The Customer Satisfaction Study - Research Paper Example

Proposal for Market Research Problem Definition and Proposal Objectives The of Middlesex wants to know how the participants, about 100 attendees, in the annual forum for market research professionals which it hosts, feel about the forum and whether it serves their needs. This is a proposal to answer that request, and to provide useful information in response. The university wants to know the level of satisfaction on the part of the attendees. Therefore the questions to address this will fall into line with their objectives for attending, their expectations and their perceptions of how well these were fulfilled. One key set of questions should address the number of times they have attended and if they plan to attend in the future and to recommend the conference to colleagues. A second type of question, particularly in the preliminary part of the study should address their expectations. Why did they attend, and what did they expect to gain from attendance. We should also seek suggestions for improving the conference in the future. A few questions should address the logistics of travel, timing, location, accommodations and services. 185 words The Proposal: Research Design “Typical research questions in marketing research concern the effects of … sales, market shares, brand choice and interpurchase times.” (Franses, and Paap 3) In the case of this study, none of these, usually quite critical considerations, are relevant, since the target audience comprises 100 market research professionals. Firstly, the target sample is uniquely knowledgeable on the topic of market research, and will, therefore, be more critical of the questionnaire, but also they will be likely to give relevant answers if they see this as beneficial to them. Therefore, it is our intention to design a questionnaire so that it provides identifiable benefits to the respondents. They, themselves should gain tangible benefits from participation in the study. Therefore, there should be questions which address this need, and all respondents should be provided with a copy of the final report. While the make-up of the target population makes data collection easier, it will also skew the results a bit and this needs to be addressed in the analysis. While focus groups could yield possibly more information, they are expensive and, due to the makeup of the target group, we feel that follow up telephone interviews will be more useful for less cost. These attendees are market research professionals. They want this study to yield good information in order to improve their future experience. However, certain types of questions might easily provide research information to the participants. For example, there could be questions concerning the value of certain portions of the convention. The dynamic cross pollination of a focus group might be valuable for further research in the future for program development, but for a satisfaction study, it is overkill. In person interviews would also be an unjustified prohibitive expense, since the attendees are from many different locations. 299 words The Proposal: Data Collection - Methodology Because we want both qualitative and quantitative results, we need to use two different methods for data collection. Since the target group is rather small, there is no reason we cannot distribute a preliminary survey at the conference, and follow up with phone interviews of selected individuals. One question on the preliminary questionnaire will be if the respondents are willing to respond to a telephone interview at a later time. The first questionnaire will establish the perceptions of the respondents concerning their needs and expectations. The second questionnaire used for phone interviews will try to elaborate on this theme. The information from the first questionnaire will be ready to hand when the interviewer calls the respondent, so that questions can refer to the answers given on the preliminary questionnaire. The questions for both questionnaires will be devised along with its assessment, so there will be minimal ambiguity. This questionnaire needs to be designed with particular attention to all of the following: Quality, Value, Timeliness, Efficiency, Ease of Access, Environment, Inter-departmental Teamwork, Front line Service Behaviors, Commitment to the Customer and Innovation (Berry et al, 2002). 1. Quality a. The impression of the attendees as to the quality of the offerings at the conference. b. Some questions should particularly address the perception of the quality of the informational content of the conference. c. The quality of services should be assessed, from travel and accommodations to help, administration and service in all areas. 2. Value a. Questions should address the perceived value of: i. Presentations ii. Speakers iii. Classes iv. Workshops v. Exhibits 3. Timeliness a. Questions should assess the perceived timeliness of the informational content of the conference as a whole and of its various parts i. For this reason, respondents for the second questionnaire should be chosen with an eye to what functions they attended. Care should be taken to insure that there are respondents for every function of the conference: classes, workshops, lectures etc. 4. Efficiency a. This area should concentrate on logistics, travel, food and accommodations. Even things like sightseeing should be included. 5. Ease of Access a. This will only take a few questions about travel, access to the conference areas, access to the exhibits and travel both to and from the conference, and locally during the conference. Scheduling conflicts should be inquired about. 6. Environment a. This points to the local conference environment. Assessment of the services, ease of use, friendliness and comfort of the area and its people, 7. Inter-departmental Teamwork a. A few brief questions should ask about interdepartmental cross pollination 8. Front line Service Behaviors a. These should include service personnel at the conference and at the local accommodations and restaurants and even retailers. 9. Commitment to the Customer a. Do they feel this or the opposite? b. Do customers feel important? 