Maximize Your Research ROI

Maximize your research ROI

2 Table of contents 3 Introduction 6 ROI overview 9 Evaluate your research spend 11 Make research processes more efficient 15 Control costs with scalability 18 Emphasize the business impact of insights 22 Conclusion

3 That means spending less time managing tools and vendors and more time measuring the things that count. DELIVERING INSIGHTS IN A CHANGING WORLD In market research, there’s always some pressure to do more with less. And lately, as a result of the pandemic, this challenge is even more profound. The harsh reality of the current situation is that the metrics you thought mattered weeks ago are unlikely to be the same that matter today. But starting from scratch is expensive and time-consuming; instead, you need to pivot your research approach to be more agile. Introduction

4 In times of significant disruption or change, collecting insights becomes more important than ever. Fluctuations in sentiments and behaviors are happening just as quickly as the shifts in the available information and associated responses to the virus. And these adjustments are likely to continue through the next 12 to 18 months. When you have access to real-time insights, not only can you understand the changes in consumers’ and employees’ perceptions, needs, and behaviors, but you can also take appropriate steps to adapt. You can empower business leaders to make critical decisions based on data, not instinct. Introduction Empower business leaders Real-time insights

5 For research and insight leaders, the biggest benefit – and thus the greatest return on research investments – is the ability to provide direction and guidance to decision-makers. This ebook explains how you can conduct better, faster research to measure changes and provide the insights needed to make the right decisions, capitalize on opportunities, and position your company for the future. Introduction

6 SECTION 1 ROI overview

7 ROI overview THE ROI BALANCING ACT Researchers today must pivot to meet changing organizational priorities and goals. The need for keen insights, delivered quickly, with fewer resources has become more urgent than ever. ROI isn’t just about maximizing returns; it also takes into account how you’ve streamlined your investments. In other words, you must look beyond money. Sometimes the earliest “returns” to emerge appear in non-monetary form. Things like brand reputation, productivity, and employee wellbeing may be harder to quantify, but they’re equally important to your organization’s long- term success and sustainability. long-term success brand reputation productivity employee wellbeing

8 FOLLOW THESE BEST PRACTICES TO IMPROVE ROI + Maximiz e research efforts by consolidating your spend and supplier portfolio to bring more projects in house. + Mak e research processes more efficient by leveraging automation and artificial intelligence. + C ontrol costs by scaling your team and expertise as needed. + E mphasize the business impact of insights. ROI overview Delivering ROI now – and over the long term – requires speed, agility, and consolidation. Using these three pillars as your guide, you can increase the value you provide to your organization by uncovering deeper insights and unlocking significant savings.

9 SECTION 2 Evaluate your research spend

10 Evaluate your research spend Before you can maximize the return on your research investment, you need to understand where your money is going. By taking the time to thoroughly review your priorities, spending, and vendor lists, you can reduce unnecessary costs and streamline your efforts. This exercise can help you prepare for possible budget cuts in response to the current economic environment. 1. Make a list of what projects you’re working on. Are there any redundancies? Can you deprioritize a few initiatives? Ensure that your research spend matches your research priorities. 2. Take a close look at the suppliers you use. Do you need all of them? Are some better than others? What are the key competencies you need? Are you locked into any long-term contracts? Optimize your supplier portfolio to reduce the time you spend managing vendors. 3. Reduce your dependency on outside resources. Can you derive insight faster and more efficiently by conducting projects in-house? If the answer is yes, be sure to allocate budget to ensure your team has the resources they need to do their jobs. 4. Consolidate your projects and data into a single, user-friendly system of record. Doing so enables your entire team to see the bigger picture and uncover deeper insights from current and past work. By reducing your reliance on external agencies and suppliers, you can often get to valuable insights faster, more efficiently, and more affordably. With a do-it-yourself approach, you have the power to quickly pivot your research and get the timely answers to questions that are being asked right now.

11 SECTION 3 Make research processes more efficient

12 Make research processes more efficient Traditional research takes a lot of time, but time is a luxury that you don’t have. Everything is changing quickly – look at what happened in just the first three months of 2020. Waiting months or even weeks for research won’t work in today’s environment. Key insights have a short shelf-life; as the pandemic evolves, these insights could become less relevant or a competitor could capitalize on them before you even have a chance to act. Faster research, when conducted without sacrificing quality, reduces costs and enables you to put the information to use much sooner. Automation and AI are two tools you can leverage to improve your project speed. “For us, it’s all about frequency and speed. We make all our decisions based on data, so we need to deliver the best and quickest insights possible. With Qualtrics, we cut our workload in half, while tripling the amount of research we can do in house.” Senior Director of Marketing Strategies, Research and Testing, American Eagle Outfitters

13 + Launch studies faster by using prebuilt, expert-designed projects for common types of research. + Distribute surveys across multiple channels and precisely target customer segments. + Discover the perfect configuration and price before launching a new product. + Alert and share results with the right people in real time. + Automate distribution with better panel management + Pivot your research projects to add questions or adjust methodology to respond to the current environment. Make research processes more efficient Through automation you can reduce the time your team spends on manual tasks – enabling them to spend more time identifying the insights that matter.

