19 February 2008, London Entrepreneurs’ Challenge

1. 19 February 2008, London Entrepreneurs’ Challenge Tim Barnes, Executive Director, UCL Advances Market Research Techniques

2. Introduction • Research is needed to understand many of the aspects of your business during the planning phase • Research is usually categorised by the area of study, such as products, markets, customers or competition and the method, such as survey, desk-based, testing etc • In this session, we are going to look at some general approaches to research that will help you to find answers to whatever questions you have about your business proposition

3. Overview • General Approach • Formats: • Qualitative • Quantitative • Methods: • Interviews • Questionnaires and surveys

4. General Approach • Determine the goal of your research • For example, are you trying to improve customer service or increase sales? • Use trade journals, marketing magazines, public information from government departments or other areas to determine the demographics of your market • Collect information from existing customers where ever possible - this is your most valuable research resource • Check your sales records and make sure you understand why your best customers keep coming back

5. Formats

6. Qualitative • Generally used for exploratory purposes • Tend to be small • Often used early on in a research programme • Cannot usually be used to suggest how larger groups will respond • Can be useful in generating new ideas • Often carried out using interview methods • For example, “What do you think of…? What would you like to see done differently?”

7. Quantitative (1) • Generally used to draw conclusions • Tests a specific idea (or ideas) • Should use random sample to ensure that the results can be extrapolated to the whole population • Method tends to be by survey or questionnaire • For example, “Please indicate which is most important to you: speed, price, quality”

8. Quantitative (2) • Should be a targeted group to insure impartial results • Respondents should be categorised by ‘segment’ (e.g. male/female, age group, etc) to ensure that a representative set or responses are collected • For example, ensure there is a mix of employed and non-employed that represents the whole population not just who is on the street one mid-morning! • Each response can then be “weighted” to ensure their response reflects the total population

9. Methods

10. Interviews • Likely to be selective based on known individuals with roles specific to your enquiries • Typically conducted one-on-one and may last 30-60 mins • Advantages • Best method for getting personal opinions and for complex questions • Good at uncovering ‘hidden’ issues • Disadvantages • Time consuming, which can have cost implications

11. Interviews (2) • Hints and tips • Start with general questions and questions designed to establish a rapport • When you start asking more substantive questions, use only one or two ‘Grand Tour’ question that allow the most open ended answers to come forward • Use ‘floating prompts’ e.g. raising an eyebrow to make sure that a question has been fully answered - plan these! • Use ‘planned prompts’ to direct the focus of the answers later on - plan these, too! • Try and interview strangers (!) - they are more likely to be honest • How many interviews should you do? In most cases 15-20 will give you every major outcome you can expect to see!

12. Questionnaires and surveys (1) • May focus on opinions or factual information • Can be carried out face to face or by phone (survey), or at home or online (questionnaire) • Structure needs to be standardised and allow only minimal ‘free’ responses • Questions should be constructed so as not to lead people to any one answer • For example, “Please rate the excellent staff on a scale of 1 to 5…” • Every respondent should be presented with the same questions, in the same order

13. Questionnaires and surveys (2) • Advantages • Efficient, particularly when large numbers of respondents are needed • Can be used to study a wide range of factors • Low-level of errors and easy to process results • Cheap to carry out • Disadvantages • Require honest responses with no room for judgement! • Cannot study complex issues • Often limited in the responses they can capture

14. Questionnaires and surveys (3) • Hints and tips • Keep it brief to maximise the response rates • Offer incentives to those that complete them (e.g. voucher or entry in a prize draw) • Use multiple choice questions wherever possible as it makes the question clearer and speeds up completion of the form • “Yes/No” answers are the most effective at producing clear results, but if you use them make sure to have an open-ended “Why?” box afterwards so you do not lose valuable responses • Use a casual style to ask the questions, like a conversation, that encourages people to answer • Introduce only one issue with each question • Test it out on a known group before sending out!

15. Other forms of research • Test marketing • A small scale launch of a product used to determine the likely response from a wider market • Customer satisfaction study • Vital long-term research via a variety of methods to understand the views and opinions of existing customers • Positioning research • Examines how one brand or service is perceived by customers, or potential customers, compared to another • Mystery Shopping • Perhaps the most fun research method! • Consists of sampling potential competition (or even your own) goods or services • Objective is see how businesses are really performing by experiencing it

16. 19 February 2008, London Entrepreneurs’ Challenge Tim Barnes, Executive Director, UCL Advances Market Research Techniques Questions?