If you’ve worked with traditional market research you know its pitfalls:

• Flawed methodology
• Poor facilitation
• Lazy research questions
• Bad sample recruits
• Insights you already know
• A waste of time and budget

And you know its potential:‍

• Massive new categories for growth
• Entirely new audiences
• Roadtesting investments before you spend your budget
• A bulletproof business case, built to last

When it comes to making decisions for your brand, they need to be evidence-based. Follow this checklist to make sure your research plan doesn’t go to waste.

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1. METHODOLOGY:
Start strong to finish strong

Methodology matters.

Before you dive into the nuts and bolts of your research plan, choose your methodology wisely. Whatever approach you use – qual, quant, ethnography, co-creation, or another method – get clear on why you’re using it.

By establishing the goal from the get-go you can pick the research methodology best suited to the task at hand.

If a survey is being deployed just because that's what was done last time, make sure someone is asking 'why?'

For example: If you want to validate an idea, position, or piece of creative, then you might use quantitative research, like a survey.

But if you need to generate new ideas, products, insights or trends in a category, you may go with more qualitative methods—like shop-alongs, ethnography, home visits, customer intercepts, or 1-1 interviews.

Here’s what we see too often: teams just go with the methods they’ve used before. We get it. Previously used methods are familiar and it’s easier not to take extra consideration, investment or risk. But if a team member moves too fast to deploy a survey, for example, just because a survey was done last time, make sure somebody is asking “why?”

Identify the challenge at hand—or the info gaps you need to fill—and then go from there. Not all research methods are the same.‍

Pitfalls

• Falling back into previous or familiar research methods
• Not determining a reason for your research methodology
• Expecting big creative ideas from quantitative methods
• Expecting validation at a large scale from certain qualitative methods

Potential

• Using the right methods for the right job
• Clear expectations for what will be achieved
• Ample insights on the areas desired

2. FACILITATION: It’s not about you

Facilitation matters.

You picked the right research methodology for the job. Now facilitation will make or break it. In any piece of research, make sure the environment, setting, and feedback gathering techniques don't clash with the methodology you use.

For example, say you’re conducting shop-alongs with customers – the facilitator needs to observe unobtrusively and almost anonymously. Their job is to capture buyer behavior and habits in a natural environment.

Similarly, skilled interviewers can pick up on subtle cues from interviewees and build trust. They can gather information the interviewee might not reveal to others. But if participants feel uncomfortable, then this can’t happen.

“You've got your own customers, in a highly primed state, staring right at our survey — what do you do with that opportunity?

- Matt Bahr, CEO & Founder, Fairing

For quantitative methods where people are asked to answer questions, consider the setting. For example, they might fill out a survey within a standalone mobile application, or immediately after a purchase with a post-purchase app like Fairing. Right at the moment of consumer truth. But if the UX of the facilitation tool is clunky, or the participant can’t easily read or understand the question, this can ruin your results.

Facilitating research comes with a huge degree of variability and control. How you administer your methodology can significantly impact the feedback and data. Take it seriously.

More from Matt: "Some brands will see [post-purchase surveys] as their last touchpoint, pushing poorly-timed questions at the shopper. Our most successful brands do the opposite: the first sale is the birth of the customer. Ask questions that imply you're going to listen... and then act on that data immediately, even through something like real-time personalization, proving to the customer that their honest feedback brings mutual benefit.”

-Matt Bahr, CEO & Founder, Fairing

Pitfalls

• Survey facilitation with a clunky UX that doesn’t engage users
• Observation or environments that change participants normal behavior
• Live facilitators who lack emotional intelligence and don’t build trust with participants

Potential

• Participants who feel comfortable and safe to speak their minds
• Unlock hidden human clues or unpack kernels of insights
• Easy access to respondents that meets them where they are

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3. QUESTION DEVELOPMENT:
Aim carefully, and do no harm

Words matter.

Before you even begin writing a questionnaire or discussion guide, start with the goal of the research and outline the topic areas you’ll need to investigate to accomplish the objective. Then make sure your research questions are precise, unbiased, and easy to complete.

How do you do that? Design them with the user experience top of mind, and avoid common pitfalls for discussion guide development.

Some common mistakes to consider are:

‍Leading questions
Remember, you absolutely should NOT be leading the witness. Make sure you are not alluding to examples of 'hearsay’ such as what ‘most people think,’ or similar in the wording of any questions posed to respondents. Additionally, be sure to avoid double negatives that could confuse or unduly influence a respondent.

DON’T SAY:
"Isn't it true that most people prefer our brand over competitors?"

DO SAY:
‍Of the following brands, choose the three that you most prefer:

• Brand X
• Brand Y
• Brand Z

or consider saying…

"What is your level of preference for Brand X compared to that of Brand Y?"

‍Assumptive or Loaded Questions
Assumptive questions are also a form of leading questions, but they are problematic because they literally “load” the question with a direct statement that may or may not be true based on the respondent's answers. To avoid this, do not ask for confirmation directly of a preconceived option.

DON’T SAY:
“Many customers prefer products that include natural ingredients. What do you think?”

DO SAY:
Of the following attributes, which do you prefer the most? (Choose two)

• Attribute A
• Attribute B
• Attribute C
• etc.