10. Innovation a. Some questions should ask about the content b. Some questions should ask about any innovations observed by the respondents, including those which streamlined the conference, while some were artistic. The second questionnaire for phone interviews will be developed after analyzing the responses to this one. These questions will address satisfaction, but also collect ideas for next year’s conference. Respondents will be carefully questioned about their perceived value of different functions they attendees. The list just above will be kept constantly to the fore in the creation of the telephone interview questions. One planned question for these respondents will ask about their perceived value of web based conferences as companion products to the physical conferences. This is added in case the university would like to look at the efficacy of creating such a site. A second question will ask if they would favor a second conference each year, approximately six months from the first. The scheduling of the conference will be addressed for whether or not the date is a problem for any reason. The respondents will be asked for the best times for the second conference. The phone interviews will be between 15-25 minutes each, and if we allow for a minute for response to most questions (as an average), then we should have no more than 25 questions. Open ended questions will be the rule for phone interviews. The group of research specialists chosen for phone interviews are not run-of-the-mill telemarketers. They will be give guidelines, but they are all professional enough to allow them to work from those guidelines and include all relevant material, clarifying with more questions whenever necessary. 750 words The Proposal: Sampling Plan Since this research is aimed at assessing the satisfaction of conference attendees, it is relatively easy to add value by assessing also what functions or events would be desirable for the future. After all, part of satisfaction includes perception that their opinions matter. This question style does double duty: it inquires about what will increase satisfaction and it also increases satisfaction at the same time by paying attention to the opinions and perceptions of the respondents. That the first questionnaire will be distributed to all makes them realize that all are valued. In addition, the in depth follow-up will reinforce this impression and remind participants that the university cares how they feel. This is one way to make this research do double duty. We can provide a report on customer satisfaction and break it down into minute categories by customer analysis according to the gathered demographics. In addition we can provide research on ways to improve customer satisfaction, all while doing something which will actually increase satisfaction in the process. The first questionnaire will be distributed to all attendees at the beginning of the conference and collected at the end, and it will yield overall satisfaction results for the total population. However, in an attempt to add value and further define the analysis, the second questionnaire used for telephone interviews will seek to identify those things about the conference which led to satisfaction or not, and also to identify ways to make future conferences more satisfying and valuable to the attendees. In essence, it will ask the questions:1) How well have we served you and 2) How can we serve you better? The second interview via phone will be done with as many respondents as possible, providing a demographic balance is kept, in order to yield the best possible results. The questions will be carefully designed in order to yield the most valuable information possible. In this way we will get responses from as many of the total population as possible, but be able to easily slice and dice the data by demographic information and qualify the results on that basis. 355 words The Proposal: Data Analysis The analysis of this data is the most important part of this research, especially the analysis of the preliminary questionnaires in order to create the questions for the phone interviews. Demographics will be analyzed for their informational content to identify any differences or similarities. In addition, the second set of respondents will be selected on the basis of balanced demographics, making this data more easily analyzed and allowing us to further identify geographic, age, career level and other such trends. In this way, we can also identify the prime target audience for next year. In addition to balanced demographics, attention will be paid to select respondents on the basis of the functions they attended. Care will be take to see that at least 1 respondent attended each one of the function. That is, care will be taken to make sure that of all the functions each was attended by at least one respondent in the phone interviews. An additional question will be added to inquire whether the respondents discussed what they attended with other attendees, and whether they thought they might have missed anything by not attending any particular function. Would they like a recap placed on the web? The analysis of the data from the phone interviews will be far more important than that from the preliminary interviews, as they will yield much more useful information. All of this will be qualified by analysis of the demographics attached to the respondents. In addition, suggestions for change will come largely from this group. The analysis will be sliced according to gender, age group, career level, geographic location, career type, company product and how often they attend. Once additional question of adding a second conference to the calendar will also be explored. Another important question in the phone interviews will address the possibility of extending the conference with a virtual conference on line. 316 words The Proposal: Timetable and Budgets The first questionnaire will be created within a week of acceptance of the proposal. It will be emailed to the department for review and will be modified until it is deemed useful. It will then be distributed at the conference as attendees arrive. They will be asked to fill it out and make any pertinent notes on it (plenty of scribble space will be allowed.) and turn it in as they leave on their last day. This set of questionnaires will be analyzed within 10 days of the conference. A report will be presented at a meeting a fortnight after the conference, where the second proposed questionnaire will be discussed and adjusted. A chart of the selected respondents for telephone interviews will be presented and discussed. Within a week of this meeting the final questionnaire will be emailed for approval. It will then take up to two more weeks to complete the phone interviews, depending upon the size of the sample decided upon and their availability times. The size of this sample will be no less than 25 percent of attendees and no more than 100%, as the university department agrees. Cost will range from £800 to £3000 for the phone surveys. 