment allows participants to talk openly and is particularly appropriate where participants are competitors who would not agree to come together in a focus group.
Qualitative research is usually audio-recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions form the data which is then analysed by the moderator. Groups can also be video-recorded and can also be observed in real-time at venues specially designed for that purpose.
You can expect a report or a presentation of the findings supported by verbatim quotes from the participants.
How does quantitative research work?
Quantitative research uses a structured questionnaire with mostly closed questions, ie the respondents select their answers from given lists of possible responses. A range of question types may be used. For example, rating questions can measure strength of feeling such as importance or satisfaction, ranking questions can determine preferences, and so on.
Quantitative research may be paper-based, as in a postal survey, or computerised, as in a telephone or online survey. A computerised survey can also be conducted face-to-face using a laptop or on site (eg in-store, on street) using PDAs (hand-held computers).
Because of its statistical nature, sample size is important for quantitative research. Thirty is generally held to be the minimum number of responses for any area of interest although a larger sample size will produce more reliable data.
You can expect a report or a presentation of the findings supported by tables and graphs.
How do you use and apply a hypotheses in market research?
Social science research, and by extension business research, uses a number of different approaches to study a variety of issues. This research may be a very informal, simple process or it may be a formal, somewhat sophisticated process. Regardless of the type of process, all research begins with a generalized idea in the form of a research question or a hypothesis. A research question usually is posed in the beginning of a research effort or in a specific area of study that has had little formal research. A research question may take the form of a basic question about some issue or phenomena or a question about the relationship between two or more variables. For example, a research question might be: "Do flexible work hours improve employee productivity?" Another question might be: "How do flexible hours influence employees' work?"
A hypothesis differs from a research question; it is more specific and makes a prediction. It is a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. The major difference between a research question and a hypothesis is that a hypothesis predicts an experimental outcome. For example, a hypothesis might state: "There is a positive relationship between the availability of flexible work hours and employee productivity."
Hypotheses provide the following benefits:
They determine the focus and direction for a research effort.
Their development forces the researcher to clearly state the purpose of the research activity.
They determine what variables will not be considered in a study, as well as those that will be considered.
They require the researcher to have an operational definition of the variables of interest.
The worth of a hypothesis often depends on the researcher's skills. Since the hypothesis is the basis of a research study, it is necessary for the hypothesis be developed with a great deal of thought and contemplation. There are basic criteria to consider when developing a hypothesis, in order to ensure that it meets the needs of the study and the researcher. A good hypothesis should:
Have logical consistency. Based on the current research literature and knowledge base, does this hypothesis make sense?
Be in step with the current literature and/or provide a good basis for any differences. Though it does not have to support the current body of literature, it is necessary to provide a good rationale for stepping away from the mainstream.
Be testable. If one cannot design the means to conduct the research, the hypothesis means nothing.
Be stated in clear and simple terms in order to reduce confusion.
HYPOTHESIS TESTING PROCESS
Hypothesis testing is a systematic method used to evaluate data and aid the decision-making process.
Following is a typical series of steps involved in hypothesis testing:
State the hypotheses of interest
Determine the appropriate test statistic
Specify the level of statistical significance
Determine the decision rule for rejecting or not rejecting the null hypothesis
Collect the data and perform the needed calculations
Decide to reject or not reject the null hypothesis
Describe how to locate and interrogate information about:
competitors,economic, social and industry trends and practices
"Keeping track of who your competitors are, what people are saying about them, and what they are saying themselves can help you differentiate your business and stay ahead of trends that could impact your business," says Michele Levy, an independent brand strategy consultant. "Staying smart on the competitive landscape helps you make very practical decisions around product development, pricing, promotions, messaging, as well as where you fit in the brand landscape."
This guide will help you understand how your business can benefit from competitive research, how to conduct competitive research, and which sources you will find most productive.
Dig Deeper: The Changing Face of the Competition
Conducting Competitive Research: Understanding the Benefits
Conducting a competitive assessment should be an ongoing process, one in which you continue to deepen your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Every business should gather information about the competition.
There are a series of business benefits you can gain by having insight into the competitive landscape, particularly if you track products, prices, staffing, research and development, and other aspects of the competition on an ongoing basis. "This is so a business can understand the external and internal environments they're operating in," says Ken Garrison, chief executive officer of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).
The following are potential business benefits from conducting competitive research:
Understanding the market.
Better targeting customers.
Forecasting the potential for the market.
Figuring out how the economic climate impacts the market.
Understanding what competitors are offering.
Keeping tabs on competitors' prices.
Determining offerings in ancillary markets.
Finding new customers.
The promise is that by gathering competitive research over time and in a systematic way you will be able to track trends and/or scenarios and be about to act on the research. "You want to take this research and do it in an organized and systematic way so that you can create an actionable strategy or actionable intelligence from it," Garrison says. "Most every company gathers competitive intelligence, even though they may not define it as such. We're all aware of the business environment we're selling into, how our operations are functioning, where we can sell in the future, our profitable areas."
Dig Deeper: How to Profit from Market Research
Conducting Competitive Research: Getting Started
The first decision you need to make about competitive research is whether to gather it in-house or go outside and hire a professional firm or consultant.
The benefits of hiring a consultant include that they may have more expertise in intelligence gathering that you do. "They will do things that wouldn't occur to you," Garrison says. "They have probably done hundreds if not thousands of these analyses. They know how to do them in a systematic way. And they're probably also pretty good at getting senior management to tell them what it is they want to know and what is the scope." Conversely, the challenge of hiring an outside consultant is that sometimes it's difficult getting senior managers to clearly enunciate what they want to know and then listen to the results of the research.
The benefits of conducting the research in-house include that you would understand the business and what competitive factors you want to track, Garrison says. You would also have a constant stream of data in the firm, and managers may listen more to an insider than an outsider. The challenge is that gathering competitive intelligence is a skill and you would either have to develop the talent on your own staff or hire it from somewhere else, he says.
A compromise might be to hire a professional to provide an initial competitive analysis and update it every six or 12 months, while you keep track of competitors on a day-to-day basis in-house, Levy says. "As a business owner your best bet is to do it yourself on an on-going basis by seeing what your competitors are doing, looking at their website, and getting in the habit of keeping those folks on your radar screen," Levy says. "Ideally, this will become an organized thing where you're on their mailing list, you're following them on Twitter, and you mystery shop them every six to 12 months."
Conducting Competitive Research: Creating a Framework
In general, the way to start gathering competitive research is to first set a framework for your competitive assessment. Levy suggests the best way to begin if you're doing this on your own is to start by opening up a new Excel worksheet and creating the following columns outlining your competitors:
Name (and location if relevant)
URL
Elevator pitch (Brief answer to the question "Who is this company?")
Mission (If it exists.)
Products/services offered (with pricing)
Strengths (What is the competitor good at?)
Weaknesses (Where does the competitor fall short?)
Key brand differentiators (What are the messaging, product/service offerings, etc., that set the competitor apart from their competition?)
As you work through the competitive assessment, Levy says, you may find other aspects of your competition useful to track, but this is a good starting point. Garrison suggests that you may want to review the economic environment at a macro level. You may also want to look at the economy on a micro level, particularly if your firm competes in a certain geographic area that has a unique set of factors.
Conducting Competitive Research: Selecting Targets
It's helpful to think of your competition in terms of options that your customers have -- where else they can go to purchase the products and services you hope to sell them, Levy says. That can include direct competitors (those who sell the same thing you do) and indirect competitors (those who sell other products and services that meet the same need). "For example, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts are direct competitors, while the prepared foods section of the local supermarket could be an indirect competitor to them both -- especially if its coffee is good," Levy says.
Often entrepreneurs claim that they have no competition, but everyone has competition. If your list of competitors seems long (and the prospect of tracking all of your competitors daunting), consider prioritizing your list into a couple of different categories. Levy recommends, for instance, "key competitors to watch closely" versus "emerging competitors to keep an eye on."
