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Survey design is an important part of doing business and market research. Put simply, it refers to the process of creating surveys that get responses.
This is important because it allows you to better understand the market and your customers, so you can make more data-driven decisions, and fix areas that are falling short. Done right, a good survey can be the driving force for huge positive change.
The first stage of survey design is all about planning. This is where you’ll decide what you want to focus on, why you’re running a survey at all, who you want to target, and more.
If you don’t get this stage right, you’ll end up with a survey that doesn’t have any clear goals, or fails to achieve its objectives. To get any meaningful feedback from a survey, you need to be clear about what you’re trying to achieve.
This initial stage is extremely important and is not something to skim over or rush through. In fact, the planning stage should take up a large chunk of the overall process.
The goal of the survey is what gives it structure and influences every part of the process. Here are some examples of goals for surveys:
Goals should typically be narrow enough that there is no risk of confusing your stakeholders or your respondents. Narrow goals also avoid overwhelming your respondents with questions.
A clearly defined goal helps the team draw inspiration and stay united and focused. Once you have decided on a goal, you’ll have a much better idea of what type of questions to ask, the type of respondents you want to reach , and so on.
In other words, you need to set a goal in order for the rest of the process to click into place.
The next stage of the planning process involves deciding who will actually take part in your survey.
This is called the target population, and it should reflect the goal. For example, if you’re asking how your product impacts a person’s job it’s probably not a good idea to target people under 16, or people over 70 as they are unlikely to be working.
The target population you choose will often be too large to effectively survey. This means you’ll have to select a sample — a smaller group that represents the larger demographic. You can then take these results and extrapolate them to the wider population.
Done right, this group will be representative enough to act as a miniature version of the whole. Sampling allows you to achieve your goals with a fraction of the cost, time, and resources required to survey the entire target population, which in most cases, would simply not be possible.
This stage of the planning process will be driven by your goal and your target demographic. Some examples of different methods include:
Every method has its pros and cons. Online surveys enable you to reach a large number of people quickly, but they’re less appropriate if you’ve got a physical product you want people to interact with. Instead a central location test might be more appropriate in this instance.
Every survey is different. If your target population is mostly people over the age of 65 or in geographical locations where internet access is not widespread, online surveys will probably not be the best method. Likewise, a central location test might not work well if your target demographic is very busy.
Once you have decided on a goal, established a target population and a sample, and chosen the method for your survey, it’s time to get down to actually creating it.
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Creating your survey is all about making it as easy as possible for your respondents to read, understand, and answer. If you overwhelm them with information and confusing formats, they’ll quickly give up and you’ll end up with fewer answers and a smaller pool of data at the end.
Here are some ways to make your survey as effective as possible:
The best way to ask questions is sparingly. You need to ask enough to gather a good amount of information, but if you use too many you risk driving your respondents away.
It’s always best to start with a clear introduction that introduces the survey, explains the format, and addresses any initial questions the reader might have. You might then start with some screener questions (about age or job title, for example) to filter out any respondents who don’t match the target demographic.
Once the survey is planned and created, it’s time to actually carry it out. If you have done the earlier stages correctly, this part should run smoothly. However, in practice, errors and unexpected setbacks are common. Here’s how to execute your survey in the best way possible:
If your survey will be carried out in person or on the telephone, it’s important that your staff know how to ask questions. Make sure you’re working with a team that is trained to ask open-ended questions correctly, in a way that avoids confusion or tempts bias.
A common practice is to conduct a smaller pilot survey before the main one, which can help identify any problems with the survey and give you an opportunity to make some tweaks before sending it to the full sample group.
One of the main challenges when conducting surveys is bias. It’s easy to accidentally lead your respondents down a certain path and encourage them to answer in a certain way, which you must avoid in order to get accurate and valuable results. To minimize bias:
After the survey is complete, the final steps are to analyze and share the results. This is an extremely important step, as this is where you put into practice what you learned and draw value from the survey.
It’s important to categorize and analyze the results properly. This process might be as simple as collecting the results in an excel spreadsheet, or it might be much more detailed, using a range of advanced analysis techniques..
Think about how the survey relates to your overall business and marketing, and how you can act on the insights you gained and use them to achieve your goals.
