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Category: Market Research

2010 Market Research Conferences: Do In-Person Events Still Matter?

The US 2010 Market Research conference season will be starting soon. Luckily, this year they are a bit more spread out than last year.

The MRA’s big conference will be in Boston in June.

The AMA’s annual Market Research Conference will be in Atlanta in September.

And IIR’s The Market Research Event will be in San Diego in November.

I can hear the sighs of anticipated exhaustion already. Travel, sessions, expense reports. And the dreaded, overflowing inbox that faces you upon returning to work the next week.

Besides, we have to ask ourselves: do in-person events matter anymore? Look, I am in the business of online training—I LOVE online content. But I do believe that there is still a place for in-person events as well. And here is why:

Grading Market Research Agency Websites

Do these websites matter? Aren’t they just electronic billboards?

I think they do matter. A lot of people who buy and use market research visit agency websites. And frankly, they are more likely to visit an agency site than that of a professional association (such as the MRA or CASRO) or of a trade publication (such as Quirk’s or Research Magazine). So these agency websites are, intentionally or not, a key source of client education.

Market Research Agencies and Their Websites: Finding the Good Ones

Websites are the virtual storefronts of market research agencies. It’s where you often get your first impression of a potential research supplier. You peek in the window and see if the goods are narrow or diverse, dated or current. You get an impression about personality and culture. You may even get a sense of trustworthiness.

But if you have ever looked at more than 2 or 3 agency web sites, you will see that the quality and content vary dramatically. Almost dismayingly so.

So how to compare them?…

When Good Enough is Good Enough: Seeking Balance in Product & Pricing Research

The difference between good market research and great market research can be significant.

But sometimes the incremental time, cost and sweat of that extra effort simply doesn’t make sense. Sometimes, “good” is just perfect.

I was reminded of this last week at the Launch Camp conference in Cambridge. The event, for entrepreneurs seeking social media wisdom, had some interesting speakers, though the one from whom I learned the most was Dharmesh Shah, Chief Technology Officer and Founder of HubSpot (on Twitter as @Darmesh).

Stale Research Alert: When Price Is The Only Difference

These days, there are innovators out there. Agencies using cooler tools, applying newer sample quality processes, and even offering new deliverables. Their methods may push you out of your comfort zone. Their proposals may be harder to read because they won’t be full of the same boilerplate you’ve been seeing for years.

NPS is not the De facto Metric for Telecomm Customer Satisfaction

The original article recommends NPS (Net Promoter Score) as the optimal standard for customer satisfaction with telecommunications providers. Ummm, no. So since I didn’t get to share on the TMCnet site, let me share some information here for those of you interested in measuring customer satisfaction in the telecommunications space. “There are many scenarios in which customers may be satisfied with certain service levels or offerings yet refrain from recommending or referring the larger offering to their friends.” Yes, this is very true…

Draw Them A Map: Preparing Market Research Newbies For Quant

If you need to set expectations with colleagues about the quantitative market research process, here you go (see bottom of post): the key steps layed out in a simple flowchart.

I have used this diagram to walk market research newbies through the process many times, and it always gets rave reviews. While the chart is pretty self-explanatory, a few items are worth pointing out…

Low Response Rates? The Answer Lurks in The Shadows

As researchers, we talk a lot about matching the methodology to the first objective. But given low response rates and the preciousness of qualified respondents, we need to focus a lot more on matching the methodology to the audience.

Do You Trust Your Market Research Agency?

There are hundreds of market research agencies and hundreds of market research consultants. Changing agencies can be painful, but you deserve an agency that you can trust with your valuable market research investments.

Market Research Quality: Transparency is Key

Quality is a concern no matter what country an outsourcing provider is based in—the US, India, France, Canada…anywhere. If you work with an agency and they outsource, you need to have some evidence that the outsourcing partner provides great work—and was not selected simply because they had the lowest price or a well-connected brother-in-law.