MarketingProfs' Members Register for B2B Forum 2010 for just $695! (good until 11/30) »

Ask your question ... sign up today! It's FREE!
Research/Metrics     
 
This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
Inexpensive Market Research Solution
Posted By: fakeplasticco on 10/16/2006 2:59 PM (CST) 125 Points
I need to get a 5 - 7 minute survey of 1000 people done. Whats the best way to go about it. I enquired into pricing with a market research company and they quoted me a price of $15/ survey. $15000 for the whole thing is bit expensive. I have a budget of about $2000 to $3000 tops.

Any suggestions how I could go about it? Is $3000 too cheap to get an effective survey?

I was thinking of may be having a web based survey by getting people from myspace in my region to fill it out for a free song download. What do you guys think about it?

Thanks :)

Posted by: Research/Metrics* Accepted Answer
10/16/2006 3:07 PM (CST)
Hello,

While I understand your budget restrictions, there can be a substantial sacrifice in going too inexpensive. My suggestion would be to initially consider the importance of your sample. While MySpace might provide a good starting point in terms of number of reachable consumers, it may not be effective in reaching those you wish to include in your research. Keep in mind that MySpace users, while plentiful, don't necessary represent the U.S. population. If your goal is representation then I would suggest a larger, broader sampling frame balanced against U.S Census breaks at the very least.

There are plenty of cheap survey development sites - Zoomerang for example - but don't underestimate the importance of the sampling frame. Your research dollars are only well spent if you're reaching the people that matter, and if your survey tool is developed properly.

Good luck.
 
Posted by: wnelson Accepted Answer
10/16/2006 3:26 PM (CST)
What you are talking about is $30 per hour. This may be in line with calling only - but that would mean that the design of the survey and the analysis would be left for you. I would estimate that it would take, perhaps, another $1500 to $2000 Canadian to contact the whole job out.

The problem with MySpace is, as Bob (Research/Graphics) mentions, is that the demographics are pretty thin - mainly Gen Y people. If you did an online survey, you may spend as much as with a telephone survey to purchase a list large enough to get an adequate response.

Why not make this a project on here by clicking on "Post a project" under "Hire an expert" above and to the right.

I hope this helps.

Wayde
 
Posted by: fakeplasticco Author Response
10/16/2006 4:05 PM (CST)
Thanks Research/Metrics.

My target demography is 18 - 34 year olds and in the Vancouver,canada region. I just did a search on myspace and found out that there are atleast 30000 people in the myspace database belonging to my target demography.
So ideally I should be alright if I have a web based survey with myspace users.
I dont know how to calculate sample size and I'm just going by my gut for 1000 people.
I was thinking may be I could have sweepstake prizes, with one being something worth $500 and another 10 being $50 worth amounting to a total of $1000 ($500 +$50 X 10).
Also the early bird, first 1000 entries get one free song download along with the an entry to sweepstakes.

To control being scammed I could let only 1 entry from a particular IP address.
The whole thing would cost me $2000.

Any thoughts on this?
 
Posted by: Harry Hallman Member Response
10/16/2006 4:06 PM (CST)
If the myspace crowd is your demo then what do you have to lose? But how will you get them to take a survey? You still have to buy advertising to get your message across. Not knowing your target demo I might try contacting some of the other social network type sites and see if you can get the ads cheaper or maybe they would do a survey for you.

You could use surveymonkey.com or as RM mentioned Zoomerang to create your survey.
 
Posted by: fakeplasticco Author Response
10/16/2006 4:39 PM (CST)
WNelson:I think putting a project up here is always an option.

Harry: Surveymoney.com looks more attractive at $19.95/ month as opposed to $599 yearly subscription with zoomerang.

I think I just might be able to pull this off.

Keep the suggestions coming :)
 
Posted by: wnelson Accepted Answer
10/16/2006 4:43 PM (CST)
For 95% confidence, 5% margin of error, 385 is the largest sample you need. For other levels of confidence and margin of error, see this site:

http://www.berrie.dds.nl/calcss.htm

Wayde
 
Posted by: fakeplasticco Author Response
10/16/2006 5:00 PM (CST)
Wayde: That really helps!
So, for a 95% confidence level and 5% margin of error I would only need 385 samples and...
correct me if I am wrong here, with 1038 samples I can get 99% confidence level and 4% margin of error then?

That would bring me to the next question.
whats the standard confidence level used for market surveys or does it depend on industry and demographics etc?
 