A summary report is a great way to share your results with your stakeholders in the business. It’s a document that breaks down what your survey set out to achieve and what the key findings were. We regularly create summary reports, as well longer, more detailed reports for our clients.
Make sure to clearly show what your aims were and what you learned, and present this in a way that anyone – regardless of market research literacy – can get to grips with. It’s worth working with a good designer to present the findings in the best way possible. At Kadence we have our own design team who help us to create impactful reports that make data easy to understand and act upon.
Survey design can seem like a challenging process, and it does require input and collaboration from many parts of the company.
However, the rewards are worth it. A well-designed survey can provide a much more intimate understanding of your customer base and how your products and services are received. It can yield incredibly valuable feedback and prompt much-needed change.
To find out how Kadence can help your organisation plan more effective surveys and harness data for maximum effect, reach out to request a proposal.
What is conjoint analysis? It’s often lauded as an extremely effective way to gain detailed insights and conduct market research, but how does it work?
Essentially, conjoint analysis is a way of measuring the value that customers place on a product’s features. It typically works via a survey, which looks something like this:
In this article, we’ll look at this process in more detail and dig deeper into the different types of conjoint analysis and the various benefits it can deliver.
There are several reasons to conduct a conjoint analysis. These include:
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The first stage is to decide on the correct survey type. There are several ways to do a conjoint analysis — here are the main methods.
One of the most powerful advantages of choice-based conjoint analysis is that it can allow you to use modelling to predict how customers will feel about combinations they didn’t even assess.
In other words, in an extremely efficient way of predicting responses to features without having to spend a huge amount of time testing each combination.
Next, it’s time to decide which product attributes you want to have your respondents compare and assess. The key is to not use too many. We typically avoid using more than 5 or 6 attributes e.g. for a car colour, engine size. We do this to reduce the cognitive load on respondents to ensure they really engage with the choices presented to them.
For each attribute, you need to add levels. For example, if your participants are assessing a smartphone, one attribute might be ‘price’, and the levels might be $200, $350, and $700.
The levels will usually reflect the different tiers of the product you’re considering selling. For the smartphone, you might be releasing a basic model, a higher-end model, and a deluxe model. The levels for attributes such as price, camera size, and memory will align with those tiers.
Levels should be chosen based on factors like:
In the CBC method, there are two commonly used models for making choices:
Most Surveys start with some screener questions. These are general questions around demographics like the respondent’s age, job title, or purchase habits. The goal is to filter out those who won’t be a good fit for the survey based on the people you’re trying to target.
It’s important to take some time at the beginning of the survey and in your questions to clearly explain what the respondents need to do to answer the question. Surveys should be as clear and easy to follow as possible.
The questions you choose, and how you structure them, will make or break your survey. Here are some guidelines to follow:
Once the survey has been written, scripted , sent out, and completed by your target group, it’s time to analyze the results and take action on them. This is perhaps the most important part of the process, as it’s where your research can really make a tangible impact.
There are several ways to analyze your results, based on how you designed the survey. The most important thing is to collect and analyse your data in a way that makes it easy to draw useful conclusions and share them.
This will allow you to gain real value from the survey and present those findings to others in the company. This:
At Kadence, it’s our job to ensure you create and conduct the most effective surveys and market research possible, giving your brand the edge. To find out more about how we can help with conjoint analysis and more, get in touch to request a proposal.
As a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns, education institutions across the globe have faced a myriad of challenges, including the move to distance learning and finding new ways to support pupils. Students have also had to adapt with the support of an in-person learning environment
Now that some educational institutions are emerging from the pandemic, it will be important not just to address short term needs but also to identify innovations that can be adopted to improve student learning in the long run.
This piece explores three key challenges to address in the short term but also considers the long-term implications of what these new changes may bring. The 3 themes we’ll be looking at are:
As governments and educational institutions make decisions on when and how to reopen schools, health and safety is naturally front of mind. Some schools have opened with strict checking procedures in place. In Shanghai, for instance, students are required to enter the school building via a thermal scanner and there are multiple posters in place highlighting the measures in place to tackle coronavirus. In other schools, remote learning is still continuing as only limited numbers of pupils return. Schools in New South Wales, Australia, for example, have re-opened but are only allowing students to attend one day a week on a staggered basis. Whatever the approach, the priority continues to be safeguarding people’s wellbeing and schools will observe and learn from countries that are practicing safe re-opening procedures.
