Transcript Slide 1

Never too small for
research
Getting the most out of your research, and your budget
Neil Stollznow (QPMR)
Director, Stollznow Research
National Secretary, AMSRS
How to use market
research in a SME
environment
The basics
 Qualitative
 Focus groups / group
discussions
 In-depth interviewing
 Characteristics
 Unstructured
 Not representative
 Quantitative
 Telephone interviewing
 Intercept interviewing
 Online interviewing
 Door to door
 Characteristics
 Highly structured
 Projectable
 Sampling
 Questions
When to use each approach
 Qualitative
 How do people feel
 What do they think
 What is their reaction to an
idea
 Why do they behave this
way
 Quantitative
 How many people feel this
way
 How many think this way
 What is the size of the
market for a new idea
Before you begin…
 Define the issues
 Why you need to do research
 How will this information be used
 What do you need to know
 versus what is ‘nice to know’
 What information do you already
have
 What happens if I do nothing?
Before you begin…
 How well do I really know
my market?
 Age, income, occupation
 who purchase
 who don’t purchase
 where do they live…
 Beware “We know our
customers/clients”
 Friends don’t tell you the
bad things
The brief

Background to the project
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Business objectives you want to achieve

Many people just state questions
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Researchers can help you define objectives
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Timeframe
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Budget
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No requirement to specify methodology
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Meet with the researchers
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Make sure they have your outlook
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Make sure they match your business
What sort of budget do I need?
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How important is the issue?
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Qualitative
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What will it cost if we get it wrong?
Focus groups $4,000 to $6,000
Costs affected by:
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Recruitment – easy / difficult
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Where the respondents are
Quantitative
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Start @ $60 per interview (telephone)
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Economies of scale as sample
increases
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Specialist techniques will cost more
Tips for the perfect qualitative project
 Fish where the fish are
 Have realistic expectations
about what people can tell you
 Don’t be proscriptive
 Participants must feel free to
digress, argue and be involved
 Leave you with insight into
 Motivation
 Thoughts
 Perceptions
Tips for the perfect quantitative project
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Based on real understanding of the
population
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Ask questions people can answer
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Know the meaning of questions you’re asking
Must have good sampling
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Sample size must be robust
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Confidence level
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Analysis of sub-groups
Quality fieldwork
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Random in population
If it’s not right at this stage it won’t improve!
Quality analysis
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The right tools for the job
What about the web

Ideal for

B2B
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Existing customers
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General population where
income plays no role
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Issues