Posted by: wnelson Member Response
10/16/2006 5:51 PM (CST)
Yes you used the calculator correctly. The answer to "standard confidence level and margin of error" (you didn't ask, but I assume you are interested in that too) is that it depends....

How much does it cost you if you are wrong? How much does it cost for more samples? You weigh the two against each other and go with it.

If I were setting up a marketing survey, the 95%/5% would be a reasonable place to be. And even if it's 90%/10% - depending on what I'm looking for, I'd take that too - especially if I am doing multiple serial surveys. That way, I'd preserve my budget for additional surveys that home in on certain areas that I derive from the initial ones.

So, I'd shoot for 385 samples for the first try - see the results, and then you would have two more shots at it if you have other questions.

Where you SHOULD spend a LOT of resources is on the questions. Designing surveys is science and art. You want to think through all of the possible interpretations of words and phrases and then you want to "test" the survey before you launch to make sure you get what you need. Designing a survey is not something you can post here and get a reasonable answer or a reference book that you can read and make you an expert overnight. Again, it all depends on how important it is to get good data as to how much you spend on this surveying. If you're talking about a "hobby" with little or no economic impact, go for it. Otherwise, you may want to seek some help. (My last cautionary note! :) )


Wayde
 
Posted by: Amy Madsen* Accepted Answer
10/17/2006 1:07 AM (CST)
i have not used them, but i do periodically participate in their surveys. should i need to do surveys, i would consider them. i had checked out their rates and they seemed reasonable:

http://info.zoomerang.com/prodserv/onlinefocus.htm

with that being said, you might want to check out their competitors as well and negotiate a price.
 
Posted by: KathySmithFilms* Accepted Answer
10/17/2006 1:38 AM (CST)
I recommend you contact MarketingProfs.com where 190,000 marketers connect, learn, succeed.

Need to know more about online surveys or voicemail marketing? Please ask our advertisers for more information.

Write an e-mail to the editor Valerie to get the data from source. You need surveys done right. They are the key to stats. Since you are gathering the data it's good to add this one to your list. It's the one I will be using when I am ready for surveys.
Kathy
 
Posted by: Frank Hurtte Accepted Answer
10/18/2006 7:22 AM (CST)
I would be very interested in your use of myspace as a driver of surveys. I personally believe we may be missing out on a whole lot of the power of myspace in marketing into the 16-28 yo slice of the world.

Your idea of offering a free download is genius.
I wonder if you could safely use the russian web site for the downloads.. makeing your cost per download about 12 cents..?
 
Posted by: ketty Accepted Answer
10/18/2006 3:20 PM (CST)
hi-

try Instant Survey - it starts free, then the price goes on gradually depending on the number of completes you need

http://www.instantsurvey.com/

http://www.instantsurvey.com/survey-software-features.asp

Regards,
Ketty
 
Posted by: HDuong Accepted Answer
10/19/2006 4:01 PM (CST)
Recent reports have shown a greater and greater number of older than Gen Y people coming onto MySpace. With that being said, downloads may not be the way to go for your target demographics, but that is just my opinion. Try it for your first run and see what kind of results you get.

Another marketing strategy for your service is with a group of sites surrounding the Myspace ecosystem called self helper sites or Widget sites. The sites that offer layouts, custom tools etc. for blogs not just for MySpace but for other sites like Xanga and Blogger too. I utilized this strategy for a client of mine and found a lot of great success.

I agree with Wayde about spending more time on the layout and questions more than anything. Keep them simple short and sweet. There are other ways you can save money as well and that is by utilizing search robot companies that can discreetly scrape data and mine the userbase keywords from the profiles you are seeking on any sites. (don't worry its legal)

What's most interesting is that people on sites like myspace tend to leave nothing off the table. Its often the case that everything you need to know about a person is right on their one page profile- kinda scary but 6/10 profiles will show you just that.

good luck-

Henri
 
Posted by: Stephen Denny Accepted Answer
10/20/2006 3:53 PM (CST)
If your target is the Myspace crowd, and only this crowd, then by all means use it.

I don't know the statistical site you're looking at, but about 300 or so (I seem to recall) is your 95% ci / 6% sampling error range -- you can go as low as 75 respondants for a 12.5% error, which is great as long as you are good with +/- 12.5%. When I was at Sony, we always did a minimum of 300, so that's my advice.

Re your premium -- understand you'll pay for all 300 downloads, which will be expensive. I'd stay way the hell away from Russian (read, "illegal") download sites, unless you're comfortable with this being your brand image. Which I doubt.

