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NetFaqs in This Article
• Who's Your Target?
• Getting A Good Sample
• Using Questionnaires
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Get
Set and Go!
HOW
TO WIN BIG DOING YOUR OWN MARKET RESEARCH
...and
leverage your sales on your site from
TheWebsiteDistrict!
by
Dr. Kevin Nunley
Thinking
of starting a new business? Adding to the business you
already have? Introducing a new product or service?
Wouldn't it be nice to have a good idea of how successful
you'll be before you even start? That's the money-making
edge that smart market research can give you.
You've
probably heard that market research is expensive, only
something that big companies can afford. That's partly
true. Even a relatively modest research program can
eat up several hundred thousand dollars in a hurry.
But market research doesn't have to so complicated only
expensive consultants can figure it out. Here are some
very simple ideas and tools for getting a pretty good
idea of where you stand--BEFORE you shell out big bucks
for marketing and advertising.
FINDING
THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO RESEARCH
Most
products and services have next to no chance of success
without a good, strong marketing program to promote
them. No small business has the budget to do a saturation
ad campaign that attempts to reach everyone. There's
no need to. Your business, no matter what you're selling,
likely only needs to get the attention of a select group
of good prospects.
Market
research techniques help you get the factual information
you need about your target audience and the effectiveness
of your message. If you are wondering which new product
to offer, market research can poll people who have bought
from you in the last six months, people who bought once
but never bought again, and people who usually buy from
your competitors. This will give you a very good idea
of how well your new product will fair once it's introduced.
GETTING
A GOOD SAMPLE
While
research can be very complicated, there are a number
of simple techniques that will deliver fairly reliable
results. Quantitative research methods provide statistical
information. A carefully chosen scientific sample is
studied as a representation of the larger public. In
other words, 50 people are chosen. If we've chosen them
with an eye to good sampling methods, those 50 will
closely represent everyone else who is included in the
target audience.
This
can be a bit trickier than it seems. You've surely seen
the market research person with a clipboard standing
in the mall asking people if they'd like to take a survey.
Would this be a good sample of the entire community?
No. Not everyone goes to the mall. A great many people,
including people who don't own a car, people who live
a long way from the mall, and older folks ho don't leave
home often rarely or never go to the mall. Mall shoppers
may be inordinately young, or more affluent than the
rest of the population. It wouldn't be accurate to assume
that mall shoppers represent the entire community. However,
the market research person in the mall might get a very
good picture of what the mall-shopping community is
like.
The
most common kind of quantitative research (the kind
that provides you with numbers and percentages) is the
telephone survey. It's fairly accurate to go through
the telephone directory, calling every eleventh person
listed. The problem here is that not everybody has a
telephone and a great many people have unpublished numbers.
This will reduce the accuracy of your findings, although
you will still be way ahead of the mall survey.
The
best solution is to use a computer program which gives
you at random all possible telephone numbers in your
area. These programs can be purchased, and most university
communication departments have them for student use.
Perhaps a student can print you a randomized list of
telephone numbers.
You
can also mail surveys to homes and businesses, or visit
them in person, through this method. A sample of locations,
be it homes or offices, can be gotten by first choosing
areas at random, then blocks at random, then homes on
those blocks at random. You could roll dice to determine
which locations are picked. All this keeps personal
opinions out of the research.
You
can do surveys with randomly chosen email addresses
provided those in the study have given their permission
to be contacted.
Most
research is based on simple statistics. No higher math
is required. You can do just about everything with a
simple calculator and advice from your junior high-aged
child. If you want further information about scientific
sampling and the statistics you can perform on your
sample results, please consult one of the great many
books on research. It's a subject that has remained
largely unchanged for the past 50 years, so an old tattered
volume in the used book store or at the public library
will do just fine.
STEPS
TO A GOOD QUESTIONNAIRE
You
want your questions to be carefully written so that
they do not confuse or suggest "correct" answers to
the respondent. Here are some general guidelines:
1.
Make sure your questions are clear and easily understood.
2.
Keep questions short. People in a hurry won't take time
to understand a long and unclear question.
3.
Questions must be in sync with the purpose of the research.
If the question is irrelevant to what the survey is
trying to study, leave it out.
4.
Don't ask questions that can be broken down into two
or more questions. For example, "Do you think the mayor
is dishonest and a poor financial planner?" That is
really two different questions. Be wary when the word
"and" appears in a question.
5.
Stay away from biased words. For example, "Do you eat
a healthy breakfast or just have a Big Gulp at 7-11?"
The word "just" prejudices the answer by suggesting
that the Big Gulp is less worthy than the healthy breakfast.
6.
Avoid leading questions. "Like most New Yorkers, do
you drink coffee every morning?" Watch for a hidden
premise showing up in questions. Remember, the goal
is to accurately determine what the respondent thinks,
even if it isn't what you wish they would say. The purpose
of research is to find out which of your ideas are wrong.
7.
Leave out questions that require very detailed answers.
8.
Avoid questions that may embarrass the respondent. Many
people don't like to give their age, and most won't
tell you how much money they earn. A better way is to
give the respondent a broad category that they can identify
with without giving away sensitive information. "Are
you between 18-24 years old, 25-49 years old?, etc."
Additionally, research carries with it a certain authority
that will make your ideas more persuasive to others.
Kevin
Nunley provides marketing advice and copy writing for
businesses and organizations. He
can be reached at www.DrNunley.com. Click
here to promote your business to thousands of Media!
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