Conducting Competitive Research: Secret Shopping
In addition to researching what your competitors say about themselves, it is equally important to know if and how they deliver on those promises, Levy says. This information is a bit more challenging to uncover, but it's still available. Some of the ways Levy suggests to understand how well your competitors deliver on the promise of their brand include:
Shop them yourself. Whether shopping online or at a retail location, make sure you visit your competition, view their products and pricing, and have the same experience as a customer.
Have a knowledgeable colleague shop them for you.
Secondary research and business databases.
It may be worthwhile to buy research reports on your industry or sector from outside firms. Often, especially in the technology sphere, analysts such as Forrester Research will publish industry overviews, many of which contain very helpful profiles of the primary competitors in a marketplace. There are also subscription services such as Hoover's, which provides detailed descriptions of companies for a fee, and Dun & Bradstreet, which sells reports on companies with information about history, directors, customers, employees and recent developments.
Know how to analyse market information to inform business decisions
State the hypotheses of interest
Determine the appropriate test statistic
Specify the level of statistical significance
Determine the decision rule for rejecting or not rejecting the null hypothesis
Collect the data and perform the needed calculations
Decide to reject or not reject the null hypothesis
Describe how to locate and interrogate information about:
competitors,economic, social and industry trends and practices
Understanding the competition is a crucial business activity for any entrepreneur or business executive. Some companies hire professionals to track competitors and assess the competitive landscape on a regular basis. But it doesn't always have to be a complicated, time-consuming, and expensive process -- particularly given the new wealth of data that can be assembled using the Internet. By investing even a small amount of time, businesses of any size can develop a framework for making competitive assessments, gather intelligence on business rivals, and understand how to position their own brand, products, and company in the marketplace. Not only can you learn best practices from competitors, but you can also learn to avoid the mistakes they make.
"Keeping track of who your competitors are, what people are saying about them, and what they are saying themselves can help you differentiate your business and stay ahead of trends that could impact your business," says Michele Levy, an independent brand strategy consultant. "Staying smart on the competitive landscape helps you make very practical decisions around product development, pricing, promotions, messaging, as well as where you fit in the brand landscape."
This guide will help you understand how your business can benefit from competitive research, how to conduct competitive research, and which sources you will find most productive.
Dig Deeper: The Changing Face of the Competition
Conducting Competitive Research: Understanding the Benefits
Conducting a competitive assessment should be an ongoing process, one in which you continue to deepen your understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Every business should gather information about the competition.
There are a series of business benefits you can gain by having insight into the competitive landscape, particularly if you track products, prices, staffing, research and development, and other aspects of the competition on an ongoing basis. "This is so a business can understand the external and internal environments they're operating in," says Ken Garrison, chief executive officer of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).
The following are potential business benefits from conducting competitive research:
Understanding the market.
Better targeting customers.
Forecasting the potential for the market.
Figuring out how the economic climate impacts the market.
Understanding what competitors are offering.
Keeping tabs on competitors' prices.
Determining offerings in ancillary markets.
Finding new customers.
The promise is that by gathering competitive research over time and in a systematic way you will be able to track trends and/or scenarios and be about to act on the research. "You want to take this research and do it in an organized and systematic way so that you can create an actionable strategy or actionable intelligence from it," Garrison says. "Most every company gathers competitive intelligence, even though they may not define it as such. We're all aware of the business environment we're selling into, how our operations are functioning, where we can sell in the future, our profitable areas."
Dig Deeper: How to Profit from Market Research
Conducting Competitive Research: Getting Started
The first decision you need to make about competitive research is whether to gather it in-house or go outside and hire a professional firm or consultant.
The benefits of hiring a consultant include that they may have more expertise in intelligence gathering that you do. "They will do things that wouldn't occur to you," Garrison says. "They have probably done hundreds if not thousands of these analyses. They know how to do them in a systematic way. And they're probably also pretty good at getting senior management to tell them what it is they want to know and what is the scope." Conversely, the challenge of hiring an outside consultant is that sometimes it's difficult getting senior managers to clearly enunciate what they want to know and then listen to the results of the research.
The benefits of conducting the research in-house include that you would understand the business and what competitive factors you want to track, Garrison says. You would also have a constant stream of data in the firm, and managers may listen more to an insider than an outsider. The challenge is that gathering competitive intelligence is a skill and you would either have to develop the talent on your own staff or hire it from somewhere else, he says.
A compromise might be to hire a professional to provide an initial competitive analysis and update it every six or 12 months, while you keep track of competitors on a day-to-day basis in-house, Levy says. "As a business owner your best bet is to do it yourself on an on-going basis by seeing what your competitors are doing, looking at their website, and getting in the habit of keeping those folks on your radar screen," Levy says. "Ideally, this will become an organized thing where you're on their mailing list, you're following them on Twitter, and you mystery shop them every six to 12 months."
Conducting Competitive Research: Creating a Framework
In general, the way to start gathering competitive research is to first set a framework for your competitive assessment. Levy suggests the best way to begin if you're doing this on your own is to start by opening up a new Excel worksheet and creating the following columns outlining your competitors:
Name (and location if relevant)
URL
Elevator pitch (Brief answer to the question "Who is this company?")
Mission (If it exists.)
Products/services offered (with pricing)
Strengths (What is the competitor good at?)
Weaknesses (Where does the competitor fall short?)
Key brand differentiators (What are the messaging, product/service offerings, etc., that set the competitor apart from their competition?)
As you work through the competitive assessment, Levy says, you may find other aspects of your competition useful to track, but this is a good starting point. Garrison suggests that you may want to review the economic environment at a macro level. You may also want to look at the economy on a micro level, particularly if your firm competes in a certain geographic area that has a unique set of factors.
Conducting Competitive Research: Selecting Targets
It's helpful to think of your competition in terms of options that your customers have -- where else they can go to purchase the products and services you hope to sell them, Levy says. That can include direct competitors (those who sell the same thing you do) and indirect competitors (those who sell other products and services that meet the same need). "For example, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts are direct competitors, while the prepared foods section of the local supermarket could be an indirect competitor to them both -- especially if its coffee is good," Levy says.
Often entrepreneurs claim that they have no competition, but everyone has competition. If your list of competitors seems long (and the prospect of tracking all of your competitors daunting), consider prioritizing your list into a couple of different categories. Levy recommends, for instance, "key competitors to watch closely" versus "emerging competitors to keep an eye on."
Conducting Competitive Research: Secret Shopping
In addition to researching what your competitors say about themselves, it is equally important to know if and how they deliver on those promises, Levy says. This information is a bit more challenging to uncover, but it's still available. Some of the ways Levy suggests to understand how well your competitors deliver on the promise of their brand include:
Shop them yourself. Whether shopping online or at a retail location, make sure you visit your competition, view their products and pricing, and have the same experience as a customer.
Have a knowledgeable colleague shop them for you.
You can engage mystery shoppers or simply rely on someone else on your staff to shop your competition and report back to you.
Ask your customers. Customers of yours may be -- or may have been – customers of your competition, too. Ask them either in formal or informal interviews where else they would purchase products and services similar to yours, and what they think of their options.
Conducting Competitive Research: Ongoing Monitoring
Once you have created a comprehensive overview of the competitive landscape, you should update your information on a quarterly basis, tracking:
Any changes in messaging and overall visual identity
New products, services and/or pricing
Short-term or long-term promotions
New advertising or other outbound communications
New geographies
New team members
Significant sales wins and losses
Dig Deeper: Understanding the Competition
Conducting Competitive Research: Using Tools
There are a growing variety of competitive research tools available, depending upon whether your competitors are publically-traded companies or privately held. These resources also run the gamut in terms of how much they will cost you, from free Google Alerts and Twitter feeds to market research reports that can run into the thousands of dollars. You must ultimately weigh your needs for competitive research against the costs of certain tools and resources.