Try it without a prize and see what you get -- you'd be surprised. If you offer anything of value, YOU WILL GET NAILED BY THE SWEEPSTAKES SITES, meaning this will travel like wildfire over the internet and you will get lots of respondants who want your free download.

My advice is this -- ask them for their expert advice. People like being asked for advice and will probably give you unvarnished feedback. Tell them you're a start up and that you'll give them a first look at your company/site (with their permission) when it launches (with their help). This will not only save you money, but will build a market for you, as well.

Good luck!
 
Posted by: mgoodman Accepted Answer
10/20/2006 6:08 PM (CST)
You need to determine the objective and expected use of your research before you do anything else. A lot of the questions you're asking would be easier to answer if you knew what your expected use of results would be and had thought through the value of the research.

If the research has the potential to save or make you $100,000, then maybe it's worth $5,000 to get a solid answer. If, on the other hand, it's only worth $10,000, you might be better off with a smaller, less statistically-reliable study, or just using your best judgment instead of spending money on market research.

It's really important to ask yourself what you'll do if the research comes back with a certain result. What would have to come out of the research to get you to do something different?

Don't let the mechanics and statistics run the show. Start with a clear understanding of the objective and the action standard for the decision you're about to make.
 
Posted by: fakeplasticco Author Response
10/20/2006 9:43 PM (CST)
There is some real good stuff in here. Thanks so much guys!!

ViaBuzz: Can you please give me some more information on the search robot companies. I kinda like the idea but am not able to fully comprehend how to go about it. If you can give me a name of one company that does it, I can research it even more. Right now the google search for "search robot companies " isnt every helpful.

My other question is, for this demography of 18 - 34, how does one go about allocating age quotas for the survey. Is it 50 % each for 18 - 24 and 25 - 34 or should I go more finer than that with 30 something percent each for 18-24, 25-39, 30-34.
Does it matter?

I am going to get the questionnaire reviewed by a marketing professional and with regards to getting scammed by sweepstakes folks (Thanks Denny) , I think I will have a landing page which will only let referrals(users) from a particular domain (Myspace) access the survey. This way, only the people who have clicked on a survey link they received on their myspace mail will be able to access the survey.

Frank: Thanks. I hope I am able to tap into the myspace resource and get something worthwhile.
 
Posted by: wnelson Member Response
10/20/2006 9:57 PM (CST)
Unless you suspect your survey or survey method will bias your sample or that your sample population (myspace) is not representative of the age distribution of the total population, you don't need to worry about gathering a defined proportion in your sample. In fact, the very effort to "fix" the sample distribution, will make it NOT representative of the population and therefore biased. And if myspace is not representative of the population of interest for you, then you may want to reconsider using it.

Wayde
 
Posted by: fakeplasticco Author Response
10/21/2006 1:18 AM (CST)
I feel there is a very good chance that people who use myspace would actually be among those who would use my product at the end of the day. Would that be considered biased?
Myspace does have the right demography that I am looking to target with the product and the survey. There are atleast 30,000 people between the ages of 18 and 34 from my target region.

My Concern is that the reward (Song download + chance to win $200) may not be as attractive to a 31 year old as it would be to a 19 year old and since its on a first come first serve basis, all the enthusiastic 19 year olds would have filled up majority of the 385 spots
and I may not get enough feedback from the 29 - 34 year olds for this.
So I was thinking by having X% quota alloted for each group I can have make sure that I get input from all different age groups.


P.S: Thanks Wade. You are being very helpful with this. :)
 
Posted by: wnelson Member Response
10/21/2006 9:06 AM (CST)
Remember I told you that you don't blow your total budget on a one-shot sample so you have more to spend if you find questions in the results you get and want to sample again? This is why. First thing you want to do is get some census data of the population mix by age so you know what the distribution looks like of 28-24 versus 25-31. This way you can judge if your offer is yielding a representative sample of the population. While this isn't brain surgery, the test for this, is not for the novice statistician. Perhaps your pro can help you with this too. Then what you want to do is complete your survey (designed by the pro) and then do a focus group, say, for a sample of 10 (local) people in ages representative to the population. In addition to the survey, ask them some questions about their reaction to the survey questions (clarity, ease, etc), and their preferences for the download offer versus other things you might use to entice participants. Offer them an enticement for participating in the focus group - maybe a $20 gift certificate or something like that. Then, based on the answers they give, redesign the survey and offer accordingly. After that, you launch a pilot survey of, say, 100 with your offer and then take a look at the results in terms of the age distribution versus your understanding of the general population from your census research. There are statistical tests for this. If it's representative, then go for another 285 as is. If not, redesign the survey and/or offer (maybe after another focus group session specifically aimed at the group that is disproportionally low). Then, pilot again, test, etc. I'd budget for a three focus group sessions, two 100 person pilots, followed by another 100 and then the remaining 285 (in other words, while I believe that I might hit it right after the first focus group, I'd rather have budget that I didn't use than not enough - this would be the worst case where I have to test 100 twice and find it's not representative of the population twice, get it right the third time, and complete the sample work). This plan would be representative to what you would do if the survey results are critical to your project results. If the value of the information is high (because the cost of product/service development and launch are very high), then spend the time and effort to get this right. If you are just trying to gain some insight to confirm what you think you already know based on extensive feedback that you already have, then blow it off, design a survey on the cheap, execute it, analyze it, and close your eyes to the details that you may not have quite the mix of ages representative to the population. Judge this by how many 25-31 year olds there really are versus 18-24 and how attractive you believe your product and service would be to 25-31 yr olds in general. If you are missing their input but they probably would buy your product and service anyway, then who cares, right? It's an economic decision, not a question of statistical purity.

