What not to do: five popular mistakes
The most important part of market research – and the one most often done poorly – is careful thinking up-front about what you hope to find out and how you plan to use this information. Much – perhaps most – of utility market research dollars is spent poorly. Here are our top five market research mistakes:
-Looking for certainty in an uncertain world. You will never have perfect or complete knowledge about your customers. Preferences, beliefs, attitudes – these are all not only difficult to define and pin down, but continually changing over time. Don’t waste time and money in pursuit of unrealistic precision.
-Doing market research as a way to avoid making difficult decision(s) about a new consumer product, a generation investment, or a utility policy. It’s always a temptation to ‘do more research,’ when what’s really needed is a decision. One way to solve this problem is to assume success: that is, assume that your market research succeeds and that you’re able to come back in six months with ‘the answer.’ Will you now be in a significantly better position to make a decision? Or does the problem lie elsewhere?
-Documenting what’s already known. Many utility market research efforts have as goals determining their customers’ willingness to pay, or documenting their overall attitudes towards and preferences for renewables. However these questions have been researched to death already, and the results don’t differ significantly by region. See What’s already known.
-Using research to justify, not to learn. If you’re looking for evidence to support a particular position, don’t undertake market research unless you’re willing to be shown to be wrong.
-Not meeting decision-makers’ needs. Market research should help utility decision-makers make better decisions. What do these decision-makers need to know? Will your planned market research provide that knowledge?
If you’ve satisfied yourself that you’re not making any of these mistakes, then you’re off to a fine start.
