Seven Steps to Planning Marketing Research

The 7 major steps that go into planning a marketing research project are as follows:

1. Decide what pay-off you want to get from the research. In other words, determine what it is you ultimately want to accomplish. For example, objectives might include increasing:
   • Customer acquisition
   • Customer retention
   • Customer loyalty

2. Determine what information you need to know in order to get your pay-off. For example, information needed might be:
   • What your company or product image is versus your competitors' company or product (strengths and weaknesses)
   • What factors most influence the purchase of a product category and/or purchase from your company
   • How satisfied your customers are with your company/product and what attributes add the most value for your customers and/or prospects

   Note: TwentyTen Research will work with you to determine what information is needed based on your desired pay-off.

3. Determine what questions need to be asked in order to develop the necessary information. Are these questions quantitative in nature or qualitative?

   Quantitative questions measure what the magnitude of belief or behavior is among a specific population. Qualitative, or exploratory, questions deal with identifying the range of ways people believe or can behave.

   • An example of a quantitative question is: "Are you extremely, very, somewhat, or not at all satisfied with (specific attribute of) our product/service?" (The percentages of respondents who choose each answer can be quantified (measured).)
   • Two examples of qualitative questions are: "Why are you satisfied/dissatisfied with our service?" or "How can we improve our product/service?"

   Note: TwentyTen Research, working with you, will use their expertise to determine what questions need to be asked and how those questions should be structured and organized.

4. Determine who can best answer those questions (and how easy or difficult these people are to find (the incidence). The higher the incidence, the less difficult (and generally-for consumer interviews--less costly) it is to get people to answer your questions.

   Conversely, the lower the incidence, the more difficult (and costlier) it is to get people to answer your questions. For example, consumers who eat fast food hamburgers at least once a month would be pretty high incidence whereas consumers who have red hair and who eat at Ethiopian restaurants three or more times a week would be relatively hard to find (low incidence)!

   Note: TwentyTen Research can work with you to define what types of qualifications respondents should have in order to meet the study's objectives.

5. Decide how you will get the information from the people you want to interview (the type of "interview" process needed). This step refers to data collection.

   Typical data collection methods for quantitative studies include telephone, mail, intercept (in-person) or the Internet. Data collection for qualitative studies may include focus groups or (one-on-one) in-depth interviews (usually conducted by telephone).

   Note: There are various pros and cons associated with each type of data collection. Taking into account these various pros and cons, TwentyTen Research will propose the form(s) of data collection, which have the most favorable cost-benefit ratio for your project.

6. Determine how many opinions you need (sample size). The appropriate sample size will depend on how much statistical reliability is needed for the results. For quantitative studies, typically 100 to 600 "interviews" (by telephone, mail, intercept, or Internet) will suffice. For qualitative, typically 2 to 8 focus groups or 15 to 50 in-depth interviews will suffice. (Note: Optimum sample size often depends on how much segmentation is desired or needed. The more segmentation, the larger the sample size you need.

   Note: TwentyTen Research will recommend an optimum sample size that takes into account the reliability desired, amount of segmentation needed, and client budget.

7. Decide how the data will be analyzed (segmentation). Some opinions may be more valuable than others. Examples of key segments to be analyzed might include: heavy users versus light users; younger versus older, established accounts versus new accounts. Segmentation enables you to focus in more accurately on the opinions of key groups of your customers.

Of course, the above seven steps are by no means the "be all, end all" to planning a marketing research project. Other factors such as budget and deadlines/timetables certainly affect your planning process. Every situation is different.

However, every step of the way you can be assured that TwentyTen Research will be at your disposal, ensuring that you come away with a project -- and with results -- that provide a sound foundation for your business decision-making.