Other important research payoffs
- Research can reestablish dialogues with long-lost customers – Sometimes a survey is all that is needed to reestablish a dialogue between a company and a customer that feels ignored.
- Research gives people a chance to vent – Sometimes people just want to air out their feelings. This doesn’t mean they will abandon you or your company. To the contrary, they may respect you more for giving them the chance.
- Research can find new growth opportunities right under your nose - A client of mine in the healthcare data industry told me a great story about his company’s market research. It seemed that several years ago, his half million dollar company decided to survey its customers. One of the questions it asked was, "What new products would you like to see us offer?" Of the 90 responses it received, an overwhelming number said they would like to see the company offer market share data. The company moved quickly and within less than a year began offering market share data. The result? His business more than quadrupled over the next two years.
- Research can increase awareness of ancillary products – Good surveys not only collect data, but disseminate information. As long as it is handled tastefully, you can educate consumers about your company’s new products or services with a survey.
- Research can sometimes reactivate dormant customers - I once helped an industrial services client survey its past customers, ones it hadn’t heard from in over a year. After asking for their feedback on the previous work, we included the following question: “Do you know of anyone, in your company or outside of it, who could benefit from the services XYZ provides?”
The response was overwhelming. In the end, the survey generated over $700,000 in sales from both active and dormant accounts.
The best low-cost market research tools
- One-on-one interviews– This is one of my favorite research techniques. In it, you (or better yet, an outside consultant) speaks directly with your company’s customers, one at a time. Via phone or in-person, you walk the respondent through a standard questionnaire. Each respondent is asked the same questions and the interviews are designed to take less than 30 minutes each.
- At that time, why did you become a customer of our company?
- With respect to (your industry) what are your biggest challenges you face?
- How did you first learn about our company?
- How does our company help you with these challenges?
- Who are our biggest competitors that you deal with? What are their strengths & weaknesses?
- What are our greatest strengths? Weaknesses?
- What do we do that no one else does in the market?
- What other capabilities or services would you like to see XYZ offer?
- Which of our competitors do the best job of marketing?
- Post purchase surveys – To keep the lines of communication open between you and your customers, administer a quick customer satisfaction survey right after delivering your product or service. It will help your company keep tabs on how well you’re doing with your customers, and can also head off potential problems. Given everyone’s preoccupation with time, I limit my company’s survey to one page. It’s a fax-back survey with just five questions, and 90 percent of all surveys are returned.
Here are some questions that can be used in a survey like this:
- What one thing did you like about doing business with us?
- What one thing would you change about our company?
- When you bought our product, what did you really end up with?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, please rate us on the job we did for you.
- What would it take for you to stay with us for five years?
- Networking—These days networking gets a lot of attention as a lead generation device, but I also see networking as a market research vehicle. Next time you, or someone from your sales organization, sets up a networking meeting, identify one piece of research information you’d like to obtain. It could be something about your major competitor (e.g., What do you know about XYZ Company?) or something about your typical customer behavior (e.g., What additional services do you see customers in our market needing?) Gathering vital research information can sometimes be as cheap as a cup of coffee.
- Blogs – Blogs are a great way to encourage dialogues with your market. Savvy marketers are now using blogs to:
- Elicit instant feedback from customers
- Have simultaneous conversations with customers and prospects
- Facilitate the spread of buzz about your company.
Here are some questions I like to use in these interviews:
