Market Research: What’s the Point?
While we think we know our gift baskets customers well, oftentimes, we neglect to collect information that helps us make informed business decisions. Although hiring a research firm to do market research may not be in our budgets, we can still collect information about our customers’ buying habits and preferences that will guide us to adopt some new business practices.
In an article in The Gourmet Retailer Magazine, January, 2009, authors Kenneth Herbst and Harold Lloyd outline 6 quick and easy steps to implement market research effectively:
1. Decide the specific questions you hope to answer. Do you want to know which products your customers prefer, what they think about your prices, or how they feel about your customer service. The clearer you are about what you want to learn, the more focused you’ll be able to be if changes are warrented.
2. Decide how to best collect the information. If you have a store front, you may be able to ask customers questions as they come into your store. On the otherhand, if your business is web mailed or mail order, you’ll need to think about on-line surveys or using US Mail to collect your information.
3. Design the questionnaire, survey or other instrument that you’ll use. Whatever you use, test your questions out on some of your best customers to see if you’re getting the information you want. You may need to reword some questions or may find that their answers lead you to thinking about other information you want to collect.
4. Collect and analyze the data. Think about offering an incentive for customers who complete your survey (free cookies, a discount off their next order, etc.). If you are expecting customers to mail their responses back to you, include a postage paid envelope.
5. Organize the findings on a chart. If you’re good with spreadsheets, this is a convenient way to summarize data.
6. Make changes in line with what the data are telling you. As the authors note: “if you’re not willing to make changes, don’t do the research in the first place”. Oftentimes, we are surprised what our customers are thinking. Don’t take it personally! Rather, see this as a challenge that will benefit your business in the long run. And customers will be impressed that you took the time to ask!
7 comments January 22nd, 2009
