Primary Research:
Delving into the Secrets
of Your Customers'
and Prospects' Minds
Primary research is research that you carry out 'at source' for yourself that gives you direct answers about your particular product/opportunity.
So this could include
- Asking your customers to complete a survey
- Standing in the high street with a clipboard asking a quick set of questions (not liked by the general public out shopping)
- Standing in the high street with a camcorder and film people's answers to your questions
- Having a poll on your website
- Doing a poll or survey via your blog
- Going through your order book and making a list of the quantities of all the products that anyone has ever bought from you so that you know which are your personal best selling products
- Getting a small group of customers / potential customers together and asking them some questions about your product/s (this is called a focus group)
- And so on
Primary research takes time to do, but definitely worth it if you want to dedicate some time to it.
It's currently outside the scope of this site to teach you how to structure questionnaires and so on, as this is a fairly scientific process. If you want to carry out some primary research for yourself I would recommend doing some further research into how to structure questionnaires / ask questions and lead focus groups.
Just a small note about the different types of primary research you can do:
1. Quantitative
This is the research that shows you the numbers.
For instance 30% said they like the blue widget; 75% of our customers are aged between 40 and 55; 80% of my customers buy product X; 20% of my business prospects are under 30.
You get quantitative primary research by carrying out polls and surveys.
2. Qualitative
This is the research that shows you what people think.
By carrying out focus groups or doing camcorder interviews you'll start to get an idea of what people are thinking, saying or feeling about a particular subject area.
So you could carry out a focus group amongst slimmers to find out what they think/feel etc about losing weight, what kind of support they'd like and so on. Record the session and you'll be amazed at all the information that you'll pick out of that conversation afterwards. Make sure people know what they are coming for and that you will be recording the session!
You could also carry out qualitative research on a leaflet or ad you've designed. This is what a lot of advertising agencies will do if they want to clarify a particular creative proposal. You get a bunch of your target market together and ask them what they think of your design. They'll be very quick to tell you what's right and what's wrong, and what's missing!
If you decide to carry out primary research for yourself you need to ensure that you have enough results to make your research statistically valid. There's no point in asking 3 customers, so you can say 60% of my customers like product x (ie two people out of the three). Ask 20 customers, or 30, or 100, or as many as you can find, and you'll begin to get worthwhile results. Really, the more people you can ask, the better your results will be. They may not want to tell you what you want to hear, but that's another story....
So, let go of the outcome of your research. Do not try and steer it in any particular direction. Let the answers come to you from a fair piece of research and you'll have some excellent information to build your business on.
Go here to find out about Secondary Research
Return from Primary Research to Marketing Research
Return to Home Page
|
