The Right Questions

Too often, researchers and their clients focus excessive attention on research objectives or "learnings" at the expense of their impact on business decisions - which is primarily how the value of research findings should be measured. Business and research objectives differ, which often leads companies to ask the wrong research questions. A back-to-basics approach can help them ask the right ones, thereby ensuring that business objectives guide research design. Research objectives should flow from business objectives, not vice versa. Primarily focusing on learnings or research objectives often produces findings that are irrelevant to management decision making. Businesses use five tactics to motivate consumers to "pull" products through the marketing channels: 1. positioning, 2. product, 3. price, 4. promotion, and 5. place. Research should determine which levers will successfully address the business issue. Companies also can accomplish business objectives by using channel members to "push" products to customers. Sometimes it benefits decision makers to focus on whether their actions on marketing research projects will be pull, push, or a blend.