207 words Timetable and Costs This table represents an estimate of the times, but a proposed cost for the actual work, except where a range of costs is presented, because it depends upon the number of respondents. The time periods quoted are accurate, but the actual dates may vary. Research presentation to the university Nov 15 £200 Informational collection from the university-1st questionnaire 16-21 Nov £250 Questionnaire Design for phone interviews 22-25 Nov £1000 Presentation of original data and discussion of 2nd questionnaire Nov 26 £500 Final draft of 2nd questionnaire emailed Nov 27 0 Research data collection-phone interviews Nov 28-Dec 14 £800-£3000 Analysis Dec 15-16 £500 Final Presentation Dec 18 £500 Total cost will range from £2950-6750, depending upon the number of respondents to questionnaire number 2. 126 words Problem Areas and Shortcomings As mentioned earlier, it should be carefully kept in mind that the respondents are knowledgeable about the functions and attributes of market research. For this reason we will likely have more respondents will agree to the phone interview after filling the preliminary questionnaire completely. In addition to the target increasing the number of positive respondents, it will also skew the results, since these guys know exactly how to do that. This will actually be likely to result in more people being willing to do the phone interview, but also in a more positive attitude towards the project, since these professionals are uniquely positioned to understand the value of the process and the product and to identify good and bad techniques. However, they will also value the results, so they will take care to try to provide useful information and will waste no time on trivialities or on providing silly answers. However, the extra detail may also be balanced by the larger expected females travelling in unfamiliar waters. 171 words The Proposal: Personnel Involved in Project This proposed research will require one workgroup of 6 well trained people who will handle all the phone interviews, headed up by Ms. Blanche Bailey, project manager and experienced phone room manager. These personnel have handled this type of interview before, and they can be trusted to vary their script as needed to seek the most useful information within the time limit. The first questionnaire will be designed by Mr. Ron Barclay, who specializes in research projects for universities. He will team with Ms. Bailey and Mr. Serge Amin to analyze the data from the first set of questionnaires and create the preliminary questionnaire for the phone interviews. They will also select the proposed sample. Mr. Barclay will present the results to the university and work out the final questionnaire for phone interviews. He and Mr. Amin will analyze the final results. Ms. Torrence, who will document all portions of the project will format the questionnaires and the final report, plus she will create all the PowerPoint presentations for the project. Mr. Barclay will prepare the final project report and present it to the university at a last meeting. Ms. Torrence will prepare a press release for before the conference, and she will also provide a formatted copy of the last report. 218 words Conclusions: This study will have a unique character, since the target audience is particularly savvy with survey and questionnaire design. The primary reason for this research is that Lin Ye Daxue wishes to understand exactly what the level of satisfaction is among the attendees at the conference. However, the university will recognize how difficult it will still be to identify exactly what actions will increase the value of the conference. Much care will be taken both in questionnaire design and in its interpretation. The respondents have worked in this very area before, and while this is not unusual, their individual make-up of personality is likely to be different from the average respondent, and then even more different in order to differentiate themselves from the rest. Reports on the interpretation will be created by our technical and business writing expert with instructions to create charts that make the information highly visual, and easily understood. These same charts will be passed on to those who interpret the results for their added information. The double questionnaire with the design of the second one being dependent upon the first will increase the value if this research to the university. The final report will also include preliminary.proposals for further study in subsequent years. 208 words Total for all sections=2835 APPENDIX A Preliminary Questionnaire: for Distribution at the Conference 1. How many times have you attended this conference? 1. _____ This is my first time. 2. I have attended _____ times before. 2. Do you plan to attend in the future? 1. Definitely_____ 2. Probably______ 3. Not likely _____ 4. Definitely not____ 3. What are the primary reasons for attending this conference? Please number your choices in order of priority, selecting all which apply. 1. __________Networking with other professionals 2. __________Attending the presentations 3. __________I need a break 4. __________Making new contacts 5. __________ I came to learn from other attendees and presenters (This question identifies the importance of satisfaction to the customer.) 4. What were your expectation for this conference. Please state briefly what you expected and how you expected to benefit? (This question added after research.) 5. On a scale of 1-10, how well were your expectations fulfilled? 6. Which events did you attend: check all which apply. 7. Please number the events you attended in order of your perception of their value. Please mark ties with an X. 8. What did you value most about your number one choice? (removed for redundancy after testing) 9. What did you like least about your last choice? (removed for redundancy after testing) 10. For each event you attended please state briefly what you found most valuable and what you would do to improve the presentation. 11. Was there anything missing at the conference you would like to see at future conferences? 12. Was there anything you thought to be outstanding about your experience here? 13. What one thing from this conference will you take back with you that you plan to use in the future? 