One the primary purposes of marketing research (both for consumer and B2B market research) is to mitigate risk. Often I am asked what I do for a living and invariably my response is I quantify executives gut feelings. This is exactly where market research as a function needs to be. When we bring our...read more

The question that lies in the back of any researcher’s mind centers on what degree is their sample a reasonable measure of the population of interest? All aspects of the survey project can be spot on, but if the respondents do not form a representative sample then all bets are off for the quality of...read more

At one point we all learned our ABCs. With the pace of change currently increasing in the marketing research world we are now in need of a refresher. In this case the A and B refer to the concept of A/B testing and the C is the outcome of that test, better known as the Champion. A/B testing has long...read more

Whether your focus is B2B market research or consumer insights the odds are high that you will need to compare data from survey to that of another. This might take the form analyzing various survey waves measuring brand awareness, customer satisfaction or customer retention. We might also need to...read more

In the movie Spinal Tap one of the characters goes to say that he likes to turn his guitar up to 11. There is nothing magical about 11 in the mundane sense, but it certainly does have application in the realm of marketing research and specifically in attitudinal measurement. The scales survey...read more

The survey is one of the most important means of collecting data. The advantage is that it can be given to a large sample that may ensure a reasonable rate of return. However, the survey has disadvantage—it may not yield the finer details for what you are seeking data. For example, you have designed...read more

Last week I shared my favorite feedback management blog posts that fell outside the Top 25 Most Popular Posts of 2011. After crunching the analysis for most read articles, most shared and clicked posts, I've narrowed down our 476+ posts to just the Top 25.Please share your thoughts below on any...read more

Sub-groups, it’s all about the sub-groups. When designing questionnaires we need to maintain consciousness as to whom we are targeting for response. It is quite possible, given your research objectives that you may be focusing on multiple sub-groups. Your sub-groups might be based upon demographics...read more

Does marketing research, or any form of survey research for that matter, always provide a clear answer? The ‘clear answer’ so often desired by executives is elusive, at best a moving target. So my take based on many years of experience is that research does not always provide a definitive answer....read more

If you have made a significant consumer purchase in the last five years, odds are you received some form of post-sale satisfaction survey. As a professional researcher, I am cognizant to the need to collect unbiased feedback from both customers and those that chose not to purchase. This constructive...read more