Here are some of the resources you can use to gather competitive research:
1. Web audits.
The Web is likely to be one of the first places customers will visit to research your competition, so you should start there as well. "Put on your consumer hat and visit your competitors' websites as if you were thinking about purchasing something from them," Levy says. "This is where you can start to fill in the columns of your spreadsheet." Pay special attention to anything that makes a particular competitor stand out in the landscape -- perhaps one of your competitors has more striking graphics than the others, or one offers special pricing deals, etc. If your competitors offer online purchasing, actually walk through the shopping and purchase process to see how user friendly it is (or isn't).
2. Free Web tools.
One of the best ways to gather intelligence on competitors is to sign up for free services on the Internet. Subscribe to your competitors' e-mail newsletters. Set up Google Alerts on top competitors and their executives so that you get an e-mail every time they get a mention online. Monitor Twitter for mentions of your competitors' names and by subscribing to their feeds. If this sounds like too many channels of information to monitor on a regular basis, there's an easy solution to save time and simplify -- RSS feeds. Keep up with competitors by feeding things like Google Alerts, Twitter, and all of your other RSS feeds into one RSS feed through a tool such as MySyndicaat.com.
Public records.
If your competitors are public companies, you can look up their financial filings without charge on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Edgar database. Privately-held companies are often more difficult to research, but every corporation has to be chartered in a particular state and the filings of state corporation records are public documents. In addition, Uniform Commercial Code filings, real estate records, and any litigation will also produce public records that can be mined for information about competitors for free.
Explain the circumstances in which a market research consultancy might be appointed
Ask your customers. Customers of yours may be -- or may have been – customers of your competition, too. Ask them either in formal or informal interviews where else they would purchase products and services similar to yours, and what they think of their options.
Conducting Competitive Research: Ongoing Monitoring
Once you have created a comprehensive overview of the competitive landscape, you should update your information on a quarterly basis, tracking:
Any changes in messaging and overall visual identity
New products, services and/or pricing
Short-term or long-term promotions
New advertising or other outbound communications
New geographies
New team members
Significant sales wins and losses
Dig Deeper: Understanding the Competition
Conducting Competitive Research: Using Tools
There are a growing variety of competitive research tools available, depending upon whether your competitors are publically-traded companies or privately held. These resources also run the gamut in terms of how much they will cost you, from free Google Alerts and Twitter feeds to market research reports that can run into the thousands of dollars. You must ultimately weigh your needs for competitive research against the costs of certain tools and resources.
Here are some of the resources you can use to gather competitive research:
1. Web audits.
The Web is likely to be one of the first places customers will visit to research your competition, so you should start there as well. "Put on your consumer hat and visit your competitors' websites as if you were thinking about purchasing something from them," Levy says. "This is where you can start to fill in the columns of your spreadsheet." Pay special attention to anything that makes a particular competitor stand out in the landscape -- perhaps one of your competitors has more striking graphics than the others, or one offers special pricing deals, etc. If your competitors offer online purchasing, actually walk through the shopping and purchase process to see how user friendly it is (or isn't).
2. Free Web tools.
One of the best ways to gather intelligence on competitors is to sign up for free services on the Internet. Subscribe to your competitors' e-mail newsletters. Set up Google Alerts on top competitors and their executives so that you get an e-mail every time they get a mention online. Monitor Twitter for mentions of your competitors' names and by subscribing to their feeds. If this sounds like too many channels of information to monitor on a regular basis, there's an easy solution to save time and simplify -- RSS feeds. Keep up with competitors by feeding things like Google Alerts, Twitter, and all of your other RSS feeds into one RSS feed through a tool such as MySyndicaat.com.
Public records.
If your competitors are public companies, you can look up their financial filings without charge on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Edgar database. Privately-held companies are often more difficult to research, but every corporation has to be chartered in a particular state and the filings of state corporation records are public documents. In addition, Uniform Commercial Code filings, real estate records, and any litigation will also produce public records that can be mined for information about competitors for free.
Explain the circumstances in which a market research consultancy might be appointed
Secondary research and business databases.
It may be worthwhile to buy research reports on your industry or sector from outside firms. Often, especially in the technology sphere, analysts such as Forrester Research will publish industry overviews, many of which contain very helpful profiles of the primary competitors in a marketplace. There are also subscription services such as Hoover's, which provides detailed descriptions of companies for a fee, and Dun & Bradstreet, which sells reports on companies with information about history, directors, customers, employees and recent developments.
Explain data processing methods and data analysis techniques
Marketing is the process of developing and implementing a plan to identify, anticipate and satisfy consumer demand, in such a way as to make a profit. The two main elements of this plan are market research to identify and anticipate customer requirements and the planning of an appropriate marketing mix to meet these requirements. Market research involves gathering and recording information about consumers, market, product, and the competition in an organised way. The information is then analysed and used to inform marketing decisions. There are three main ways of gathering information for market research:
From internal information already held by an organisation, e.g. details of existing customers and their spending habits.
External primary information - i.e. information collected at first hand by interviewing customers and potential customers to get their views about a company, products and services.
External secondary information - using published sources of information e.g. those produced by marketing organisations about products, markets and brands.
To assess how well the organisation is doing in its markets.
To identify current strengths and weaknesses in these markets.
To establish marketing objectives to be achieved in these markets.
To establish a marketing mix for each market designed to achieve organisational objectives.
Service organisations like the Inland Revenue and Abbey will carry out marketing to find out about the sort of service that their customers and clients require in order to create an appropriate marketing plan. Manufacturing organisations like Cadbury Schweppes, Corus, Audi and Nissan will carry out product research in order to create an appropriate marketing plan for their products (as well as associated services).
A simple definition of market research is 'keeping those who provide goods and services in touch with the needs and wants of those who buy the goods and services.'
Explain the purpose of written and graphical forms of statistical data and demonstrate how these should be interpreted as part of market research activities
Analyzing quantitative and qualitative data is often the topic of advanced research and evaluation methods courses. However, there are certain basics which can help to make sense of reams of data.
Always start with your research goals
When analyzing data (whether from questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, or whatever), always start from review of your research goals, i.e., the reason you undertook the research in the first place. This will help you organize your data and focus your analysis. For example, if you wanted to improve a program by identifying its strengths and weaknesses, you can organize data into program strengths, weaknesses and suggestions to improve the program. If you wanted to fully understand how your program works, you could organize data in the chronological order in which customers or clients go through your program. If you are conducting a performance improvement study, you can categorize data according to each measure associated with each overall performance result, e.g., employee learning, productivity and results.
Basic analysis of "quantitative" information
Make copies of your data and store the master copy away. Use the copy for making edits, cutting and pasting, etc.
Tabulate the information, i.e., add up the number of ratings, rankings, yes's, no's for each question.
For ratings and rankings, consider computing a mean, or average, for each question. For example, "For question #1, the average ranking was 2.4". This is more meaningful than indicating, e.g., how many respondents ranked 1, 2, or 3.
Consider conveying the range of answers, e.g., 20 people ranked "1", 30 ranked "2", and 20 people ranked "3".
Basic analysis of "qualitative" information
(respondents' verbal answers in interviews, focus groups, or written commentary on questionnaires):
Read through all the data.
Organize comments into similar categories, e.g., concerns, suggestions, strengths, weaknesses, similar experiences, program inputs, recommendations, outputs, outcome indicators, etc.
Label the categories or themes, e.g., concerns, suggestions, etc.
Attempt to identify patterns, or associations and causal relationships in the themes, e.g., all people who attended programs in the evening had similar concerns, most people came from the same geographic area, most people were in the same salary range, what processes or events respondents experience during the program, etc.