However, the COVID crisis has also demonstrated that classrooms are not the only places where education can take place. The pandemic has highlighted that learning can take place at any time, anywhere and in any way. It’s clear that the opportunities offered by digital capabilities will go well beyond its temporarily use during the crisis.
Technology can enable teachers and students to access massive amounts of digital resources, most of which are free to use. Examples from other countries have also shown that the delivery of information through various means – TV, online, mobile – can work to help engage students. What’s more, AI and digital technology are now able to capture data to measure students’ progress so that learning can be adjusted based on ongoing assessments rather than through high stakes exams.
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Just as students are adjusting to distance learning, most teachers are also new to teaching online and have had to quickly adapt their lessons to an online format that keeps pupils engaged.
But teachers don’t just need the technological tools to facilitate online learning. They need resources to help enhance their teaching practice. A number of initiatives have sprung up around the world to facilitate this. In South Korea, the Education and Research Information Service offers an online platform to facilitate the sharing of materials created by teachers and in the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Education invited over 40,000 teachers to take part in a ‘Be an online tutor in 24 hours’ course. Global organizations such as the Khan Academy, TEDed, Google Arts & Culture are also continually providing relevant education resources for students and teachers.
In the long-term, we may see a new form of teaching emerging. In a world where students can access to knowledge through a few clicks, educators will need to review and potentially redefine their role in the classroom.
The emphasis should be not only on the delivery of content but also on generating engagement. Educators need to learn to create a positive experience within a digital context – one that is more interactive and engaging. One organisation leading the way on this is Singapore’s SIT University, which has created training materials for lecturers to provide online learning. The topics covered how to create narrated slides, how to run effective live streaming classes, how to design alternative assessments, and the use of online proctoring tools for assessments.
While technology has helped many students continue their education at home, data from UNESCO has found that in other ways, it has exacerbated the digital divide. Half of all students do not have access to a computer and more than 40% have no internet access at home.
Students living in rural areas, low-income households, students with special needs and those living in less developed areas face issues with a lack of resources including not having the technology needed for remote learning.
Governments, private companies, and educational institutions need to be able to work in partnership to ensure that needs of all students are met. Success stories from around the world can provide inspiration. In France, the University of Strasbourg identified students whose lack of resources jeopardised their ability to continue their education, setting up an Emergency Fund and distributing more than a hundred computers to students in need. China offered mobile data packages, telecom subsidies and repurposed some of the state-run television channel to air lesson plans for K–12 education in remote regions. Italy put together an €85 million Euro package to support distance learning for 8.5 million students and improve connectivity in isolated areas.
While COVID-19 has fast-tracked the need to acquire digital skills, we also cannot forget the education students will need to prepare them for the workplace of the future.
As a result of the pandemic, the demand for certain jobs and specialities will decline, whilst otherareas come to the fore. Educational institutions need to be flexible enough to adapt their curriculum and resources to meet students’ and workforces’ changing needs.
There will continue to be a need to train people in emerging digital skills but learners will also need “non-automatable” skills. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Survey, “a wide range of occupations will require a higher degree of cognitive abilities — such as creativity, logical reasoning and problem sensitivity — as part of their core skill set.” Institutions who more readily recognise and adapt their curriculum and resources to meet these needs are more likely to thrive moving forwards.
The automotive industry has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. Cars have lain dormant in driveways for months as a result of lockdowns across the world, and economic shutdowns hit supply chains, with reports of some manufacturers even resorting to flying parts across the world in suitcases.
But as consumers emerge into a ‘new normal’, what does this mean for the automotive industry? What are the trends to watch – both in the short and the long-term?
In this article, our auto experts across the UK, Thailand and Indonesia, Bianca Abulafia, Digo Alanda and Kajornkiat Kiatsunthorn explore 3 key areas:
In the short-term, we expect to see growth in the second hand and luxury end of the market especially.
