1. A short course in Market Research
with Ray Poynter
(English language)
Lesson 07
Thursday, 24 July
Ch. 07, B2B (Business to Business)
Ch. 21, Political Polling
Ch. 20, International Research
@RayPoynter
ray.poynter@thefutureplace.com

2. Dates and Modules
01
Thu 3 July
Introduction
The context for market research
Communicating results
02
Tue 8 July
Quantitative research
Writing questionnaires
03
Thu 10 July
Qualitative research
Analysing qualitative data
04
Tue 15 July
Major applications of research
Mobile market research
05
Thu 17 July
Emerging research methods
Communities
Social media research
06
Tue 22 July
Fri 25 July
How to analyse quantitative data
Quantitative analysis techniques
Pricing research
07
Thu 24 July
B2B (business to business)
International research
Political polling
08
Tue 29 July
Research ethics, Guidelines and laws
Current areas of sensitivity
Questions from new researchers

3. B2B – BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
Part A

4. What is B2B?
• Business to Business
– B2C is consumer research (business to consumer)
• In B2B the respondents represent their
company/business
– IT managers, CEOs, accountants, electricians etc.
• But also, sometimes:
– Government and local government
– Hospitals and doctor’s who buy supplies
– Not for profit organisations

5. Why is B2B different?
• Businesses can be hard to define
– What is the universe? (or population?)
– If a business has 2 sites, which site, what about
100 sites?
• Who to interview?
• Business decision making may involve multiple
people
• Sample can be much harder to obtain
– And/or more expensive
• Sampling and weighting can be much harder*

6. Sampling and Weighting
• Consider the global market research industry
• There are tens of thousands of MR companies
• But:
– 41% of market research conducted by just
6 companies
– Do we weight the data so the
6 cases are worth 41%?
– What if only 3 of them will do
interviews?

7. 80:20 Rule
• The 80:20 rule is a guide, not a rule, not a law
• In most cases, about 80% of a B2B market will
be conducted by 20% of the businesses
– Unlike consumer research
• So, getting a good representation of the 20%
is key

8. Collecting B2B Data
• B2B tends to be more varied than B2C
• Includes:
– Online
• Panels
• Email lists
– Telephone
– Face-to-face
• At the business
• At events, e.g. trade shows
– Postal
• Choose the best solution for your problem

9. B2B Online Panels
• Generally, B2B panel samples are not as good
as B2C samples
• The link between business structure and the
sample tends to be weak
• Focuses on those willing to be interviewed
• If incentives are high, cheating may happen

10. B2B and Ethics
• All the normal rules apply
• But!
– Although B2B research is good
– Industrial espionage is often illegal
– Don’t cross the line
• Many companies have policies that restrict
their staff taking part in MR

11. Finding Sample
• B2B online panels
– Good for some uses, but not everything
• Specialist recruiters
• Business directories
• Telephone recruiting
• Events and functions
• Trade press and mailings
• Marketing lists

12. B2B Questions?

13. POLITICAL POLLING
Part B

14. What is Political Polling?
“Political polling uses a short, well designed survey, to
find out what the public think
on a topic of public interest or what their political
intentions are – often in terms of
voting. Organisations such as ESOMAR, WAPOR, and
AAPOR have created specific standards
to define how an opinion poll should be conducted.”
1. Usually, polling is used to try to find out how
people will vote at an election.
2. Or, how they would vote if there were an election.

15. Why is Political Polling So Important?
• Most research companies do not conduct
political polling.
• Political Polling is a very small percentage of
market research spend.
• But!
– It is one of the public faces of market research.
– When polling goes wrong, it is bad news for all of
us.

16. 1936
US Presidential Election
• American magazine, Literary Digest, wanted to
predict the Presidential election
• Mailed 10 million questionnaires
– 2 million replies – in 1936
• Predicted Landon would beat Roosevelt
– But Roosevelt won
• Why?
– Sample phone owners, car owners, buyers of the
magazine
– During an economic recession

17. Dewey?
1948 US Presidential Election.
Chicago Tribune prints the headline
“Dewey Defeats Truman”.
But Truman had 303 votes to Dewey’s 189.
But, a if a few thousand
voters in 3 states (California,
Ohio, & Illinois had voted
differently, Dewey would
have won.
Small mistakes in Polling can
have big effects.

