CONSUMER PREFERENCES
admin No Comments

COVID-19 AND CHANGE IN CONSUMER PREFERENCES

COVID-19 is having a lasting, worldwide impact on consumer preferences and behaviors, according to a new report from KPMG International, “Responding to consumer trends in the new reality.” The report tracks the opinions of 75,000 consumers in 12 markets to examine the changes and how businesses need to think and act differently in response to these trends.

Since May 2020, research has seen four key trends that have impacted consumers and have ultimately changed their purchasing patterns and consumption. Consumers expect these changes to last longer than 12 months.

The trends across the globe are

  • economic impact,
  • erosion of trust,
  • rise of digital and
  • Home is the new hub.

These themes highlight the pressures consumers are under, their feelings towards brands, and their changing behaviors in the new reality. Retailers will need to better understand the needs of the customer groups — via segmentation driven by AI and psychometrics. Personalization not only of communications, but also of developed products, will be key to meeting the needs of the new consumer. Besides, consumers are gravitating toward brands that are empathetic and supportive of their values. Consumer Commerce is the future. Bricks and mortar will remain an important channel although we know channel agnostic and customer centric is key and the competition will be much broader than today’s retail.”

Nearly half, 45 percent, of respondents do not feel a strong financial impact, which could mean opportunities for businesses that are able to meet the new consumer’s expectations. All consumers predict they will spend less in the next 6-12 months and all are prioritizing savings. Perhaps not surprisingly, ‘value for money’ is ranked as the key purchase driver.

Key trends include:

  • Two in five (43 percent) of consumers are worried about their financial security in 2021
  • More than one-third (36 percent), are prioritizing savings over spending
  • 37 percent are working from home more, and 60 percent plan to do so more in the future
  • One in five (20 percent) want to stay at home as much as possible
  • Confidence in public transportation has declined 37 percent compared to before COVID-19
  • Net spend is expected to be 21 percent less over the next 6-12 months, versus pre-COVID-19
  • Close to half (45 percent) predict digital channels will be their main connection to brands
  • “Value for money” is ranked by 63 percent as the top purchase criteria

Consumer brand relationships are likely to permanently change as a result of COVID-19 and businesses need to reexamine how they build trust with their customers in this new reality. The brands that can demonstrate and articulate their value and adapt to rapidly changing customer demands as they spend more time at home and rely more on digital, are the ones that will be most successful.

IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON PAKISTANI CONSUMER PREFERENCES

According to the Survey, 62.3% of respondents confirmed that their overall spending had decreased; 19.4% were of the opinion that the lockdown had not made much difference and 13.3% that their spending had increased.

  1. Groceries, Disinfectants and Sanitizers on the Rise

Although consumers may have been spending less or very little on non-essential items they used this amount to stock up on other items instead. These include groceries such as packaged food, fresh food, beverages (58.7%) – not surprising given that the lockdown led people to throng supermarkets and stores. Groceries most stocked upon on include daily essentials such as bread, flour, pulses, rice and sugar (53.4%), fruit and vegetables (44.7%), snacks (36.3%), meat/poultry (33.4%), and frozen foods (21.7%). Other items that consumers have been spending more on include personal protection products, such as sanitizers, gloves and masks (54.5%).

  1. Dining Out On the Dive

Respondents stated that they are spending less on clothes (74.2%), fuel (75.3%), and recreational activities (69.3%). A category that has also been in the red is the food business (restaurants, eating out/ordering and takeaways), as 79% said that they are ordering in and dining out less due to the lockdown. Prior to the lockdown, 59.6% ordered food at least once a week or less from a restaurant, 25.3% ordered once or twice a week, 9.7% twice or thrice a week and more than 5% four or more times a week.

  1. Online Shopping and Banking Booming?

Surprisingly, while the rest of the world saw a spike in online shopping during the lockdown (groceries mainly), in Pakistan 53.4% still purchased groceries from physical stores. Only 10.6% used an online channel to buy an item for the first time although 18.7% said they are ordering more online now; 16.8% said they regularly used e-commerce channels for their purchases even before the lockdown. Nearly 12% said they were willing to try online shopping for the first time but had not done it yet. (7.5% said they did not have the option to shop online in their respective cities or areas).

While the lockdown has seen a surge in internet banking globally, in Pakistan only 5.9% downloaded banking apps or used online banking services for the first time during the lockdown; 22.5% said they are not using online banking channels while 4.7% said they would like to try in the near future.

  1. Brand Loyalty Compromised?

The last two months have seen a shift in consumer priority, with the focus moving towards availability, due to shortages as a result of panic buying, stores and supermarkets running out of stock (33.8% said that they have been unable to source their preferred brands). This demand and supply gap has led to consumers trying alternate brands (21%) while 8.8% purposely opted to buy cheaper brands in order to economise. Consumers who stayed loyal to their brands constituted 31.3% and 38.6% said they were not brand loyal.

Business exists for customers and the way you deal and respond to your customer will determine how productive is your business as well as its ultimate impact on customer retention. Ace Research proposes that the information you acquire from your customers, help you grow your business. The research method you will opt will depend upon the type of your business and the kind of information you need to acquire. And it can be done internally by assigning a task to some individuals or you may hire a consultant to conduct perhaps more transparent research for your organization.

  1. Are Brands Communicating Effectively?

When asked if brands have created advertising/communication messages relevant to Covid-19, 35.8% stated yes; when asked to name these brands, the ones mentioned most frequently included soap and telecoms: Lifebuoy (12%), Dettol (4%), Safeguard (3%), Jazz (1%), Telenor (1%) and Ufone (1%). “Brands have molded their ads and product line-up according to the onset of Covid-19; telecoms have made recharging balances much easier.

The top three brands mentioned included Lifebuoy (5%), Dettol (2%), and Safeguard (1%). As to whether any brands stood out because of a CSR initiative, 24% named a brand – Jazz (3%) followed by Asim Jofa, EBM, Telenor, Engro and Unilever (1 to 2%). One respondent remarked “I read that many brands are actually donating money to the Prime Minister’s Ehsaas Emergency Cash program, which is good to see but more efforts need to be made by other brands as well.”

retail audit
admin 1 Comment

Why Retail Audit is Crucial for FMCG’s Success?

Retail auditors are those professionals that basically asses the stock at the retail outlets, in relation to company records and set requirements. They analyze everything about the company’s stock in a retail outlet. They provide information about the brand’s sales volume, the trending sales techniques, in store display effectiveness and overall stock management. Thus, retail auditors are important for any company but more so for FMCG companies which depend highly on retail stores for their product sales.

What key functionalities retail auditors perform:

  • Assessment of the various stocks in all the retail stores allocated to them.
  • Matching the stocks with the company’s records.
  • Checking for any damage or wrong stock.
  • Realizing any issue with a particular stock.
  • Clearance of stock in a timely manner.
  • Documenting and proper reporting.
  • Informing and reporting to the higher authorities

Who shall perform this activity for FMCGs?

As we can see, these professionals need to be very efficient and good at their work. Hence, conducting interviews and hiring these professionals is a tedious task for any company. So what can companies do? They can seek services of a market Research companies that conduct interviews and takes care of the entire hiring process.

All they need to do is contact such  companies and share their requirements. These research companies will carry out the retail auditing on their behalf. This is very effective and saves the company huge costs and the tedious process. Few companies like Ace Research not only perform retail audits for you but also facilitates your management with action oriented reports and in-depth analysis of whole activity thus, helping the company to perform retail audit’s hassle-free.

