The problem for the Insights Industry is that this has become the rule rather than the exception. In today’s data-driven world, researchers are expected to produced faster results, that have more impact, at a lower cost. The result of which is inextricably a compromise in terms of quality.
So how can you conduct lightning-quick research whilst ensuring high quality data?
Every brand wants to turn data into strategy and strategy into action. Often the problem is that the questions they are asking aren’t strategic at all! It’s easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of working life, to concentrate on firefighting today’s problems. Sometimes we just need to pause, take a step backward and think about the larger business problems we are trying to solve. Implementing a clear strategy and focus for your research will make it quicker and easier for your team to understand the answers they need to find.
As well as thinking about the larger ‘why’ of the information you need to know, it’s also important that everyone in the organisation knows and understand what’s expected from them in the form of a solid brief. Email tennis and zoom calls can easily be avoided if they provide all the info up front. This makes it so much quicker and easier for your research team to go off and get the insight.
"If you are struggling to get a decent brief, you can always come up with your own template to ensure you'll get all the info you need." Rodney Menon, Project Manager
Attracting quality respondents takes time. If that’s a luxury you can’t afford then tap into resources where those participants have already been profiled like Insight Communities or Consumer Panels.
Insight Communities- Initial recruitment is difficult but once you’re on your way, quick research becomes a lot easier. During the onboarding process you can integrate existing data on community members from your CRM, loyalty programmes etc. New members will also undergo a screening process and be asked initial profile questions. With this out of the way, you now have access to participants who are eager to participate in research, have been fully profiled and potentially been matched to your customer data in a way you just can’t accomplish with 3rd party suppliers.
Consumer Panels – Market panel research is the technique of repeatedly collecting data, from a pool of pre-recruited participants. The advantage here is that you can very easily find niche audiences, people from certain countries where maybe you don’t have a presence, and all of the people within this are used to doing market research. You can even use consumer panels as a recruitment tool for your insight community.
Build up your profiled audience or use a third party one and you’ll be able to reach out a lot more easily.
There are a few thousand different research tools out there. Quite often a few different tools might be needed for the same project, each with their own functions and set up times etc. Streamline by trying to find one or two platforms that are going to cover the majority of your needs. Obviously, we are going to have to namedrop our own platform, ex-plor which is stuffed full of features and tools, and can cut down your time in using multiple tools.
