We all know the importance of market research… and how difficult it is getting strangers to cough up details of their wages, buying habits, marital status, product preferences and so on.
This is why incentive helps – free holidays, shopping vouchers etc. – but any prizes you can offer, or how many hundreds of surveys you can get completed are useless if you don’t ask the right questions.
There are two types of market research, a few rules you should follow when preparing surveys and loads of kick-start questions that will help you decide what information you need to attain; we’ve listed a few below…
Two Types of Research
Primary research: information you collect by talking to people (your existing customers, consumers in general, and other businesses), survey results, internet and product research.
Secondary research: gathering statistical and other information from industry associations, trade publications, government websites, etc. This can be used to get a better understanding of economic and social matters, which will help to determine your customer’s needs.
Questionnaire Do’s and Don’ts
- Start with an intro so your respondents know what the survey is for, but keep it factual. Don’t add anything like, ‘What I hope to achieve from this survey is…’ because it can sway responses.
- Always begin with a couple of easy, interesting questions to get them warmed up.
- Multiple choice questions are a winner, but don’t forget to offer an “other” option.
- Use open-ended questions sparingly; save them for what you consider to be your most important questions. Leave plenty of room for the answer, too. Most people won’t offer an essay-style response but if you’ve hit a chord with a great question, you don’t want the respondent running out of space!
- Don’t ask questions that require two answers, eg. ‘What do you like about pies and where did you buy your last pie from?’
- Write your questions in a logical order, don’t use industry terms, relax your grammar and always get a test group to fill it out before you go public.
The screen grab below is from SNOBS’ very first survey. An incredible 44 people responded, woo hoo!
Kick-Start Questions
These are not for your survey, but to get you thinking about what to ask…
- What kind of people are likely to buy your product or service?
- Where are they?
- How will you locate them (to advertise)?
- What are their attitudes, needs, wants?
- What motivates them to buy?
- Who or what plays a part in making their buying decisions?
- What are they buying at the moment?
- Where do they buy from?
- What do they think of their existing suppliers, or products/services?
- What price are they willing to pay?
- Why?
Want to create your own online survey?
Here are a few options, which all offer free ‘basic’ accounts:
www.onlinecustomersurveys.com.au
www.surveypirate.com
www.surveymonkey.com
www.zoomerang.com
Tell us:
What methods of market research have you tried? How many people did you reach? What did you learn about your business from the responses?
