There’s a researcher in all of us!
I’ve recently had a painter working at our place. Every evening when I arrive home I feel a pang of guilt that I’m not taking responsibility for wielding a paint-brush – surely any self-respecting bloke can paint a fence? But then I remind myself I’m a terrible painter and am consoled by how good the professional work looks. It got me thinking…
The rise of DIY culture in business is all around us. Companies are doing their own accounts without an accountant; writing their own advertising without a copywriter; and even doing their own research without a researcher. The common denominator? Access to enabling technology, and an eye on costs, undoubtedly.
But isn’t all this DIY research a threat to those who make their living in this field? Not at all. ‘A rising tide raises all ships’, so the more people talking about customers and doing research, the better for all of us. Xero was never an accountant killer; it just freed them up to focus on more high value work. The same can be said of research consultants in the current climate.
So, how hard can customer research be? Anyone can ask a few questions can’t they? Well, having some useful tools and a dose of confidence obviously helps, but conducting good research yourself is about more than simply asking some questions. The very selection of questions – their nature, structure, and placement is the difference between usable insight and false data – and the consequences of getting it wrong can be rather catastrophic.
Think back to the New Coke launch in the 1980s, where they built the product on customer feedback around taste and flavour based on the apparent success of Pepsi in the blind test challenge of that time. Of course, they somehow overlooked the fact that people didn’t drink cola blind, and forgot how much of an emotive connection the Coke brand held for people, and duly suffered when their loyal customers rejected the supposedly improved taste. Classic Coke was soon restored…
To avoid ‘doing a New Coke’, here are 9 important things to consider for your next customer survey…
What is the decision you’re trying to make? Start there, and break it down into information needs that would feed that decision. Now you’ve got the outline of your questionnaire.
What hypotheses do you have and how can you validate these? What sort of questions are required to underpin great analysis. Here’s the specifics to inform your questioning.
What information is already available? Don’t waste your customer’s time asking questions you already have the answers to. Try to keep your questionnaire short!
Start with something relatively simple. Give customers early questions they will find easy to answer so you warm them up gently. Nothing like a confronting opening question to ruin willingness to participate…
Make your survey flow naturally so it moves through your information needs in a logical way for your customers.
Be consistent and avoid confusion. Keep any rating scales consistent, and avoid forcing customers to complete questions they can’t – use filters to guide each customer through a ‘personalised’ version of the survey.
Don’t use technical language or jargon. Those in the industry may understand it, but your customers probably won’t. In addition, always keep your question phrasing neutral so as not to invite bias. Harder than it sounds, especially when you’re in the industry!
Provide prompted responses wherever possible. Also a good idea to make sure they’re balanced and objective. Don’t expect customers to provide detailed descriptions in the free text boxes. They might not love your product/service as much as you do!
Test and refine. Always get someone from the target market who is unrelated to your business to review your survey before you release it. I guarantee this will make it substantially better (and free of any typos). Better still, get a few people to review it.
There’s a researcher in all of us. But sometimes the job might be too big or complex, or you just don’t have the time or desire to ‘paint the fences’. At least there are always professionals to call on to help...