How to check that B2B market research projects are robust

There is a lot of bad research out there, and it is important to challenge any results that are presented to you to check that the correct people have been interviewed.

People are used to seeing research results in their everyday lives. For example, newspapers often carry the results of political opinion polling.

These political polls are (mostly) rigorously designed and executed, and the results have a sense of authority.

But that doesn’t mean that all surveys or research are conducted with the same amount of rigor. There is a lot of bad research out there, and it is important to challenge any research that is promoted as an indisputable fact to check it is valid.

The basic premise of market research is that by speaking to a proportion of the target market, you can predict the opinion of everyone. However, this is only true if:

• There are enough responses for the data to be reliable
• The interview distribution reflects the target market
• The individuals who took part were legitimate respondents rather than professional respondents

The research agency that you’re working with may have all the right answers for points 1 and 2, but many will be vague when you ask them about point 3. We suggest asking your partner agency:

• Who was invited to participate in the survey (e.g., a vetted list, or could anyone respond)?
• What steps have been taken to remove inappropriate respondents (e.g., were there non-leading questions about their sector/role)?
• What checks, if any, were conducted to ensure that the respondents are who they claim to be?

Adience has a range of different tools and B2B market research methods to ensure that our results are robust and reliable. To learn more, contact us:

• Call: +1 646 799-5020
• Email: chris.wells@hello-adience.com

For more on how to conduct a B2B survey, click here.