What makes the perfect market research project? In truth, there may be no such thing. But there are certainly some steps you can take to make your research more effective, and it starts at the very beginning.
From planning to analysis & reporting, every stage must be meticulously planned and tailored to the task in hand. Researchers are no strangers to the idea that every project is unique – requiring methods, budgets and approaches that are fitted to the objectives (not vice versa).
One of the most important, but overlooked, aspects of market research is the management approach that should be adopted. Agile methods are described by many practitioners (we’ve even outlined our recommended best practices for creating agile insight). But agile methods are not a one size fits all approach.
A better way of approaching new research projects is by taking advantage of lean principles – finding ways to eliminate waste and focus only on the most important aspects of the study that will generate ROI. Return on research investment should always be the top priority for researchers, with all else following suit.
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Every one of these aspects must be considered in order to ensure your project’s success. Objectives, neutrality, timeliness, sampling, analysis, change & project management all work in harmony in the best insight teams. But what can you do to instil these values in your team? In our experience, culture is key. You must ensure that best practices are always followed, that researchers (& agencies) are always communicating and the objective is consistently pursued.