The survey as a marketing tool is a valuable resource to marketers and retailers alike and for years they have been conducted on behalf of companies at prices that, on reading will immediately expel every last bit of air from your lungs. That is, of course unless you have been taken out for an equally expensive lunch prior to receiving the invoice (in this instance the price will look quite reasonable).
There are essentially three reasons why most surveys are spectacularly inaccurate:
- It's a fact that when most people are approached by a person holding a clipboard and asking questions, they lie. It is recorded that the most inaccurate survey ever was a salary survey conducted by beautiful women wearing a bikinis and of course holding clipboards.
- If the price quoted by the survey company knocks only some of the wind out of the clients lungs (usually due to the fact that the lunch wasn't quite expensive enough) the client may ask to reduce the number of people interviewed, thus taking the sample from a massive and representative 1000 people to a somewhat less accurate 100. Given the fact outlined in point one this may in-fact make the survey 10 times more accurate, but it's unlikely.
- It would be unfair for the company conducting the survey to charge such a massive fee and then tell the client that everyone isn't ecstatically happy with their product, service or anything else. So they don't. The trick is that in order to secure future business the survey company must highlight one or perhaps two “areas of concern” that should be addressed prior to another survey. Of course the survey company thinks this is very clever and worth charging more for, so they do.
A well conducted survey that incorporates a wide enough pool has its place in the marketing mix but I don't believe that it is a sound basis on which to develop a strategy for a brand / business or even to use as the sole benchmarking criteria for a brand / business, its just not enough. If you know your brand or business well enough then I have no doubt that you would accurately predict the results of the survey, it's the confirmation that you pay for. In addition to this I would also recommend that any survey results should be used internally only, no matter how great they make you look. They won't withstand critical scrutiny.
By the way the results of the survey mentioned above revealed that 80% of men who work more than 20 hours a day and earn in excess of R1m per year could be found on the beach on Wednesdays.
Craig Ballantyne
craig@fastmoving.co.za
Please feel free to make comments or raise new issues by emailing the editor
editor@fastmoving.co.za
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EVENTS
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Join those in the know and ring a circle in your diary without delay for Wednesday the 23rd and Thursday 24th May 2007.
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18 - 27 May
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24 - 27 May - CTICC
Set your taste buds talking and get ready for some first rate celebrity chefs as they bring you mouth-watering, palate-tingling culinary delights!
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1-3 June - Robertson Valley
The festival will have something for everyone: food fundis, art and music lovers, outdoor and sporty types, the young, the old, and everyone in between!
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