Eight years ago I did a self-directed study about B2B market research. The reading served me well as I managed a series of studies on enterprise IT markets. As I go through my notes, here are some of the highlights from Business To Business Market Research by Ruth McNeal:
Demographics and Sampling
- Organizational structure is just as important as ethnicity questions in a consumer survey.
- You can have three people in a corporation who give three unique answers to what appears to be a simple question.
- Some markets are by definition small and therefore do not need as large of a sample size to be representative.
- Due to large contract sizes, individual customers may have a lot of weight.
Survey and Interviewing Techniques
- For in-depth interviews, start off with an open-ended question. This will get the respondent to open-up and feel comfortable talking.
- Don’t assume respondents will be able to answer all questions.
How Research Is Used by the Customer
- Decision making – what are the criteria being used?
- Market sizing and assessment
- Products and services – where are the gaps?
- Segmentation – what are the needs of the different segments?
- Performance assessment and tracking
- Marketing and communication
- Branding and corporate reputation