Types of information that brand retail auditors gather include:

  • Sales volume
  • Stock levels (shelf and back stock)
  • Descriptions of in-store displays and promotional materials
  • Competitor activity
  • Planogram compliance (shelf location, number of facings present, number of SKUs present, missing/inaccurate shelf tags)
  • Pricing
  • In-store location of products
  • Product damage

Importance of Retail Audit

retail audit

The benefits of conducting retail audits are twofold. On the one hand, they serve as a tool for suppliers to ensure that retailers are complying with pre-established agreements on product placement, pricing, and promotion. On the other hand, they allow brands to accurately measure their success in the retail environment.

Types of Retail Audits

With so much variance in the information that can be recorded in a retail audit, it makes sense to segment audits by data type. Different audit forms should be used to reflect the respective data being collected at a given store visit. Examples of the types of retail audits that a supplier might employ are listed below.

Retail Market

In some cases, brands might simply want to know the placement, where their products are being stocked (or could potentially be stocked in the future). Retail auditors might document the following:

  • Consumer sentiment towards the brand and its competitors
  • Store appearance and location.
  • Qualitative and quantitative information about other brands present in the store.

Merchandising Report

This type of store audit is primarily concerned with the brand’s performance. Retail auditors use merchandising reports to analyze:

  • Inventory levels
  • Stock outs
  • Condition of products
  • Amount of available shelf space
  • Units ordered
  • Retail price
  • General shelf appearance

Promotional Report

If a brand is holding a sale or other type of special promotion, it is important to track its success so as to know, how it’s performing in the short-term and how to improve in the future.

  • The type of promotion being used (tasting, demo, price reduction, etc.)
  • The duration of the promotion
  • The featured products
  • In-store position
  • Sales results
  • General effectiveness of the promotion.

Competitor Survey

One audit that brands shouldn’t overlook is the competitor survey, which can reveal invaluable insight into how your brand stacks up against others in its category.

  • Who your direct and indirect competitors are in the store
  • Competitors’ pricing strategies
  • How many facings competitors have on the shelf. Is your brand being significantly overshadowed?
  • Where competitors’ products are located in the store.
  • Any promotions competitors are running

Steps in the Audit Process

After realizing the inherent value of retail audits, how can your company guarantee that it’s executing them properly? Consider the following procedure to help your team make the most of every store visit.

  1. Articulate your goals

Determine the main objectives of your retail audit. Are you primarily concerned with monitoring competitor activity? Or do you care about how quickly your products are moving off the shelf?

  1. Design audit criteria

Select the exact questions you will be asking in the audit and the acceptable answer types. Will you use “yes/no” questions, have retail auditor’s write-in responses, or use a scale such as 1-5?

  1. Schedule Appointments

Once you know what you’re trying to gain from the retail audit, it’s time to make it happen. Aim for consistency in terms of who you send to which accounts. This way, individual retail auditors can become extremely knowledgeable about their stores and build a rapport with store management. Recognize that some retailers might want to be notified before retail auditors will be visiting their store. Also be mindful to schedule retail auditors for an appropriate number of audits as determined by their assigned territory.

  1. Gather data and photos

Make sure auditors collect data that directly corresponds to the goals and criteria you’ve laid out. Including photos in audits is a great way to depict exactly what’s happening in a store at any given time, and promotes accountability and compliance.

  1. Evaluate results.

Once audits are completed, organize your data in an easy editable format. Numerical values can be depicted graphically. Check to see how the results you’ve achieved stack up against your pre-determined KPIs.

  1. Implement changes.

After analyzing the findings, execute on what needs to be done in the short term. For example, you discover that a particular SKU is performing significantly worse than others, across several locations and you decide to pull it from shelves immediately.

  1. Repeat the process.

After conducting several retail audits, you’ll be able to make adjustments to your retail audit process as needed to tailor it to your company’s unique needs. Regularly conducting audits will allow your business to be as agile and rapidly adjust to the ever changing retail landscape.

Advantages of Retail Audit Software

Historically, businesses have used pen and paper for retail auditing, which presents a number of avoidable challenges, such as:

  • Need to transcribe findings into a digital format after the fact
  • Risk of losing or damaging paper
  • Higher risk of human errors
  • Delayed transmission of data from the field to decision-makers

To combat these issues, companies can make use of technology.

Ace Research online dashboard offers ONE-STOP RESEARCH PLATFORM supported by data collection team all across country. Our dashboard is equipped to support your business in the following ways.

  1. Ability to easily collect data through digital forms.

You’ll want to be able to customize your survey questions to accommodate specific product families or retailers. Moreover, you’ll want customization of the allowed answer types. Ideally, some questions could be marked as “mandatory” so that brand retail auditors cannot submit the audit without filling in a response for those questions.

  1. Synchronization of data to brand managers in real-time.

The primary reason for using a technological solution as opposed to paper is so that managers can receive data from the audits immediately. The faster data is available for analysis, the faster changes can be implemented. To automate your process further, we offer a solution that readily transforms data into graphs and charts for easy visualization.

  1. Image capturing capabilities

Photos illustrate what words alone cannot express. They’re especially useful for revealing details about competitor packaging, shelf appearance, store tidiness, and promotional displays. Pictures are also great for depicting “before” and “after” scenarios.

  1. Barcode scanning

To save time during auditing, brand retail auditors can scan the UPC of a particular product using a smartphone camera, which in doing so will populate their screen with more detailed information about the product.

  1. Time stamping and/or geo-tagging

For organizational purposes, it’s helpful to know the precise location and time that an audit took place.

  1. Electronic signature capture

Getting a signature from a store manager lets your company know that the audit has been done.

A retail audit can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your overall retail execution strategy. However, the insights gained from retail audits are only as strong as the quality of the audits themselves. Moving forward, Ace Research helps you in planning how your business can augment its retail audit process by streamlining data collection and its analysis. Supports you in evaluating your findings to make the auditing process worthwhile and enable your company to make agile, informed decisions.

Customer Loyalty
admin No Comments

Customer Loyalty: Building solid customer relationships

A good marketing strategy generates revenues from both new and existing customers. New customers provide the necessary injection of fresh blood for a healthy, growing company. However, it is the existing customers that provide a solid foundation.

Nearly all businesses have the opportunity for a continuing relationship with their customers and, over the years, the revenue generated becomes a “customer lifetime value (CLV)”.

The lifetime value of a customer depends very much on what is being sold. People do not move house often and so an estate agent could believe that the lifetime value of customers is low. However, the word-of-mouth associated with the move could be significant. In a completely different line of business, a baker sells a loaf for very little but repeated sales over 20 years could run to a cumulative value of many thousands of dollars from a single customer.

A focus on CLV is vital in order to increase satisfaction and instill loyalty. Good relationships developed with sales and technical teams are the strongest drivers of customer loyalty in business-to-business markets.

Lifetime value

Customers can be divided into three groups:

  1. Those who stay loyal and are unlikely to shop anywhere else
  2. Those who have moved on and will never come back
  3. And those who regularly shop around and may well return in the future.

Our concern is particularly to keep the loyal customers loyal and to stop other customers defecting.

How Ace Research help you in assessing your Customer Loyalty?

Loyalty can be assessed by asking people how likely they are to recommend a company, using a scale from 0 to 10. It has been determined that there is a strong correlation between people giving a score of 9 or 10 out of 10 on this scale and their likelihood of becoming loyal customers. It is quite exceptional to have more than 30-40% of customers give a score of 9 or 10.

