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HOW MARKET RESEARCH CAN HELP BUILD YOUR BRAND
CharityComms 24 October 2013 [email protected]
www.lotusresearch.co.uk 07799 888109 / 01525 635091
16 Victoria Road Leighton Buzzard LU7 2NT UK
IN THIS PRESENTATION…
• Why should smaller chariXes and voluntary organisaXons consider “buying in” market research at all?
• Ge^ng what you need out of research – Choosing the right method – Making sure your insights are acXonable
• Making the most of a limited budget – Smart ways to buy research – Avoiding piaalls that can waste Xme and money
2
“RESEARCH-‐BASED INSIGHT” WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
• Feedback from stakeholders that is used to guide decision making • In the commercial sector…
– Customers and potenXal customers, with limited emoXonal involvement
• More complex in the voluntary sector…
– Audiences that care passionately about what you do – More likely to have a dialogue with your brand – with exisXng mechanisms for
stakeholder feedback
3
service users
donors
poten7al donors
funders
members
volunteers staff
partner organisa7ons
trustees
IN HOUSE RESEARCH
• Using your resources / exisXng feedback mechanisms is cheap and convenient
• But there are downsides – Staff bring their own assumpXons (and agenda) to the exercise – ExisXng relaXonships set the tone of dialogue – Politeness / risk of causing offence – anonymity is unrealisXc – Fear of repercussions if respondents make criXcisms – Respondent can expect their suggesXons to be acted upon directly – Dialogue between co-‐dependents – Insufficient planning at project design stage – many piaalls
4
PITFALL: SELF SELECTING SAMPLES
• For example -‐ who responds to saXsfacXon surveys?
• Self-‐selecXng samples, recruited without se^ng quotas, can lead to biased feedback – risking unnecessary disrupXon or complacency
5
..or…
RESEARCHING CHANGE
• Even if understanding is good, it only reflects on what you’re doing now • Research comes into its own when change is on the cards
– Introducing new services, withdrawing exisXng ones – Funding new projects and acXviXes – Developing printed or online communicaXon – form, content and tone – Brand redesign – Restructuring organisaXons
• Structured, well-‐planned, objecXve research is essenXal – Speaking to the right people – Asking the right quesXons – …and choosing the right method
6
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH – WHAT IS IT?
• Insight into a^tudes, opinions, moXvaXons, behaviour • Understanding why – not making assumpXons • Small samples, long semi-‐structured interviews • Insight that will only emerge from dialogue, skilled quesXoning – oqen
tapping into unconscious factors
• Small samples and unpredictable dynamics – may require buy-‐in from scepXcs within your organisaXon
7
QUALITATIVE APPROACHES
• There’s more to life than “let’s do a focus group”
• Focus groups are ideal when… – The target sample is homogenous, clustered and moXvated to arend – EvaluaXng new ideas, thinking creaXvely – …potenXally piggybacking on exisXng meeXngs
• But be aware they are – Challenging to recruit – Challenging to run – especially when passions are running high – PotenXally normaXve, if trying to tease out diversity of opinion – …and costs can spiral if speaking to diverse stakeholder groups
8
QUALITATIVE APPROACHES
• Also consider individual interviews or flexible online forums
• The more passionate the feeling, the greater the need for their individual voice to be heard
• Personal stories are crucial, especially when speaking to service users • Non Xme-‐specific – can fit the respondent’s schedule • Easier to recruit • Flexible – telephone or face-‐to-‐face • Allow for greater granularity between different stakeholder groups
• Online forums allow for a mix of personal and group feedback
9
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH – WHAT IS IT?
• When you need staXsXcally robust findings to base decisions upon • Large samples, short and highly-‐structured interviews
• How many people can you speak to? Charity audiences can be small • Where the target audience is small, qualitaXve research may be the only
sensible approach – Berer to talk to 25 people in depth than 50 at a superficial level – Much of your work will go into recruiXng people to take part,
so why not have a proper conversaXon with them? – Easy to tack on pre-‐coded quesXons on if you need staXsXcs – Respondents enjoy parXcipaXng in qualitaXve research more –
may be an opportunity to build goodwill among a limited sample
QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES
• Face-‐to-‐face – a large drain on finances and resources • Telephone – a good way of making use of a limited sample,
allows some degree of open dialogue, relaXvely fast and cheap – RecruiXng people to take part in person is always preferable
• Online – Fast and cost-‐effecXve – especially when using automated plaaorms – Becoming the norm in commercial surveys, but… – Beware low response rates, especially if you have limited targets – Beware the self-‐selecXng sample! – Be mindful that respondents want to finish online surveys quickly –
don’t expect any insight from open ended quesXons – There are ways around these piaalls – but requires skill and experience
• Postal – can access the whole populaXon, but similar problems to Online
QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES
• There are risks to a completely DIY approach… • QuesXon structure and wording can be based upon individual agendas, or
wriren by commiree with no objecXve guidance
– “Our charity should change its logo because the old one has started to look dated. Do you agree strongly, agree, or not agree at all?”