52% of Australian households
have internet (ABS 2003)
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About 60% now
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Not equally distributed
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Older less likely to use
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Lower income much less likely
to use
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The way of the future
Use your existing data
 You have data!
 Data collection is the main
cost of research
 Simple analysis is often
overlooked
 Postcodes, spend, frequency
 You may have the resources
internally
 Many consultancies can
analyse data
Use your existing data
 Complex analysis requires a
specialist
 Loyalty programs
 Customer tracking
Conducting internal research programs
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Any knowledge is better than
no knowledge!
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A standard approach
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Identify key information
requirements
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Systematically collect data
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Analyse the data
Use existing business activities
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Use your CRM program
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Use your telesales information
Things to remember
 Qualitative
 It is what it is
 Avoid jumping through hoops
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Projective techniques
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Extensive observation
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Extended groups (3 hours)
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‘Homework’
 Quantitative
 Doesn’t always need to be
complex
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If cross tabulations are all that’s
needed, that’s fine
Ethics and quality
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Look for quality in suppliers as
you do in your business
Research Organisations
Ethics mean people will speak
(AMRO)
to researchers
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 Association of Market
Australian Market & Social
Research Society (AMSRS)
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AMSRS Code of Professional
Behaviour
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Qualified Practising Market
Researcher (QPMR)
 Interviewer Quality Control
Australia (IQCA)
 Australian Standard 4752
Market research & telemarketing
 Must distinguish between
the two activities
 Telemarketing sells
 Participants must
understand which process
they are involved in
 The individual is the focus
 Ethical behaviour
 Market research gathers
 Required by the Privacy Act
information
 The individual is irrelevant
to the project
 Participants must
understand what their
information will be used for
Impact of the Privacy Act on market research
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More about databases than privacy
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National Privacy Principles (NPPs)
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Market and Social Research
Privacy Code allows
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Collecting name and contact details
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Making recordings of research
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Using customer lists
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Registering individuals on a customer
database
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Conducting fieldwork checks
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Contacting respondents for follow up
research
Case studies
Inner-city hotel
 Upgrade worth $½ million
 Expanding restaurant
 Opening up former restaurant
area to customers
 Who to cater for?
 What kind of food?
 What kind of ambience?
 Who lives in the area?
Two-stage research program
 Quantitative
 233 interviews
 Simple demographics
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Age
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Household makeup (share,
family, couple etc)
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Household income
 Use of local hotels
 Opinion of local hotels
 Like to participate in group
discussions?
Two-stage research program
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Qualitative
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3 group discussions
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Identified competitive set
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Identify strengths and weakness
of each hotel
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What is missing in the area
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In food
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In recreation
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What should hotel food be?
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Menu evaluation
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Wine evaluation
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Role of promotions
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Role of entertainment
Outcomes
 Understand local marketplace
 Things to do at the hotel
 …and things to avoid
 Demographics
 Competition
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Strengths
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Weaknesses
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Unique selling proposition (USP)
 Know how to develop
profitably
 How to use every dollar in
renovations and subsequent
promotion to generate
income
 Cost $13,000 + GST
The British Council
 Who is the British Council?
 Cultural representatives
 Limited budget
 Primary means of
communication is through
website(s)
 Upgrading key site
 Essential for operation
Information requirements
 Research needed to
 Content
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Relevance
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Information needs
 Branding on site
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Strengths and weaknesses
 Detail of the information on
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Retained information
consider
site
 Technical aspects
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Interactivity
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Ease of navigation
Qualitative research
 3 group discussions
 Completed with 3 key
stakeholder groups
 Evaluated a draft-version of
the website
 Participants took turns to
navigate through the site
while it was discussed
Research outcomes
 Significant modifications
made to site
 Specific direction on
 Links
 Quotes
 Graphics
 Content
 Summary of each page
 Important to ‘get it right’
first time when there is
limited budget
 Cost of project was
$12,000 + GST
“Internet start-up”
 Can’t name
 Signed confidentiality
agreement
 Needed to know
 Market size
 Likely market reaction to
product
Quantitative research
 Simple telephone interviewing
 Interviews last 5 minutes
 Asked about
 Scope of operations
 Size and number of activities
 Size and number of events
 Existing sales activities
 Likely uptake of offer
Research outcome
 Small fractured market
 Large clients ‘signed up’ to
alternatives
 ‘Rats and mice’ left
 Limited potential
 Idea killed
 Cost of project was $10,000 + GST
 Much less than would have been
wasted on a idea that did not work
What have we learnt?
Key learning
 Know what you want to
achieve before you start
 Find a company in tune
with your business
 Prepare a brief
 Not as hard as it might
seem
 Research does not require
large budgets
 When to use
 Qualitative research
 Quantitative research
 Telephone interviewing
 Web research
 Don’t be afraid to complete
simple research yourself
 The importance of
standards and quality in
consulting
A simple checklist…
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To test if you’re on the right
track..
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Do you have the right sample /
population?
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Do the research outcomes fit
into your business plans?
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Is the methodology the right
way to go?

Don’t be bamboozled

Methodology

Process
 Do you have realistic goals

Outcome

Time-frame
 Do you understand the
deliverables?
Contact details
 Neil Stollznow
 PO Box 16
Level 2/156 Military Rd
Neutral Bay NSW 2089
T +61 2 9953 7543
F +61 2 9953 7563
M +61 412 200 235
 [email protected]
 www.stollznow.com.au