Keep all commentary for several years after completion in case needed for future reference.
Interpreting information
Attempt to put the information in perspective, e.g., compare results to what you expected, promised results; management or program staff; any common standards for your products or services; original goals (especially if you're conducting a program evaluation); indications or measures of accomplishing outcomes or results (especially if you're conducting an outcomes or performance evaluation); description of the program's experiences, strengths, weaknesses, etc. (especially if you're conducting a process evaluation).
Consider recommendations to help employees improve the program, product or service; conclusions about program operations or meeting goals, etc.
Record conclusions and recommendations in a report, and associate interpretations to justify your conclusions or recommendations.
Analyzing Data and Communicating Results.
Reporting Results
The level and scope of content depends on to whom the report is intended, e.g., to funders / bankers, employees, clients, customers, the public, etc.
Be sure employees have a chance to carefully review and discuss the report. Translate recommendations to action plans, including who is going to do what about the research results and by when.
Funders / bankers will likely require a report that includes an executive summary (this is a summary of conclusions and recommendations, not a listing of what sections of information are in the report -- that's a table of contents); description of the organization and the program, product, service, etc., under evaluation; explanation of the research goals, methods, and analysis procedures; listing of conclusions and recommendations; and any relevant attachments, e.g., inclusion of research questionnaires, interview guides, etc.
The funder may want the report to be delivered as a presentation, accompanied by an overview of the report. Or, the funder may want to review the report alone.
Be sure to record the research plans and activities in a research plan which can be referenced when a similar research effort is needed in the future.
Who Should Carry Out the Research?
Ideally, the organization's management decides what the research goals should be. Then a research expert helps the organization to determine what the research methods should be, and how the resulting data will be analyzed and reported back to the organization.
If an organization can afford any outside help at all, it should be for identifying the appropriate research methods and how the data can be collected. The organization might find a less expensive resource to apply the methods, e.g., conduct interviews, send out and analyze results of questionnaires, etc.
If no outside help can be obtained, the organization can still learn a great deal by applying the methods and analyzing results themselves. However, there is a strong chance that data about the strengths and weaknesses of a product, service or program will not be interpreted fairly if the data are analyzed by the people responsible for ensuring the product, service or program is a good one. These people will be "policing" themselves. This caution is not to fault these people, but rather to recognize the strong biases inherent in trying to objectively look at and publicly (at least within the organization) report about their work. Therefore, if at all possible, have someone other than the those responsible for the product, service or program to look at and determine research results.
Contents of a Research Report -- An Example
Ensure your research plan is documented so that you can regularly and efficiently carry out your research activities. In your plan, record enough information so that someone outside of the organization can understand what you're researching and how. For example, consider the following format:
Title Page (name of the organization that is being, or has a product/service/program that is being researched; date)
Table of Contents
Executive Summary (one-page, concise overview of findings and recommendations)
Purpose of the Report (what type of research was conducted, what decisions are being aided by the findings of the research , who is making the decision, etc.)
Background About Organization and Product/Service/Program that is being researched
Organization Description/History
Product/Service/Program Description (that is being researched)
Problem Statement (in the case of nonprofits, description of the community need that is being met by the product/service/program)
Overall Goal(s) of Product/Service/Program
Outcomes (or client/customer impacts) and Performance Measures (that can be measured as indicators toward the outcomes)
Activities/Technologies of the Product/Service/Program (general description of how the product/service/program is developed and delivered)
Staffing (description of the number of personnel and roles in the organization that are relevant to developing and delivering the product/service/program)
Overall Evaluation Goals (eg, what questions are being answered by the research)
Methodology
Types of data/information that were collected
How data/information were collected (what instruments were used, etc.)
How data/information were analyzed
Limitations of the evaluation (eg, cautions about findings/conclusions and how to use the findings/conclusions, etc.)
Interpretations and Conclusions (from analysis of the data/information)
Recommendations (regarding the decisions that must be made about the product/service/program)
Appendices: content of the appendices depends on the goals of the research report, eg.:
Instruments used to collect data/information
Data, eg, in tabular format, etc.
Testimonials, comments made by users of the product/service/program
Case studies of users of the product/service/program
Any related literature
Business market research is the process of collecting data to determine whether a particular product/service will satisfy the needs of your customers. With effective market research, your company can gain invaluable information about your competitors, economic shifts, demographics, the current market trends and the spending traits of your customers.
Be sure to record the research plans and activities in a research plan which can be referenced when a similar research effort is needed in the future.
Who Should Carry Out the Research?
Ideally, the organization's management decides what the research goals should be. Then a research expert helps the organization to determine what the research methods should be, and how the resulting data will be analyzed and reported back to the organization.
If an organization can afford any outside help at all, it should be for identifying the appropriate research methods and how the data can be collected. The organization might find a less expensive resource to apply the methods, e.g., conduct interviews, send out and analyze results of questionnaires, etc.
If no outside help can be obtained, the organization can still learn a great deal by applying the methods and analyzing results themselves. However, there is a strong chance that data about the strengths and weaknesses of a product, service or program will not be interpreted fairly if the data are analyzed by the people responsible for ensuring the product, service or program is a good one. These people will be "policing" themselves. This caution is not to fault these people, but rather to recognize the strong biases inherent in trying to objectively look at and publicly (at least within the organization) report about their work. Therefore, if at all possible, have someone other than the those responsible for the product, service or program to look at and determine research results.
Contents of a Research Report -- An Example
Ensure your research plan is documented so that you can regularly and efficiently carry out your research activities. In your plan, record enough information so that someone outside of the organization can understand what you're researching and how. For example, consider the following format:
Title Page (name of the organization that is being, or has a product/service/program that is being researched; date)
Table of Contents
Executive Summary (one-page, concise overview of findings and recommendations)
Purpose of the Report (what type of research was conducted, what decisions are being aided by the findings of the research , who is making the decision, etc.)
Background About Organization and Product/Service/Program that is being researched
Organization Description/History
Product/Service/Program Description (that is being researched)
Problem Statement (in the case of nonprofits, description of the community need that is being met by the product/service/program)
Overall Goal(s) of Product/Service/Program
Outcomes (or client/customer impacts) and Performance Measures (that can be measured as indicators toward the outcomes)
Activities/Technologies of the Product/Service/Program (general description of how the product/service/program is developed and delivered)
Staffing (description of the number of personnel and roles in the organization that are relevant to developing and delivering the product/service/program)
Overall Evaluation Goals (eg, what questions are being answered by the research)
Methodology
Types of data/information that were collected
How data/information were collected (what instruments were used, etc.)
How data/information were analyzed
Limitations of the evaluation (eg, cautions about findings/conclusions and how to use the findings/conclusions, etc.)
Interpretations and Conclusions (from analysis of the data/information)
Recommendations (regarding the decisions that must be made about the product/service/program)
Appendices: content of the appendices depends on the goals of the research report, eg.:
Instruments used to collect data/information
Data, eg, in tabular format, etc.
Testimonials, comments made by users of the product/service/program
Case studies of users of the product/service/program
Any related literature
Explain how market research affects the development of products and services and how it can be taken into consideration as part of the company’s business plan
The Types of Market Research Explained
If you are wondering, what exactly market research is, and what types of businesses require market research, then here is your answer. Market research consists of two types of research, primary and secondary and almost every type of business requires market research in order to be successful.
Primary Research monitors the effectiveness of sales, existing business practices, the quality of services, and the tools used for communication. Additionally, it also assesses the current market competition by evaluating the business plans of your competitors.
Secondary Research is the collection of already published data to create a company database that helps in situation analysis. It devises strategies for benchmarking, and helps in determining the market segments that a company should target.