• Risk of unclear, ambiguous or two-‐in-‐one quesXons
– “If we always answered the phone in 3 rings and were polite and courteous, would you use our telephone helpline more oBen?”
• Respondents may feel bored, patronised or pigeonholed by badly-‐wriren, repeXXve or irrelevant quesXons
QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES
• Risks of a completely DIY approach… – QuesXonnaires can easily become overlong – resulXng in bored
respondents “straight-‐lining” just to get the survey finished
– Sampling / quotas can go out of the window – a parXcular problem with online or postal surveys
– Analysis of results can reflect internal biases – or may be overly literal
Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly
disagree
Statement 1 O O O O O Statement 2 O O O O O Statement 3 O O O O O Statement 4 O O O O O Statement 5 O O O O O
x x x x x
OUTSOURCING MARKET RESEARCH
• Outsourcing your research should give you: – An overarching design to the project – confidence the approach
matches the objecXves – Reassurance you are asking the right quesXons in the right way – ImparXality, the perspecXve of an objecXve outsider – Professional experience of meaningful sample design – Meaningful analysis and reporXng – making the most of the data,
drawing out parerns, seeing what’s going on under the surface
• Good research isn’t cheap and cheap research isn’t good • BUT there are ways to maximise the quality of insight
without spending a fortune
WHERE TO START
(1) Find a qualitaXve or quanXtaXve research expert to suit your needs – Ask yourself – are we looking for “deep dives” or staXsXcally robust data? – And is our audience big enough to jusXfy a quanXtaXve approach?
(2) Ensure your supplier has voluntary sector experience – Diversity of audiences, sensiXvity
(3) Go in knowing what you want – Be clear about your objecXves – Explain how the research insights will be acted upon – IdenXfy who you need to speak to – Work out the size of the target populaXon
WHERE TO START
• Consider freelancers rather than agencies – Most will have significant agency experience – Will oqen consider charging by daily rate for small chariXes – Highly networked – will be able to recommend others – QualitaXve -‐ hrp://www.aqr.org.uk/dir/independents.shtml – QuanXtaXve -‐ hrp://www.mrweb.com/independents/
• Cherry pick! – Most will let you pick and choose – Understand the process – know what you can and can’t do yourself – Which elements of the process do you have Xme to take on? – What level of output do you really need?
AN EXAMPLE -‐ QUALITATIVE
• Typical large-‐agency ratecard price: “4 x 2hr focus groups with report including venue hire = £12,500” • How does this break down?
Service Unit cost Cost for 4 groups
Proposal, project design, moderaXng £800 per group £3200
Recruit 10 respondents for 8 to show £500 per group £2000
IncenXve payments to respondents £500 per group £2000
Full report (c. 50 slides in ppt) £800 per group £3200
2 evenings in a viewing facility w. catering £1050 per evening £2100
TOTAL £12500
AN EXAMPLE -‐ QUALITATIVE • What if….
Service Cost
Proposal, project design, moderaXng
…you tell a freelance researcher exactly what you need, and meet to brainstorm the project structure …then you hire them for 2 evenings of moderaXng
£500 £1000
RecruiXng ...the researcher spends a day briefing your staff on recruiXng the respondents then they do it themselves
£500
IncenXves …if you have a rapport with your audience, give them something you know they’ll like!
£200
ReporXng …commission a topline report, get a freelance note-‐taker to transcribe the audio, then ask your staff to pull out quotes to flesh out the report
£1000 £250
Venue hire …use your premises or hire a community hall, bring your own sandwiches, view the groups in the room
£100
TOTAL £3550
AN EXAMPLE -‐ QUANTITATIVE
• Large agency rate card price: “250 x 10min telephone interviews with report = £9,750”
• How does this break down?
Service Unit cost Total cost
Project set up and management £1000
Fieldwork £25 per interview £6250
Data processing and tables £500
Full report £2000
TOTAL £9750
AN EXAMPLE -‐ QUANTITATIVE
• What if…
Service Total cost
Project set up and management
…you use a freelance researcher to set up and manage the project – and most importantly to write the ques7onnaire
£1000
Fieldwork …you use an automated online tool such as surveymonkey, and mail out invites and reminders to your database
£25
Data processing £500
ReporXng …you hire a freelance researcher to spend 2 days reporXng on key findings
£1000
TOTAL £2525
KEY MESSAGES
• Market research in the voluntary sector can be decepXvely complex and requires as much professional skill as commercial research
• There are many piaalls to conducXng research projects completely in-‐house
• But you can outsource and save money by – Understanding what you want upfront – Approaching small agencies or freelancers – Ensure your supplier has voluntary sector experience – Cherry picking – ask for itemised costs and only buy what you really need, and what you can’t do yourself