Never too small for research Neil Stollznow (QPMR) Director, Stollznow Research

Never too small for
research
Getting the most out of your research, and your budget
Neil Stollznow (QPMR)
Director, Stollznow Research
National Secretary, AMSRS
How to use market
research in a SME
environment
The basics
 Qualitative
 Focus groups / group
discussions
 In-depth interviewing
 Characteristics
 Unstructured
 Not representative
 Quantitative
 Telephone interviewing
 Intercept interviewing
 Online interviewing
 Door to door
 Characteristics
 Highly structured
 Projectable
 Sampling
 Questions
When to use each approach
 Qualitative
 How do people feel
 What do they think
 What is their reaction to an
idea
 Why do they behave this
way
 Quantitative
 How many people feel this
way
 How many think this way
 What is the size of the
market for a new idea
Before you begin…
 Define the issues
 Why you need to do research
 How will this information be used
 What do you need to know
 versus what is ‘nice to know’
 What information do you already
have
 What happens if I do nothing?
Before you begin…
 How well do I really know
my market?
 Age, income, occupation
 who purchase
 who don’t purchase
 where do they live…
 Beware “We know our
customers/clients”
 Friends don’t tell you the
bad things
The brief

Background to the project

Business objectives you want to achieve

Many people just state questions

Researchers can help you define objectives

Timeframe

Budget

No requirement to specify methodology

Meet with the researchers

Make sure they have your outlook

Make sure they match your business
What sort of budget do I need?

How important is the issue?


Qualitative



What will it cost if we get it wrong?
Focus groups $4,000 to $6,000
Costs affected by:

Recruitment – easy / difficult

Where the respondents are
Quantitative

Start @ $60 per interview (telephone)

Economies of scale as sample
increases

Specialist techniques will cost more
Tips for the perfect qualitative project
 Fish where the fish are
 Have realistic expectations
about what people can tell you
 Don’t be proscriptive
 Participants must feel free to
digress, argue and be involved
 Leave you with insight into
 Motivation
 Thoughts
 Perceptions
Tips for the perfect quantitative project

Based on real understanding of the
population


Ask questions people can answer

Know the meaning of questions you’re asking
Must have good sampling



Sample size must be robust

Confidence level

Analysis of sub-groups
Quality fieldwork


Random in population
If it’s not right at this stage it won’t improve!
Quality analysis

The right tools for the job
What about the web

Ideal for

B2B

Existing customers

General population where
income plays no role

Issues

52% of Australian households
have internet (ABS 2003)

About 60% now

Not equally distributed

Older less likely to use

Lower income much less likely
to use

The way of the future
Use your existing data
 You have data!
 Data collection is the main
cost of research
 Simple analysis is often
overlooked
 Postcodes, spend, frequency
 You may have the resources
internally
 Many consultancies can
analyse data
Use your existing data
 Complex analysis requires a
specialist
 Loyalty programs
 Customer tracking
Conducting internal research programs

Any knowledge is better than
no knowledge!

A standard approach

Identify key information
requirements


Systematically collect data

Analyse the data
Use existing business activities

Use your CRM program

Use your telesales information
Things to remember
 Qualitative
 It is what it is
 Avoid jumping through hoops

Projective techniques

Extensive observation

Extended groups (3 hours)

‘Homework’
 Quantitative
 Doesn’t always need to be
complex

If cross tabulations are all that’s
needed, that’s fine
Ethics and quality


Look for quality in suppliers as
you do in your business
Research Organisations
Ethics mean people will speak
(AMRO)
to researchers

 Association of Market
Australian Market & Social
Research Society (AMSRS)

AMSRS Code of Professional
Behaviour

Qualified Practising Market
Researcher (QPMR)
 Interviewer Quality Control
Australia (IQCA)
 Australian Standard 4752
Market research & telemarketing
 Must distinguish between
the two activities
 Telemarketing sells
 Participants must
understand which process
they are involved in
 The individual is the focus
 Ethical behaviour
 Market research gathers
 Required by the Privacy Act
information
 The individual is irrelevant
to the project
 Participants must
understand what their
information will be used for
Impact of the Privacy Act on market research