Wayde
 
Posted by: fakeplasticco Author Response
10/21/2006 11:17 PM (CST)
Thats super Wayde. Thanks. I think I am going to make that my action plan. I am going to meet up with my marketing guy in the next couple of days and work this out.

Have a good weekend! :)
 
Posted by: DWomack Accepted Answer
10/24/2006 10:11 AM (CST)
Hi fakeplasticco. I'm finding your question a little late and see that you have some very good and thoughtful responses already. I have a few additional thoughts that may be helpful:

-Place a call to GMI and eRewards to inquire about sample. They both have large panels that could meet your needs at a reasonable cost. If these are viable options you won't have to worry about the incentive issue.

-Consider InsightExpress as well. Good company with a nice survey tool, but they may not meet your budget.

-I think you metioned you found SurveyMonkey. For your purposes, I think it could work very well. I use it often for low budget projects and, even though it has limits, it is a great tool and a great value.

Good luck,

Dan
 
Posted by: Christian Accepted Answer
10/28/2006 8:56 AM (CST)
fakeplasticco,

You also might concider SurveyGizmo (http://www.surveygizmo.com). There is another thread about embeding surveys into myspace -- this tool lets you do that (instead of just pasting a link). It's priced very similar to surveymonkey -- but has more features.
 
Posted by: carrie77 Moderator Response
10/30/2006 5:59 AM (CST)
Hello Everyone,

I am closing this question since it's more than 2 weeks old. We do this to reward the contributions of participants in a timely manner + to give increased visibility to the newer questions.

Thanks for participating!
Carrie (Production Editor)
 
Posted by: fakeplasticco Author Response
10/31/2006 5:21 PM (CST)
Sorry i was away. Thanks Carrie and Thank you everyone for al your help.

Super appreciate!
 


Get more answers ... ReTweet this!

Would you like to post a response?
Welcome to Know-How Exchange!
This is a collaborative community. We welcome everyone's participation.
All you need to do is login. Enter your account info in the box above (top right).
Not a member? Not a problem. Register here (it's FREE and EASY).




Know-How Exchange powered by MarketingProfs


Sponsored Links

Buy a Link Now

Just Released ... Download Today!
Just Released ... Download Today!
Look inside
Included with Premium Membership
User Name:
Password:
Remember Me
Forgot your password?

Top 25 KHE Experts
(Research/Metrics)
ASVP/ChrisB (14554)
Jay Hamilton-Roth (11934)
jlevin (11599)
mgoodman (10158)
koen.h.pauwels (9157)
wnelson (7755)
DWomack (6993)
Frank Hurtte (6158)
stevea (6094)
skoobie99 (4979)
Peter (henna gaijin) (4267)
mbarber (4049)
Dawson (3995)
blanalytics (3883)
thinkmor (3634)
telemoxie (3021)
SteveByrneBranding (2755)
michael (2740)
darcy.moen (2727)
Michele (2419)
SRyan ;] (2396)
adammjw (2243)
holm (2169)
AndrewS (2081)
Wiglaf (2016)
Recently Posted Marketing Jobs
Director of Marketing and Communications
Demand Generation Manager
Marketing/Advertising Faculty
Director of Marketing
Market Analyst
Sr. Field Marketing Manager - Business Intell.
Associate Vice President of Marketing and Corporat
Marketing Manager
[more jobs]

Join over 355,000 members ... SIGN UP!

My email address is and I'd like my password to be .

Already a member? Sign In!

My email address is , and my password is .


HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.