“Anyone who launches new products will immediately appreciate the power of this resource to influence design direction, target appropriate price points, and select materials with high consumer appeal. What I love most is that it facilitates open and powerful discussions across the marketing, design and business teams. It minimizes reliance on “the gut feel” of just one individual in an organization and helps create a unified vision for success.”
All You Need To Know
"We need to do some focus groups." That's a typical statement we hear when we get a call from a potential client. Sometimes a second question follows right away: "What does research cost?" Further discussion often reveals that the caller is inexperienced and that some education is in order. We're fine with that (it's our job to be the experts in research, not yours!)
Our first response is "let's talk about what you need to accomplish." What is your ultimate business objective? What information do you need to guide your success in this objective? This generally leads us down either a product-related path or a marketing/strategy-related path. (Focus groups, by the way, have their place, but they are often not the appropriate methodology. (Click here for more about research methodologies.)
Once we have established the right track, we need to identify the specific information you need. This step usually entails discussions between our team and your team to arrive at the parameters of the study. (Examples are how many concepts or designs do you have to test? How many competitive controls can we include'? Etc.) Once we have those parameters, we will get to work on a proposal.
Our proposals typically provide the following information about your project:
- Project Background
- Key Objectives and Action Take-Aways
- Recommended Methodology
- Sample (Target Audience) Description
- Sample (Target Audience) Screening Criteria
- Questionnaire Content
- Analysis Plan including statistical confidence levels
- Timing
- Cost
- Payment Terms
- Background and Profile of our Company and Principals
- Our Client Listing
So now you have our proposal. This isn’t the end of our discussion on your project, it’s just the beginning! The proposal is a starting point for us to work together to fully develop and refine the project to perfectly meet your needs. We recognize that the very effort of thinking about and considering a proposal will likely give rise to additional questions and perhaps entire topic areas to include. We are happy to work with you to revise and refine the proposal until you are confident it will deliver the actionable insights you need to improve and grow your business.
Once the project is approved, we typically have a draft questionnaire to you within two days. You review the questionnaire and after revisions you also see and review the questionnaire online before we start interviewing. We generally deliver our reports in about 3 weeks from when the final questionnaire is approved and we present and explain the results to your team. (Note: we keep our reports and data forever and are always available to answer any questions about the project – no matter how much time has passed.)
So call (609-896-1108) or send us an email today (Rick@designres.com) and we’ll have your project started in no time. WE STAND READY TO HELP YOU SUCCEED!