1. Customer Attitudes – should you even care? (Ch.1)
   1. If customers are dissatisfied, your business will be affected
      1. Pay attention!
      2. Avoid business mistakes: Service Merchandise, Spiegel, K-Mart, Oldsmobile
   2. What is Market Research?
      1. Connection with your customers
      2. Example of not being connected
         1. "New Coke" debacle
      3. Customers DO NOT lie
         1. Don't care enough to tell you anything but the truth
      4. You must
         1. Dig
         2. Probe
2. Asking the right questions (Ch.2)
   1. Customer Needs
      1. Needs/Wants vs. Desires/Wishes
      2. Desires/Wishes
         1. Exploitable advantages
         2. More important
   2. Your objectives into your research
      1. Evaluate products
      2. Determine areas for evaluation
   3. Exploratory Research
      1. Set Goals
      2. Assess what you want to achieve
      3. Define your actions
3. How the big guys do it – large-company research (Ch.3)
   1. Strategic = promising & profitable
      1. Creating a road map
      2. Best direction to drive
   2. Tactical = achieve course of action that is most promising
      1. Best roads to reach final destination
   3. Qualitative research types
      1. Focus groups
         1. Mini
      2. Dyads & Triads
      3. Personal interviews
      4. Observation studies
      5. Brainstorming
   4. Quantitative research types
      1. Segmentation
      2. Packaging
      3. Screening
      4. Communication
      5. Price
      6. Product testing
      7. Advertising execution/awareness/tracking
      8. Name
   5. R&D
      1. Test market research
      2. New products
4. How to get started (Ch.4)
   1. If you don’t want to change anything = DO NOT do market research
   2. Set purpose
      1. Increase profits
      2. Increase market
      3. Convince customers to buy more often
      4. Attract competitors’ customers
   3. Attitude vs. behavior
      1. See & think
         1. Tempered with behave & act
   4. Don’t jump to conclusions
      1. From small-scale studies
   5. Track customer satisfaction
      1. Keep existing customers
      2. #1 Priority
   6. Other avenues
      1. Products meet expectations
      2. Message heard?
      3. More business from current customers
      4. Customers from competitors
      5. Increase market size
5. How much does research cost (Ch.5)
   1. Cost depends on type of project
   2. 1) “A look-see”
      1. Outside firm
      2. Minimum $20,000
   3. 2) “It feels about right”
      1. 3 to 5 studies
      2. Yearly $100,000
   4. 3) "Let’s do it right"
      1. Tactical and strategic studies
      2. Yearly $100,000+
6. Using research professionals (Ch.6)
   1. Check credentials
      1. www.marketingpower.com
   2. To do:
      1. 1) Find smaller supplier
      2. 2) Check credentials
      3. 3) Meet the supplier in person
         1. Consider hiring professors
   3. Firm Types
      1. Field-service
         1. Provide data collection to full-service
         2. 50% or more of Full-Service firm budget goes here
      2. Full-service
         1. Problem definition, research objectives, project execution, control & analytics
   4. Project Types
      1. Fixed-cost project
         1. All-inclusive
      2. Hourly & out-of-pocket expenses
         1. Compare companies
         2. Unexpected problems could arise
      3. Moderators
         1. Expensive, but important
   5. Focus Groups – Save $, Get
      1. 1) Competitive costs
      2. 2) Third moderator quote for an hourly basis
      3. 3) Moderator quotes for full report & summary
      4. 4) Rebate unused respondent incentives
      5. 5) Use smaller, less expensive markets
      6. 6) Videotape or not?
