What are the key skills and competencies that you look for in a market research outsourcing provider?

When selecting a market research outsourcing provider, their experience and quality of work are vital. Look for a provider with a proven track record of delivering reliable and accurate results. Check their portfolio, testimonials, and case studies to gauge their success in your industry. Assessing their ability to solve similar problems or help clients achieve goals is crucial. Additionally, ensure they have a robust quality assurance process to maintain validity, reliability, and credibility of data, analysis, and recommendations. Partnering with an experienced provider with a strong reputation ensures actionable insights and confident decision-making.

Research Rockstar is a quality company to work with if you want to outsource your research. They provide market research training and staffing services for everyone interested in advancing customer insights & market research. One of the benefits of working with them is that they have a large professional stable of Part-Time and Full-Time Freelance researchers. Another benefit is that many of the Freelancers have licensing to software, so if you are a smaller company and can't afford to pay for an expensive license, you can hire someone who has this software and experience using it.

When selecting a market research outsourcing provider, their methodology and tools play a vital role. Look for a provider that can employ appropriate methods and tools to collect, analyze, and present research data effectively. Depending on your objectives, you may require primary or secondary research, qualitative or quantitative approaches, or a combination. Assess the provider's use of surveys, interviews, focus groups, databases, software, dashboards, and reports to gather, store, process, visualize, and report data. Ensure they adhere to market research best practices and standards, including sampling, design, measurement, analysis, and interpretation.

Our market research outsourcing provider exemplifies strong communication and collaboration skills. Throughout our project, they consistently provided clear and frequent updates, ensuring we were well-informed of the progress. They actively collaborated with our team, seeking our input and involving us in decision-making processes. Additionally, they conducted interviews with our customers and competitors, showcasing their ability to engage with various stakeholders. They carefully listened to our needs and feedback, promptly adapting their approach to accommodate our changing requirements. Their transparent communication and collaborative approach greatly contributed to the success of our market research project.

We go into client relationships assuming everyone has had a bad experience with research. Often this is a result of a lack of shared understanding and language between the client and the researcher. Perhaps they’ve not gotten the insights they were hoping for. Perhaps they don’t understand the final results like they should, because the researcher doesn’t really understand how the client wants to use the research. It’s important to find a research firm that can “translate” your goals and needs to the technical experts conducting the work. Researchers need to speak marketing, or HR, or engineering, or whatever other function is driving the research. Otherwise “Dusty Binder Syndrome” is inevitable — the research doesn’t get used.

Ideally the market research firm you choose will be familiar with your specific sector. The more familiar they are with the market already the easier it will be for them to know what measurements matter.

When choosing a market research outsourcing provider, their ethics and confidentiality are paramount. Look for a provider that upholds principles of honesty, integrity, professionalism, respect, and responsibility. They should prioritize the protection and privacy of your data, as well as that of your stakeholders. A reliable provider will disclose any potential conflicts of interest, biases, or limitations to ensure transparent and unbiased research. Trustworthy and confidential practices not only establish credibility but also enable a collaborative partnership where sensitive information is handled with care and professionalism.

When choosing a market research outsourcing provider, it is important to consider their innovation and creativity. You need a provider who can offer fresh, unique, and valuable insights and solutions for your market research needs. They should be able to think outside the box and challenge the status quo in your industry. Look for a provider that stays up-to-date with the latest trends, technologies, and techniques in market research, such as artificial intelligence, big data, social media, and gamification. By leveraging these innovative approaches, they can provide you with cutting-edge strategies and deliver more accurate and actionable results.

Innovation and creativity are vital skills for a market research outsourcing provider. They should bring fresh perspectives and valuable insights to address your unique challenges and opportunities. An innovative provider stays updated with the latest market research trends and technologies, leveraging AI, big data, social media, and gamification for richer data collection and analysis. By thinking outside the box, they can challenge industry norms, uncover hidden opportunities, and provide novel solutions. This creative approach ensures that your market research efforts stand out, delivering actionable recommendations and helping you gain a competitive edge.

An important criteria when selecting research providers is their ability to help clients translate business problems into research questions aligned with the information needed to solve said business problems. More often than not, clients also need help in prioritizing business problems. True research partners are more than order takers and help clients rethink and define their business before jumping into proposing research approaches. Experienced research suppliers also should be willing to question methodological approaches clients may propose but not be a good fit for the problem at hand. When selecting research providers consider not only their research experience but also their business acumen.

I like to think of myself and my team as an extension of the client's team. We work together as one big team and the results are phenomenal. This keeps things fresh and brings out creativity. I beleive things work best when everyone feels psychologically safe.