The pandemic has resulted in a renewed focus on the car as hygiene concerns have come to the fore. This has resulted in those that have previously shunned car ownership such as urbanites and young people re-evaluating their stance. In the US, a cars.com study showed that 20% of people who don’t own a car are thinking of buying one, and this figure rises when we hone in on young people. A recent global Capgemini survey of under 35s shows that 45% are considering buying a car and this is highest in countries that have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
We have talked about the emergence of “revenge buying” in other sectors, and we expect this to manifest in the automotive industry within the second-hand market as a more affordable option for younger buyers. “Revenge buying” is also relevant at the luxury end of the market. As a result of being able to save, the budget of some affluent buyers has increased, meaning that they’re now able to trade up. Volvo’s Chief Executive notes this has happened in China, where the company has seen a 20% increase in sales compared to 2019. “People are really tired of sitting at home locked and they really want to go out and buy.” Outside of this, we expect sales to suffer, with existing car owners putting off purchases in the midst of economic instability.
Looking at the long-term impact, it will take some time until car sales return to pre-COVID levels. An ING report, looks back to the 2008 financial crisis for indicators, highlighting that it took 11 months for vehicle sales to recover in this instance. But if we consider that this pandemic has brought lifestyle and behavioural changes, in addition to economic instability, it’s much harder to predict.
In the long-term, will we see a permanent shift towards home working that encourages people to move out of urban centres, necessitating the need for a car? Will increased domestic tourism result in a desire to have access to a car for longer trips – ushering in an opportunity for shared ownership of vehicles? The automotive industry doesn’t exist in a vacuum and it will be vital for auto manufacturers to observe the broad trends to understand where they can play a role.
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Car manufacturers have had to rapidly adapt to a new sales environment, as they seek to comply with social distancing measures and meet the needs of the more cautious shopper. Capgemini’s COVID-19 and The Automotive Consumer report indicates that 46% of consumers want to minimise visits to dealerships to compare offers, instead preferring to do this online. We’ve seen lots of innovative responses to this. In China, for instance, Volkswagen has trained 70,000 employees to communicate with customers online, even livestreaming from dealerships via TikTok and Kuaishou.
In the long-term, we only expect this to continue. The impact of coronavirus has acted as a catalyst for the digital transformation of many industries, sparking changes in consumer behaviour that were thought to take years. Automotive will be no exception as people seek the convenience that they’re experiencing in their interactions with other brands and industries. This will be particularly important in the research phase but we believe it will also extend to online purchase and home delivery, with a recent Think with Google survey finding that 18% of people would buy a vehicle sooner if there was an online purchase option. The desire for convenience could also impact the after sales experience with servicing being carried out at home.
In the immediate term, economic instability, plus the appeal of lower oil prices, could dissuade car buyers from making the move to electric. However, we don’t expect this to last long, with any savings from oil prices likely to be temporary, and not significant enough in the long-term to fundamentally influence decisions.
One area to watch is other electric transportation options beyond the car – such as scooters and bikes. As people avoid public transport and seek other routes around the city, governments are having to radically rethink how they can support this. The UK has announced that improvements in cycling infrastructure and trials to allow rented e-scooters on the streets have been fast-tracked, which could encourage people to start exploring electric bikes and scooters as alternative options for commuting. Increased familiarity with electric powered means of transportation could result in a greater adoption of motorbikes or cars.
When we look at the long-term view, we don’t expect the shift towards electric to be significantly impacted. From the canals in Venice being clear enough to see the fish to Nasa satellite images showing the dramatic drop into pollution levels in China, the upsides of the lockdown on the environment have been well documented – with many consumers acknowledging benefits of this on their quality of life.
This could influence purchase behaviours in the longer term, with consumers wanting to do their bit for the environment at the point at which economic conditions become more favourable for them to do so. But more significantly, changing consumer sentiment towards the environment is also likely to increase pressure on governments to bolster schemes to incentivise electric car ownership, making them a more financially attractive proposition to car buyers. In fact, this is something that has already happened in China in the wake of the pandemic, with some cities announcing subsidies for new electric vehicles, and others upping their investment in the associated infrastructure.
We also shouldn’t forget the status symbol factor, particularly in the luxury segment. Our research has shown that owning an electric car represents a new way to demonstrate wealth and status, and we don’t see this diminishing any time soon.
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