CASE STUDY: ONLINE SURVEYS

It's been tradition since the inception of The Wringer to focus on a single, specific case study to help prove the argument we're making in each issue. This issue however, we're making a slight departure from that tradition and focusing on several examples of on-line research and how of those examples might fit into your research toolkit. Here are just a few of the testing vehicles that can work well online, along with some examples of each.

CUSTOMER SURVEY :

To begin with, let's look at a simple customer survey example, in this case for an engineering firm. This survey was developed to be deployed to clients with recently-completed engineering projects, in order to determine the attitudes, opinions and feedback of each customer, post-project. Each month, specific clients are added to the list of survey recipients and an email is deployed, inviting them to participate in the survey. The survey is very brief and offers a mix of closed-ended (strong agree/disagree type questions) and open-ended (long answer) questions -- providing a good mix of quantifiable results and specific qualitative feedback. A quota for responses is set and follow-ups are sent until the response quota is reached each month. Survey results are available in -real-time to the SDMG team and the client, allowing for immediate feedback and quick action to rectify any issues that might potentially affect future projects. This type of survey is quick and easy to deploy, the results are almost immediate and the insight gained (provided the survey is designed well) can be incredibly powerful and useful.

MARKET RESEARCH:

Market research is another key area in which on-line research tools can be very useful. By using on-line tools, larger sample sizes can be achieved with shorter turn-around times, allowing for quick results which mean getting products, services, or messaging to market faster. Opinions, attitudes, habitual behaviors and preferences of your customers and prospective customers can all be explored using tools such as surveys, panels, online focus groups and projective techniques. On-line projective techniques are designed to elicit deeper, more insightful responses than typical surveys and often end up looking like mini games, role-playing scenarios or other activities that 'trick' our brains into responding the way we would in natural situations, without over thinking our answers.

BRAND AWARENESS/EQUITY TESTING:

Sometimes, it's important just to determine how well your organization or your products/services are known and perceived in the marketplace. Testing your awareness (how well you're known) or the equity (how favorably you're perceived) in the marketplace can be invaluable in determining where you sit in your customer's minds, as well as your position relative to your competitors. This on-line survey for a major equipment manufacturer was part of a larger research initiative spearheaded by our research partner Street Smart Strategic Planning. The goal was to determine how well the company's name (and particularly the logo) were recognized in the marketplace, in advance of possible changes to the logo. Without this type of testing, the effects of branding changes that are driven by internal pressures within the organization can never be truly understood until they reach the market -- at which point a mistake could prove costly.

CREATIVE/CAMPAIGN TESTING:

The online world can be a great way to get quick and accurate feedback on new messaging, creative or campaigns that you're looking to go to market with en masse. For example, a variety of headlines you're looking to test for a print campaign could be quickly field-tested for effectiveness by using them in series of pay-per-click ads and seeing which one generates a better response, or even putting together a simple survey to outright ask which one prospective customers prefer. Messaging, imagery, even video and audio can all be put to the test on a small scale, before making the decision to ramp up on a larger scale. Results can often be gathered and analyzed in days rather than weeks and changes to your testing mix can often be made in real-time.

PRODUCT/USABILITY TESTING:

By now we've probably all been exposed to some degree of usability testing in on-line products, either through our own organizations or others we deal with on a regular basis. By incorporating testing in the process we use to launch on-line initiatives, we increase our chance of 'getting it right' without the hassle of costly mistakes and false starts. Usability testing can take place on a small, intimate scale with a select group of target users (as in the case of our recent Canadian Tire B2B Gift Card site launch), or on a larger scale such as a beta or limited release user group (like our recent launch of the MashPlant.com site for 6th, 7th & 8th graders). Either way, the resulting feedback can be invaluable in making improvements and enhancements to the end product.

As you can see, there are a large number of areas where on-line research and testing can be of use in your organization. Although it should never be considered a replacement for all traditional research tools, there are certainly times and places where adding these tools to your arsenal will pay major dividends. I encourage you to explore them further and even try some of them out the next time you have a need to know your customer, your market or your product/service offerings a little better.

Of course, these are just a few of the possible uses for online research techniques. Once you begin to explore the possibilities, you'll quickly see the uses are really only limited by your imagination. Keep your eyes peeled the next time you see an organization you deal with using on-line research to improve their knowledge of their customers, their market or their products and services. Who knows? You might just find a gem of an idea that you can use in your own organization.