18. Eric Cantor
June 2014
Eric Cantor, House Majority Leader, one of the most
powerful men in America
Polls predicted 30 point win (65% to 35%)
He LOST in the Primary, 56% to 44%

19. How Often are the Polls Right?
• The polls are usually right
– In terms of who wins
– And, in terms of shares of votes
• That is why their failures are such big news

20. Do Polls Just Report the Survey Results?
• Usually no
• Not everybody is polled
• Some people don’t tell the truth
• Some people are not going to vote
• So, most pollsters model the data
– Removing, down weighting, or re-allocating don’t
knows
– Weighting the data to how people voted last time
– This works well unless there are new parties or
new patterns

21. Can Polls be Conducted Everywhere?
• No
• Some countries ban them totally
• Some only allow them if they work with the
Government
• Some ban them in the immediate run up to an
election
• In general, market researchers think Polling
should be allowed
– Because it gives more information to the voter

22. Polling Questions?

23. INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH
Part C

24. International Research
There is a chapter on international research, so we
will come back to it.
1. International is more global these days
– It used to be USA, Western Europe, & Japan
2. No single method works across the world
– But international online panels make it look easier
than it is!
3. Costs, standards, and respondent co-operation
vary across the world
4. Many of the new interactive MR techniques can
generate very high translation costs
– For example discussion forums
Shown in
Module 4

25. What is International Research?
• Research in a country which is not the
researcher’s own country
– E.g. a Japanese company conducting research in
China
• Research conducted in two countries
– E.g. China and Japan
• Research conducted in multiple countries

26. Countries Differ in Many Ways
• Culture
– Languages, idioms, even days of the week (many Muslim
countries have Friday/Saturday weekend).
• Development
– Money, technology, literacy, & product usage.
• Laws and customs
– Determines what can be asked, what permission is
needed, and whether data can be moved out of the
country.
• Diversity
– Some countries have multiple religions and languages,
even some small countries – Switzerland 8 million people,
3 main languages

27. Can I Ask the Same Questions
in Every Country?
• For comparability, you want to try
• But!
– Answer lists vary, e.g. brand lists
– Some laws are different (e.g. China and social
research)
– Some customs are different (gambling and alcohol
in some Muslim countries)
– Some things don’t translate well
• Sister from English to Japanese
• 教育ママ to English
If when you translate a word/phrase you have to use
a much longer expression, it is not the same concept.

28. Can I Just Use English?
• This is quite common
– Because there are so many English speakers
– And, it makes it quicker, cheaper, and easier
• But
– English speakers are likely to be
• Higher income
• Better educated
• With different media habits
• Different brand preferences
• Best to say no if English is spoken by less than
about 70% of the population

29. How is International Research
Commissioned and Managed?
1. Client places the whole job with one agency
who has operations covering every country
2. Client places the job with one agency who
sub-contracts some of it:
– Local agencies
– Field companies
3. Client uses several agencies, in different
countries
– Can be cheaper, usually more time consuming

30. Typical International Project - 1
Client
Country
1
Client
Country
2
Client
Country
3
Agency
Country
1
Agency
Country
2
Agency
Country
4
Agency
Country
5

31. Typical International Project - 2
Client
Country
1
Client
Country
2
Client
Country
3
Agency
Country
1
Global
Fieldwork
Company

32. How is International F2F Qual Organised?
1. Researchers from agency travel to
every country and oversee fieldwork
2. Local moderators briefed,
– Transcripts translated
– Central analysis
3. Local moderators briefed
– Local analysis to a template
– Central review and summary

33. Key Ethical and Legal Differences
Around the World
• Contact laws – e.g. autodialers
• Definition of informed consent
• Types of questions that can be asked
• What is the age of a child?
• Language laws (e.g. Wales and Quebec)
• Incentives (prize draws can be regulated)
• Use of data (only for initial purpose?)
• Movement of data

34. Online Studies – bad example
Internet penetration:
Japan 80%
Indonesia 22%
India 11%
Claimed behaviour
And, don’t forget baths

35. Questions
And The Quiz

36. Feedback for the next lessons?
• If you have feedback now, GREAT!
• Or,
– Email it to ray.poynter@thefutureplace.com