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This section is designed to help answer some basic questions for people who have limited experience working with primary market research firms. These are the kinds of questions people who are new to research and new to Isurus ask us in introductory meetings.
How can you learn enough about our products and markets to actually help us?The ability to learn about new products and markets quickly is an important part of the skill-set for market research firms. In general, the business challenges we help our clients face are mainly in marketing, sales, and business strategy. We usually don't need a highly detailed knowledge of the technical workings of our client's offering to answer the kinds of questions we help with. We routinely gather feedback from decision-makers on a range of products and services, so we have a well-developed sense of how decisions get made and products get purchased. In most cases, we begin an engagement with a general understanding of our client's offering and marketplace and, therefore, have a foundation of knowledge to work from. Back to Top
How do you get people to participate in research?Getting people to talk to us is one of the most challenging elements of primary market research. It is our ability to get individuals to share their opinions with us that enables us to stay in business. Part of this is making our interactions with participants interesting and engaging for them. We often offer people monetary incentives to participate or make donations to charities on their behalf. We sometimes offer, when appropriate, to provide an executive summary or general debrief to them at the conclusion of the research. Back to Top
How do you make sure you are talking to the right people?We work with our clients to develop a profile of who we will include in the research. This includes a profile of the target company as well as a profile of the target individual's roles, responsibilities, and decision-making power. Then, we screen by profile--not title--as responsibilities across titles at different companies can vary greatly. Back to Top
Where does the list of companies you contact come from?The ideal sample source varies depending on who we are trying to reach, so the needs of each project dictate where we turn. When appropriate and available, we use a client-supplied list of customers or prospects. We also use purchased lists, from sources like Dun & Bradstreet and more specialized providers, as well as subscriber lists from focused trade publications. Back to Top
Who will work on our project?Our project teams are generally led by two Isurus partners who work on all phases of the research--from proposal to project kick-off to materials creation to analysis and reporting. Back to Top
Who conducts the interviews? Who moderates the focus groups?
Isurus partners and senior researchers conduct our qualitative in-depth interviews. Isurus partners moderate our focus groups. We outsource quantitative telephone surveys to a data collection partner, where they are conducted by trained telephone interviewers, a process we oversee. Back to Top
How much does research cost?The cost of a research project is driven by methodology and scope. Most of our projects range from $10,000 to $85,000. Single-phase projects, like a single set of focus groups, an online survey, or a basic telephone survey, tend to be in the $20-40,000 range. Multi-phase projects, like a set of focus groups or in-depth interviews followed by a survey, and large, complex telephone surveys tend to be more expensive. Back to Top
What is your fee structure? Isurus work is priced on a project basis, and all pricing is turnkey. A proposal from Isurus outlines a specific methodology and deliverables set, and provides a turnkey price for the engagement--this can be a fixed total price or a fixed price per unit. Travel, if required, is usually the only additional fee; however, occasionally we will provide line item pricing for things like unusual sample lists. Back to Top
How long does it take to complete a project?The length of a project varies according to the scope and complexity. Most projects take six to eight weeks from kick-off to delivery of the final report. Back to Top
How long is a typical telephone survey? In-depth interview?
Most surveys are approximately 15 minutes long. This length provides for 40-to-60 questions depending on the format of the questions. In general, 20 minutes is about the limit for most respondents. In-depth interviews tend to be longer--sometimes as long as an hour, but they are usually more interesting and relevant for respondents (and, they also typically come with higher incentives). Back to Top
How many people do you need to talk to for the results to be "statistically significant"?Generally, this really means: "how large does a sample have to be for the results to be reliable and precise when projected to the population from which the sample is taken?" The answer depends on the size and definition of the population, but in general more is better. It also depends on your comfort level given the risk you hope to reduce by doing research. Consumer research typically uses sample sizes of 400 or more (like the typical political polls you see in the newspaper). In business research, quantitative studies often only use sample sizes of 100 or 200. In many business markets, the population of interest is small and large sample designs are not possible. Back to Top
How is Isurus different from an analyst firm?Isurus is a custom primary research firm. We gather new data for each project based on specific questions defined by the sponsoring client. Research reports from analyst firms (e.g., Gartner, Forrester, AMR, etc) are typically more general and cover broad industry trends. Information provided by Isurus is customized to your requirements and the results are proprietary -- you own them. Back to Top
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