The fast moving world of engineering technology gives us the endless stream of remarkable products and gadgets we have come to take for granted. Businesses in the sector supplying components to the engineers and designers need to be incredibly proactive and innovative in their R&D and product development work to keep pace. But the value of great products and supporting services can be quickly undermined if they do not reflect the actual needs of the market or indeed if the company selling them has a poor image or limited visibility to potential customers.
A valuable tool in assessing a company’s position and perception in the marketplace is the survey. Carefully crafted and well targeted surveys can provide valuable information that can be fed back into multiple areas of the business to mould and shape key areas such as brand, marketing strategies and tactics, product development, market focus and even recruitment.
Before survey questions can be composed it is crucial to understand the high-level objectives and the type of information that needs to be drawn from those completing the survey. For example, where does my business rank against competitors in countries x, y, and z? Or, are we considered as an innovator or a follower in a given market sector?
Once the needs and goals for the survey are established, it is a case of writing the questions and structuring the response mechanisms such that they are easily understood. To do this effectively it is well worth engaging professional content creators who have knowledge and experience of the sector in which you ‘play’. Complex, poorly written and formatted questions will reduce response rates; any barrier to easy completion will cause those being surveyed to lose interest and abandon the document before it is completed. With this in mind the number of questions should be limited – engineers are unlikely to want to spend 20 minutes plus of their busy working day completing a survey, while five to ten minutes would be less of an intrusion.
Once surveys have been completed and collated – ideally using a dedicated software platform – then objective analysis and reporting will reveal the true perception of a company and its technologies. This goldmine of information can be invaluable in determining the onward strategy and tactics of the business.
Pinnacle is able to support the design, development and delivery of surveys. Our specialisation and deep knowledge of B2B engineering and technology markets combined with an expertise in content creation and access to powerful survey platforms means we can really help get accurate information from the right target audiences to enable businesses to enhance their position in fast moving, competitive markets.
If you would like to see what we could do for you, why not get in touch.