More about databases than privacy

National Privacy Principles (NPPs)

Market and Social Research
Privacy Code allows

Collecting name and contact details

Making recordings of research

Using customer lists

Registering individuals on a customer
database

Conducting fieldwork checks

Contacting respondents for follow up
research
Case studies
Inner-city hotel
 Upgrade worth $½ million
 Expanding restaurant
 Opening up former restaurant
area to customers
 Who to cater for?
 What kind of food?
 What kind of ambience?
 Who lives in the area?
Two-stage research program
 Quantitative
 233 interviews
 Simple demographics

Age

Household makeup (share,
family, couple etc)

Household income
 Use of local hotels
 Opinion of local hotels
 Like to participate in group
discussions?
Two-stage research program

Qualitative

3 group discussions

Identified competitive set

Identify strengths and weakness
of each hotel

What is missing in the area

In food

In recreation

What should hotel food be?

Menu evaluation

Wine evaluation

Role of promotions

Role of entertainment
Outcomes
 Understand local marketplace
 Things to do at the hotel
 …and things to avoid
 Demographics
 Competition

Strengths

Weaknesses

Unique selling proposition (USP)
 Know how to develop
profitably
 How to use every dollar in
renovations and subsequent
promotion to generate
income
 Cost $13,000 + GST
The British Council
 Who is the British Council?
 Cultural representatives
 Limited budget
 Primary means of
communication is through
website(s)
 Upgrading key site
 Essential for operation
Information requirements
 Research needed to
 Content

Relevance

Information needs
 Branding on site

Strengths and weaknesses
 Detail of the information on

Retained information
consider
site
 Technical aspects

Interactivity

Ease of navigation
Qualitative research
 3 group discussions
 Completed with 3 key
stakeholder groups
 Evaluated a draft-version of
the website
 Participants took turns to
navigate through the site
while it was discussed
Research outcomes
 Significant modifications
made to site
 Specific direction on
 Links
 Quotes
 Graphics
 Content
 Summary of each page
 Important to ‘get it right’
first time when there is
limited budget
 Cost of project was
$12,000 + GST
“Internet start-up”
 Can’t name
 Signed confidentiality
agreement
 Needed to know
 Market size
 Likely market reaction to
product
Quantitative research
 Simple telephone interviewing
 Interviews last 5 minutes
 Asked about
 Scope of operations
 Size and number of activities
 Size and number of events
 Existing sales activities
 Likely uptake of offer
Research outcome
 Small fractured market
 Large clients ‘signed up’ to
alternatives
 ‘Rats and mice’ left
 Limited potential
 Idea killed
 Cost of project was $10,000 + GST
 Much less than would have been
wasted on a idea that did not work
What have we learnt?
Key learning
 Know what you want to
achieve before you start
 Find a company in tune
with your business
 Prepare a brief
 Not as hard as it might
seem
 Research does not require
large budgets
 When to use
 Qualitative research
 Quantitative research
 Telephone interviewing
 Web research
 Don’t be afraid to complete
simple research yourself
 The importance of
standards and quality in
consulting
A simple checklist…

To test if you’re on the right
track..

Do you have the right sample /
population?

Do the research outcomes fit
into your business plans?

Is the methodology the right
way to go?

Don’t be bamboozled

Methodology

Process
 Do you have realistic goals

Outcome

Time-frame
 Do you understand the
deliverables?
Contact details
 Neil Stollznow
 PO Box 16
Level 2/156 Military Rd
Neutral Bay NSW 2089
T +61 2 9953 7543
F +61 2 9953 7563
M +61 412 200 235
 neil@stollznow.com.au
 www.stollznow.com.au