The problem for most companies is not the number of customers that give a low score of 6 or below but those who simply believe the company is satisfactory, scoring 7 or 8 out of 10. The group giving a “middling” score often makes up the bulk of the customer base. It is this group who award mediocre scores that are of greatest concern as their heads could easily be turned if some other supplier arrives on the scene with what seems like an attractive offer.

Ace Research offers specialies consumer surveys and research activities to assess the level of customer loyalty, across all industries.

How to build customer lifetime value (CLV)

Loyalty is hard earned. It does not come from a bunch of flowers or a nice smile, though this can help. It is earned in small servings, over time, and can so easily be lost by one false move.

True loyalty often arises when a company does something extra ordinary to get a customer out of trouble. There will be times when a customer requires an urgent delivery or a machine stops working and a supplier who solves the problem will be remembered.

Loyalty – How To Win Devotion from Your Customers

Everybody is talking about loyalty nowadays. It is not that customer satisfaction has fallen by the wayside; rather businesses recognize that, a satisfied customer isn’t necessarily a loyal one.

Why Customer Loyalty Is So Important

Let’s think about that for a minute. Why may a satisfied customer not be loyal?  There could be a number of reasons.  Firstly they may not be that satisfied.  Ace research measure satisfaction on scales and, on a scale from 1 to 10, most companies achieve a score of around 8.  This is right in the middle of what we call a “corridor of average satisfaction” which spans from 7 to 9.  In other words, 8 out of 10 might sound good, but it is only OK.  If you want your customers to stay loyal, you have to have scores of 9 out of 10 on the things that really matter.

The Zones of Customer Satisfaction:

Customer loyalty

We should also recognize that for some customers, it is not that difficult to switch suppliers.  A tempting offer from a competitor could easily turn the head of a non-committed customer. There may of course be shortfalls in your own supply that encourage people to seek another supplier.

How to inculcate Customer Loyalty?

Past history of our research assessment indicates that, customers defect for two primary reasons: their need for a product or service has ceased, or the product/service they are buying has failed to satisfy their needs in some way. And, when we say that the offering has failed in some way, it means that they were let down or their expectations were not met.  Being simply OK is good, but not good enough in this highly competitive world, when others are prepared to do anything to win and keep the business.

It is important to emphasize that one of the most important factors that builds loyalty is the high quality of the product and service that is being offered.  There is absolutely no substitute for this.  Any compromise on quality carries a huge risk.

Examples of Causal Models of Drivers and Customer Loyalty

Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is driven by small things, the softer things that are harder to measure, and the little things which in isolation seem inconsequential.

Three important steps to achieving devotion from your customers

In conclusion, there are three steps to ensure loyalty from our customers:

Step 1 – Make Sure That the Basics Are Right

It is no good thinking that you can build customer loyalty if there are any failings at all in the basics of your offer.  The quality of your product and service in particular has to be unquestioned.  Deliveries must be on time, in full, every time.  The price of your offer must be good value but it is not necessary that it is the cheapest.  Indeed, we know that low prices do not engender loyalty because in general low prices mean low service and this in turn means low loyalty.

Step 2 – Work on the Softer Issues

Loyalty is based on the strength of the relationships that are built up with the sales and service teams.  It is the result of many little things that often go beyond the expectations of the customer.  It is the accumulation of these little things that create trust that will not be jeopardized by a move to a new supplier. Recognize that from time to time things will go wrong and when they do, fix them quickly and where possible, give something extra to make up for the failing.

Step 3 – Measure and Control

Finally, measure everything.  Measure customer churn, measure complaints, measure customer satisfaction, measure the frequency of introducing new suppliers, and measure the likelihood of recommending.  Through measurement will come an understanding of the degree of loyalty of your customers and the tools to ensure that it is driven to the highest possible levels.

Ace Research with years of experience and research insight has catered many projects involving customer retention and loyalty track. Consumer surveys, mystery shopping’s, churn rate assessment, etc. to name few are the research models we employ to identify, measure and propose areas for enhancing customer lifetime value.

Field Survey Ace
admin 1 Comment

How to Make Money as Field Surveyor?

Market research allows a company to discover the target market and get feedback from consumers about their interest in the product or service. Some are face to face interactions and may demand traveling (require car or motorbike) whilst others can be held remotely as long as you have a reliable internet connection, laptop and mobile.

Market research involves the gathering and analyzing information of consumers. This helps businesses understand what products/services people want, who will buy them, and for what price.

If you think that you’d enjoy talking to strangers, and getting their opinions about various products and services, read our simple getting on board FAQs.

WHAT DOES A FIELD SURVEYOR JOB INVOLVE?

COULD I BE A FIELD SURVEYOR?

WHERE CAN I FIND FIELD SURVEYOR JOBS?

HOW MUCH DOES FIELD SURVEYOR EARNS?

WHAT TRAINING CAN I TAKE TO BE A FIELD SURVEYOR?

GET YOURSELF A FIELD SURVEYOR JOB NOW

Market Research Activities involve numerous assignments such as mystery shopping, retail audits, field surveys, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, consumer surveys etc. Collectively, we recognize them as Field Surveys or on-ground research operations.

WHAT DOES A FIELD SURVEYOR JOB INVOLVE?

You might be approaching people in the street, door-to-door, offices, retail shops, public places or on the phone. Once employed, you’ll typically receive a few days’ training before the required activity. You may also be accompanied by an expert on your first task.

If you’re going door to door asking questions, you’ll probably be given a list of streets to visit, each with a set quota of interviews to conduct. Alternatively you may have a pre-selected list of addresses to contact. These may contain the name of a specific person you need to speak to.

Your activity might involve observing a retail outlet for product or service assessment. Observation might require you not to reveal your identity which often is the case in mystery shopping. (You will be required to visit target site and observe, as per the checklist provided but you will remain anonymous and pretend to be regular customer or services seeker.

Similarly, you might be tasked to visit public places to conduct surveys or may be retail offices to observe customer services and product.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Be polite and approachable. Always explain what the research is about and what it’ll be used for.
  • Make sure to record your answers. Take down the answers as you receive them. Then once the results are collated, they’re passed back to the organization you’re working for.
  • Researches are usually paid after the completion of assignment. Some companies will also reimburse travel expenses and may offer bonuses to those who meet their targets.
  • Read more about different market research assignments and tasks

DIFFERENT TYPES OF MARKET RESEARCH

There are two different types of market research:

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Quantitative research is based on the quantities or numerical statistics collected by surveys and questionnaires. Mostly the questions are multiple choice.

  • Face to Face Interviews: You’ll be asked to attend a short meeting to answer a series of questions about a product or service. Surveys are normally conducted face to face.
  • Online Surveys: You’ll answer a series of questions about a product, brand or service through a website or by phone. These can be of many different variations. Some may want to put some visuals in front of you for feedback and opinions; others may want you to explore a website with a specific task in mind.  In some cases, you’ll need to fit a certain ‘demographic’ to take part in a particular test. This means that you’ll need to be a particular age, sex, or live in a certain place. All you need to do is take a few moments to fill in the qualifier test.
  • Consumer Researches and Surveys: Market researches are basically executed to analyze consumer needs and preferences. Also, needs of end user is important; this can be customer, businesses, capacity building of target audience – as it happens in assessments of surveys and long term community uplift projects. In all of this, surveyors play a role on forefront in for data collection, recording and sharing it in the required format, based on this data reports are made and ultimately decisions too. 

