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Research faces a future of constant change, but recent legislation is unlikely to hinder its continuing growth, according to the 2006 Research Industry Trends Report. Last week we looked at data collection methods and world regions ｡V this week, legislation, changing suppliers and the general outlook.
The study, sponsored and run by Rockhopper Research, Pioneer Marketing Research, DialTek, and The Greenbook Marketing Research Directory, found most respondents in fairly buoyant mood, with a positive business outlook for the year ahead. ボハThree quarters of users of data collection suppliers report their organizations will need more such services during the coming year, while ボハ82.6% of data collection providers themselves feel that demand will grow.
Two of the negatives discussed in recent years are declining response rates and Do Not Call / Anti Spam legislation. Declining response rates are as expected one of the main perceived problems of the industry, but many researchers remain confident that they can address this by using alternative methodologies, and respondents generally are now more confident that they can find the right tools to do so. However, they also identified growing challenges for the data collection industry, in particular data accuracy and sampling issues.
Do Not Call and Anti-Spam Legislation was expected by some to have a serious damaging effect on the MR industry, but the report authors predicted that this would ｡･simply not materialize｡ｦ and this wave of the study seems to confirm this. ハThree fifths of study respondents report the DNCL has had no effect on their business and three quarters that Anti-Spam Legislation has no effect on their data collection.
Research partnerships develop over time and most buyers are not keen on constant shopping around. Most study participants (73%) intended to stay with their current mix of suppliers during 2006. There are two main reasons for looking at alternative suppliers: ｡･new types of research require new techniques｡ｦ and because a current provider performs poorly. Each of these was cited by the same percentage of respondents (40.5%).
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The web has of course introduced many new possibilities for finding research suppliers. Three-in-five survey participants use web sites and 55.5% use search engines to locate/identify data collection providers. Google now outscores second placed Yahoo! in this by ten to one:
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The findings portray an industry with a huge opportunity to grow and develop provided it moves with (and in some cases ahead of) the times, and puts the infrastructure in place to exploit it ｡V this includes technological expertise, partnerships to provide global or methodological coverage, and effective networks with respondents / customers and other researchers. The authors note that ｡･larger full-service providers, clients, and advertising agencies all see strong growth and a bright future for 2006｡ｦ whereas ｡･Smaller firms, consultants, and qualitative research companies (generally small shops) are somewhat less optimistic.｡ｦ
The authors suggest that for researchers, necessity has been the mother of invention: ｡･Forced to rethink the approach to data collection, the industry is building bridges and highways to connect data collectors to survey participants, clients to providers, and ultimately clients to customers. Just as the direct response industry learned to move from a saturation approach to more economical and vastly more effective relationship or database marketing, the research industry is showing signs of moving toward richer and more rewarding interactions among clients, providers, and the public.｡ｦ
They conclude: ｡･Researchers have begun to realize that surveys [using the Internet] present rich opportunities to foster continued interaction between clients and customers, as well as with providers. The race is to be better at it than the competition. Research firms who understand the technology, the process, and the opportunity are becoming highly valued partners with their clients.｡ｦ
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The first part of this precis appeared last week. The full report is available from the Rockhopper web site.
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.
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