Testing 1…2…3: Quality Assurance in Launching a Survey
31 Mar 2021

An important consideration when conducting quantitative research is ensuring that you reduce the occurrence of errors as much as possible. Establishing processes to reduce errors in the methodology and ensuring high quality responses will help guarantee that a survey’s results represent the proper target audience for the given study. Neglecting to reduce errors or check for poor performing respondents can leave you with a spreadsheet of useless responses in need of replacement. Even worse, moving forward with your inaccurate results can leave you with the wrong impression about your audience, leading to wasted marketing dollars.

In addition to accounting for error when planning your study, error can be further reduced by checking technicalities within the survey throughout the survey’s lifespan. Here are some tips on what to keep an eye on when launching a survey:

  1. Test Your Survey Internally

    Before sending your survey out into the world, take it yourself. Ask your colleagues to take it too! Make sure that all of the programming within the survey is working correctly. Test multiple times with various combinations of responses. If a question is meant to reject unqualified respondents, test each answer to ensure that only the proper responses are let through to the next stage. Testing your survey will help reduce technical glitches and programming errors in advance of your launch.

  2. Soft-Launch Your Survey

    Gather a small portion of respondents before fully launching your survey. Take the sample and sort through their responses. Are unqualified respondents successfully completing the survey? Are qualifying respondents being prematurely ejected from the study? If you answer “yes” to either of these questions, it may be a sign that you should adjust the programming or targeting settings of your survey. Conducting a soft launch is a great way to catch these issues early, before too many responses fall through these cracks.

  3. Check Your Responses Regularly

    Throughout the time that your survey is live, sort through new responses and remove bad-quality responses. Look for signs that the respondent may have rushed through the survey without fully paying attention. Perhaps they gave short and repetitive answers to open ended questions. Maybe they gave the same rating to every question in a Likert scale. Whatever the reason may be, it is best to remove these respondents and find someone else to complete the survey so that your results are as accurate as possible. Doing this in small batches throughout the survey’s lifespan can help you save time. This can also help you avoid thinking you have reached your goal and closing the survey before suddenly needing to replace a large chunk of bad respondents.

Whether you are conducting research for yourself or for a client, you want to make sure that end results are as representative of your target population as humanly possible. Checking for quality and error at all stages will not only help you achieve this goal but will ensure that you do so in a timely and efficient manner. Keep these testing tips in mind the next time you launch a survey. Good luck!

Check out some of our other blogs on survey essentials and research methods:

  1. https://provokeinsights.com/4-watch-outs-when-conducting-a-survey/
  2. https://provokeinsights.com/6-things-to-watch-out-for-when-writing-a-market-research-survey/
  3. https://provokeinsights.com/quantitative-vs-qualitative-research/
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The Importance of Brand in ABM – Business 2 Community
29 Mar 2021

Provoke Insights’ research on B2B companies is featured in Business 2 Community, a key business, marketing, and industry blog

The article emphasizes the importance of qualitative measures, like traffic and awareness, for a seemingly unquantifiable strategy: branding. By investing heavily in branding, companies can catch target audiences one or two years in advance. In other words, work smarter than competitors – not harder. 

However, our research shows that 67% of B2B professionals agree that their company invests in their brand. With many other companies ranking branding high on their top priority lists, the article urges in-house marketers to take extra steps to differentiate themselves.

These steps might include:

  • Taking bold steps to stand out
  • Increasing personalization and authenticity
  • Focusing on marketing ROI rather than new leads
  • Commissioning market research

Ultimately, as demonstrated by our B2B marketing research, many brands these days focus on key qualities like unaided awareness. To stand out from the crowd, in-house marketers should look for more intuitive ways to build their brands.

Brands Need Research To Gauge Pandemic-Fueled Consumer Shifts – Quirk’s Media
15 Mar 2021

Carly Fink, president and founder of Provoke Insights, is featured in Quirk’s Media Magazine this month. Quirk’s Media is a leading voice in market research and branding. During pandemic times, it is a must-read to gain key market insights on digital consumer habits.

Carly discusses how brands should reassess the consumer journey. As more Americans work, shop, and attend school from home, technology adoption has skyrocketed. Brands must account for increased digital use and entirely reevaluate consumers’ choices in the new remote landscape. 

With a few extra steps, researching these digital habits can put your brand ahead. Carly’s key points include research on consumer habits and industry:

  1. Brands should observe readily available internal data, like web traffic, type of device, and location.
  2. Brands should seek out timely research on their industry to better understand our new world. Provoke Insights recently published 2021 trend reports on 19 industries ranging from hospitality to clothing and beverages. Check out our page here to download the reports for free.
  3.  Brands should survey a prospective consumer population or commission a market research agency to conduct research. This is an essential part of building a targeted, compelling brand.

Understanding the consumer journey is a crucial part of brand management. There has never been a better time to reevaluate your brand, conduct robust research, and prepare to pivot for new markets ahead. Check out the full article to learn some specific steps on assessing brand strategy.

In today’s confusing pandemic world, market insights have never been more critical for your brand. According to our research, companies are putting more focus on strengthening their brand. 

To keep up with your brand competitors, read our full free B2B report and view other industry reports, including packaged foods, beauty, and clothing here.

Companies Prioritize Branding Over Sales – B2B News Network
12 Mar 2021

Provoke Insights’ research is featured in a fast facts report in B2B News Network. This research is vital for any B2B (business-to-business) company looking for market insights, 2021 trends, pandemic impacts, and more. B2B’s Friday Fact is: companies are increasingly putting branding above sales.

To develop Provoke Insights’ 2021 industry report, we fielded an online survey to 3,000 Americans aged 21 to 70. We surveyed 19 industries, including the B2B sector, and created buyer profiles, highlighted brand equity drivers, and drew several conclusions, including:

  • More companies are prioritizing brand strengthening over sales.
  • Paid and unpaid social media are the most commonly implemented marketing tools.
  • Due to the pandemic, trade show ROI has understandably plummeted.

In today’s confusing pandemic world, market insights have never been more critical for your brand. According to our research, companies are putting more focus on strengthening their brand. 

To keep up with your brand competitors, read our full free B2B report and view other industry reports, including packaged foods, beauty, and clothing here.

Here’s How Many Have Been Shopping for Jewelry, Watches – National Jeweler
11 Mar 2021

Provoke Insights’ research is featured in a National Jeweler article detailing how jewelry purchasing habits have changed over the past year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Provoke Insights sought to provide National Jeweler with a better understanding of the luxury buyer’s mindset. This research is also indispensable for jewelry brands looking to gauge the pandemic's impact on consumer habits and the industry as a whole.

Provoke Insights fielded an online survey to 3,000 Americans between the ages of 21 and 70. Based on the relevant findings, Provoke Insights created a buyer profile for the typical American luxury watch or jewelry buyer: 

  • 6% of Americans have purchased luxury watches or jewelry over the past three months.
  • Luxury watch or jewelry buyers are 89% optimistic about the future.
  • 53% of luxury buyers prefer to shop online rather than in-store.

Provoke Insights further tested top-of-mind brand awareness. Consumers rated Gucci and Rolex as the top jewelry brands for unaided awareness, while Apple ranked first in the technology category. 

Luxury jewelry and watch brands should look to National Jeweler’s article as a snapshot of the luxury consumer mindset and industry status. Provoke Insights’ research has important implications for brands seeking to understand the luxury category's trajectory and more. 

Download our free brand equity reports here, with research on 19 industries, including clothing, beverages, packaged foods, and more.