More than one question
Jumbling more than one question into one can be tempting. But ask yourself - do two wrongs make a right? Nine times out of ten, the answer is no. So, if you find yourself crafting two questions in one, resist the urge. Separate them, then decide if both are necessary.

DON’T SAY:
Was the packaging easy to understand and did you enjoy the product?

DO SAY:
Part 1) How easy or difficult is the packaging to understand?
(where 1 is very easy to understand and 5 is very difficult to understand)

Very easy 1 2 3 4 5 very difficult

Part 2) Did you enjoy the product?

• Yes
• No

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Length
And of course, don’t forget length.

Pay attention to whether you’re asking enough (or too many) questions to tackle your research objectives. Think about the allotted time respondents have to get through a set of questions. Surveys that are more than 10 minutes will yield significant drop-off rates; focus groups longer than 60-90 minutes will fatigue participants and reduce depth of thought (and candor).

Remember people are like goldfish – short attention spans.

Pitfalls

• Research bias and leading questions
• Forcing multiple questions into one
• Attention deficit from surveys or discussion guides that are too long
• Lack of flexibility for additional cuts later
• Little prioritization of research questions

Potential

• Focused, deliberate questions
• One question asked at a time
• An easy ‘ask’ for participants to complete
• The most important data gets collected
• Full scope of data is available

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4. RECRUITMENT & QUALITY:
Garbage in, garbage out.

Participants matter.

The “who” in your research can massively skew results, and create misleading data. Which can lead to risky decision making.

Just look at the 2016 or 2022 election cycles where IRL results defied polls. Or the myriad bots, fraudsters, and perpetual survey-takers looking to make a quick buck by answering questions disingenuously.

What this comes down to - is quality recruitment. You need an established vetting process to ensure your participants are who they say they are. Otherwise it’s garbage in, garbage out.

When determining your recruitment approach, we recommend looking at whether there are existing customer lists or datasets of real customers that can be incorporated into the approach first.

“Consumers' revealed preferences based on user data may not be consistent with their stated preferences.

These disconnects enhance our initial understandings and provide us with important avenues for innovation and exploration.”
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- Dr. Jess Carbino, Former Sociologist for Tinder and Bumble

Then, if you need to supplement with outside recruitment - look for a partner that builds in quality from the get-go. More and more, on-demand panels are available through a SaaS model. But not all partners invest in real vetting and a system to check the quality of recruits.

Pitfalls

• Blind spots that prevent you from recruiting the real audience
• Surveys filled out by bots or fraudsters
• Antiquated panels
• Partners with little tech integration or quality control vetting

Potential

• A diverse mix of participants
• Real humans providing honest feedback and reactions
• Customer data mixed with outbound recruitment
• Quality insights through on-demand tech

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5. STORYTELING OUTPUTS:
Break the mold and tell your story

Stories matter.
And so does how you tell them.

When you go deep into research it’s easy to lose the forest for the trees. Our tip: turn that rich research into an engaging, immersive storytelling output. Because if no one understands or cares about the insights you generated, you’ve wasted a whole lot of time and money.

First figure out who your audience is for your insights. Identify the stakeholders or the people who will most benefit from your work. Then find out what format will engage them most.

Some questions to ask to spice things up:

• Where and when will the insights be shared?
• How will the intended audience use them?
• Should the info be delivered in shorter or longer-form pieces of content?
• Does the audience need to be totally immersed in the content to absorb the information?
• Is the subject matter straightforward and simple? Or harder to grasp?

Based on the answers to these questions - here are some thought starters for how to bring your work to life:

Snackable insights content
You may want to splice your research into bite-sized breadcrumbs, or create an “insights pack” that’s paired with static and motion social assets. Extra bonus – you can turn your results into lead-generating content for performance teams or usage on Linkedin...

Or maybe, there’s an opportunity to turn your insights into an experience…

Immersive executive worksessions
Experiential learning is a proven method for retaining information and we’ve found that a serious piece of insights work can pack an even bigger punch when it’s paired with content and multisensory stimuli.

For an executive session, take leadership offsite and consider juxtaposing short-form video content based on your insights with physical prompts like branded flashcards in a tightly-run meeting.

Exhibit-style external activations
For rolling out insights externally, exhibits or event-based activations are a great way to share the work with the world. Bottom line - look to engage teams that run social, experiential, and/or PR early in your research process so you can identify creative opportunities to bring the research output to life.

Pitfalls

• Boring research presentations that just live (and wither) on a Google drive
• Content that isn’t optimized for the communications channel
• Little thought given to your audience’s attention span

Potential

• Immersive, engaging storytelling
• Experiential learning
• Snackable insights ‘packs’ integrating static, motion, and video assets

THE GIST

Evidence-based decision-making is table-stakes if you want to grow a brand and de-risk important investments in it. The good news: fielding primary research and unlocking customer data is easier than ever.

Avoid the pitfalls and follow smart practices and you’ll be well on your way to actionable intelligence.

You could even be a few steps away from a game-changing insight for your organization, industry, or career.

And we sure like the sound of that.

‍If your team is taking shots in the dark, or leadership isn’t convinced of your current business case, it might be time to start plotting out an evidence-based approach to tell your story.

Get in touch.
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