Tribal Voice

We recently interviewed the Law Institute of Victoria about our Survey Design Review, here is what they said:

How did you find the process of getting the feedback?
I contacted Tribe Research to provide urgent feedback for a key survey we were asked to run. They were so understanding, which meant that there was no anxiety that Tribe Research would miss the business deadline for their feedback on our proposed questions.

Was the feedback useful?
The feedback was very useful as we could easily reframe some of the questions to get the best response.

Was the report easy to understand?
The report was easy to follow and it was easy to amend the feedback suggestions within the original survey.

Did you implement the changes?
We implemented the changes because we wanted to ensure that we were framing the questions as per the professional advice and expertise of Tribe Research.

Would you recommend the survey design review product to your colleagues?
Yes. It is always difficult, especially for longer surveys. For me, it is important to know that you are getting the best out of a question and that it will provide meaningful data. Sometimes being too close to a survey you are creating can impact on the question structure. Having a set of expert eyes as a second opinion was reassuring and helpful.

What was your overall impression of the Survey Design Review?
The Tribe Research team are professional, extremely helpful, understand what your objectives are and make you feel assured that your timelines will be met. Most of all after the feedback, you feel like you are sending out a great survey.

We practice what we preach.

At the end of 2010 we asked our clients for feedback, then had a planning session in January, started to drive change in February, and in March we’re communicating back to you.

Here are 3 things we uncovered about our tribe:

• The main reason businesses come to Tribe Research for their research needs is through a recommendation, followed by price, reliability and first impressions.
• Value for money is the aspect we are rated most highly.
• Our word cloud tool (CloudMaker) also shows us that you consider us to be efficient, friendly and effective:

Thank you to our participants, we were happy to hear that overall you think we are doing good job. We are also thankful that you gave us some important pointers on how we can improve our service. We’re always keen for ideas to help us drive change.

And… 3 ways we’re driving change

• Recommendation - We’ve been utilising the increased functionality of LinkedIn by listing our products and services. We invite you to read the recommendations we have there and add one of your own! It would be great to get your feedback as well.
• Value for money – We’re developing more products to enable you to easily complete the feedback cycle. These are available in Tribal Tool-Kit and include Survey Design Masterclass, Survey Design Review, Orientation to research, Schema plan for feedback cycle, CloudMaker and ActionMap.
• Efficient and friendly – We listened to the feedback we received about the buying process for our Survey Design Review and improved it. Then, when we let @InBloom know she tweeted back

Are YOU kicking off the year by getting some feedback from your tribe?

There are many reasons to do your survey in-house, but make sure it doesn’t send you down the wrong path. These two products will ensure it is well designed Survey Design Masterclass in Sydney on March 22- EARLY BIRD ENDS soon (save $55) or our Survey Design Review.

A planning session where you give all your team a voice is a great opportunity to engage them in building and developing a vision that everyone is passionate about. They can see their role and at the next one can see their contribution (assuming you put measures in place to track contribution).

Tribe Research started having formal planning sessions at the end of 2004, the second was at the end of 2005, and in 2006 they became bi-annual. Our Planning Expeditions have been essential to our development and engaging the team so that they still have a relationship with us years after they have left through our alumni – TRX.

Why give all levels of the team a voice at a planning session?

Every person in your business has an impact and you won’t understand the way they see things, until you give them a voice.

A great story that Linda Hailey tells, goes something like this:

Linda was facilitating a planning session with an organisation.

The owner only wanted the leadership team to be involved and she encouraged him to change that and invite everyone along.

By the time of the planning session, everyone that could make it was there.

The session started with the managers being the only ones speaking up, providing issues and ideas.

Linda kept probing, asking if anyone else had ideas…

After a while, someone up the back of the room puts their hand up and asked: Is it important that the breaks on the forklift truck don’t work?

Yes, that is important. Obviously, it is important from a safety perspective, but there are other reasons that it is important.

• Had they told someone about this issue before and not seen action?
• Had they not felt able to tell anyone else before?
• Will having it raised in front of several people see action to make their job safer and easier?

They felt able to raise an issue that impacts their daily work life in front of several people. People who can solve the problem and peers that can see whether the problem is solved or not after it being raised.

It is easy for management to be so focused on the big picture (which is very important) that they stop seeing the issues that other members of the team have to deal with daily that have an impact on their performance, job satisfaction and the business.

At our last planning session the most junior member of the team said it was great for them to see metrics that showed their impact on the business, because it validated their contribution, how they benefited the business, and gave ideas to improve.

Everyone has an impact. Are you giving everyone a voice in your business?

Case Study – Survey Design Review – Musica Viva

Musica Viva is an independent non-profit arts organisation, sharing the delights of chamber music with audiences throughout Australia, and  presenting over 2400 concerts in capital cities, regional communities and schools.

They offer a special experience for professionals new to Musica Viva at the Sydney and Melbourne concerts. Young Professionals network before the concert, and meet a guest speaker giving insights about the music they are going to hear. The guest speakers have included composers, musicians and educators. Young Professionals also receive an exclusive invitation to attend interval drinks with other special guests.

