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It's research time...Do you know who your
respondents are? |
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The DirectConnect
approach to Marketing Research
"Pure Sample, True Results" |
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| As you are certainly aware, the landscape of
marketing research is literally changing before
our eyes. What has worked in years gone by will
surely become less effective going forward. The
way we see it, there are three major challenges
presenting themselves to an organization seeking
insight into the thought process of their target
market: |
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- Sample Quality
- Sample Quantity
- Response Rates
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DirectConnect is a brand new methodology in
the online marketing research world that
addresses each of those issues in a truly unique
and revolutionary way. Let's take a look at each
challenge individually, shall we? |
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| Sample Quality |
The traditional approach to collecting
marketing research via online surveys is to
simply send your target respondents an e-mail
that contains a hyperlink to the survey. This
method has produced literally millions of
completed surveys as the online marketing
industry has grown by leaps and bounds. However,
as with most things in the business world (or
any other world, for that matter), things
change. The anonymity of being on the other side
of an e-mail has created a new phenomenon
commonly referred to as the "Professional
Respondent". Confidence in the authenticity of
data has been declining, and sample quality has
moved it's way to the front burner of the
industry's concerns.
DirectConnect addresses this issue in a very
straightforward manner. We go to a place where
we know our target audience will be and
administer the survey on-site. For example, if
your core target responder is a buyer in the
home furnishings business, we arrange to have an
exhibit booth at a well-attended trade show or
conference that features home furnishings. We
populate our exhibit booth with laptops that
have an internet connection, and have the
participants complete the survey on the spot!
Most importantly, this approach ensures that the
data you are collecting is clean, reliable
information that can be converted into true
insight into your target. An extremely
beneficial by-product of this process is that we
have found that approximately 40% of the
participants at a DirectConnect event elect to
be contacted again for further research, which
means you receive ongoing return on your
investment going forward. |
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| Sample Quantity |
Another challenge in front of the marketing
research industry is spam, and how it affects
our ability to deliver surveys to our target
audience. Everyone who has an e-mail account is
painfully aware of the ever-increasing amount of
unwanted e-mails that land in their inbox each
day. While there are steps that can be taken to
increase the chances of your invitation reaching
the intended target (white lists, etc..), spam
filters are becoming more and more intrusive as
the stream of unwanted advertisements grows. The
DirectConnect approach eliminates this layer by
inviting the participant to share their opinions
in person. This approach allows you to actually
meet the people who are participating in your
project, which in of itself holds value.
DirectConnect has perfected the art of drawing
people into our exhibit spaces. We have found
professional greeters and cash incentives are
extremely effective in attracting attention to
our booth. We also use enticements such as
premium coffee and back massaging chairs to draw
traffic through our space. We have found that if
you are able to generate a crowd from the start,
that tends to promote interest throughout the
show. Pre-show mailings are yet another
effective tool for engaging respondents. |
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Response Rates |
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Respondent cooperation is a battle that is being fought
by all marketing research companies throughout the
industry. Recruiting panel members in person increases
the likelihood of that individual responding to future
surveys because they can relate their membership on the
panel to an actual event, as opposed to their replying
to an e-mail. DirectConnect also prides itself on
providing their members with a community experience
through the use of tools such as blogs, message boards
and interactive websites. KL Communications,
DirectConnect's parent company has been perfecting panel
member participation for more than 10 years, and that
experience and expertise is used to it's fullest extent
for all of the DirectConnect communities. |
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DirectConnect has the answers to your marketing research
challenges. To discuss how the DirectConnect approach
can deliver results for you, please contact Bob Lussier
at
rlussier@klcom.com or call (888) 552-2552. |
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