The Importance of Market Research
With the economy becoming more and more competitive with each passing day, having apt knowledge about the concerns and preferences of your customers has become integral for any business. Market research is the best way to increase customer satisfaction, understand the factors that affect your business, and to elevate your performance. Here are three reasons why market research cannot be ignored:
1. Market research can guarantees the success of your marketing campaigns, and in-turn sales
Market research not only helps in identifying new business opportunities, but also helps in designing marketing campaigns that will directly target the interest of your potential consumers and help in increasing sales. Marketing research provides valuable information about the potential of a particular market segment, during a specific time, and within a particular age group.
2. Market research can help you keep a tab on your competitors
Marketing research is a good evaluation tool that can be of great use in comparative studies. You can track your company's progress as well as the growth of your competitors, by keeping an eye on your competitors. You can devise business strategies that would keep you ahead of your business rivals.
3. Market research can help you minimize loss in your business
With market research, you can reduce the chances of loss to a large extent. Before launching a product, you can identify potential problems and even determine the solutions. The research carried out after the launch of a new product can help you find loopholes and devise plans to counter that loss and increase the profits.
Why Companies Require Market Research?
Marketing research is needed on a continual basis, if you want to keep up with the latest market trends and gain a competitive edge in the business market. Understanding market research and using it to your advantage is vital in reaching out to your target audience and increasing your sales.
Here is why your company should conduct business market research:
Identify the problem areas in your business
Understand the needs of existing customers and why they chose your service/product over competitors.
Identify new business opportunities and changing market trends
Recognize new areas for expansion, and increase your customer base
Discover potential customers and their needs, which can be incorporated into your products/services.
Set achievable targets for business growth, sales, and latest product developments
Make well-informed market decisions about your services and develop effective strategies
Explain the role of market research in enterprise development
Understand legal requirements for market research activities
Explain the relevant legislation applicable to market research activity, including:
– the Privacy Act
- and any other acts that applies to the collection of, and storage of confidential information.
General Conduct
1. Treat respondents with respect and in a professional manner.
2. Protect the rights of respondents, including the right to refuse to participate in part or all of the research process.
Researchers must respect the bounds of cooperation set by respondents, who control the parameters under which information is given. In practice, this means all of the following:
Respondent agreement to participate in research must be obtained upfront, rather than after the fact.
Consent must be granted freely, without coercion.
Consent may be withdrawn by the respondent at any point during the contact.
Consent must be granted expressly for participation in any subsequent studies.
An explicit opt-out request for any future contact or participation at any point during the process will be honored.
All reasonable precautions are taken so that respondents are in no way adversely affected as a result of their participation in a marketing research project.
Exceptions: In limited circumstances of passive user data collection, no opportunity may exist for respondents to refuse to participate.
3. Influence no respondent’s opinion or attitude through direct or indirect attempts, including the framing or order of questions.
During screening, prequalification or other qualification procedures and data collection, great care must be taken to source and collect information impartially so that research results accurately reflect reality.
Exceptions: Projects intending to determine how opinions can be manipulated such as message testing.
4. Protect the privacy of respondents.
Transparency
8. Make factually correct statements to secure cooperation, including for database/sample development, and honor all promises made to respondents including but not limited to the use of data.
Exceptions: In limited instances, bona fide research projects may require, as part of their design, that respondents remain unaware of specific details such as in message testing. In such cases, upfront instructions to respondents should be truthful and furnish as much information as possible for a respondent to provide informed consent and they should be fully debriefed upon conclusion of contact, when applicable.
9. Ensure that respondents are informed at the outset if an interview or discussion is being audio or video recorded and obtain written consent if the recorded interview or discussion will be viewed by a third-party or reproduced for outside use.
The requirement for consent must be requested of the respondent if it is their specific interview or discussion that will be subject to the audio and video recording. State laws that apply to monitoring or recording may also require consent from all parties subject to the audio or video recording.
10. Not represent non-research activity as research.
Conducting commercial or political activities under the guise of opinion and marketing research undermines public trust in the profession and erodes the goodwill that makes research possible. Members will never represent non-research activities as research studies. These non-research activities include, but are not limited to:
Questions whose sole objective is to obtain personally identifiable information (PII) about respondents whether for legal, political, direct sales, private or other purposes.
The compilation of lists, registers or databanks of names and addresses for any non-research purpose, such as in canvassing or fund raising.
Industrial, commercial or any other form of espionage that could cause harm to an individual or organization.
The acquisition of information for use by credit rating services or similar organizations.
Sales or promotional approaches to the respondent.
Engagement or interactions with people involved in observational research, such as in social media.
Members will ensure that information collected during any bona fide research study will not be used for any sales, solicitations or push polling after the fact.
11. Provide respondents with clear notice and choice about participation when passively collecting data for research purposes from non-public sources or places, where the respondent would not reasonably expect information to be collected.
Notice and choice to the respondent is a necessary component of the survey research process. Notice must be provided in a clear and meaningful manner and at the time which the respondent provides data to the researcher. When appropriate, passive user data collection should remain unobtrusive and not interfere with people’s lives.
Definition of Passive User Data Collection: Passive user data collection may involve observational or tracking-based research such as:
Web tracking (including but not limited to: Flash, QuickTime, cookies and JavaScript).
Manual entry into a historical profile after a conversation, email or online chat with a customer service representative.
Certain forms of observational research such as mystery shopping, social media listening or certain ethnographic protocols.
Exceptions: Clear notice and choice about participation is not necessary in any of the following scenarios:
For collection of online information for fraud prevention and validation purposes.
In limited commonly accepted research practices, where offering notice and choice would unnecessarily burden and confuse the respondent, such as the practice of inferring gender in a telephone survey interview from the respondent’s voice quality.
Paradata and administrative data from research projects for quality and accuracy purposes, such as data that is captured as part of the administration of a survey or piece of research. For example, capturing the amount of time a respondent takes to complete an online survey or recording the number of attempts it takes to contact a telephone respondent. These are collected as a matter of process or for quality assurance.
12. When collecting data, maintain an internal do-not-contact database as a complement to requests made by respondents for future communications and participation in marketing research projects.
13. Collect personally identifiable information (PII), including email addresses, whether actively or passively, only with respondent’s awareness or permission.
Protection of PII is enhanced by gathering only information relevant to the specific research project being conducted. Researchers should tailor methods and measurement to collect only personal data necessary for the success of the project.
If respondent identity could be deduced merely from participation in a study itself, even without PII attached, respondents must be made aware of this possibility when cooperation is initially sought.
PII is defined as any information about an individual maintained by an agency or business, including but not limited to:
Any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual‘s identity, such as name, social media usernames and userphotos, personal website addresses, date and place of birth, mother‘s maiden name, biometric records or social media comments that are so unique as to be individually identifiable via a Web search.
Any other information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information.
Researchers may use respondent PII for purposes of maintaining the integrity of the data processing operations, such as matching respondent records from separate files, including appending client to third-party data to a survey-based file. In those cases, PII will be replaced with surrogate identifying codes, untraceable to individual respondents, upon completion of data processing operations.
In maintaining respondent privacy, members must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, ordinances and existing policies and terms of use requirements in which the PII is obtained or collected. This means consulting with appropriate legal counsel and staying current with existing and proposed legislation and regulation affecting the profession.
14. Compile, maintain and utilize Internet samples of only those individuals who have provided their permission to be contacted for marketing research purposes and those who have a reasonable expectation based on an existing business relationship that they will receive invitations for marketing research purposes.
Technical Compliance
15. Consider data privacy a fundamental part of planning and the research process, and maintain a clear, concise and easy to understand privacy or terms of use policy that describes the ways respondent data is collected, used, disclosed and managed.
Privacy of respondents should receive consideration at the highest levels by individual marketing researchers and companies so that every employee in the business understands how they are responsible for protecting respondents’ confidential information.
A respondent privacy policy must be established prior to any contact with respondents and should be comprehensive, covering all respondent information, under all conditions, all the time, with potential exceptions anticipated and planned for. The privacy policy should address data retention and disposal issues as well.