The following day a feedback survey is sent to understand their views of the event and if they would attend again.

Musica Viva asked Tribe Research to review their survey.

The survey was set up in Survey Monkey and consisted of six screens, as following.

Below that is the feedback we provided as part of the Survey Design Review. The feedback is provided as a PDF document so Musica Viva could make changes they’d like to adopt.

Dear Musica Viva,

Thank you for requesting Tribe Research’s Survey Design Review. We’re pleased to be presenting you with our feedback.

You’ve decided to do the survey online and we feel this is appropriate as the majority of your target population have supplied their e-mail addresses and are used to receiving information in this format. We’ve provided feedback with this methodology in mind as certain questions are more and less suited to certain methods of data collection.

The report is on the following page. There are three key sections:

1. Must Change [Red] are aspects that must change in your survey for it to be beneficial for you.
2. Recommend Change [Orange] are aspects that we recommend you change for your survey to have a better outcome.
3. Strengths [Green] are aspects that we recommend you don’t change.

For each of the key sections, we’ve broken it into five themes so it is easier for you to follow.

1. Cover Letter that we recommended you send to us for review
2. Order of the questions and flow so that participants remain engaged
3. Questions that we have specific comments about
4. Thank you to your participants and acknowledgement of their input
5. Other aspects

If, after you’ve collected your feedback, you would like the data professionally analysed, contact us for a quote.

We also have tools for you to analyse your data yourself in a visual format that is easier to absorb and interpret. CloudMaker makes word clouds, similar to tag clouds, where common words are large and less common words are small. This enables you to clearly see the language your tribe uses. Also, for rating questions utilising importance and satisfaction or performance scales, you can import the data into ActionMap which will present the results on a grid or map so you can see the priorities for marketing and business planning.

If you would like to design your next survey in a Masterclass environment then Kate Tribe hosts these for small business and member organisations.

We’d love your feedback – both positive and negative (so we can improve). If you have any comments, please let us know by return email or phone +61 2 8096 2546.

Happy exploring!

Tribe Research

Their feedback

Kate and her team conducted a Survey Design Review for a campaign to the Musica Viva Young Professionals. Young Professionals guests are brand-new initiates into our world of chamber music concerts, so it’s of utmost importance that we get to know them asap, and thanks to Kate and her crew, we’ve gained vital insights into tightening up our survey campaigns. Now we can move ahead knowing that results are clear, concrete and consistent. And the Tribe Research folks are great to work with!

You already know your customers and so don’t need to do research….right? Not necessarily.

Below Kate uses her many years of quantitative research experience to identify the core market research and related reflections from the National Minority Business Council’s (NMBC) 8th Annual Women’s Business Leadership Conference in New York. The focus is on how to understand your customers internally and/or externally.

To grow your organisation you need to know your staff, customers, and clients in these 7 ways:

1. Using a social media strategy? You will need to identify when the people you want reading your social media updates are online. If it is blocked at their workplace or they are not online at certain times of the day, it is much more valuable updating your online profile when it is convenient for them (especially on Twitter) or they will simply not see it (recent survey of 1.2 bill tweets on Sysomos.com found that only 29% generate a reaction http://trib.co/ajQqld). By taking the time to identify your tribe’s online accessibility, you will also make sure you can develop greater social bonds with them by being available and ready to respond to questions and/or suggestions when they have time.
2. Focusing on a particular segment of the population? Do you know their profile? Have you looked at their demographics, psychographics, geographic, other segmentations important to your business or organisation? While amazingly simple, knowing your target market will make it a lot easier to actually reach them. There are many tools online you can use, but one of the easiest methods is to ask them directly with a survey.
3. Do you know your tribes’ lifetime value? Retention of current clients while expanding your brand and introducing new people to your tribe is a fairly generic business tactic. By knowing your tribes’ lifetime value however, you can plug your motivation to even out the 80/20 rule for customers and income, and ensure you retain the lifeblood of your business. The 80/20 rule relates to 20% of your database often providing 80% of your income.
4. Where are you in your sales cycle? Knowing beforehand the quiet periods your business will go through is vital to keeping your bottom line in the black. Having these periods clearly defined means that in traditional quiet times, you can prepare a list of options to see you through. Things like focusing more on areas not affected by the quiet time (maybe in international markets), or by adjusting your staffing levels, you can make a huge difference.
5. Is your business culture undermining the outcomes you desire? If you want your business’ internal cultural to develop into something to be proud of, ensuring that your staff understand your target is a good first step. Talking vaguely about customer service, community interaction or long term relationships can get drowned out by a push for more profits at all cost. By rewarding behavior that violates ethical standards, or creating an organisational environment that encourages separate standards at work and home, you will be less likely to reach the internal culture you desire.
6. Afraid of the answer you might get before you ask the question? Fear is one of those things that can both create negative issues and stop your potential from moving forward. I’ve regularly heard people, especially business owners, not getting feedback from their customers because they’re afraid of what they hear. How is that fear stopping the growth of your business?
7. Who should you ask how to improve your business? When you are looking to develop your business, the experts that know how to increase sales, and provide more satisfaction to your customers are……… your customers. Try asking them “What would you like to see?”, “What is one thing we could do differently?”, “How could we improve?”, or “What should we stop doing?”. Answers to any one of these questions will fill your business development calendar.