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative research is based on more in-depth questions, determining people’s actions and thoughts by researching their attitudes and opinions. This type of research often takes place in groups or face to face. They may discuss a certain topic or collection of topics in a session. Participant’s opinions and views will be analyzed and recorded as it is.

  • IDI (In-depth Interviews): One to One interaction will take place and questions related to product or services are asked. Also, interviews are conduced online as well. 
  • Focus group discussion: You’ll be asked to discuss your opinions about a brand, product or service in a small group of people.

COULD I BE A FIELD SURVEYOR?

This is a job that involves interacting with different people of different industries and being interested in what they have to say.

Good Field Surveyor use positive, action-focused language, they also make it easy for participants to complete their survey. You need to be able to hold their interest for the whole survey and keep the results honest. This means not influencing the answers in anyway. You’ll also need to be able to deal with rejection from some people.

Most of all, it’s important to enjoy what you do and have fun being out and about. It tends to be a popular job for younger people, those with some relevant employment experience tending to have a better chance of securing work. Otherwise, with some training and experience you can secure paid research assignment/tasks.

  • Flexible Hours

There is no upper age limit to be a Field Surveyor. However it can be a flexible option for those with other commitments. Also, in most of the market research assignments you are not bound to commit yourself 9-5 but you can perform your task as per your convenience. When you get the required training, time duration for the task will be communicated and then you can manage the task as per your convenience.

WHERE CAN I FIND FIELD SURVEYOR JOBS?

The Ace Research is the professional and experienced employer for the Market Research sector and you’ll find the whole activity managed with utmost flexibility and convenience of researcher/surveyor in mind.

The Ace Research also publishes its blog for detailed insights on our research activities and also we post our vacancies across social media and informal job portals.

HOW MUCH DOES FIELD SURVEYOR EARNS?

Market Research

In all of the varying market research activities mentioned above, on average a field surveyor earns PKR 20 – 50k a month. With experience and dedication earning five digits a month from survey activities is doable. There can be 3 categories of field surveyor;

1. Telephonic Interviews and Online Assessment

The joy of having a telephone/online-centric job is that you can be based anywhere. So jobs are available at home or at a call center.

2. Door-to-Door Surveys

Doing field research is certainly more profitable, particularly in big towns. Outside main towns, the rate is different. Your travel cost is sponsored in most of our research activities, in some cases; an expense allowance for each assignment is also awarded.

3. Retail Assessments/ Branch Visits

Such activities involve sometimes a field surveyor to have distinct characteristics such as; to be well groomed, command over certain language, to belong to a specific location/region and often some prior experience (can be acquired with training and pilot visits). Often it is required to have motorbike or car for carrying out an assessment.

WHAT TRAINING CAN I TAKE TO BE A FIELD SURVEYOR?

If you want to improve your earnings as a Field Surveyor, think about taking some training, which may also open the way to more interesting roles.

  • Studying towards qualification

Various institutes offer various online and on campus certification in market research, which gives a comprehensive grounding in the basic principles and practices of effective market and social research. From there you can work towards Advanced Certificates, Diplomas and even Masters Degrees which will obviously put you in a completely different league and earnings bracket.

Besides having desirable certification or diploma – market research companies also offer short trainings free of cost to interested individuals.

GET YOURSELF A FIELD SURVEYOR JOB NOW

Register yourself with Ace Research if you believe you are consistent, hardworking, a good listener and also dedicated to meeting activity timelines. Ace Research provides complete training to all the shortlisted candidates who will pass our short interview and you could get a market research job down your street (literally) right now.

 

 

Data
Zahid Hussain 1 Comment

How to Ensure Proper Data Cleaning in Excel?

In Research, the emphasis is on the report writing because a good report comprehensively explains all the stages with the relevant outcome and valuable way forwards.

Reports are the product of data gathered either from secondary or primary sources and it is, therefore, very important for the data to be authentic, reliable, and up to date. In order to ensure the reliability of data, it has to be processed for omitting any error or mistake. And before we can work with our data, we need to make sure it’s valid, accurate, and reliable.

In the age of Big Data, companies may spend just as much or more on maintaining the health and cleaning their data as they spend on collecting it in the first place. Consider the issues that can stem from missing or wrong values, duplicates, and typos. The validity, accuracy, and reliability of your calculations depend on your ability to keep your data up-to-date, this is also evident from Ace Research’s projects.

To prepare data for later analysis, it is important to have a clean data table.  Depending on the origin of the data, you may need to do some of the following steps to ensure that the data are as complete and consistent as possible.

  1. Assign unique code to your fields

Unique codes are very useful while sorting and cleaning data because at any stage if trouble arises you can sort out the data from your database with the help of unique codes already assigned to the data set.

  1. Maintain separate sheets if you are working on a huge data set

Often the data is very large and you cannot work on the whole data set at the same time, so it is preferred to maintain separate files for each change you make. This helps when you refer back in case you missed anything at any step.

  1. Get rid of extra spaces

Extra spaces are painfully difficult to spot. While you may somehow spot the extra spaces between words or numbers, trailing spaces are not even visible. Here is a neat way to get rid of these extra spaces

Excel TRIM function takes the cell reference (or text) as the input. It removes leading and trailing spaces as well as the additional spaces between words (except single spaces).

  1. Select and treat all blank cells

Blank cells can create havoc if not treated beforehand. We often face issues with blank cells in a data set that is used to create reports.

You may want to fill all blank cells with ‘0’ or ‘Not Available’, or may simply want to highlight it. If there is a huge data set, doing this manually could take hours. Thankfully, there is a way you can select all the blank cells at once.

  1. Select the entire data set
  2. Press F5 (this opens the Go to dialogue box)
  3. Click on the Special button (at the bottom left).
  4. This opens the Go To Special dialogue box
  5. Select Blank and Click OK

This selects all the blank cells in your data set. If you want to enter 0 or Not Available in all these cells, just type it and press Control + Enter (remember if you press only enter, the value is inserted only in the active cell).

  1. Remove duplicates

There can be 2 things you can do with duplicate data – Highlight It or Delete It.

Highlight Duplicate Data:

Select the data and Go to Home – Conditional Formatting – Highlight Cells Rules – Duplicate Values.

Specify the formatting and all the duplicate values get highlighted.

Delete Duplicates in Data: 

  • Select the data and Go to Data – Remove Duplicates.
  • If your data has headers, ensure that the checkbox at the top right is checked.
  • Select the Column(s) from which you want to remove duplicates and click OK.

This removes duplicate values from the list.

If you want the original list intact, copy-paste the data at some other location and then do this.

  1. Highlight errors

There are 2 ways you can highlight Errors in Data in Excel:

Using Conditional Formatting

  • Select the entire data set
  • Go to Home –Conditional Formatting – New Rule
  • In New Formatting Rule Dialogue Box select ‘Format Only Cells that Contain’
  • In the Rule Description, select Errors from the drop-down
  • Set the format and click OK. This highlights any error value in the selected dataset

Using Go To Special

  • Select the entire data set
  • Press F5 (this opens the Go To Dialogue box)
  • Click on Special Button at the bottom left
  • Select Formulas and uncheck all options except Errors

This selects all the cells that have an error in it. Now you can manually highlight these, delete it, or type anything into it.

  1. Change text to lower/upper/proper case

When you import data from text files, often the names or titles are not consistent. Sometimes all the text could be in lower/upper case or it could be a mix of both. You can easily make it all consistent by using these three functions:

  • LOWER () – Converts all text into Lower Case.
  • UPPER () – Converts all text into Upper Case.
  • PROPER () – Converts all Text into Proper Case.
  1. Parse data using text to column

When you get data from a database or import it from a text file, it may happen that all the text is cramped in one cell. You can parse this text into multiple cells by using Text to Column functionality in Excel.