Additionally, privacy policies should be stated plainly, minimizing jargon, and be understandable by the public without a legal or research background. Policies should be easily accessible by online and offline means and available not only at the time cooperation is sought, but upon demand at any time after data are gathered.
It is important to detail exactly how personal information may be used, and then adhere only to stated uses. Any additional material use or change in use of PII requires specific, advance written or recorded approval from respondents.
The privacy policy should include a contact mechanism; ideally a phone number, email or Web address containing contact information, and a mailing address to which questions or comments may be submitted. All feedback should be acknowledged upon receipt and replied to, as necessary, as soon as is feasible.
Online surveys must include access (such as via a link) to a privacy policy.
Fundamental data privacy planning includes:
Implementing industry standard physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect respondent data.
Limiting data collection to information necessary to inform research question(s).
Limiting data usage to those purposes communicated to, or that might be reasonably expected by respondent.
Informing respondent of the possibility for re-contact for follow-up.
Retaining data in as anonymous a form as possible while maintaining data integrity.
Establishing reasonable limits to the time data will be retained before disposal.
Disposing of data safely and securely.
16. Take special care and adhere to applicable law when conducting research across state and national borders and with vulnerable populations, including but not limited to children.
Specific laws and regulations govern research among these groups, and it is incumbent upon marketing researchers to ensure compliance obligations for all vulnerable populations are met, regardless of any specific interviewing method or response technology in use.
Research among children requires knowledge and adherence to unique precautions that apply to all respondents under the age of majority, i.e. minors.
Other vulnerable groups include but are not limited to:
Elderly/aged persons
Cognitively impaired persons
Prisoners
Patients or others with medical issues
Each of these groups may be covered by situation or class-specific regulations, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
See Best Practices and Legal Affairs for specific resources.
17. When having the responsibility of creating products and services for use by respondents, provide products and services that are safe and fit for their intended use, are labeled in accordance with all laws and regulations, and provide the means to make the respondent whole should problems arise, in part by including emergency contact information.
Article II – Responsibilities to Clients and Vendors
18. Honor legal obligations and practices and pursue alternative dispute resolution in good faith regarding disagreements with business partners prior to litigating those disputes.
Work must be performed as specified in the agreement with the client. Changes to work specifications, project plans, etc. may not be made without the express permission of the client.
19. As with the commitment to respondent privacy, maintain trusted relationships with clients and research sponsors by keeping confidential all sensitive or proprietary research techniques, methodologies and business information. Maintain the confidential identity of clients and research sponsors.
Exceptions: Information may be revealed in compliance with the request of a legal authority or when clients or research sponsors provide written consent to disclose their identity.
20. Induce or engage no research partners, vendors or clients in any unacceptable activity or practice as stated in the Code or any activity or practice that is prohibited or illegal under any applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.
21. When conducting secondary research, inform clients of the source of secondary research and not misrepresent it as primary data.
Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary, collation or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data is collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments.
The term is widely used in medical research, legal research, and in marketing research. In a marketing research context, secondary research is taken to include the re-use by a second party of any data collected by a first party or parties.
Sometimes secondary research is required in the preliminary stages of research to determine what is known already and what new data is required, or to inform research design. At other times, it may be the only research technique used.
A key performance area in secondary research is the full citation of original sources, usually in the form of a complete listing or annotated listing.
Secondary sources could include previous research reports, newspaper, magazine and journal content, and government and NGO statistics.
22. Be granted prior approval, if all or part of the work on a project is to be combined or syndicated with work for other clients, or if the same is to be subcontracted to another entity outside the researcher’s organization.
23. Avoid any conflict of interest, real or perceived, in accepting work from multiple clients, particularly clients in competing or similar markets or lines of business. If any conflict of interest – real or perceived – exists, the member will notify all parties of the conflict and obtain acknowledgment of the conflict and written confirmation to proceed.
Accepting work from competing clients does not automatically present a conflict, provided that project resources are never commingled and confidentiality is fully maintained. It is imperative that researchers establish safeguards to keep each client’s data separate and protected from others at all times.
24. Ensure that research conducted is the property of the commissioning party or client(s). At no time may such research be shared with other entities without the express written permission of the original client(s).
25. Provide detailed written or verbal study instructions to those engaged in the data collection process.
Accurate data can be obtained only when all parties to the research process are committed to quality. Principal investigators must ensure that staff involved in sampling, fieldwork, data processing, analysis and other facets of a study receive appropriate, detailed instructions so that operations are completed as planned. Documentation should be created and preserved at every step of a project so that subsequent investigators can understand and replicate study findings.
26. Ensure that business partners, their employees and subcontractors involved in the data collection process take reasonable precautions to ensure that no conflict of interest, real or perceived, exists based on the simultaneous participation of a respondent in multiple studies without obtaining explicit permission from the sponsoring client(s).
27. Ensure that all research materials provided by the client, or generated as a result of materials provided by the client, remain their property unless otherwise stipulated in a contract or other work agreement.
28. Ensure that all project materials be retained or disposed of upon the expiration of the research activity as agreed upon based on the contract or work agreement with the client.
29. As time and availability permit, afford the client(s) the opportunity to monitor studies in progress to evaluate research quality and adherence to work agreements, and inform clients of quality control procedures in place upon their request.
30. Offer guidance to clients as to the appropriateness of the methodology being employed and sample selected to the fullest extent possible on each project.
Laypersons often do not have the necessary knowledge or experience to conduct research or to properly interpret data and recommend courses of action based upon that interpretation. Members must educate clients and the public in the proper methods and execution of marketing research, and use of research findings. When researchers are made aware of instances in which clients are improperly interpreting or otherwise using research, a professional duty exists to advise the errant party in the proper understanding or application of the data.
31. Provide business partners sufficient detail and transparency as to the objectives and design of a research project in order for them to gauge the appropriateness of their participation.
32. Respect that all information contained in an interviewing facility, sample provider or similar database, or held by an independent recruiter, is the sole property of those entities and are not to be acquired for any business purpose without express written consent of the owner.
Observe all licensing or use restrictions imposed by database or facility owners. Under no circumstance will a member retain possession or make use of database information outside the scope of the original agreement.
33. When using a purchased sample, comply with obligations under law and the requirements and limitations placed on data usage by data owners, including list brokers, database compilers and sample providers.
Common sample requirements and limitations include but are not limited to these examples:
Submission of questionnaire documents when requested.
Limitations on use of sensitive material including data on children, medical conditions and financial information.
Other areas deemed sensitive by the list provider or owner.
Not using sample or lists for any purpose other than legitimate research purposes.
Holding household and personal data contained in sample information in the same strict confidence as collected survey data and using it only for the purposes of stratification, selection or control of survey sample or in tabulation of aggregate results.
Ensuring that information derived from the sample will not be used for individual marketing efforts, i.e. no marketing action can be taken toward an individual respondent as a result of their survey information or participation as a survey respondent.
34. Calculate research metrics such as incidence, performance measurements such as response rates, error measurements such as sample margin of error, and other formulas according to commonly accepted industry practices.
35. Inform clients at their request of archiving, storage, and technical security procedures, as well as software name, producer and version being utilized for their work (if a data processing company).
any other act that applies to the collection of, and storage of confidential information
Market research is extremely significant for the success of your business endeavours, market research outsourcing services to help you:
- Strategize and take calculated business decisions
- Understand the preferences, buying patterns and needs of your customers
- Identify new opportunities for business growth
- Pinpoint problems in your existing business model
- Get new product ideas
- Meet the needs of your customers and evaluate your success
- Increase your profits and beat your business rivals
Explain the relevant legislation applicable to market research activity, including:
– the Privacy Act
General Conduct
1. Treat respondents with respect and in a professional manner.
2. Protect the rights of respondents, including the right to refuse to participate in part or all of the research process.