      7. 7) Watch food/refreshment mark-ups
   6. Telephone Survey – Save $, Get
      1. 1) Comparison shop (minimum of 3 quotes)
      2. 2) Separate out-of-pocket & labor costs
      3. 3) Pay 75 % upfront & ask for discount
      4. 4) Use one-person researcher you trust
      5. 5) Defer project
      6. 6) Consider bundling multiple surveys
      7. 7) Provide referrals for the company you hire
      8. 8) Request the +/-10% mark-up back
      9. 9) Offer to pay researcher supplier cost directly = no mark-ups
7. How much research should you do (Ch.7)
   1. Action plan
      1. Be disciplined
      2. Get results
      3. Use dates
   2. Focus
      1. 1) Large competitors = CRITICAL
      2. 2) Small competitors
   3. Ego-less reports
      1. It isn’t about you
   4. Do things
      1. Better
      2. Smarter
8. The research plan (Ch.8)
   1. Research plan
      1. Target market respondents
      2. Specific objectives
      3. Objective overall
   2. Specific objective
      1. Comparison brands
      2. Attributes to be measured
      3. Elaborate on overall objective
   3. Target market respondents
      1. Narrow market respondent list
      2. Set priorities
      3. Opinions = most important
9. Focus groups (Ch.9)
   1. Only doing a focus group = save your money & make an educated guess
   2. Discover what is going on; not tell you what to do something
   3. Objectives & Discussion Guides
      1. Determine range of issues
      2. DOES NOT identify consensus or “most important issues”
   4. Set-up
      1. Multiple locations
      2. Conduct more than one group of a type
      3. Homogenous group
   5. Focus Group Screeners
      1. Simple or complex
      2. To pick your “group”
   6. How to moderate
      1. Suspend ego
      2. Keep relaxed
      3. Know where conversation is going
      4. Call people by names
      5. Warm-up crowd
      6. Probing
         1. Why, what, where, when, how?
         2. Know when to change subjects
      7. Listen intently
   7. Discussion guides
      1. Not end all; be flexible
      2. Skip sections if necessary
   8. Group exercises
      1. 5 to 10 minutes
      2. Audience-specific
      3. Simple
   9. Recall Respondents
      1. Multiple focus group attendee(s)
10. Brainstorming and other ideation processes (Ch.10)
    1. DOs
       1. Have a note-taker
       2. Agreeable people only
       3. Approach
          1. “What do I like about the idea?”
       4. Listen and write
       5. Safe space from criticism
       6. No judgment/”yes, buts”
11. Surveys (Ch.11)
    1. Quantitative Research
       1. Strategic studies
          1. Global understanding of marketplace
       2. Tactical studies
          1. Specific questions and issues
    2. Set objectives
       1. Determine target respondents
       2. May broaden study than originally intended
12. Writing Questionnaires (Ch.12)
    1. Don’t ad hoc it
    2. Experience needed; Difficult
    3. Do:
       1. Keep it simple
       2. Direct phrasing
       3. Keep to a single goal through-out
       4. Reduce question skipping
       5. Avoid open-ended questions
    4. Reduce:
       1. Length vs. clarity
       2. Questionnaire non-control
       3. Open-ended questions
       4. Question skipping
    5. Types of questions
       1. Closed-ended
       2. Open-ended
    6. 1) Cooperation Phase
       1. Engage respondent
       2. Agreement to participate
    7. 2) Qualification Phase
       1. Isolate your market target respondent
       2. Set termination points based on response
    8. 3) Question Types
       1. Stand-along open-ended
          1. AVOID as much as possible
       2. Series (If yes, then…)
       3. String (multiple choice)
    9. 4) Thank you Phase
       1. Say thank you, a lot.
       2. Consider incentives
    10. 5) Demographic Phase
        1. Assess data base don demographic data
    11. Scales
        1. How “much” you like/feel about something in words
        2. Anchor Scales
           1. “On a scale of 1 to 5”, etc.
