It isn’t cheap to gain access to people to participate in research studies. It’s a necessary investment that researchers make so they can listen to and understand a carefully targeted set of people. In order to discover high quality, generalizable insights that can be converted into actionable outcomes, this investment needs to be protected. Here are five techniques you can use to protect your investment.

Digital Fingerprinting

In the research space, digital fingerprinting is used for two key reasons (though others exist). It can help prevent people from participating in a research project more than once, whether by accident or on purpose. And, it can also ensure that participants originate from the country we expect them to be in. Catching inappropriate participants early in the process helps keep research costs lower as we won’t end up paying for invalid completes. And, by preventing duplicate responses, validity and reliability of results are improved.

Digital fingerprinting happens behind the scenes automatically. It involves identifying a range of features on an individual’s computer or mobile device to create a unique, data-driven identifier. Features could include computer specifications such as operating systems, installed software, browsers, geography, domains, and ISPs.

Early Data Validation

There’s no such thing as a perfect questionnaire. Building questionnaires is a subjective process that incorporates both art and science. Even for experts, it’s a cumbersome and complicated task to ensure that every skip and logic criteria is correct and creates the desired flow for every single participant. Fortunately, we can save time and increase data quality by leveraging digital tools designed for early data validation.

As always, every questionnaire should be manually checked for logic errors. On top of that, early data validation tools can confirm the accuracy or identify logic errors during soft launches. Catching oddities early will permit revisions or fixes to be made in the questionnaire or the scripting before the entire sample receives a less than ideal questionnaire.

Increased Consistency

When research objectives require targeting a hard-to-reach sample of people, we might need to access participants from several sources. Multiple sources, multiple processes, multiple email systems…. that’s a recipe for confusion and error.

As researchers, we know that consistency is key – when participants receive different messages at different times and with different formatting, this can have a negative impact on the research results. If it’s a struggle to stay organized and maintain consistency with samples using disparate systems, take advantage of a Survey Link Management system.

Re-Screening

Re-screening is a tricky topic. Most panels screen their panelists at least annually on key demographic variables like age, gender, and region. However, people move from state to state, get married or divorced, have children, and change and lose jobs and income. And, it’s now becoming more common for people to feel comfortable about sharing a gender identity that isn’t what they previously shared.

As much as we want to make surveys shorter for panelists, we also need to recognize that people’s lives are bumpy roads. People change.

It’s always a good idea to re-screen potential participants on at least few key variables to ensure your investment still reflects the people you need to speak with.

Engaging Questionnaires

When online surveys first became available twenty years ago, researchers got excited about radio buttons, check boxes, and text boxes. Fast forward to today… and researchers are less excited but still focused on radio buttons and check boxes.

Think for a minute about the digital activities people love to spend time on today. Those games and social networks have no radio buttons or check boxes. They use drag and drop, flicking, and swiping. They’re filled with images, sounds, and video. They’re fun and entertaining.

Surveys could be like that too. If we want to ensure the people we’ve invited to complete our surveys actually follow through and complete those surveys, we need to create a research experience that encourages engagement. We need to take advantage of the advanced participant engagement tools that are available to us today. Let’s write questionnaires that look like they were built this year.

.

In Conclusion

It takes a lot of expertise to curate customized solutions that fit specific research needs. When we put the time into curating a targeted group of participants, our investment needs to be protected by building participant engagement and data quality techniques into the survey process. This is how we will generate better quality outcomes and smarter business decisions.

If you’re ready to build a research study with great data quality, please feel free to email your project specifications to our research experts using Bids at E2Eresearch dot com.

Review our case studies

• Tracking Customer Satisfaction Across 8 Countries
• Increasing Customer Acceptance For Controversial Pet Food Format
• Benchmarking Brand Awareness and Competitive Brand Space

Sample Conferences

• SampleCon: May 16 to 18, 2022

Research Objective

• A medical device client needed to understand the market and consumer preferences for different medical treatments to inform and customize product messaging and product differentiation.
• They also needed to understand unmet needs and barriers hindering treatment choices.

