Rock Research Blog » Marketing Research

How 1 Week Turns into 5 Months

Jared Bothwell — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:43:51 +0000

Wow! It has now been 5 months since my last entry on the blog. Something that was supposed to be a weekly exercise has now really lapsed. While a brand new baby in the family has had a lot to do with my tardiness, summer weather has also got in the way. Unless I throw the gauntlet down I suspect a new entry will be some time away. So be prepared for next week for some new hard hitting rocking commentary on the wonderful world of marketresearch. See you then!

Crowdsourcing and Market Research

Jared Bothwell — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:12:43 +0000

The Internet has helped to create a language of its own, a language which is hard to keep up with. The great thing about 'crowdsourcing' is that you can kinda figure out what it means just the word its self (unlike names like twitter, google, bing). Obviously it has something to do with sourcing something with crowds. Turns out when I looked a bit closer 'Crowdsourcing' isn't that new and it means a little more than sourcing from crowds.

10 Best Songs to do Market Research to

Jared Bothwell — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:01:41 +0000

Below is a list of the 10 best songs (IMHO) to do market research to.

10. Listen To What The Man Said - Paul Mccartney & Wings

9. Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles

8. Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys

7. Cant You Hear Me Calling - Ricky Skaggs (This one goes out to all telephone interviewers)

6. I Can’t Be Satisfied - Muddy Waters

NZ Marketing Magazine – Under New Management

Jared Bothwell — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:15:33 +0000

I was kicking myself after subscribing up to New Zealand Marketing for two years to find out a week later that 3media (the magazine publishers) had gone into liquidation. To be frank I wasn't actually that keen on subscribing to the magazine but it was a pretty good deal (now I know why) and is really the only industry magazine that we have so felt duty bound to support it. The beef I had with NZ Marketing (and a lot of other business magazines) is that a great deal of the contributors are industry participants who clearly have a vested interest in the topic they are writing about. The problem I have with a lot of the articles is that often they read more like advertorials or at best tip sheets (i.e. six steps to a better brand etc.) What the articles often are not are well balanced, objective or particularly that interesting. If you look closely you will often find an advert by a contributing writer in the same edition. Off course this is not always the case but often it is.

What makes a great market research conference?

Jared Bothwell — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:53:48 +0000

Ray Poynter is in the process of running a survey to look at What makes a great market research conference? The interim results can be viewed here. The Market Research Society of New Zealand is having their conference on the 14th of August in Auckland. I'll let you know how it stacks up against Ray's checklist.

Survey Questions – Mandatory or Optional

Jared Bothwell — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:09:20 +0000

One of the great things about online surveys is that you can create a world where free will no longer exists. Or in other words you can choose to make your survey questions mandatory or optional. This power should be used wisely though as while you can make your survey question mandatory it is a far harder exercise to make your survey mandatory. Making questions mandatory can be a great way of increasing your survey dropout rates. I thought it was worthwhile investigating then when questions should be mandatory and when caution should be applied.

Selecting a Winner for your Survey Prize

Jared Bothwell — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:17:30 +0000

Providing an incentive to survey respondents is a great way to increase response rates and one of my favourites is the prize draw. Running a prize draw as an incentives raises the question on how you are going to select your prize winner. I laugh when I think about my first research job where I would spend hours making little numbered tickets, placing them in a box and trying to find someone potentially impartial in the office to make the prize draw.

Market Research in a Recession

Jared Bothwell — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:46:24 +0000

Market research has been identified as being key in a recession by a group of 'experts' in Singapore. In this article published in The Strait Times it highlights the fact that when cuts are made in business it is often the marketing department that is targeted first. Caution should be taken with such a strategy as it is understanding the customer which is most important in times where customers maybe becoming a scare commodity. One of the points raised was the move to engaging with customers in a digital environment i.e online surveys and the like. It seems then that the use of online surveys will only increase during this recession as businesses look to engage and retain their customers.

Market Research – Insurance for Start-Ups

Jared Bothwell — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:05:39 +0000

If you are considering undertaking a new venture the one of the questions you will hear most often is - Have you done your market research? So it stands to reason then that you should quickly run off and commission a market research company to conduct a full and comprehensive feasibility study to ensure the success of your new business - off course not.

Seven things to avoid when designing your market research survey

Jared Bothwell — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:33:27 +0000

While there is plenty of advice on the net on how to design survey, I want to focus on seven things to avoid when designing your market research survey. Why make the mistakes that most professional market researchers have already made.