        3. Be consistent in survey
    12. Bias concerns
        1. Mention a sponsor or not?
        2. Phrasing towards on or another
    13. Generate
        1. Price comparison
        2. Forced-choice questions
        3. Overall attitude
        4. Agreement
        5. Importance
        6. Top-of-mind unaided responses
13. Sampling (Ch.13)
    1. Error range
       1. If survey is repeated = # of responses that could change (up or down)
    2. Projectability
       1. That a small # of people would give the same results as a larger # of people
    3. Confidence Level
       1. The odds the data is NOT wrong
       2. Never will be 100%.
       3. Closer to 100, the better the study
    4. Known limits for sample size
       1. Basic strategy study = 600
       2. Non-strategy study = 300
       3. Tactical studies = 150
       4. ↓ 100 = AVOID
          1. Too high error range +/- 10
    5. Representative Sampling
       1. Function of response rates
       2. Do what you can to get a good sample across populations
    6. Incentives
       1. Internet
          1. Pay on completion
       2. Phone
          1. $15 for 40 min
          2. $100 for professionals
       3. Mail studies
          1. $1 to $2 for start
          2. $5 to $10 to complete
14. How to conduct surveys (Ch.14)
    1. Telephone Interviewing
       1. Pros
          1. Efficient
          2. Quick
          3. Generates sample of respondents
       2. Cons
          1. No visuals can be used
          2. Telemarketing vs. market research
          3. Expensive for small groups
    2. Mail Surveys
       1. Pros
          1. Visuals
          2. Lots of info to collect
          3. Access market target
       2. Cons
          1. Time
          2. Development critical
          3. Superficial responses
          4. Cannot be complex
    3. In-person interviewing
       1. Cons
          1. Lack of consistency
          2. Hard to target market respondents
          3. No representative sample
    4. Internet Surveys
       1. Pros
          1. Less expensive
          2. Higher response rate
          3. Target market respondents
       2. Cons
          1. Development = important
15. Organizing data (Ch.15)
    1. Cross-tabs
       1. Get
          1. Counts
          2. Frequency
       2. Use objective of study to decide
    2. Banner Point & Stub
       1. Stub
          1. # of questions asked
       2. Banner Points
          1. # of breakouts a print-out will accommodate
16. Statistical techniques (Ch.16)
    1. Significance Tests
       1. t-test
       2. Rule of thumb = 95% Confidence Level
    2. Regression Analysis
       1. Can help explain the actions to take to achieve customer behaviors
    3. Turf Analysis
       1. Rank order and put in priority the important messages that will reach most possible customers/prospects
    4. Cluster Analysis
       1. How people view themselves, the world around them, products/services
17. Telling the story – analyzing survey results (Ch.17)
    1. Data by itself means nothing
    2. Constantly ask yourself “In comparison to what?”
    3. Ways to analyze data
       1. Use a control
          1. To meet (at a minimum) and preferable exceed previous scores.
          2. Ex. Making a peanut butter, it should get better reviews than the old PB.
       2. Comparisons to previous research
          1. Have a benchmark study and follow-up studies.
       3. Comparison to industry norms
          1. Obtain normative data from industry/associations/market research firms
       4. Comparisons to actual purchase behavior
          1. Compare the group doing the behavior you want vs. the group not
       5. Comparing one target to another
          1. Choose the best target for your control that you want to compare to.
          2. May or may not be obvious
       6. Compare alternatives to each other
          1. When there is no direct comparison, propose alternatives and test those against each other
    4. How to analyze data
       1. Ex. Frequent vs. infrequent customers
       2. Don’t just look at the total. Be sure to look at the characteristics of the people
       3. Consider what is “important” for growth/improvement of the brand
       4. Looking at “agreement” only can mask areas for growth/improvement
    5. GAP Analysis
       1. Difference between what customers say is important and what is being delivered
       2. Take % rating as “extremely important” subtracted from “product delivery rating”
    6. Dependent variable
       1. Question to capture overall attitude toward a company/product/service
       2. Think about the opinion/action you are trying to achieve
    7. Going beyond cross-tabs
       1. Hire a professional market research statistician
    8. Writing a report
       1. Sections
          1. Title page, study objectives, study methodology, management summary, recommendations, detailed findings, demographics, appendices
18. Putting results into action (Ch.18)
    1. Consider the report as the beginning for change
    2. Circulate the report with a presentation date
    3. Circulate a proposed action sheet
    4. Use a presentation to kick-off action
    5. Be the “champion” for change based on the report
    6. Continue to review past research (3 month intervals)
19. Perusalocity Book Reviews and Mind Maps by Misty Guard (a/k/a Perusalocity Girl) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://perusalocity.blogspot.com/.