Cheap and Fast Research

Whatever happened to that old axiom, "You get what you pay for."?  I think it is still present and very much alive in the world of consumer research.  If there is one thing that I hear consistently it is that the research must be fast and it must be cheap.  That is how they sell research today.  No one seems to sell on the basis of reliable and valid research.

Let me give you an example of what this kind of thinking can lead to.  About two years ago one of the Views readers changed jobs.  He was put in charge of a consumer research center at a tech center for a major manufacturer.  His first undertaking was to determine how they were conducting their research and looking at how well the results of the research reflected the future.  This was a company that put multiple new products on the market each year.  He looked at the forecasting of sales based on the research and to his amazement over a three-year time period, the forecasting was always at least twice as high as the market delivered.  To his amazement, at no time had the company gone back, as he had done, and compared forecasting with the market results.

In further checking, he found out that this national company with multiple tech centers was utilizing the consumer research group in one city for a majority of their testing.  Why?  They were by far the fastest and cheapest.  He dug further and found out that they had a local panel of test participants.  These local participants were used over and over again for product evaluation.  They were constantly on standby, ready to test at a minute's notice.  And they were cheap.

The above consumer research group no longer exists.  Actually there is no longer a consumer research group at that technical facility.  I wonder why they no longer exist?  They were giving the client what was asked for, fast and cheap research.

And just off the wire -   Two large consumer products companies have formed an alliance with an internet survey company to do their consumer research.  The reason, it is fast and cheap and it is as good as phone research.  The new standard of excellence seems to be phone research, whatever happened to reliability and precision?

Act Like You Do Not Know One Another -  My wife and I recently participated in a series of Focus Groups.  An organization we belong to was contacted (again) to participate in some focus groups for which the organization would be paid.  The group assembled in a meeting facility at the agency.  We were briefed about what we would be doing that day.  Of particular interest were the instructions that spouses would be split up into separate groups and when we went into the Focus Group Room, we should all act like we did not know one another.  This research organization has been doing this for years.  Actually, I wrote about this group and their procedures about three years ago.  But we must remember the research is fast and cheap, exactly what the client requests.

A Reader's Response -   About a month ago, I wrote about Sorensen Associates placing home use tests of experimental products in supermarkets.  I thought I covered the advantages of this type of placement.  I thought wrong.  Mr. Warren Deason of Hillshire Farms/Kahns called to tell me that I missed some of the most important of the advantages of this protocol.  He found that the store placement provided him with superior perishable product control.  The supermarket has all the necessary equipment to maintain product control.  He also pointed out that supermarket shoppers are more likely to be going straight home after receiving the product than placements made elsewhere.  Thanks for the perspective, Warren.