Researchers must respect the bounds of cooperation set by respondents, who control the parameters under which information is given. In practice, this means all of the following:
Respondent agreement to participate in research must be obtained upfront, rather than after the fact.
Consent must be granted freely, without coercion.
Consent may be withdrawn by the respondent at any point during the contact.
Consent must be granted expressly for participation in any subsequent studies.
An explicit opt-out request for any future contact or participation at any point during the process will be honored.
All reasonable precautions are taken so that respondents are in no way adversely affected as a result of their participation in a marketing research project.
Exceptions: In limited circumstances of passive user data collection, no opportunity may exist for respondents to refuse to participate.
3. Influence no respondent’s opinion or attitude through direct or indirect attempts, including the framing or order of questions.
During screening, prequalification or other qualification procedures and data collection, great care must be taken to source and collect information impartially so that research results accurately reflect reality.
Exceptions: Projects intending to determine how opinions can be manipulated such as message testing.
4. Protect the privacy of respondents.
Keep confidential all information/data that could identify respondents to third-parties without the respondents’ consent. If such permission is given, it must be documented and the data may be used only for the purpose to which the respondent has agreed.
Exceptions: Respondent identification information may be used or revealed:
In customer satisfaction research, where the express, expected results of all parties is that the client or client’s agent will receive the information for follow-up and the respondent has given permission for subsequent contact.
In processing the data and merging data files.
To append client or third-party data to a survey-based data file.
In social listening research where usernames and userphotos are an unavoidable component; and or
In compliance with a court order or other demand from a legal authority.
5. Proactively or upon request identify by name the research organization collecting data.
6. Obtain consent from respondents prior to utilizing their data in a manner materially different from that to which the respondent has agreed.
7. Ensure that respondent information collected during any study will not be used for sales, solicitations, push polling or any other non-research purpose.
Commingling research with sales or advocacy undermines the integrity of the research process and deters respondent cooperation. In addition, the possibility of harm from data sharing – such as health insurance companies adjusting an individual’s costs based on information disclosed about their health behaviors or financial companies denying someone credit based on their propensity for online shopping – are the focus of growing public debate about Big Data and data brokers. Respondents should be assured that information shared in a study will only be used for research.
Exceptions: Respondent identification information may be used or revealed:
In customer satisfaction research, where the express, expected results of all parties is that the client or client’s agent will receive the information for follow-up and the respondent has given permission for subsequent contact.
In processing the data and merging data files.
To append client or third-party data to a survey-based data file.
In social listening research where usernames and userphotos are an unavoidable component; and or
In compliance with a court order or other demand from a legal authority.
5. Proactively or upon request identify by name the research organization collecting data.
6. Obtain consent from respondents prior to utilizing their data in a manner materially different from that to which the respondent has agreed.
7. Ensure that respondent information collected during any study will not be used for sales, solicitations, push polling or any other non-research purpose.
Commingling research with sales or advocacy undermines the integrity of the research process and deters respondent cooperation. In addition, the possibility of harm from data sharing – such as health insurance companies adjusting an individual’s costs based on information disclosed about their health behaviors or financial companies denying someone credit based on their propensity for online shopping – are the focus of growing public debate about Big Data and data brokers. Respondents should be assured that information shared in a study will only be used for research.
Transparency
8. Make factually correct statements to secure cooperation, including for database/sample development, and honor all promises made to respondents including but not limited to the use of data.
Exceptions: In limited instances, bona fide research projects may require, as part of their design, that respondents remain unaware of specific details such as in message testing. In such cases, upfront instructions to respondents should be truthful and furnish as much information as possible for a respondent to provide informed consent and they should be fully debriefed upon conclusion of contact, when applicable.
9. Ensure that respondents are informed at the outset if an interview or discussion is being audio or video recorded and obtain written consent if the recorded interview or discussion will be viewed by a third-party or reproduced for outside use.
The requirement for consent must be requested of the respondent if it is their specific interview or discussion that will be subject to the audio and video recording. State laws that apply to monitoring or recording may also require consent from all parties subject to the audio or video recording.
10. Not represent non-research activity as research.
Conducting commercial or political activities under the guise of opinion and marketing research undermines public trust in the profession and erodes the goodwill that makes research possible. Members will never represent non-research activities as research studies. These non-research activities include, but are not limited to:
Questions whose sole objective is to obtain personally identifiable information (PII) about respondents whether for legal, political, direct sales, private or other purposes.
The compilation of lists, registers or databanks of names and addresses for any non-research purpose, such as in canvassing or fund raising.
Industrial, commercial or any other form of espionage that could cause harm to an individual or organization.
The acquisition of information for use by credit rating services or similar organizations.
Sales or promotional approaches to the respondent.
Engagement or interactions with people involved in observational research, such as in social media.
Members will ensure that information collected during any bona fide research study will not be used for any sales, solicitations or push polling after the fact.
11. Provide respondents with clear notice and choice about participation when passively collecting data for research purposes from non-public sources or places, where the respondent would not reasonably expect information to be collected.
Notice and choice to the respondent is a necessary component of the survey research process. Notice must be provided in a clear and meaningful manner and at the time which the respondent provides data to the researcher. When appropriate, passive user data collection should remain unobtrusive and not interfere with people’s lives.
Definition of Passive User Data Collection: Passive user data collection may involve observational or tracking-based research such as:
Web tracking (including but not limited to: Flash, QuickTime, cookies and JavaScript).
Manual entry into a historical profile after a conversation, email or online chat with a customer service representative.
Certain forms of observational research such as mystery shopping, social media listening or certain ethnographic protocols.
Exceptions: Clear notice and choice about participation is not necessary in any of the following scenarios:
For collection of online information for fraud prevention and validation purposes.
In limited commonly accepted research practices, where offering notice and choice would unnecessarily burden and confuse the respondent, such as the practice of inferring gender in a telephone survey interview from the respondent’s voice quality.
Paradata and administrative data from research projects for quality and accuracy purposes, such as data that is captured as part of the administration of a survey or piece of research. For example, capturing the amount of time a respondent takes to complete an online survey or recording the number of attempts it takes to contact a telephone respondent. These are collected as a matter of process or for quality assurance.
12. When collecting data, maintain an internal do-not-contact database as a complement to requests made by respondents for future communications and participation in marketing research projects.
13. Collect personally identifiable information (PII), including email addresses, whether actively or passively, only with respondent’s awareness or permission.
Protection of PII is enhanced by gathering only information relevant to the specific research project being conducted. Researchers should tailor methods and measurement to collect only personal data necessary for the success of the project.
If respondent identity could be deduced merely from participation in a study itself, even without PII attached, respondents must be made aware of this possibility when cooperation is initially sought.
PII is defined as any information about an individual maintained by an agency or business, including but not limited to:
Any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual‘s identity, such as name, social media usernames and userphotos, personal website addresses, date and place of birth, mother‘s maiden name, biometric records or social media comments that are so unique as to be individually identifiable via a Web search.
Any other information that is linked or linkable to an individual, such as medical, educational, financial, and employment information.
Researchers may use respondent PII for purposes of maintaining the integrity of the data processing operations, such as matching respondent records from separate files, including appending client to third-party data to a survey-based file. In those cases, PII will be replaced with surrogate identifying codes, untraceable to individual respondents, upon completion of data processing operations.
In maintaining respondent privacy, members must comply with all applicable laws, regulations, ordinances and existing policies and terms of use requirements in which the PII is obtained or collected. This means consulting with appropriate legal counsel and staying current with existing and proposed legislation and regulation affecting the profession.
14. Compile, maintain and utilize Internet samples of only those individuals who have provided their permission to be contacted for marketing research purposes and those who have a reasonable expectation based on an existing business relationship that they will receive invitations for marketing research purposes.