Scope & Methodology

A survey was designed to measure a number of key metrics including:

• Market leaders in medical device technologies
• Brand switching patterns
• Changes in restriction levels
• Change in usage of two treatments as a result of new device guidelines

The data showed patients had clear preferences for specific brands of medical devices. In addition, patients differentiated the brands based on their perceptions of clinical performance, training programs, range of treatment options, and how much the brands invested in clinical trials.

Value Delivered

• As a result of the research, the client gained a better understanding of their market position relative to their competitors, and was able to gauge market shifts in the treatments used by patients. They also were able to better understand drivers of switching and the key decision makers involved in those switches.
• The client was better able to differentiate their product and create more impactful messaging to help their patients.

Check out other patient case studies

• Optimize Treatment Pricing Strategies For Multiple Patient Segments – A pharmaceutical survey analytics case study
• Mapping a Patient Funnel to Mitigate Treatment Barriers – A cancer patient survey case study

Research Objective

• A home appliance company needed to understand the pain points their sales representatives experienced when interacting with customers throughout the sales process.
• They also needed to understand the ideal product features customers desired so that representatives could properly recommend a purchase.

Scope & Methodology

A survey was designed to understand a variety of aspects of the sales process from the point of view of sales representatives. This included:

• Recent and past interactions they had with target and competitor brands
• Marketing messages and features associated with various brands
• Brands the representatives tended to recommend
• Recency and sources of training received by sales representatives

Value Delivered

The client gained a better understanding of how their brand was perceived in relation to other brands and product features. They were able to better understood how sales representatives interacted with customers to interpret their needs and make product recommendations.

Check out other related case studies

• Increasing Customer Acceptance For Controversial Pet Food Format – A survey case study
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Campaign with Brand and Message Recall – A consumer media survey case study
• Identifying Optimum Price Corridors to Predict Volume Share – An advertising price simulator case study

Research Objective

• A pet food brand offering a controversial new product format needed to understand purchase behaviors for current brands, and barriers to acceptance for a pet food using insects as a source of protein.

Scope & Methodology

A survey was designed to understand current purchase behaviors and market gaps for fresh and premium pet food products. The survey also focused on understanding awareness, barriers, and purchase intent for pet foods based on insects.

The data showed that:

• 1% currently use pet food with insect protein
• 66% were unaware of pet food with insect protein
• 60% were willing to try pet food with insect protein

Value Delivered

Despite the lack of awareness and lack of use of insect based pet foods, consumers demonstrated that they had a strong willingness to try the product, particularly because of its reduced impact on the environment. The research helped the client understand which message associated with their brand – sustainability –  would be most effective at reaching their targeted consumers.

Check out other related case studies

• Improving Sales by Understanding Pain Points of Sales Reps – A home appliance survey case study
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Campaign with Brand and Message Recall – A consumer media survey case study
• Identifying Optimum Price Corridors to Predict Volume Share – An advertising price simulator case study

Research Objective

• A university needed to evaluate their brand value and understand declining enrollment in order to build a more meaningful brand promise based on academic offerings, student experience, and their prestige.
• They also needed to segment the market into distinct customer groups to target unique demographics groups more appropriately.

Scope & Methodology

• A survey was launched to measure a range of attributes including brand awareness and brand attributes.
• Prepared concepts were evaluated against a variety of emotional and rational perceptions. Each concept was evaluated in terms of the a set of key attributes, relevance, and preference.

Value Delivered

• The client learned where perceptions of their brand were falling short as well as which brand promise resonated and appealed the most with their target audience.
• The client was able to build a brand promise that was more meaningful to their customer base, and develop brand strategies that more accurately reflected the dynamics of their institution.

