How to Perform Business Research
Companies do business or market research to gather information from customers or non-customer consumers. For example, a company may want non-customer consumers' input on a new product, or inquire why customers have stopped buying its products. Business research is conducted through phone, mail, Internet and personal interviews. A company will need to survey enough people to reach a "valid quota," which is enough surveys to ensure the results represent the general population. Typically, 300 to 350 surveys will be a valid quota. There are also sample calculators that you can use to determine your survey sample.
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Things You'll Need
- List of consumers or business customers
- Questionnaire
- Market research agency
Instructions
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Write a survey that includes all the questions you want answered. Gather information on how satisfied customers are with your products and prices, for example. Meet with other members of your management team to see what information they want to ask consumers or business customers. Draft an outline of all the questions that you need to ask.
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Make a decision on whom you will survey. Conduct your research with customers or non-customer consumers, for example, depending on what information you plan to gather. Survey non-customer consumers if you want to determine who saw your advertising, for example. Talk exclusively to your customers if you want to know how your customers rate your products.
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Create a questionnaire for your business research survey. Write a qualifying question that properly identifies the person you are surveying. Ask the customer, for example, if she is the one who purchases the family's household items. Use a "yes/no" format for your qualifying question. Follow the qualifying question with some multiple choice questions. Ask some open-ended questions, too, which are "fill-in-the-blank" questions. Use the open-ended format so customers can further explain their multiple choice responses.
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Hire a marketing research agency to conduct the surveys, as they employ trained survey takers. Talk to marketing research agencies with survey experience in your industry. Meet with several agencies, then ask them to write a price quote for the survey project. Ask the agencies to break out costs separately for surveys, data extraction and reporting costs. Select the agency that offers you the most experience at the lowest cost. Let the marketing research agency help you tweak the questionnaire. Oversee the survey process, making sure the marketing research agency is conducting enough surveys per day to meet your survey deadline. Set your project deadline about a week before the project due date, as you will need time to analyze the survey data and write your report.
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Study the survey results from data tables that the marketing research agency should supply. Start writing your report. Write an "Objectives" page that highlights your key goals for the survey. Add a "Methods" section that explains how and when you conducted your surveys. Write a paragraph for your "Methods" section like: "The marketing research department, along with ABC Research Agency, conducted 300 surveys by phone from Sept. 10 to 24." Type the results of your survey in the "Summary of Findings" section of your business research report. Highlight key findings in the "Executive Summary" of your report. State any significant increases in product satisfaction among customers from one year to the next, for example. Mention highly positive responses to new products you plan to market. Limit your executive summary to one page, using bullet points to list key findings.
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Tips & Warnings
Perform periodic surveys over the course of the year so you can track your progress. For example, you may want to do surveys to track how satisfied customers are with your customer service department. You may decide to do surveys four times per year to monitor your progress. However, you will need to ask the same questions each time.
References
Resources
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