Beyond the Boondoggle: Top 10 Factors in Qualitative Market Choice
Choosing markets for qualitative research can be driven by convenience (i.e. the backyard of corporate headquarters) or simply ‘how we’ve always done it’. Other times, market choice is driven by the quest for a boondoggle or a personal connection in a particular market.
Beyond the Boondoggle:
Top 10 Factors in Qualitative Market Choice
The right combination of markets can be a key factor in driving fresh insights and quality innovation, and here are 10 things to consider when selecting markets.
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- Category Development (CDI) – Is your category well-represented in this market? Strive for a CDI of 100 or greater relative to US Norms. From a competitive intelligence standpoint, are there any interesting new regional competitors you’d love to get insight on? Interesting trends for category uses in some areas of the country? A good example here are ethnic trends in a category’s use of a category of products driving you to markets with greater ethnic concentration. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
- Brand Development (BDI) – How’s the strength of your brand and its ability to fight against key competitors in this market?While brands often seek markets with stronger BDI to enable easier recruiting, it’s often wise to balance a stronger market with a weaker or expansion market, to gauge your brand’s regard and the impact of your ad, innovation, or product development efforts in a range of scenarios. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
- Representation of Users – Similar to category development, how’s your target consumer concentration in a given market? If your brand has identified a specific psycho-graphic target to hone in on, check the plausibility of finding these folks in your research market. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
- Regional Skews and Sentiment – We’ve all seen the differences regional bents can yield on insights and reactions to creative. These regional differences can also highlight important needs, category habits, attitudinal differences. Some tend to choose East Coast / West Coast and disregard the ‘middle America’ sentiment. This could lead to missing the mark on a large portion of US consumers. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
- City Size – Similar to balancing regions of the country, balancing a major metro with a mid-sized city can provide different perspectives. Additionally, smaller cities may enable recruiters to pull in some rural consumers, providing additional insights on attitudes, usage and needs. Finally, smaller cities can be a more cost-effective option vs. major metropolitan areas. We recently checked room rental cost, and found secondary market facilities charge about 20-33% less than the major metro facilities. ………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
- Over-Used? – Some markets tend to be over-researched, and some markets do a better job than others at working collaboratively to weed out professional respondents. If you’ve seen the same respondent at more than one facility within the same year, it may be time to switch things up. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
- Momentum – Is this market growing? Alive? Trending? New trends and attitudes aren’t limited to coastal cities – and you can often ‘feel’ the energy in cities that are growing vs. stagnant or even declining in size. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
- Quality of Research Facilities/Support – Over the years, when seeking smaller or regional markets, it can be challenging to find an environment where insights can thrive. Ideally, you’ll select a market that not only meets your category and brand needs, but where a quality research partner can execute the fieldwork with excellence. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
- Media Containment – Especially pertinent when seeking a location for a test market where media is involved, media containment helps not only lower costs but provide a clean read relative to surrounding markets. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
- The Boondoggle – Finally! After you’ve considered all of the responsible business issues at hand, then by all means, consider the boondoggle – consider where you want to go, what you want to experience, and who you’d like to visit. Because when research is enjoyable, the whole team will be more engaged and will likely to want to join you for future insights.
Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.
-Maya Angelou
