Can You Afford "Feel-Good" Surveys?
Only surveys that allow respondents to use their own language, not "research-speak," will be able to describe real life and help drive win/wins.
Businesses, not-for-profits and jurisdictions sometimes forget that every survey represents brand. If someone snorts, "That's a stupid question," or stops the survey because it just makes no sense, that affects your brand.
Our brains are too small to trade off all options all the time. Instead, we use personal shortcuts. If it's raining, I'l stay off the freeway. If a menu is unfamiliar, I'll look for chicken. Of course, our shortcuts (domains, measures, thresholds) differ.
By identifying, monitoring and leveraging these "heuristics," we can provide decision support that reflects the real world, over the long haul.
I've designed surveys that have been used successfully as the basis for legal evidence, tech specs, job descriptions, performance standards, press releases and clinical publications, just to name a few.
Illuminating the "moment of choice" also helps address everyday but critical issues, like "Why do our members renew? Why do our customers buy? And why isn't everyone else?"
You may also need a survey for legal reasons. I've provided trade dress survey data up to the Supreme Court (with the verdict upheld).
Three Reasons to Do Better Surveys
1. They're boring, so respondents do just enough to earn the incentive, or qualify for the drawing.
2. They're abstract, with little relationship to real life, real products or real issues.
3. They tend to confirm what the client wants to hear and communicate.
What About Twitter?
Social media monitoring is all the rage, and it's important. But it has its own warts. It's difficult to parse act-as-if, sarcasm, trolling, angst, and ambivalence. And by its very nature, social cannot reflect the "staying power" of phenomena or trends. So it's part of the toolbox, but only part.
A Happy Marriage: Primary + Secondary Insight
I also offer secondary market assessment, including competitive analysis, often triangulated with public data such as technical literature, patent databases and geo-demography.
Whether you need to select a site, decide on service lines or create new products, it all begins with insights you can trust.
Only surveys that allow respondents to use their own language, not "research-speak," will be able to describe real life and help drive win/wins.
Businesses, not-for-profits and jurisdictions sometimes forget that every survey represents brand. If someone snorts, "That's a stupid question," or stops the survey because it just makes no sense, that affects your brand.
Our brains are too small to trade off all options all the time. Instead, we use personal shortcuts. If it's raining, I'l stay off the freeway. If a menu is unfamiliar, I'll look for chicken. Of course, our shortcuts (domains, measures, thresholds) differ.
By identifying, monitoring and leveraging these "heuristics," we can provide decision support that reflects the real world, over the long haul.
I've designed surveys that have been used successfully as the basis for legal evidence, tech specs, job descriptions, performance standards, press releases and clinical publications, just to name a few.
Illuminating the "moment of choice" also helps address everyday but critical issues, like "Why do our members renew? Why do our customers buy? And why isn't everyone else?"
You may also need a survey for legal reasons. I've provided trade dress survey data up to the Supreme Court (with the verdict upheld).
Three Reasons to Do Better Surveys
1. They're boring, so respondents do just enough to earn the incentive, or qualify for the drawing.
2. They're abstract, with little relationship to real life, real products or real issues.
3. They tend to confirm what the client wants to hear and communicate.
What About Twitter?
Social media monitoring is all the rage, and it's important. But it has its own warts. It's difficult to parse act-as-if, sarcasm, trolling, angst, and ambivalence. And by its very nature, social cannot reflect the "staying power" of phenomena or trends. So it's part of the toolbox, but only part.
A Happy Marriage: Primary + Secondary Insight
I also offer secondary market assessment, including competitive analysis, often triangulated with public data such as technical literature, patent databases and geo-demography.
Whether you need to select a site, decide on service lines or create new products, it all begins with insights you can trust.
