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I love The Washington Post's slogan, "If you don't get it, you don't get it." And it's true, if you don't read The Post; you don't know what's going on in the D.C. Metropolitan area. Maybe I just like the double entendre, but it says so much. In the case of market research, you really don't know what you don't know. Every business-no mater how successful-can benefit from good market research.
The value of customer input, perceptions, demographics and buying habits is priceless. It's like having the answers to the test ahead of time. And it doesn't even have to be that sophisticated. Some of the smallest businesses I know are astute enough to have some sort of customer service questionnaire. Others have a telemarketer follow up call. Others even have a web survey that is automatically tabulated, summarized and electronically sent to the company.
The first step of any serious marketing campaign should begin with a research component. How can you position a company or map out strategies if you don't know what you're customers are thinking or how your competitors are positioning themselves? It's also helpful to consult with industry experts to gain perspective from non-biased sources. And finally, secondary research from the Web can enlighten you to industry trends. The end goal is, of course, how to differentiate your company from all the others, define your niche, yada yada. Another advantage to market research is that you can fine-tune your business, your product, your customer service based on this knowledge.
Grocery stores have it down. Their frequent buyer cards serve two purposes. First of all, you keep patronizing their stores for the discounts you earn-a plus for them. But more importantly, they know EVERYTHING about you. How much you spend a month. What you buy. What brands you prefer. How often you shop. What time of day you shop and on and on. Then to suck you in even further, they send you coupons for items you typically buy. What a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of your customers.
Amazon.com takes marketing research one step further and you benefit from what they've already learned. They actually have a feature that matches you with similar buyer profiles and offers reading recommendations based on books you've bought in common. That's market research at its best.
Okay, so you're not a major grocery store or Amazon.com. How can you collect useful information to attract and retain customers? And what is it you really need to know?
Here are some research tools you can use yourself:
Customer survey in store
Interactive survey on your site
Email survey (people love these and are quick to respond!)
Phone interviews
One-on-one interviews
Make it fun. Ask interesting questions. Give respondents an incentive to complete the survey. Follow up and let them know about improvements or plans to implement customer suggestions. There are several free survey web sites that you can try. One is conveniently called www.freeonlinesurveys.com.
So now that you have a vehicle, what do want to find out? A local manufacturer conducted on-line surveys to determine if their customers would be receptive to a name change. Once they had their list of possibilities pared down, they sent another email and gave people a chance to respond to the names. A financial group that wanted to start a new bank with an industry specialty conducted one-on-one in-depth interviews with industry leaders and relied on area demographics to make their decision. A software company that wanted to find out if there was a local market for their products and services surveyed IT managers at larger companies in that market. A local food store wanted to know if they would lose or gain customers with a move so they conducted exit surveys at their store and gave everyone who completed a survey a chocolate bar.
In simpler terms, you may just want to know if you have great customer service, convenient operating hours or a product that works. Or you may wonder if there is a market for your new product or service. The bonus result of this kind of research is that you're often promoting your business as you seek information to improve it.
Hey, I'm going to begin my market research right now. If you read this column and learned something, send an email to rjones@robinjonesconsulting.com. Then, I'll know what I know!
-- By Robin Jones, Robin Jones Consulting
Robin Jones has been a marketing professional for more than 17 years. She cut her teeth in the New York men's fashion industry with Ralph Lauren and Christian Dior. Later, she moved to the agency side and managed several men's suits and fragrance clients for Weiss/Watson, which is now a part of Ogilvy & Mather, and is now the principal of her own firm, Robin Jones Consulting. Although only 3 years young, the firm has doubled in size each year and Robin expects 2004 to exceed these expectations. Robin's role falls three areas: business development, strategizing and creative supervision.
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