  • Select the data/text you want to parse
  • Go To Data –Text to Column (This opens the Text to Columns Wizard)

Step 1: Select the data type (select Delimited if your data is not equally spaced, and is separated by characters such as comma, a hyphen, dot.). Click Next

Step 2: Select Delimiter (the character that separates your data). You can select pre-defined delimiter or anything else using the other option

Step 3: Select the data format. Also, select the destination cell. If the destination cell is not selected, the current cell is overwritten.

  1. Spell check

Nothing lowers the credibility of your work than a spelling mistake.

Use the keyboard shortcut F7 to run a spell check for your data set in Excel.

  1. Delete all formatting

In my job, I used multiple databases to get the data in excel. Every database had its own data formatting. When you have all the data in place, here is how you can delete all the formatting at one go:

  • Select the data set
  • Go to Home – Clear –Clear Formats

Similarly, you can also clear only the comments, hyperlinks, or content.

  1. Use find and replace to clean data in excel

Find and replace is indispensable when it comes to data cleansing. For example, you can select and remove all zeros, change references in formulas, find and change formatting, and so on.

Report Writing
Zahid Hussain 1 Comment

Steps In Report Writing – Market Research

Report Writing involves many steps but in this blog areas which are very important in every report will be explained. Report Writing normally contains headings such as Introduction, details about secondary Research and/or Primary Research, Analysis based on any of the two research types i.e. qualitative and quantitative followed by recommendation and Conclusion.

The introduction of the report provides an overview of the purpose of conducting any research and also its objectives.

This is followed by Methodology i.e. secondary research, primary research, or a mix of both. Simultaneously, research can be quantitative or qualitative. Secondary research can be quantified using simple statistical operations. Whereas Primary research is based upon qualitative attributes seeking opinions, views, and ideas from respondents. Each has its own way of interpretation.

In this blog, you can find details on how to prepare a very comprehensive report with a step by step guide on Quantitative and Qualitative Research Report Writing as followed by Ace Research.

Quantitative Research

Secondary Research      

  • Make Headings/Sections

If the data has to come from secondary sources make sure you make proper heading and sections for each category of secondary data. Secondary research contains data that is obtained from online available information such as, previous reports, scientific journals, online articles or organizational databases.

  • Search Relevant and Up to date Data

Secondary data should not be more than two years old, except in those cases where data is not available older data not more than 5 years can be cited/ used for reference. Too old data may net help in generalizability and cannot be used to infer outcomes.

  • Proper Referencing is important

Always maintain the record of sources from where you acquired the secondary information. Use authentic sources and double check the validity of data across different data sources if available. It is recommended to use APA format for referencing.

Primary Data

  • Compile Data in Excel

In quantitative research you compile all data in excel, either it is online or paper based. Remember when designing a questionnaire you will have to maintain logic against each question and answer. The proper scale should be adopted for quantification of responses, otherwise if systematically not designed, after gathering all the data you might struggle as to how to arrange the data for extracting meaningful information or cross analysis.

Data Cleaning

Data cleaning comes after when you have exported and compiled data in Excel. When you get the data it might have human errors although in the training phase emphasis is placed to ensure minimum errors in data.

To clear the errors you must have to check all the responses against any spelling/grammatical mistakes, numerical errors, wrong responses, blank responses etc.

  • Adjust Blank Responses

Blank’s data/incomplete data have to be assessed critically. If you have lots of blanks in any question you can either discard them if the information provided is not very meaningful. Similarly, in case of a few blanks questions you can depict the trend of responses by responding and it can be filled accordingly. Remember, this holds true only if trends can help you in filling those blanks otherwise state N/A.

  • Make Individual Excel sheets

For each question in the questionnaire you can create separate sheets as it helps to make analysis easier. This will be done after you have completely cleaned the data.

  • Maintain Separate Files for Complex Questions

In case some questions are complex or have multiple layers of response you may analyze them separately. This is helpful because if you made too many sheets in a single file, analysis can become very difficult.

  • Use a pivot table in Excel

A pivot table is best for quick analysis. If you have questions in which you have to analyze the trend between two variables uses a simple pivot table. You can use a variety of charts to analyze your question. For this you must have Excel 2013 or latest.

  • Make Graphs

Graphs are really helpful in analyzing the situation and if you have made graphs it is suggested to use 3d bars with percentages so you can reflect the assessment in a precise and clear manner.

  • Highlight Information in Graphs

For clarity, you can highlight important information in the Graphs. For instance, the highest bar in the histogram can be highlighted.

  • Copy Graphs in Ms. Word

Once you have run all the operations in excel, now it’s time to embed the workings in the report. For this, you will copy all the graphs into word files with proper labels and headings.

  • Comments on Each Graph

For each graph, you can put comments to explain your analysis.

Qualitative Research

Secondary Research      

Follow the same steps as described in Quantitative analysis.

Primary Research

  • Transcripts (IDIs / FGDs)

Make headings and sections for transcript, this will serve as an outline for transcribing recorded interviews.

Once the interview is conducted you must draft a document in which sections should be maintained for each of the discussion areas and after this, each response from respondents i.e. either a single respondent in case of IDI or group of respondents in FGD should be carefully written adhering to the sequence of discussion.

  • Highlighting Main points

Make a table that consists of very brief and relevant response against each question by respondent. Once you have transcribed all the recordings now you can assess them for the individual’s response. For IDI’s it is easier as there is only one respondent but for FGD as there are many respondents you can make a grid and record each respondents response against questions asked. Remember in this stage you are highlighting important points only.

  • Extract findings and recommendations

While extracting important points from a transcripts highlight relevant findings and recommendations, maintain heading for both at the end of report

As you have prepared a transcript for the whole session and also highlighted each individual’s response in case of FGD now you can extract all relevant findings and recommendations from all discussions for Report Writing.

Final Report Glimpse

  1. Make the content outline
  2. Enter data (Follow the Aforementioned sequence)
  3. After Analysis is performed and Final Draft Prepared, review thoroughly for spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes or/and any contradictory statements.
  4. Revisit Deliverables of the report and match with the content of the report before submission to the client.
IDI
Zahid Hussain 2 Comments

Conducting Online In-depth Interviews (IDIs)

A Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is a group discussion used mainly for assessing the gaps identified by companies/ a company to streamline activities with their overall objectives. Assessment derived from FGDs let companies plan future actions. The group’s composition and the group discussion are carefully planned where people are free to talk openly. Participants of this discussion are actively encouraged to express their opinions.

In Pakistan, Ace Research has conducted many Focus Group Discussions in a variety of projects and the main purpose was to extract information from respondents in length. FGD is a handy approach for assessment of clients, consumers and end users of products and services. Development as well as the Corporate sector can seek benefits of FGDs. Retailers, Banking sector, Telco’s, FMCGs can utilize this tool to get an insight about the expectation, perception and value derived by their end users from products and services.

Designing Objective Questionnaire

The research is always based on some objectives and these objectives are in line with problem statements developed after assessing underlying gaps in activities performed by any organization. Research Objective will determine the structure and pattern of the Questionnaire. Therefore, the first and foremost important factor prior to conducting any research activity is assessment of problems followed by preparation of research instrument i.e. Questionnaire. This instrument plays a very vital role in probing factors lurking behind problems identified.