Technical Compliance
15. Consider data privacy a fundamental part of planning and the research process, and maintain a clear, concise and easy to understand privacy or terms of use policy that describes the ways respondent data is collected, used, disclosed and managed.
Privacy of respondents should receive consideration at the highest levels by individual marketing researchers and companies so that every employee in the business understands how they are responsible for protecting respondents’ confidential information.
A respondent privacy policy must be established prior to any contact with respondents and should be comprehensive, covering all respondent information, under all conditions, all the time, with potential exceptions anticipated and planned for. The privacy policy should address data retention and disposal issues as well.
Additionally, privacy policies should be stated plainly, minimizing jargon, and be understandable by the public without a legal or research background. Policies should be easily accessible by online and offline means and available not only at the time cooperation is sought, but upon demand at any time after data are gathered.
It is important to detail exactly how personal information may be used, and then adhere only to stated uses. Any additional material use or change in use of PII requires specific, advance written or recorded approval from respondents.
The privacy policy should include a contact mechanism; ideally a phone number, email or Web address containing contact information, and a mailing address to which questions or comments may be submitted. All feedback should be acknowledged upon receipt and replied to, as necessary, as soon as is feasible.
Online surveys must include access (such as via a link) to a privacy policy.
Fundamental data privacy planning includes:
Implementing industry standard physical, technical and administrative safeguards to protect respondent data.
Limiting data collection to information necessary to inform research question(s).
Limiting data usage to those purposes communicated to, or that might be reasonably expected by respondent.
Informing respondent of the possibility for re-contact for follow-up.
Retaining data in as anonymous a form as possible while maintaining data integrity.
Establishing reasonable limits to the time data will be retained before disposal.
Disposing of data safely and securely.
16. Take special care and adhere to applicable law when conducting research across state and national borders and with vulnerable populations, including but not limited to children.
Specific laws and regulations govern research among these groups, and it is incumbent upon marketing researchers to ensure compliance obligations for all vulnerable populations are met, regardless of any specific interviewing method or response technology in use.
Research among children requires knowledge and adherence to unique precautions that apply to all respondents under the age of majority, i.e. minors.
Other vulnerable groups include but are not limited to:
Elderly/aged persons
Cognitively impaired persons
Prisoners
Patients or others with medical issues
Each of these groups may be covered by situation or class-specific regulations, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
See Best Practices and Legal Affairs for specific resources.
17. When having the responsibility of creating products and services for use by respondents, provide products and services that are safe and fit for their intended use, are labeled in accordance with all laws and regulations, and provide the means to make the respondent whole should problems arise, in part by including emergency contact information.
Article II – Responsibilities to Clients and Vendors
18. Honor legal obligations and practices and pursue alternative dispute resolution in good faith regarding disagreements with business partners prior to litigating those disputes.
Work must be performed as specified in the agreement with the client. Changes to work specifications, project plans, etc. may not be made without the express permission of the client.
19. As with the commitment to respondent privacy, maintain trusted relationships with clients and research sponsors by keeping confidential all sensitive or proprietary research techniques, methodologies and business information. Maintain the confidential identity of clients and research sponsors.
Exceptions: Information may be revealed in compliance with the request of a legal authority or when clients or research sponsors provide written consent to disclose their identity.
20. Induce or engage no research partners, vendors or clients in any unacceptable activity or practice as stated in the Code or any activity or practice that is prohibited or illegal under any applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.
21. When conducting secondary research, inform clients of the source of secondary research and not misrepresent it as primary data.
Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary, collation or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data is collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments.
The term is widely used in medical research, legal research, and in marketing research. In a marketing research context, secondary research is taken to include the re-use by a second party of any data collected by a first party or parties.
Sometimes secondary research is required in the preliminary stages of research to determine what is known already and what new data is required, or to inform research design. At other times, it may be the only research technique used.
A key performance area in secondary research is the full citation of original sources, usually in the form of a complete listing or annotated listing.
Secondary sources could include previous research reports, newspaper, magazine and journal content, and government and NGO statistics.
22. Be granted prior approval, if all or part of the work on a project is to be combined or syndicated with work for other clients, or if the same is to be subcontracted to another entity outside the researcher’s organization.
23. Avoid any conflict of interest, real or perceived, in accepting work from multiple clients, particularly clients in competing or similar markets or lines of business. If any conflict of interest – real or perceived – exists, the member will notify all parties of the conflict and obtain acknowledgment of the conflict and written confirmation to proceed.
Accepting work from competing clients does not automatically present a conflict, provided that project resources are never commingled and confidentiality is fully maintained. It is imperative that researchers establish safeguards to keep each client’s data separate and protected from others at all times.
24. Ensure that research conducted is the property of the commissioning party or client(s). At no time may such research be shared with other entities without the express written permission of the original client(s).
25. Provide detailed written or verbal study instructions to those engaged in the data collection process.
Accurate data can be obtained only when all parties to the research process are committed to quality. Principal investigators must ensure that staff involved in sampling, fieldwork, data processing, analysis and other facets of a study receive appropriate, detailed instructions so that operations are completed as planned. Documentation should be created and preserved at every step of a project so that subsequent investigators can understand and replicate study findings.
26. Ensure that business partners, their employees and subcontractors involved in the data collection process take reasonable precautions to ensure that no conflict of interest, real or perceived, exists based on the simultaneous participation of a respondent in multiple studies without obtaining explicit permission from the sponsoring client(s).
27. Ensure that all research materials provided by the client, or generated as a result of materials provided by the client, remain their property unless otherwise stipulated in a contract or other work agreement.
28. Ensure that all project materials be retained or disposed of upon the expiration of the research activity as agreed upon based on the contract or work agreement with the client.
29. As time and availability permit, afford the client(s) the opportunity to monitor studies in progress to evaluate research quality and adherence to work agreements, and inform clients of quality control procedures in place upon their request.
30. Offer guidance to clients as to the appropriateness of the methodology being employed and sample selected to the fullest extent possible on each project.
Laypersons often do not have the necessary knowledge or experience to conduct research or to properly interpret data and recommend courses of action based upon that interpretation. Members must educate clients and the public in the proper methods and execution of marketing research, and use of research findings. When researchers are made aware of instances in which clients are improperly interpreting or otherwise using research, a professional duty exists to advise the errant party in the proper understanding or application of the data.
31. Provide business partners sufficient detail and transparency as to the objectives and design of a research project in order for them to gauge the appropriateness of their participation.
32. Respect that all information contained in an interviewing facility, sample provider or similar database, or held by an independent recruiter, is the sole property of those entities and are not to be acquired for any business purpose without express written consent of the owner.
Observe all licensing or use restrictions imposed by database or facility owners. Under no circumstance will a member retain possession or make use of database information outside the scope of the original agreement.
33. When using a purchased sample, comply with obligations under law and the requirements and limitations placed on data usage by data owners, including list brokers, database compilers and sample providers.
Common sample requirements and limitations include but are not limited to these examples:
Submission of questionnaire documents when requested.
Limitations on use of sensitive material including data on children, medical conditions and financial information.
Other areas deemed sensitive by the list provider or owner.
Not using sample or lists for any purpose other than legitimate research purposes.
Holding household and personal data contained in sample information in the same strict confidence as collected survey data and using it only for the purposes of stratification, selection or control of survey sample or in tabulation of aggregate results.
Ensuring that information derived from the sample will not be used for individual marketing efforts, i.e. no marketing action can be taken toward an individual respondent as a result of their survey information or participation as a survey respondent.
34. Calculate research metrics such as incidence, performance measurements such as response rates, error measurements such as sample margin of error, and other formulas according to commonly accepted industry practices.
35. Inform clients at their request of archiving, storage, and technical security procedures, as well as software name, producer and version being utilized for their work (if a data processing company).
any other act that applies to the collection of, and storage of confidential information