14. What one thing do you think is the most important challenge facing market research professional today? Why? 15. Does your company sponsor your attendance? 16. If your company did not sponsor your attendance, how likely would it be for you to attend? 17. Add questions for demographics: a. Age group b. Gender c. Professional niche d. Years in the profession e. Education level f. Product g. Origin h. Corporate job level (ie. Middle or upper management. 18. Would you be willing to participate in a follow up telephone survey to help us identify ways to make next year’s conference better? All participants will receive a report of this research. Please fill in your preferred telephone contact number and your preferred days and times. The interviews will be no longer than 25 minutes. Responses from testers indicated that more needed to be asked about feeling of satisfaction. Final Questionnaire: for Distribution at the Conference 1. How many times have you attended this conference? 1. _____ This is my first time. 2. I have attended _____ times before. 2. Do you plan to attend in the future? 1. Definitely_____ 2. Probably______ 3. Not likely _____ 4. Definitely not____ 3. What are the primary reasons for attending this conference? Please number your choices in order of priority, selecting all which apply. 1. __________Networking with other professionals 2. __________Attending the presentations 3. __________I need a break 4. __________Making new contacts 5. __________ I came to learn from other attendees and presenters 6. __________ I came for a particular even or presenter 7. __________ I came for the courses 8. __________ I cam for the workshops (This question identifies the importance of satisfaction to the customer.) 4. What were your expectation for this conference. Please state briefly what you expected and how you expected to benefit? (This question added after research.) 5. On a scale of 1-10, how well were your expectations fulfilled? 6. How did you feel the first day of the conference? 7. How did you feel the last day of the conference? 8. Which events did you attend: check all which apply. 9. Please number the events you attended in order of your perception of their value. 10. For each event you attended please state briefly what you found most valuable and what you would do to improve the event. 11. Was there anything missing at the conference you would like to see at future conferences? 12. Was there anything you thought to be outstanding about your experience here? 13. What one thing from this conference will you take back with you that you plan to use in the future? 14. What one thing do you think is the most important challenge facing market research professional today? Why? 15. Does your company sponsor your attendance? 16. If your company did not sponsor your attendance, how likely would it be for you to attend? 17. Add questions for demographics: 1. Age group 2. Gender 3. Professional niche: Market Research Company or marketing Department in a company 4. Years in the profession 5. Education level 6. Product 7. Regional location 8. Corporate career level (ie. Middle or upper management. Second Questionnaire: Phone Interviews 1. What is the most difficult part of your job? 2. Is what area(s) did you need to learn more before the conference? 3. How much did you learn at the conference? 4. You named XXX the number one reason for attending. How well was this need fulfilled on a scale of 1-10 with ten being highest. 5. You stated that you XXXX (attendance question response). What are your primary reasons for this decision? 6. Some time has passed since the conference. What event do you remember most? 7. Have you applied anything you learned from the conference yet? What were the results? 8. Question about the events attended response on the first questionnaire, Why? 9. You mentioned you would like to see XXX added. Have you thought of anything else? Tell me about this. 10. You mentioned that this was the most important issue facing the marketing professional today. How well did this conference address this issue? 11. In terms of future conferences, would you favor two such conferences per year instead of one? 12. Would you make use of a virtual conference on line? 13. What do you think such a website should include? 14. Do you think the conference presented enough new information or technology? 15. How would you improve the next conference? 16. Considering the logistics of travel, how difficult on a scale of 1-10, with ten being the highest, was it to attend this conference? 17. Considering accommodations, how comfortable and convenient were they, on a scale of 1-10, with ten being the highest? 18. Considering the service at the conference, on a scale of 1-10, with ten being the highest, how well were you served? 19. On a scale of 1-10, with ten being the highest, how good was the service at your accommodations? 20. Is the date of this conference convenient? What date range would be better? This questionnaire is only preliminary, as the responses to questionnaire 1 will guide us in creation of questionnaire 2. References and Bibliography AMA Events Directory / Annual Marketing Research Conference, 2007, http://www.marketingpower.com/aevent_event24630C13ACTWIMP.php Brew, Angela. 2001. The Nature of Research: Inquiry in Academic Contexts. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Duboff, Robert, and Jim Spaeth. 2000. Market Research Matters: Tools and Techniques for Aligning Your Business. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Hackley, Chris. 2003. Doing Research Projects in Marketing, Management and Consumer Research. New York: Routledge. Market Power. 2006. Harvard International Review 27, no. 4: 44+. Market Research Is Good Investment. 2005. The Journal (Newcastle, England), September 28, 66. Morrison, Donald G. 1966, Interpurchase Time and Brand Loyalty, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Aug., 1966), pp. 289-291 Research Conferences, 2007, http://www.research-live.com/conferences_home.aspx?pageid=112&r=y Scipione, Paul A. 1995. The Value of Words: Numerical Perceptions Associated with Descriptive Words and Phrases in Market Research Reports. Journal of Advertising Research 35, no. 3: 36+. Scott M. Smith (2007), ‘How to Measure Customer Satisfaction: Satisfaction Measurement and Theory’ [Online] Available from: http://www.aboutsurveys.com/category/tutorials/ [Accessed on: 8/11/2007]. \ Wilkinson, David, and Peter Birmingham. 2003. Using Research Instruments: A Guide for Researchers. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Read More