MARKETING RESEARCH
Marketing research one size does not fit all
Marketing research has gone through massive changes in the last few years. And the category has a few paradoxes that affect it. Call us. Tell us about the marketing research you want to field, and we will answer your questions.
One caveat. Any market research study is only as good as the questions asked. A Stealing Share, we ask better questions. It is that simple.
We spend more time creating the survey questions than fielding the study itself. That’s why we are the go-to choice for Fortune 500 companies across the globe.
CATI Marketing studies
The target market is more accessible to reach than in the past. And technology allowed more respondents to ignore the call.
When we started Resultant Research, our sister marketing research company, the gold standard of any market study was the CATI system.
CATI stands for Computer Assisted Telephone Interview. Don’t confuse this with automated robotic calls that drive us all insane. A real person did the interviews.
The computer had a database of possible respondents based upon the study criteria.
This could include demographics, product usage, educational levels, income, and everything you needed to fine-tune your audience.
The computer then randomized the respondent phone numbers and dialed them one at a time.
If the phone were answered, the interviewer would explain what the study was about and offer the respondent an honorarium to finish the marketing research survey. If agreed, the call lasted about 15-20 minutes.
The computer showed the interviewer the question to ask, one at a time, and in some cases, randomized those questions to limit bias.
CATI marketing research relied on its methodology to be projectable. Randomize and double-blinded (the researcher asking the questions did not know who commissioned the study).
These studies were expensive to field. Calling home phone numbers or business numbers was tedious.
And an element known as “incidence” weighs heavily. In shorthand, the incidence was the relationship between the number of people spoken with and the percentage of those that completed the study.
Let’s say, for example, the incidence level was 10%. This could be an indication of bias. Why did 90% refuse to participate? Maybe they were busier people?
Perhaps they were bored and wanted just to talk? To keep incidence high, you paid an enormous incentive to the person taking the studies.
In work we did in medical devices, (we conducted research on six continents for Medtronic, St Jude Medical (now Abbot), Wright Medical, and Integra Life Sciences) speaking with an interventional cardiologist cost $500 an interview. With an N of 500, these studies were uber expensive.
For a short while, adding cell phone numbers improved the incidence. But today, few will answer a mobile call if they do not know the caller’s ID.
CATI studies are rare today. It became hideously expensive, and the data was not as reliable as in the past because of low incidence and bias.
Expert Panel Marketing Research Studies
Expert Panel marketing research studies have replaced CATI as the gold standard of market research.
They remain highly cost-effective and have become as projectable as the CATI marketing research of old.
These studies are taken online, but they are not EMAIL studies. Email studies are not projectable or reliable.
They have a bias from each end of a standard bell curve. The only people willing to take an email study are those who love or hate you.
The rest can’t be bothered.
So, we don’t do email market studies. They are dirt cheap and as valuable as dirt.
An Expert Panel Study (sometimes simply called a Panel Study) is a different marketing research tool. But they rely on their value based upon the representation of the panel that has been recruited.
Research Companies like Resultant Research partner with these professional recruiters who compile the panel itself.
It works something like this. Possible respondents are called and asked if, for a fee, they would be willing to participate in marketing research studies. A fee is negotiated, and all their demographics are recorded and entered into a database.
So, if your marketing research study is, for example, Heads of Households with natural gas heat, the database is scrubbed for those demographics.
If you are part of the panel, the system randomizes the possible respondents and sends them a link to take the study.
If it is a representative panel, you get excellent results for less money and in a shorter time.
These studies also can share visuals or audio, something impossible with CATI studies.
We started testing panel studies alongside CATI studies years ago. As the panels got better, we were finding identical results from both market research studies.
Call us. Let us help you uncover the insights in your market that steal market share.
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