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a thri。。 store specializing in second…hand baby clothes and the launch of
an Organic baby clothes catalogue。
。 Microso。。 （h。。p：//adlab。microso。。） is testing a product that can give
you masses of data on market demographics （age； sex； ine etc）；
purchase intentions and a search funnel tool that helps you understand
how your market searches the internet。 Using the demographics tool；
you can find that 76％ of people showing an interest in baby clothes are
female and surprisingly 24％ are male。 The peak age group is the 25–34…
year…olds and the lowest is the under…18s followed by the over…50s。
。 Inventory Overture （h。。p：//inventory。overture/d/searchinventory/
suggestion/） is a search tool showing how many people searched Yahoo
for a particular item。 So； for example； while 10；837 looked for either
baby or baby and toddler clothing； only 927 searched for organic baby
clothing； 167 for used baby clothing and 141 for cheap baby clothing：
facts that give useful pointers as to the likely price sensitivity in this
market。
。 Blogs are sites where people； informed and ignorant； converse about
a particular topic。 The information on blogs is more straw in the wind
than fact。 Globe of Blogs （globeo。。logs）； launched in 2002；
claims to be the first prehensive world weblog directory； which
links up to over 58；100 blogs； searchable by country； topic and just
about any other criteria you care to name。 Google （h。。p：//blogsearch。
google） is also a search engine to the world’s blogs。
。 Trade Association Forum （taforum 》 Directories 》 Association
Directory） is the directory of Trade Associations on whose websites are
links to industry…relevant online research sources。 For example； you
will find The Baby Products Association listed； at whose website you
can find details of the 238 panies operating in the sector； including
their contact details。
。 The Internet Public Library （ipl） is run by a consortium of
US universities whose aim is to provide internet users help with finding
information online。 There are extensive sections on business；
puters； education； leisure and health。
。 Find Articles （findarticles） aims to provide credible；
freely available information you can trust。 It has over 10 million articles
from thousands of resources； archived dating back to 1984； on its website。
You can see a summary of all articles and most are free； though in
some cases you may need a modest subscription； rarely more than a
few pounds。 You can restrict your search to those articles that are free
by selecting ‘free articles only’ from the right…hand pull…down menu。
118 The Thirty…Day MBA
Field research
Most fieldwork carried out consists of interviews； with the interviewer
pu。。ing questions to a respondent。 The more popular forms of interview
are currently：
。 personal （face…to…face） interview： 45％ （especially for the consumer
markets）；
。 telephone； e…mail and web surveys： 42％ （especially for surveying
panies）；
。 post： 6％ （especially for industrial markets）；
。 test and discussion group： 7％。
Personal interviews； web surveys and postal surveys are clearly less expensive
than ge。。ing together panels of interested parties or using expensive
telephone time。 Telephone interviewing requires a very positive a。。itude；
courtesy； an ability not to talk too quickly； and listening while sticking to
a rigid questionnaire。 Low response rates on postal services （less than 10
per cent is normal） can be improved by acpanying le。。ers explaining
the questionnaire’s purpose and why respondents should reply； by offering
rewards for pleted questionnaires （small gi。。）； by sending reminder
le。。ers and； of course； by providing pre…paid reply envelopes。 Personally
addressed e…mail questionnaires have secured higher response rates – as
high as 10–15 per cent – as recipients have a greater tendency to read and
respond to e…mail received in their private e…mail boxes。 However； unsolicited
e…mails （‘spam’） can cause vehement reactions： the key to success is
the same as with postal surveys – the mailing should feature an explanatory
le。。er and incentives for the recipient to ‘open’ the questionnaire。
There are the basic rules for good questionnaire design； however the
questions are to be administered：
1。 Keep the number of questions to a minimum。
2。 Keep the questions simple！ Answers should be either ‘Yes/No/Don’t
know’ or offer at least four alternatives。
3。 Avoid ambiguity – make sure the respondent really understands the
question （avoid ‘generally’； ‘usually’； ‘regularly’）。
4。 Seek factual answers； avoid opinions。
5。 Make sure that at the beginning you have a cut…out question to eliminate
unsuitable respondents （eg those who never use the product/service）。
6。 At the end； make sure you have an identifying question to show the
cross…section of respondents。
Sample size is vital if reliance is to be placed on survey data。 How to calculate
the appropriate sample size is explained in Chapter 11 in the section
headed ‘Survey sample size’。
Marketing 119
Testing the market
The ultimate form of market research is to find some real customers to
buy and use your product or service before you spend too much time and
money in se。。ing up。 The ideal way to do this is to sell into a limited area or
a small section of your market。 In that way； if things don’t quite work out as
you expect； you won’t have upset too many people。
This may involve buying in a small quantity of product； as you need
to fulfil the order in order to fully test your ideas。 Once you have found a
small number of people who are happy with your product； price； delivery/
execution and have paid up； you can proceed with a bit more confidence
than if all your ideas are just on paper。
Pick potential customers whose demand is likely to be small and easy to
meet。 For example； if you are going to run a bookkeeping business； select
5 to 10 small businesses from an area reasonably close to home and make
your pitch。 The same approach would work with a gardening； baby…si。。ing
or any other service…related venture。 It’s a li。。le more difficul