Questionnaire preparation must be carried out with keen eye for events and arguments associated with the problem. Also, previous instruments used for similar researches can be consulted and with little or no modification if it serves the purpose can be utilized

Designing Manual & Script

Once the Questionnaire has been prepared and consent of all research stakeholders have been obtained, the next step is to design a manual for moderators. This manual serves as the guideline for conducting any Discussion in light of the designed questionnaire. This manual helps moderators to assess the required information effectively.

Script is the detailed version of manual which supplements moderator with minute details such as, probing point for open-end questions, outlining theme for each section with brief description. This allows the moderator to grip hands on whole the questionnaire and during discussion he/she will not face any problem at all. Also, the manual and script are so effective that if they are supplied to the moderator with no prior experience and he/she studies it thoroughly they can conduct any session with ease without any difficulty to understand anything. With the Aid of Manual and Script FGD is initiated with respondents and now another important need of FGD is Good Moderator.
Your moderator will determine the success of your group. Moderators should have some experience of conducting FGDs in the past. Engaging participants in the discussion is very important otherwise precious time can be lost in lengthy unnecessary discussions.

Views of the participants have to be respected and moderator has to remain neutral throughout and must only steer the discussion as per guidelines. Moderators can come across a variety of participants or maybe participants have a lot to share from various perspectives, enlightening the moderator with a large pool of information. For instance one of the FGDs conducted by Ace Research for IT board attracted respondents from diverse fields that included politicians, Expert IT technicians, IT investors, CEO of IT companies etc. the discussion was very fruitful and many questions were sufficiently responded by participants but steering this type of diverse FGD has to be managed very effectively. You have to listen to everyone and at the same time everyone must understand and stick to the agenda of discussion.

Arranging Target Audience

FGD can be arranged in a simple yet organized way. First Step toward arranging any FGD is to identify your participants. The Projects often clearly indicate the characteristics of their participants otherwise with consultation from client this can be sorted out.
Respondents of Projects seeking B2B assessment via FGD’s can be arranged by referrals from client or snowball sampling. Whereas respondents of B2C can be arranged by referrals or Random sampling.
You can find participants by acquiring information from clients or available online data bases such as companies offering IT services to be involved in FGD related to IT companies have been located via secondary research. In other cases, when you have figured out some companies with reference from a client or online database you may seek their reference to approach other IT companies respectively.
Participants initially get a telephonic call where you brief them about your intention to carry out FGD. Once you get their consent you can send them an email with all necessary details. In your first email or the next you can share details about venue, timings, agenda, moderator of interview and any incentive accompanying this discussion. Although, the respondents might confirm their availability but due to unwanted reasons maybe some of them won’t join you in discussion. So it is very important that suppose if you want to hold FGD of 8 members you must approach 20-25 respondents. Among them many might not be available for discussion or may share some kind of reservation. You might get confirmation from 12-15 and again all of them may not be available on days of discussion past experiences suggest, it is therefore encouraged to approach more people for any FGD group.

Conducting Focus Group Discussion

Step 1: Making Venue arrangements (online. Zoom, team viewer, Skype)
If the FGD is taking place offline, it is important to note that the venue must be arranged somewhere convenient and accessible to all respondents. Prior to finalizing your venue you can drop an email to respondents about desired venue location and if the majority have a problem of accessibility it can be changed.
Similarly, Online FGD is easy and accessible for all respondents. All that is required is good internet connectivity. Group Discussion can be arranged on a variety of online platforms such as Zoom Meeting Room, TeamViewer, Skype etc.

Step 2: Inviting Audience
Audience consent to join FGD will be followed by invitation to session. Offline session invitations/ an offline invitation shall include venue location, description about FGD, moderator, refreshments included, and etc.
Online Invitation will also be sent via email, it will contain links/ a link to any of the desirable online discussion platforms along with the description of FGD.

Step 3: Recording Arrangements online
In offline FGD, recorder can be set with the permission of respondents while, in online session recording can be turned on again after consent from Respondents.

Step 4: Actual Discussion
Once the Respondents are all at the venue or have joined an online session, the FGD is good to begin. Moderator will introduce himself and agenda of discussion, after this manual and script will be followed to conduct the session. Assistant moderator can assist moderator in conducting this session.

Step 5: Concluding refreshment
In offline sessions, refreshment can be served to respondents after completion of FGD. Whereas, during online discussions a letter of appreciation can be sent to respondents for sparing their precious time for this session.

Reporting

Step 1: Keeping summary notes during the discussion
It is important to take notes of key points during discussion. For this Assistant moderator can be tasked to carry out this activity of taking notes.

Step 2: Writing Transcripts
Transcripts of FGDs are very crucial and important for extracting relevant information. All the discussions have to be written down either during session or later (if recordings taken) for Reporting and Analysis.

Step 3: Make Summary of each discussion
Summary of all responses by each participant has to be extracted from transcripts and a comprehensive report will be created for highlighting key areas which can include improvement areas, core problem areas, opportunities, threats, strength and weaknesses.

Step 4: Topline Report
Based on the summary topline report will be prepared, it contains all the important points identified by respondents which are directly related with Objectives of FGD.

Step 5: Analysis
Based on overall discussion and topline report an analysis is drawn to conclude the outcomes of the discussion in line with Objectives of carrying out this discussion. Analysis is shared with Client and thereupon necessary actions plan can be prepared to address the problem.

Research
Zahid Hussain No Comments

Digital Research ‘Lifeline for The Survival of Industries”

Effect of coronavirus on Businesses

The novel coronavirus has disrupted nearly all operations across the globe. Industries in general and business, in particular, are the victim of this virus. This virus which affects the respiratory system of the victim has to date killed many innocents globally, with highest deaths recorded in Italy i.e. around 10k.

Traveling has been put to halt and as a matter of fact all human to human interaction has been minimized as this virus is contagious. Social distancing is the only approach effective so far to mitigate the far-reaching effects of coronavirus.

Impact on businesses

As per Moody’s assessment industries that will bear the biggest brunt of this pandemic are; Textile, automotive, consumer durables, gaming, lodging/leisure and tourism, airlines, retail (non-food) and shipping. Those getting moderately affected include, beverages, chemicals, manufacturing, media, metal and mining, oil and gas, property developers, agriculture, services, steel and technology hardware. Industries that will bear the lowest impact are construction, defenses, equipment and transportation, rental, packaging, pharmaceutical, food, telecom and waste management.

Potential positive impact will be upon, internet services companies, retail online and gold mining.

Why conventional research is not an option now?

Conventional research involves field surveys and human interaction is involved but given the circumstance this cannot take place now but instead online means can be adopted effectively to conduct research. In recent stats it is being revealed that internet usage has increase significantly and people are spending more time online.

Digital research has seen a shift from conventional paper and pencil research in recent times and with ever increasing use of online platforms companies are using digital means to assess needs and preferences of their customers. It has been observed that FMCGs and Telecom are affected with less by coronavirus and this is good time or such industries to analyze the shift in demand of their customers and be prepared to meet the with maximum productivity.

How to conduct Digital Research

Online Market Research is a research method in which the data collection process is carried out over the Internet.

Online Market Research can be either Qualitative or Quantitative.  Qualitative Online Tools include Video Ethnography and Market Research Online Communities (MROCs).  Quantitative Online Methods include mobile and app surveys.

This research can evaluate the performance of a product or service and may allow companies to glean insight into consumer purchasing behavior. With the rising use of the Internet, digital research has become a popular tool among market research firms.

