Questionnaire Design

According to an Ad Age article published today, there is no longer an average American. This doesn't come from a consumer survey they conducted, but from the expected results of the 2010 US Census. There are approximately 309 million people living in the United States, and over time, we have become a complex, multidimensional society.

For consumer marketers, this may be a big shift. No more "the American consumer," no more "Average Joe." The U.S. Census is the largest market research project of the decade. The Census Bureau will be gathering data on American consumers and spending upwards of $15 billion doing it. There's a reason that Peter Franceses, demographic trends analyst at WPP's Ogilvy & Mather, New York, calls it the gold-standard of consumer market research studies.

Here are some of the expected findings Franceses shared with Ad Age:


What does this mean for consumer marketers and survey samples? Getting a representative survey sample is becoming even more important. With the death of the "Average American Consumer," market research survey designers can no longer rely on data collected from just one group. When making business decisions, organizations will need to look at the entire picture.

What else? Focusing on niche markets will become more important. It's already very difficult to please everyone, but it's getting harder and harder. Consumer products that will work for a single couple living in New England is not necessarily the same consumer product that will work for a blended family in California. It's important to make sure you're conducting your own product market research. While the Census is collecting a lot of information about consumer trends and consumer behavior, organizations still have to conduct their own market research related to their particular markets.