Professionally, we as insights professionals are regularly confronted with questionnaires of all kinds. Questionnaires that we make ourselves, but also questionnaires that we fill in ourselves because we are registered in one or another panel. Speaking for myself, it is mainly out of curiosity that I participate in such a study, but professional ethics prevents me from completing the entire questionnaire, so that my answers are (hopefully) not registered.
We all know that there are certain things that you cannot ask a respondent, or – more correctly – to which you cannot expect a relevant answer. Because respondents can’t give – no matter how hard they try – give a correct answer. And yet it happens oh so often that you are presented with such questions.
Take a simple concept test now. You indicate to what extent the concept appeals to you, is relevant to you, and whether you would consider purchasing the product. Until now, although you can also question this. But then you will be asked how often you would buy it and whether this would replace a product that you are already using or on top of using it. Well, that is asking for trouble. After all, some agencies or companies are going to make volume estimates based on this, and then they are delighted that the new concept exceeds their wildest expectations and promises to break all volume records. It would be much better to take objective data on penetrations, volumes and purchase frequency of comparable products in order to arrive at a better estimate than to rely on the ignorance and often overestimation that characterizes each respondent.
Combining different data sources will always lead to better and more accurate insights. Think carefully about each question that you include in a questionnaire and ask yourself whether the answer may be relevant. In this way we get shorter and better questionnaires that lead to better and more insight.
Insights Wizards has experienced insights professionals available who can assist companies to ask the right questions and combine relevant data sources.
Photo by Oleg Magni on Pexels.com