Digital research can provide additional information about a buyer, such as her prior purchasing history. Digital research projects can be carried out by a company itself or by a hired research firm. There are several ways that may be effective for carrying out digital research. Quantitative research can be carried out via online questionnaires and web-based experiments.  Qualitative research can be carried out via online in-depth interviews, online focus groups and participant observation, in which a researcher acts as a part of a community to observe behaviors.

Online questionnaires and online polls are some of the most popular digital research tools. Online questionnaires may need to be carefully designed in terms of format and length. Some of the key digital research models Ace Research offers include;

1. Brand Heath tracking

Brand Analysis: Brand research has similar profiling features (“Who uses this brand?”) and also aims at identifying the reasons for brand loyalty or fickleness.

Scanner Research: Scanner research uses checkout counter scans of transactions to develop patterns for all manner of end uses, including stocking, of course. From a marketing point of view, scans can also help users track the success of coupons and to establish linkages between products.

2. Consumer research

Audience Research: Audience research is aimed at discovering who is listening, watching, or reading radio, TV, and print media respectively. Such studies in part profile the audience and in part determine the popularity of the medium or portions of it.

Product Research: Product tests, of course, directly relate to use of the product. Good examples taste tests used to pick the most popular flavors-; and consumer tests of vehicle or device prototypes to uncover problematical features or designs.

Psychological Profiling: Psychological profiling aims at construction profiles of customers by temperament, lifestyle, income, and other factors and tying such types to consumption patterns and media patronage.

Database Research: Also known as database “mining,” this form of research attempts to exploit all kinds of data on hand on customers-; which frequently have other revealing aspects. Purchase records, for example, can reveal the buying habits of different income groups-;the income classification of accounts taking place by census tract matching. Data on average income by census tract can be obtained from the Bureau of the Census.

3. Pre/post campaign evaluation

Post-sale or Consumer Satisfaction Research: Post-consumer surveys are familiar to many consumers from telephone calls that follow having a car serviced or calling help-lines for computer- or Internet-related problems. In part such surveys are intended to determine if the customer was satisfied. In part this additional attention is intended also to build good will and word-of-mouth advertising for the service provider.

4. Monitoring and evaluation

M&E can be conducted using a wide array of tools, methods and approaches. These include, for example: performance monitoring indicators; the logical framework; theory-based evaluation; formal surveys such as service delivery surveys, citizen report cards, living standards measurement surveys (LSMS) and core welfare indicators questionnaires (CWIQ); rapid appraisal methods such as key informant interviews, focus group discussions and facilitated brainstorming by staff and officials; participatory methods such as participatory M&E; public expenditure tracking surveys; rigorous impact evaluation; and cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis. With the aid of digital research all these facets of M&E can be conducted online.

5. Online Discussions (Focus Group and In-depth)

Another common practice for online surveys is the use of online panels. An online panel is a group of selected individuals that have agreed to participate in digital research projects for a particular company at specific intervals over a period of time. These participants are selected through a screening process according to their demographics, lifestyles and habits, and are usually rewarded for their efforts by the research company regularly. Online panels may allow companies to glean insight into creating long-term relationships with their customers.  These panels may also allow customers to give direct feedback about products and services without the potential reluctance that may occur in face-to-face interactions.  Online panels may also mitigate bias caused by peer pressure to agree on a certain viewpoint, a phenomena that may occur in face-to-face panels.

Benefits of Digital Research

Amid the outbreak of this virus, businesses are widely affected and we all hope for better results with least damage in coming days to people and businesses alike. Nonetheless, once things get settle down the businesses have already borne the wrath of this virus and revenues are dwindling. So in these circumstances it is crucial for companies to closely monitor their clients and consumers so after this virus settles down, a strategy based on factual research can be devised immediately to recover the losses effectively.

To sum up, we have following advantages of conducting digital research.

  • Cost advantages
  • Speed advantages
  • Data collection in real-time
  • Advanced analytics
  • Efficient global and multi-country survey management

Conducting digital research can be a complex procedure and may require considerable expertise on the part of researchers in obtaining accurate data.  It may be challenging to recruit participants in digital research for several reasons.  Recipients may be reluctant to participate in digital research because they may be afraid that the privacy and confidentiality of their personal information may be violated.  Since the identity of the researcher cannot be verified completely, people may find it difficult to trust such research methods.  Researchers often present participants with some monetary or non-monetary rewards for their participation

FGD
Zahid Hussain 1 Comment

Conducting Online Focus Group Discussions in Pakistan

An In-depth interview (IDI) is a qualitative research technique that involves conducting individual interviews with respondents to explore their perspectives on a particular idea, program, or situation. For example, we might ask participants, staff, and others associated with a program or certain situation about their experiences and expectations related to that particular event. Their views about program operations, processes, outcomes, and about any changes they perceive in themselves as a result of their involvement in that particular event or program.
There are numerous areas where one can undertake IDIs for example, for consumer’s feedback and opinion on product or advertisement. In Pakistan, particularly in metropolitan cities such as Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad customers are very conscious about the type of product they are using and therefore their valuable feedback can help companies to devise strategies accordingly.

Designing Questionnaire

The research is always based on some objectives and these objectives ought to be in line with problem statements developed after assessing underlying gaps in activities performed by any organization. Research Objective will determine the structure and pattern of the Questionnaire. Therefore, the first and foremost important factor prior to conducting any research activity is an assessment of problems followed by preparation of research instrument i.e. Questionnaire. This instrument plays a very vital role in probing factors lurking behind problems identified.
The Questionnaires will help in assessing to what extent respondents are aware of the event under probe and if questionnaires are not designed with an ultimate purpose in mind, the whole purpose of conducting this activity is lost.
Questionnaire preparation must be carried out with a keen eye for events and arguments associated with the problem. Also, previous instruments used for similar researches can be consulted and with little or no modification if it serves the purpose can be utilized

Designing Manual and Guide for Interview

An interview protocol is very crucial, the rules that guide the implementation of the interviews. These are the instructions that are followed for each interview, to ensure consistency between interviews, and thus increase the reliability of the findings. Clear instructions for the interviewer should be included in the manual for conducting IDIs. The manual address following concerns i.e. What to say to interviewees when setting up the interview; What to say to interviewees when beginning the interview, including ensuring informed consent and confidentiality of the interviewee; What to say to interviewees in concluding the interview; What to do during the interview likes, Taking notes or using Recorder or Both?
The Interview guide is a checklist that carries questions or issues to be explored during the interview. There should be no more than 15 main questions to guide the interview, and probes should be included where helpful.

It is also important to note that you will likely need interview guides for each group of stakeholders, as questions may differ. Where necessary, translate guides into local languages and test the translation.
Arranging Target Audience Identify stakeholders who will be involved i.e. what information is needed and from whom. List the stakeholders to be interviewed. Identify stakeholder groups that are associated with the objectives of your IDIs. Suppose you are conducting IDI’s for the IT sector, and you want to identify what possible strategy could be adopted to address gaps in meeting revenue targets. For this you will be interviewing stakeholders such as associations working for the IT sector, government institutes involved in regulating IT sector activities, CEOs of IT companies etc. Data acquired from all the stakeholders in turn will help in analyzing the issue from a wide angle.

Similarly, if you are seeking an assessment from the target audience which is the general population again IDIs can play a very vital role. For Example, the baby products by P&G and Unilever are widely used for kids and thereby, mothers can be interviewed exclusively for gathering their opinion and experience about product’s utility. Customer perception is key in analyzing the effectiveness of any product the moment it lands on their shopping cart.
IDIs are normally directed toward those from whom very relevant and up-to-date information can be sought and also they are involved with significant stakes in activity under investigation. Therefore, referral or snowball sampling is the best method to approach stakeholders for IDIs.

