A Deloitte study discovered that only 29% of the information provided by third-party sources was more than 50% accurate. Think about it: businesses were making decisions based on information in which less than a third of the information was even half correct. And it wasn’t because they were misanalyzing the information or because they used incorrect methodology. It was because they were including the wrong people in the dataset. Recruitment for market research is the single decision that makes everything else worthwhile.
What Market Research Recruitment Actually Is
Recruitment for market research is the process of finding the right people who can participate in the market research project. This can include focus groups, in-depth interviews, surveys, and usability tests.
The end result of any market research project is only as good as the input provided in the process. This is entirely dependent on the quality of the people recruited for the market research project. This is a no-brainer. In other words, this is where the majority of market research studies go wrong.
What Good Market Research Recruitment Actually Involves
- Identifying the right person for the market research project
- Creating a recruitment screener that accurately identifies the right people without giving away the “right” answers
- Recruiting the right people through the right channels
- Recruiting the right people and re-screening them
- Following up with the right people to ensure they actually attend the market research study
- Rushing the recruitment process and filling the market research study in a matter of days rather than weeks can only mean compromising on the right people or compromising on the market research criteria itself.
Why Recruitment Makes or Breaks Market Research
One of the most important reasons for conducting market research is to obtain information that can be generalized to a wider audience. In this case, the respondents recruited for research need to be representative of the wider audience.
However, if they are not representative, then it is impossible to generalize the research findings. In this case, one is left with information that is true for a particular group but cannot be generalized to anyone else.
The knock-on effects of poor market research recruitment:
- Data that is pointing in the wrong direction and causing poor business decisions
- Data that is not valid when tested in the real world
- Money spent on a research project that has to be redone
- Data that is confirming your own biases rather than challenging your own biases
- Stakeholders who are losing trust in your research process
If respondents are not representative of the wider audience, then it is impossible to obtain any meaningful insights regardless of how good the research process is.
The Most Common Market Research Recruitment Mistakes
- Recruiting to volume rather than quality – recruiting quickly rather than recruiting people that actually match the brief
- Poor screener questions – questions that are so easy to manipulate that unqualified participants slip through
- Using only one recruitment channel – using only one panel or one database is not enough to represent the diverse population that is needed
- Incentivizing wrong behaviour – when incentives are the only reason that people are recruited, this impacts their behaviour
- Not re-screening – using online screener results without re-screening participants
- Not starting early enough – qualitative recruiting is a complex process that requires refinement and stakeholder management. It cannot be done under extreme time pressure
- Not considering no-show rates – without calling participants and reminding them, and over-recruiting to account for no-shows, studies are going in under strength
What Strong Recruitment Looks Like in Practice
A robust recruitment process can yield show rates of over 90%. It is the result of a recruitment process that is taken seriously in its own right and not just as a necessary evil before the “real” work can begin.
What does good market research recruitment look like?
- Screening questions that are built around behaviour and attitude rather than demographics alone
- Multiple contacts with confirmed participants prior to the study
- Diverse recruitment methods using panels, social media targeting, community recruitment, and direct recruitment
- Real engagement with participants so they feel invested in the process and the end result of the research
- Over-recruitment of participants to provide a buffer against no-shows
Final Thoughts
The only market research that is any good is market research that is conducted with good people. While the methodology is important, and while the questions being asked are important, and while the actual analysis is important, none of that is going to make any difference if the wrong people are being recruited for that market research.
The reason that market research recruiting is so important is that it is not an afterthought. It is not something that should be glossed over in that last week of a project. It is the foundation that the entire project is built on. The only businesses that are able to get market research that is any good are the ones that take recruiting seriously. Katrium can take care of that for you.