The Hindu Business Line : The market research process

Launching a new product or brand or sub-brand or SKU or whatever, is often critical for a firm. It is a step that could mean the difference between life and death. These launches could be instrumental in the company achieving its performance targets for the year which often comprise of statements that are normally as follows:

We will try to make a little money this year. Maybe. Sometimes.

We will use this money to post bail for our CEO who was recently incarcerated for accounting fraud.

As employees, we will do this, because of the love we have for him and not because we need petty things like bonuses or salary hikes.

Not that type of love

With these ambitious objectives in front of him, the young manager is now under a lot of pressure to meet his targets. So he sits back and looks at the challenge in front of him, that is, a product launch. He then breaks this challenge down into several critical questions that will determine the success of the project. While different companies follow different methods of problem solving and project management, I will outline the typical young manager's approach to marketing a product or service:

What is the product/service?

Who is the customer for the product?

Will he buy this product?

The product sucks.

Is my bonus linked to actual product sales?

Why did I agree to such a compensation structure in the first place? I am such an idiot.

Do I have an updated copy of my resume?

Should I make it a one-page or two-page CV?

You know what, I need to spruce up my CV? A good marketing project!

Hey! Wait a doggone minute!

OK, now what do I do to get some CV points and buy some time to call my headhunter friends?

Voila, market research!

Last week we looked at market research and shared some of our favourite market research internship experiences. Today, we will look at the actual process of market research and see how what began as a career-saving trick by a young manager quickly transforms into a deeply insightful exercise to probe the mind of the consumer who is a pesky fellow and has no time for you and rubbishes your questionnaires and focus groups leaving the research firm with no option but to dig deep into their "body of knowledge" for consumer insight and finally submit a report which says: "In the light of obtained information and market trends and extensive customer psychographical analysis, the product/service has a high probability of succeeding in the market place. (Please see note below)"

Note: "Provided, of course, it does not fail miserably."

But by then, the product manager has already put in his papers and is in his notice period and passes on the report to his fresh MBA successor who pores over the report day and night. He then distils his learning into a one-page document titled `Companies that are looking out for fresh marketing people with little experience'.

Phew! Just talking about market research can be so exhausting! So, onward with the process.

First, a market research firm is called in for preliminary meetings, during which both parties sit down and discuss the brief.

Everybody knows that a research assignment is only as good as the brief that is given to the agency. The brief is the soul of the assignment and is a document that tells the agency exactly what the goals of the research are. It takes a lot of effort and focus to prepare a brief. Good briefs often talk about everything right from the product or the company's history down to the strategy to be adopted for promoting the project.

So as you can see good briefs are monumental works and the young manager spends at least a couple of days before he has found the right brief on Google. Now, once the assignment has kicked off, the market research firm can choose from a variety of ways to get the data from the target consumer segment.

I am sure all of us have at some point in our lives been accosted by a researcher hanging around a supermarket or an ATM. "Just two minutes of your time, sir. Just need to know your opinion about a new product. Only two minutes." When we impatiently nod our heads in agreement, little do we know that we will soon be engulfed in a vile quagmire of scales and rankings and percentages and lists. But, of course, this thoroughness is very important for the success of the research exercise.

Researcher: "So what is the probability of you buying this product if it is launched?"

Respondent: "I don't know, I guess... "

Researcher: "No sir you will need to answer it as very sure, slightly very sure, sure, moderately sure, a little bit less than moderately sure, almost unsure, very close to unsure, bordering on unsure, on the very limit of not being unsure, unsure, wavering on the verge of negativity, the verge of nega... "

Respondent: "!@#$ #(**#!@#$&&#**$"

Researcher: "I will mark that as hesitant"

Then, of course, there is the focus group. This is my personal favourite.

Here, they go out and pick a bunch of relevant consumers off the street and ask them to assemble in a room and discuss the concept. The proceedings are recorded for later scrutiny.

Moderator: "Mr Malhotra, what do you think of our latest product offerings?"

Malhotra: "What is the product? I was only told it would be relevant to me."

Moderator: "Oh! Err... women's sheer nightwear... must be some mistake... "

Malhotra: "What are you saying? No mistake at all."

Mr Fernandes (another member of the group): "Yes. Yes. Where are the samples?"

There are other methods like test marketing, one-to-one interviews, demonstrations, telephonic interviews, online questionnaires, and so on, all meant to capture that valuable consumer perception.

After all this data collection, the agency tries to look for insights in the observations. They correlate data, make graphs and charts, and finally prepare a report that distils all the learning into one big PowerPoint presentation that will tell the client what they need to do with the product.

Researcher: "... so in short, if you launch this project your company is doomed, you will have to lay off all your employees and your brand image will be destroyed forever." — the `Thank You' slide shows up on the screen — "Questions?"

Manager: "Cool. I have some great news. Ashok will be taking care of this project from next week. I will be moving out. Ashok... Ashok... Ashok!"

(The writer, an alumnus of IIM-A, was a management consultant before quitting to work as a freelance writer, author and general handyman. He blogs at http://sidin.blogspot.com)

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