2008 Q2 Market Surveys – Case Overview
SPG was engaged by a client that had been established in the marketplace for more than five decades. Within its market, the client was ranked in the top three in revenues among companies in its industry. However, in the last couple of years, revenues seemed to plateau and there wasn’t a specific reason that management could identify for the falloff in revenues.
As part of our analysis we conducted a market survey on behalf of the client. The objectives were clear cut and simple:
- Assess respondents’ experience with their primary vendor.
- Identify the primary reason for choosing the vendor.
- Identify and assess how respondents value (relative importance) the factors, e.g. quality, responsiveness, technical know-how, price, etc., that go into their decision making process.
- Assess client’s image in the marketplace relative to other vendors.
- Assess respondents’ perceptions of key competitors, i.e. strengths and weaknesses.
Following the design of a questionnaire that addressed the specific objective of the survey and information requirements, a telephone survey was launched by our staff. Client anonymity was protected so that results were unbiased. Contact lists of prospective respondents were compiled using several industry sources.
First, we wanted to learn the factors that respondents considered most important relating to the products and services that they purchase. For example, how important is technical know-how compared to reliability, product quality and price. Once the key factors were determined in order of importance, the next step was to have the respondent rank for each factor, who they considered to be the top 3 vendors in order of ranking. If technical know-how was considered most important by the respondent, then which vendor did they consider to be best, then second and third. Going through a list of 8 factors provided critical information for our client, not only about their perceived strengths and weaknesses, but also that of its competitors. For some respondents, our client was not even ranked in the top 3, for others they were considered #1.
Once the rankings were completed, we wanted to learn from respondents who would be their first, second and third choice if they had to choose a vendor and the price was the same for each vendor. This was beneficial in determining if our client was even on the radar screen as far as respondents were concerned.
The net result of the anonymous market survey provided the client with insights about itself and its competitors, information that typically will not surface if the client is identified as the sponsor of the survey. Going forward, the information was effectively used by the client in developing new strategic marketing initiatives that helped it realign its strengths with its marketing message for improved revenue generation.
For more information about how market surveys can lead to increased revenues, please contact us toll free at 866-599-0663.