DOING RESEARCH? JUST USE SOMEBODY ELSE’S
They say you learn by doing, and in most cases, that’s true. But that usually takes time.
Sometimes, it’s better just to take what others have done and learn from it.
These kinds of shortcuts aren’t necessarily bad, as long as they’re ethical and teach you what you need to know. For example, using the research of someone else because they have studied the very same questions you are trying to answer and have already found some of the answers for you.
Reviewing the research others have already done is called “secondary” research.
There are five primary sources to which we suggest turning for secondary research:
SOURCE 1: THE INTERNET
What do most of us do today when we have a question? We Google it.
Do that with your research questions.
Of course, Google probably won’t have results specific to your company’s customers; however, it might have something a little more general but still relevant.
For example, if you want to know whether older customers are using your bank’s app as much as the younger customers, that information is probably not on the internet; however, you will probably find trends for different age ranges in terms of their adoption of financial services apps in general.
Of course, as with anything you find on the internet, “consider the source” and don’t rely on it exclusively.
For example, it’s common for vendors trying to sell software to conduct a market research study to prove that their product solves are an important one.
A software company that makes chatbots may publish a study that says that “75% of all consumers say they prefer using a chatbot to calling or using a website.”
Now, the fact that the study’s sponsor benefits from the findings doesn’t mean that the data is invalid but use your judgment.
And remember, our goal in research is not to be “right,” it’s to find out the truth. Avoid the temptation to give more credibility to data because it supports your hypothesis, but rather evaluate it on its own merits and look for multiple independent sources with similar findings.
SOURCE 2: ACADEMIC SOURCES
A lot of research, including research on business matters, such as customer trends, is done in a university setting and published in journals such as the Harvard Business Review.
While some of this may also come up in a general internet search, some won’t.
There are additional search tools such as RefSeek, JStor, Google Scholar, and Questia to help you find this content.
SOURCE 3: INDUSTRY ANALYSTS
Many companies regularly publish analytics and research on factors that are on your list of research questions.
Some of these companies provide this information for free because they sell consulting or other services and promote their “thought leadership” to build their brand.
Companies like Accenture, McKinsey, Bain, IBM, BCG, Deloitte, Capgemini and my company, FROM, publishes insights specific to a wide range of industries.
Searching their sites can often lead you to PDFs that combine professional insight with researched data, and these tend to be fairly credible sources.
Another class of analysts are paid analysts.
Companies like Forrester, Gartner, IDG, and eMarketer sell fairly expensive subscriptions, mostly to large companies, and, in exchange, provide well-researched articles on a wide range of topics that may well intersect with your research questions.
There are also a number of industry-specific analyst companies that follow this model but focus more narrowly.
For example, PhoCusWright publishes analytics only on the travel industry.
SOURCE 4: BOOKS
Amazon is the third largest search engine on the internet (after Google and YouTube).
There may be well-researched books that address one or more of your research questions. Find them.
Buy the Kindle version so you can search the book for your desired topic more effectively.
You don’t even need a physical Kindle to read eBooks anymore. Amazon provides a web reader as well as free mobile apps.
If you find some books that might be relevant, buy them and check them out; both printed and Amazon eBooks are returnable.
SOURCE 5: INTERNAL RESEARCH PROJECT DELIVERABLES
Lastly, since secondary research simply means prior research, if you scout around, you may even find that there was some past analysis or study done by your own company, possibly with an outside vendor, that already examined some of the same issues that are on your list of research questions.
If so, you definitely want that.
But if your company is similar to many with which I’ve worked, it may take some digging.
Ask around. Ideally, speak to whoever did the analysis as well.
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
Another indirect research method is to find out what your competitors are doing.
While it may not give you definitive information about your customers, if competitors are doing something that surprises you, there is probably a reason.
Of course, it might not be a good reason, but consider the insight to be a tip that they may know something about the customer and their needs that you don’t.
Then, you can potentially use this insight to generate additional research questions.
For example, suppose you are an airline and discover that your competitor is offering gluten-free meals. In that case, it may seem like a lot of trouble for what you assume is a small percentage of customers that are interested in that.
But it may raise the question, “How many customers do care about that?”
And if the answer is “I don’t know,” then maybe you need to find out. Your competitor seems to think it’s significant.
Whether you’re doing secondary or competitive research, if you are leveraging past analyses, be careful to ensure that any analysis in which you put stock is reasonably recent and that the methodology used is explained clearly and seems legitimate.
You can read more about other indirect customer research methods in my book, Winning Digital Customers, which will show you how to gain insight into your targeted customers without necessarily interacting with them personally. The book is now available on Amazon and also at this link https://wdc.ht/order