Conducting In-depth Interviews:

Step 1: Making Venue arrangements (Online i.e. Zoom, Teamviewer, Skype)
If the IDI is taking place offline, it is important to note that the venue must be arranged somewhere convenient and accessible to respondent, normally the interviews are conducted in the respective office of Respondent. Prior to finalizing your venue you can drop an email to the respondents about the desired venue location and after getting their consent Interview can be arranged.
Similarly, Online IDI is easy and accessible for the respondent to attend. All that is required is good internet connectivity. The Interview can be arranged on a variety of online platforms such as the Zoom Meeting Room, Team Viewer, Skype etc. Also, for IDIs other options like WhatsApp video, iPhone’s facetime, and Facebook video chat can be utilized as well.

Step 2: Inviting Respondents
Respondents consent to take an interview will be followed by an invitation for an interview. Offline session invitation shall include, venue location, description of IDi, moderator, etc.
Online Invitation will also be sent via email, it will contain a link to any of the desirable online platforms along with a description of IDI.

Step 3: Recording Arrangements online
In face to face Interview,recorder can be set with the permission of the respondent while in online session, recording can be turned again after consent from Respondent.

Step 4: Actual Discussion more points
Once the interviewee is at the venue or has joined an online session, the IDI is good to begin. Moderator will introduce himself and the agenda of discussion, after this manual/interview guide will be followed to conduct the session. Each question has a set of probing points and in case the respondent does not comprehend the scenario a hint can be given which are marked as probing points with a moderator. Also, it is crucial for the interviewer to pay attention to what the respondent is telling and follow-up questions should be asked if clarity is required for any of his/her responses. If in case the respondent feels offended due to any question don’t stress on it and instead move on to the next question.

Step 5: Concluding Interview Session
After the interview ends a letter of appreciation can be furnished to the respondent for sparing his/her precious time for this session.

Reporting

Step 1: Keeping summary notes during the discussion
It is important to take notes of key points during the discussion. For this Assistant moderator can be tasked to carry out this activity of taking notes.

Step 2: Writing Transcripts
Transcripts of IDIs are very crucial and important for extracting relevant information. All the discussions have to be written down either during the session or later (if recordings are taken) for Reporting and Analysis.

Step 3: Make Summary of each discussion
Summary of all relevant and important responses i.e. Question wise has to be extracted from transcripts and a comprehensive report will be created for highlighting key areas which may include improvement areas, core problem areas, opportunities, threats, strength and weaknesses.

Step 4: Topline Report
Based on the summary topline report will be prepared, it contains all the important points identified by respondents which are directly related to Objectives of IDIs. It is preferred that topline report should be a grid with questions on one axis and precise response by respondents on other providing a very clear glimpse of the overall discussion.

Step 5: Analysis
Based on the overall discussion and topline report analysis is drawn to conclude the outcomes of the discussion in line with the Objectives of carrying out this discussion. The Analysis is shared with the Client and thereupon necessary action plans can be prepared to address the problem.

MARKET RESEARCH
Zahid Hussain 1 Comment

Long Term Benefits of Market Research

Market research should never be underestimated. Many successful new businesses enjoy longevity because their owners conduct regular market research to understand their target market, identify consumer problems and pinpoint realistic competitors. In Pakistan, companies undermine the long term benefits of market research. Least weightage is assigned to market research when deciding relevant markets for products and services. Companies do have provision for market research but are reluctant to invest in getting a real-time market assessment and as a result, often their strategies and policies are ineffective in capturing a true market share of forecasted targets. This leads to inconsistency in growth, earning and customer retention in the longer run.

Market Research is the simplest way for entrepreneurs to keep up with market trends and maintain a competitive edge by sizing up your business opportunity.

Market research can be carried out at various stages of a business life cycle, from pre-launch and beyond. Having a greater understanding of your marketplace from the very start will enable you to create a sound business strategy to establish and grow your brand into one that’s better than the competition.

Market Research Objectives

The scope of the market research you’ll undertake is influenced by your overall objectives – what do you want to learn about your market and the external factors influencing it?

The objectives will also determine the types of market research that you need to undertake in order to be successful: Research could be Primary market research or Secondary market research.

Long term Benefits of Market Research:

  • It helps businesses strengthen their position.

Knowledge is power. Use market research to gain a better perspective and understanding of your market or target audience and ensure that your firm stays ahead of the competition.

  • It minimizes any investment risk.

This is a simple but vitally important and often business-critical consideration. Spending what is often only a small proportion of your investment in researching and testing the market, product, concept or idea makes sound business sense.

  • It identifies potential threats and opportunities.

Both primary research (fieldwork) and secondary research (desk research) can be utilized as an insurance policy against both obvious dangers on the road ahead. Coupling this with some qualitative research for deeper probing can highlight certain opportunities or warning signs that may otherwise have been missed.

  • It helps to discover yours and your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses.

It’s vitally important to adopt an ‘eye’s wide open’ approach to any market research project which is why it’s often advised to work with a market research agency to ensure completely unbiased reporting. Use research findings to adapt and learn from your weaknesses whilst capitalizing on your new-found knowledge from competitor analysis to take advantage and forge ahead of the pack.

  • It facilitates strategic planning.

What is the foundation of your business strategy? If it’s evidence-based and you’ve taken the time to invest in your own (and hopefully ongoing) research, you can be confident that you’ve given yourself the best chance to achieve your business goals.

  • It helps in spotting emerging trends.

Staying ahead in business is often about being the first, being the best or doing something that no-one else has thought about. Regularly taking the ‘pulse’ of what’s hot and what’s not in your industry is a key discipline. Speak to your research agency or research consultant about the range of techniques you can employ to spot and exploit these trends.

  • It assists businesses to stay ahead of the competition.

Being the best demands a relentlessness to keep getting the basics right combined with a curiosity and willingness to innovate. Knowing how to leverage the findings and insights you extract from market research, audience research and data research are the keys to both getting ahead and staying ahead.

  • It provides revenue projections.

A market forecast is a core component of a market analysis projecting the future numbers, characteristics, and trends in your target market. Potential customers can then be divided into segments. You want to focus on the best market – which is not necessarily the largest one or the market with the highest growth – it will be the one that matches your company profile.

  • It focuses on customer needs and demands.

There are so many important reasons to keep your customers at the center of all that you do in business and the same goes for research. With so many ways to reach customers using online panels, web communities, telephone surveys, depth interviews, and focus groups, market research keeps you attentive to where you can improve your proposition, customer service or product offering.

  • Target Audience ‘Core Essential for Business Growth’

Most new businesses will encounter three different types of customer i.e. the ‘savvy’ purchaser;

A ‘savvy’ customer is someone likely to be aware of all the prices offered by your major competitors. Another type is of the industry influencer, someone that is not only highly knowledgeable about your target market; they can also influence other prospective customers that trust their opinion. Last but not least the end-user; they are a type of customer that will use your products or services on a day-to-day basis.

  • It helps to evaluate the success of business against benchmarks.

An International survey found that companies that benchmark achieve 69% faster growth and 45% greater productivity than those that don’t. Use market research for competitor research, employee engagement surveys, and to highlight performance or knowledge gaps and areas for potential growth. This will open your company up to thinking about new methods, ideas, and tools to improve your business effectiveness.