14 Make research processes more efficient AI can help you uncover deep insights, without requiring days or weeks of time to analyze raw data. For example, unlike traditional tools like SPSS that must be used by experts, the Qualtrics iQ™ platform eliminates tedious manual analysis, making it effortless for anyone to uncover valuable intelligence. For common research use cases, consider using automated solutions, like Qualtrics XM Solutions, that provide pre-built templates and reports in fully automated workflows to save you time and ensure you get things right the first time. Other areas that AI can help save time and money include: + A utomatically cleaning data and performing quality checks to reduce errors, avoid false starts, and eliminate vendor delays + C onducting sophisticated analytics, even if you don’t have a degree in statistics + T racking trends, topics, and sentiments in live phone conversations and open-text responses + R educing costly research errors resulting from surveys with poor designs, broken question logic, legal compliance issues, or even potential bias in question wording

15 SECTION 4 Control costs with scalability

16 Control costs with scalability Reducing your reliance on outside research firms and vendors can decrease expenses. However, sometimes it pays to engage a partner who can support you with anything from end-to-end program design and management to ad-hoc panel sourcing and tactical support. Qualtrics has a full-service research team comprising more than 130 experts, XM scientists, and research managers. We can help you surface the right insights with the right research designs and tools, as well as recommend best practices that reduce costs and time in the field. Plus, our experts are also Qualtrics power users who can ensure you take advantage of all that your Qualtrics platform has to offer. “Managing the quantitative research requests was challenging before Qualtrics. Now, with Qualtrics Research Services, the ability to easily collaborate with research team experts makes this process so much easier.” Consumer Insights, Belkin

17 Control costs with scalability Our flexible engagement model ranges from do-it-yourself to full service. And because we don’t lock you into a long-term contract, you can leverage our team as much or as little as you need, when you need to: + Plug b andwidth or capacity gaps. + A ugment your team with additional rigor or methodological expertise. + O utsource any aspect of the research process from writing and coding surveys, to creating dashboards and insights reports, to conducting advanced analytics.

18 SECTION 5 Emphasize the business impact of insights

19 Emphasize the business impact of insights Staying connected to your employees, consumers, and prospects is important, but perhaps even more crucial is how you respond to their feedback. The value of research lies not in measurement but in how the insights you uncover are used. Instead of simply delivering a report and recommendations, take accountability for the impact of your insights. Partner with business stakeholders to ensure recommendations are implemented. Use your insights to spur action and directly impact your organization. “Being able to understand in real-time how people are behaving and acting is essential. We’re able to react faster, and continually track sentiment to ensure we go to market with a relevant and appropriate messages.” Beiersdorf, Shameek Raj, Head of Data, Analytics & Insight – Brand & Media

20 Emphasize the business impact of insights WAYS TO TURN INSIGHT INTO ACTION 1 Did you discover changing market conditions are impacting customers’ willingness to pay? Share that insight with product development, R&D, marketing, and finance – and run price optimization studies regularly. 2 Uncover an alarming trend about customer service? Alert frontline teams of the issue so they can take action to drive retention. 3 Receive feedback that remote employees are unhappy? Share these experiences with HR and managers so they can rapidly address unmet needs.

21 Emphasize the business impact of insights Qualtrics gives you the power to move beyond insights to a complete system of action. By routing prescriptive insights to the people who are in the right position to effect change, your organization will be able to: + Eff ectively communicate with your audiences and ensure that communication is understood. + R educe the impacts of change or disruption on your culture, employee productivity, and their safety. + P redict potential issues before they occur. + Inno vate and create new offerings that meet consumers’ evolving needs. + A djust your products, services, and messaging and how you deliver them. + E nsure your brand lives up to its promises. Empowering your organization with this system of action is the greatest value you can provide. Do this well, and you will demonstrate higher ROI. Your research will have a direct impact on business outcomes and the bottom line.

22 SECTION 6 Conclusion

23 GET BUSINESS GOING AGAIN – THE RIGHT WAY Qualtrics has introduced free tools to help you accelerate better decisions on the timing and actions needed to reopen your workplace, re-engage employees, stay connected to stakeholders, and act on feedback. We’re here to support your team as you respond to the changing world – with speed, agility, and smart insights. Visit https://www.qualtrics.com/here-to-help/ Conclusion THE SMARTER, BETTER WAY TO RESEARCH PAYS OFF Now is not the time to turn down the volume on your voice-of-customer programs. Listening is key. It enables you to understand what’s going on with your employees, customers, and prospects. And staying connected to these audiences gives you the fuel for future innovations. Your ability to efficiently listen, conduct research, and turn insights into action will help you address today’s realities, while setting you up for future success. Trusted by academic and corporate market researchers around the world, Qualtrics empowers you to maximize your research ROI without sacrificing your ability to get the insights that matter. Through the combination of Qualtrics technology and our unrivaled research support and expertise, you will have the power to maximize returns by improving research quality, delivering smarter insights, and enabling quicker action – all while minimizing time and financial investments.

24 WANT TO SEE HOW IT ALL WORKS? Prefer to chat? Contact [email protected] for more information on how to get started.