How can you allocate your market research budget more effectively?

- Define The Objective - Identify Key Questions - Choose method & appropriate sample size - Keep tab on competitors - Data Analysis systems ( funds & methods) - Check ROU

What is sr management trying to do? What audience is best able to answer? What methodology is best? In qualitative research you usually need 20 or do interviews. In b2b there is an 80/20 rule where 20% of your accounts have 80% of your revenue. Concentrate research here to help reduce churn make them raving fans and increase wallet share. In addition to using research supplied by internal departments or outside vendors, have discussions with them. We need to stop relying solely on technology and survey slapping by web sites and look past data to get insights and context.

When you define objectives, you must be clear about what type of results you expect, that means, if you want quantified results or not. You can make an exploratory approach (to understand motivations or barriers; to define the list) or a quantitative approach (that allows you to quantify these motivations or barriers). Knowing this is key to correctly defining the market research methodology to apply.

- Define the opportunity - Ask specific questions to reveal the biggest opportunities - set the goals based on goals not benchmark.

In many organizations, it makes sense to break research budget into activity-related and future-related spending. Activity-related spending supports company initiatives, like advertising spend, and should be budgeted as part of those efforts. The rule of thumb is 5% of the initiative should be a set-aside for related research. Future-related spending isn't tied to a particular business activity, but includes things like brand health, behavioral design, and new product development. These items should be funded for the ongoing health of the organization, but aren't allocated by business activity.

By the way, using fresh date that you could learn is leading you to more reliable. By this I mean, it is cost-effective. So, don't wast your time with burn data.

Is important to validate who is the target that will participate in the research. I ask some questions to identify identifying the most appropriate methodology: -Is it necessary to quantify/extrapolate the results to the total universe? -If NOT -> the topic is a difficult issue to share with several participants? is the target difficult to recruit? -If YES -> is it necessary to know the reaction of the consumers in the purchase act (can use observation/ experimentation) -Will I cover my objective with a few questions (Omnibus) -Will I need to cover the evolution of consumption during a period (Panel) -Which is the material/stimulus that will use (telephonic vs online vs face to face research)?

Use a hybrid research approach where survey participants are included in follow-up, in-depth, one-on-one interviews. As part of the survey process, respondents can be asked for their willingness to participate in follow-up interviews (which could be in-depth one-on-ones, shop-alongs, ethnographies, on-line navigation interviews, etc.). Rs can be selected based on their survey responses, identifying consumers who are most insightful and important for meeting the research objectives. I did this successfully over a 14 year stretch prior to my retirement. Clients loved it; insights provided were way beyond single-method research alone.

> passive data collection > behavioural economics > feedback loops > prioritize research that aligns with core business goals > analytical tools > surveys & online panels > examining internal resources vs external

This section is less important than identifying WHAT activities should be undertaken. Since a lot of research can be approached in different ways, depending on the speed of the need, the decisions being made, and the amount of risk the company is willing to accept, understanding "what" is more important than "how" at this stage.

Now, once you know the "what", and understand the needs of the organization, you can lay-out the "how much" for each research activity. Understand how much of each effort will be performed in-house vs. outsourced to a research provider. Get bids from potential providers to assess the "how much" piece, and please, manage your providers' expectations. Don't just ask for bids and then not get back to your external partners. Once you've established how and how much for each effort, you can roll-up these prospective expenses and gut check them with your team, your leadership, and your business partners in the organization. Talk frequently with your CFO and accounting team to understand other things going on in the business.

Some variables that contribute to cost estimation: - target (how easy or difficult is its recruitment) - sample size and distribution - methodology (face to face, online, telephonic) - length of the questionnaire/interview

Estimating costs for your market research is a critical step in effective budget allocation. Begin by itemizing expenses, including participant incentives, data collection tools, software, and personnel costs. Consider potential hidden costs, such as data processing and analysis tools or outsourcing fees. Additionally, factor in any contingency funds for unexpected expenses. Regularly review and adjust your cost estimates to stay on track and ensure your budget aligns with your research goals and methods.

A common rule of thumb is that B2B companies should spend between 2 and 5% of their revenue on marketing. For B2C companies, the proportion is often higher—between 5 and 10%. This is because B2C companies typically need to invest in more marketing channels to reach various customer segments.

In estimating the cost of the project It’s important to understand where you get bill of your costs coming from Mostly it’s the interviews and recruitments which cost you money Its important to understand adding 100 extra respondents to your sample would give what percentage of increase in the accuracy of your findings Instead of committing for 12 FGDs at times it makes sense to commit for 6 and see if the patterns are repeating … if no patterns identified then you can gradually increase the number of interviews For FGDs, instead of going for standard 12 participant FGDs you can easily go for mini FGDs You will be surprised there won’t be a big difference in the end results

Define the roles in a survey is important: - marketing team/market research team: define objectives, target, methodological approach, timing, action standard - market research agency: define methodology, sample size and distribution, material needed, fieldwork, analysis, recommendations. But it is teamwork where the agency and the company have to work very close and translate the results from the survey into actionable decisions.

Here is a topline example of how to allocate market research resources: Objective: Increase brand awareness among millennials. Methods: Online survey and focus groups. Resources: $5,000 budget, 2 weeks of time, and 1 researcher. Allocation: $2,000 for online survey $2,000 for focus groups $1,000 for research consultancy 1 week for online survey 1 week for focus groups 1 researcher for both online survey and focus groups

It's never possible to "cover everything you need" within 1 piece of research study. Constant iteration is warranted, and users of research should allow time for implementation of findings from the research study. An "after action review" could be conducted to identify any gaps, issues or opportunities that could arise during or after the research study. Think about: 1/ How has market research informed your business decisions? 2/ What other deep dive do I need to conduct so that I can better understand certain consumer segments? 3/ Has anything changed from month 1 to month 6, what are the causations?

Perhaps will help these 5 steps to execute market research: -Definition of problem to investigate - Marketing research design - Data collection and quality control - Analysis and interpretation of results - Final results and conclusions

Knowledge Management is extremely important at setting and maintaining effective Marketing Research budgets. When asked a business question, the first reaction of most corporate researchers I work with is to start designing a new study, be it qualitative or quantitative. However, the first step should always be to assess the information your organization already has at hand. In many cases, strategic questions can be addressed by digging into existing reports, pulling relevant insights, and synthesizing data to provide an answer.