The challenge of results presentation: achieve speed and clarity, without stripping out any important substance from the findings. The answer is conciseness, i.e. being short yet complete. Also important, is modesty, to present the results and the answers, rather than the research and the researcher. And honesty, to separate the reliable facts from their hypothetical interpretation. But, finally, every presentation involves an unofficial, hidden content: the presenter himself. Presenting is making oneself known, building ones own image, enhancing ones own career. All companies choose those who present to the outside world very carefully, because those speakers are going to connote the company image with their own. The rewards of presentation are proportional to the risks and challenges.
In satisfaction surveys amongst initial buyers of small electrical appliances, it is essential, beyond the easy 'disaster check', to obtain: a comparison of each new product with the accumulated database of similar results from previous launches, an analysis of the sources of satisfaction or disappointment, linking the overall attitude towards the new product with the respective levels of satisfaction induced by the various features of the appliance. Problems with traditional overall satisfaction scales appear when these indicators lack sensitivity and show an unwanted concentration of answers on one point of the scale. What is needed is a tool showing real differences across products and giving small, manageable groups of buyers, which can be ranked in order of their level of satisfaction. This paper describes how new satisfaction questions and a matrix, both designed to produce a more sensitive classification, from most to least satisfied buyers, helped to solve this problem with a better and more valid measurement of satisfaction. Part 1 describes the business background of the satisfaction surveys within a manufacturer of small appliances, with the marketing objectives behind these surveys. Part 2 shows the new approach used to bring a better answer to these needs, with two new, longer scales and their combination to form a 77-cell satisfaction matrix, out of which five categories 'A/B/C/D/E' were drawn. Part 3 illustrates the potential of the new improved method, explaining how it was validated before implementation in all satisfaction surveys. Part 4 is a discussion of the stability of the new ABODE scale across products, comparatively with five other satisfaction scales.
The market researchers must be part-time communicators, to fully convey the message contained in each of the studies they have designed, supervised, or bought. Regardless of the quality and depth of the collected data, whatever had been the attention to all details, it will always be a waste of time and money, if, in the end, the substantifique model is not grasped by the marketing decision-makers. Sometimes, this communicating task is particularly tough, because the data is complex. International research projects tend to yield difficult-to-present results: - either because the sheer accumulation of originally simple elements produce an undigestible quantity of repetitive materials (e.g. awareness / trial / usage / buying intent scores recorded for the major brands of 3 sectors of the same market, in 5 countries...), - or because the approach used cannot be simplified without loosing its accuracy (e.g. a cluster analysis done with an International comparison in view...). This paper shows, with two real case-examples of the above types, that there are solutions, to be found in carefully designed graphs. Most of the graphic tools shown below use circles, hence the title. Part one present the 'Brand Penetration Meter', a new and better way of synthesising lots of standard brand scores. Part two illustrates how the headache of explaining how cluster-groups are defined, can be helped with effective graphs.
Properly communicating research data to the decision-makers is a must for Marketing Researchers. As presentations are normally short & one-shot events, this is a risky challenge. Graphic visualisation of data can be the solution, if well done. Not any graphs will do the job. But good ones will, as readibility at a glance is the way to recognize them.
In today's tough environment, the pricing decision for a new product has become more essential for future profitability and also more difficult to make. Market Research can help on two key issues, dealing with new products under development : Price acceptance - given the new product, how is the consumer going to respond to the various possible price levels? Price importance - given a range of prices and possible characteristics of a new project, which product attributes would be the best 'value for money'? Which alternative would best trade-off a high consumer price? While the problem of price acceptance can he answered by classical methods of assessment of the buying response to price, the second problem requires using the more recent tool of conjoint measurement (trade-off) approach. Our opinion is that it is wiser for a marketing company to introduce the price parameter early in the process of new product development, rather than checking the price acceptance as the very last stage before launch. A review of the classical pricing research methods and a plea in favour of the trade-off approach are illustrated with examples.