Check out other related case studies

• Increasing Customer Acceptance For Controversial Pet Food Format – A survey case study
• Improving Sales by Understanding Pain Points of Sales Reps – A home appliance survey case study
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Campaign with Brand and Message Recall – A consumer media survey case study

Research Objective

• A beverage brand wanted to launch two new flavors of tea. They needed to understand which flavor would be preferred by target groups within a specified geography as well as overall.

Scope & Methodology

• Sensory testing was conducted by way of In-Home-Usage-Tests (IHUT) and survey data from 250 participants.
• Participants tested both flavor prototypes and completed an exit survey about their in-home sensory experience.
• Sentiment and likability scores were calculate for both of the variants. In addition, the data were analyzed using statistical techniques such as JAR analysis and penalty analysis.
• Results showed a preferred flavor as well as distinct differences based on demographic and geographic characteristics.

Value Delivered

• The client learned which of the flavor prototypes was preferred as well as specific reasons for those preferences.
• They were able to understand the preferences by demographics and geographics allowing them to create more meaningful marketing strategies for their desired target groups.

Check out other food case studies

• Measuring Consumer Preferences for Successful Ready-To-Eat Development | A Sensory Research Case Study
• Benchmarking Brand Awareness and Competitive Brand Space – A consumer food survey case study
• Sentiment and Content Analysis of Qualitative Consumer Comments – A food survey + text analysis case study

Research Objective

• An international brand of seasonings, instant soups, pasta, and noodles wished to satisfy Indian consumer needs with a product offering focused on balanced nutrition for young people.
• Their main objective was to deliver well balanced nutritional pasta that mothers could trust, and their children would like while maintaining the image of their brand and quality. This needed to hold true even when kids and teenagers ate the pasta without any vegetables or meat.
• They wanted to develop a pasta product which would find a balance between nutrition, taste, and visual signals that would make the product credible in the eyes of mothers and their children.

Scope & Methodology

• Experts conducted a Customer Need Assessment study with mothers to understand:
  • Perception towards pasta products
  • Preferred ingredients and additives
  • Taste and color improvements
  • Level of consumption
• Primary & Desk Research: We identified lentils, chickpeas, powdered egg whites, and flax seed as the best ingredients to achieve consumer nutritional objectives. These ingredients and additives were perceived to be nutritious and part of the healthy diet which fit well with the brand image.
• We also evaluated a range of several colors to find a shade of pasta that is not too dark for the kids but dark enough for the mothers to find it credible.

Value Delivered

• Our study helped the client to understand consumer perceptions towards their new product and identify their current needs for kids.
• Client introduced several new products in the pasta segment by considering consumer’s needs and demands.

Check out other food case studies

• Measuring Consumer Preferences for Successful Ready-To-Eat Development | A Sensory Research Case Study
• Benchmarking Brand Awareness and Competitive Brand Space – A consumer food survey case study
• Sentiment and Content Analysis of Qualitative Consumer Comments – A food survey + text analysis case study

Research Objective

• The client needed to identify parameters of brand strength and understand how the brand was perceived in relation to its competition.

Scope & Methodology

• A survey was launched to measure brand awareness within the category and to capture the importance of key attributes for the category.
• Analyses included assessing the strength and importance of key drivers, and overall satisfaction. These assessments were conducted at both the global and country levels.
• The data showed that while the brand enjoyed the highest awareness in the category, it was only the third highest in terms of purchase consideration. The data also showed that the brand competed most closely with two specific brands on several key attributes.

Value Delivered

• A set of key performance indicators, including brand awareness, perceptions, and importance, was benchmarked for a set of brands in the category.
• The brand was able to make targeted improvements to the product and understand their impact on brand perceptions in relation to the competition.

Check out other food case studies

• Developing a New Nutritional Pasta Product – A survey + desk research case study
• Identifying An Optimal Set of Flavor Variants to Achieve Incremental Reach | Case Study
• Choosing a Set of Flavors to Minimize Substitutions – A food survey + data analytics case study