By no means an exhaustive list, but they were the top 7 that I got from this event, and each one of them definitely offers a good prompt to check you’re covered . Too often we’re stopped by number 6 to get to number 7. So rather than “I don’t need to do research because I already know my customers”, setup a feedback cycle and ask you tribe. Let them help you help them.

Prince of Wales Hospital HIV/AIDS and Related Programs (HARP) Unit

Safe Summer Survival is an annual health promotion campaign. Bi-annually Shire Wide Youth Services and Waverley Action for Youth Services conduct a survey at the same time about the sexual health behaviour of 12 to 25 year olds in southern and eastern Sydney.

Explore | The survey design and data collection is managed by Shire Wide Youth Services and Waverley Action for Youth Services. Tribe Research undertakes the data entry.

Uncover | The sexual experience of young people at different ages, the prevalence and influence of alcohol/drug use on sexual behaviour, changes since previous surveys and differences between demographic groups.

• In 2004, 32% said they would go to a doctor or nurse for information about sexual health issues. In 2006 about a fifth of the participants had discussed recreational drug use, mental health issues and/or sexual health issues with a local doctor.
• The average age for first experiencing oral sex was 14.5, and for sexual intercourse it was 14.8.
• The most common response for number of partners was 2 to 4, for both oral sex and sexual intercourse.
• Over 50% of those who have had sexual intercourse use condoms always or most of the time.
• There was an increase in the proportion reporting they’ve had sex while affected by alcohol or drugs from 2004 to 2006, even though participant average age decreased in the period. Other than alcohol, the main recreational drugs were cannabis and ecstasy.

Clear-Head | Presentation of results to the HIV/AIDS & Related Programs unit at the Prince of Wales hospital.

Drive Change | The results identified areas of importance and at-risk groups to target in future youth education through the Summer Survival team. They are being used to develop sexual health services and education programs.

The Sexual Health Survey is conducted every 2 years by peer educators from Waverly Area Youth Services (WAYS) and Shire Wide Youth Services Inc (SWYS). It is funded by South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service’s HIV/AIDS and Related Programs Unit. The sample is collected through a convenience methodology and therefore analyses of bias can’t be undertaken. The survey is also collected in social environments and it is possible that some participants were influenced by peer pressure.

The above post is extracted from our newsletter, Tribal Voice Spring 2006 which is no longer available.

The 2008 report can be downloaded from the WAYS Website.

Tribe Research has done the analysis in 2004, 2006, and 2008.

Flying Solo is Australia’s solo and micro business community.

Robert Gerrish, Sam Leader and Peter Crocker have developed www.flyingsolo.com.au from an e-zine and website with articles to an online community with forums and directory.

Understanding Micro Business Survey

In reference to the first Flying Solo ‘Understanding Micro Business Survey’ in 2008, Flying Solo founder Robert Gerrish said:

“Kate and the team at Tribe Research helped us with our ‘Understanding Micro Business Survey’ earlier this year. We were mightily impressed with the service and look forward to working together again in the future.”

In 2010 Tribe Research was again requested to setup the backend of ‘Understanding Micro Business Survey 2010-2011’ and analyse the data. The backend support included designing the survey, and the generation and maintenance of the survey online. Following the distribution of the survey to their community via their weekly e-zine and promotions on their website, we analysed the data and prepared the report.

You can download both reports yourself, just head to: flyingsolo.com.au/understanding-micro-business.

The report assisted Flying Solo in positioning themselves as experts in the anatomy of Australia’s micro business owners, and provided valuable statistics that they can use when talking to potential advertisers. They now understand their existing tribe better.

Integrated Health Related Community Transport Co-ordination Trial

Project in collaboration with Age Communications.

TRIPS software data collection over the Integrated Health Related Community Transport Co-ordination Trial and survey individuals involved in the trial.

Explore | Design of four brief satisfaction surveys for passengers, providers, volunteers, and health professional secretaries on the cost, timeliness, ease of access, met and unmet needs, and service quality.

Uncover | Analysis in SPSS and reporting of 136,000 TRIPS data collected using the software package TRIPS and provide report on data inconsistencies and changes in trip information throughout the trial period. Strengths and weaknesses for Integrated Health Related Community Transport.

Drive change | The results were used to guide improvement of Integrated Health Related Community Transport.

LaRoo, the owners of Mocks mobile phone socks

Launching in 2004 with 12 designs, LaRoo needed to undertake market research to identify designs to produce for the next Mocks season. Whilst LaRoo CEO, Lara Solomon, had a background in marketing and a general idea of creating questionnaires she was lacking practice.

Masterclass hosted by Kate Tribe

LaRoo CEO, Lara Solomon attended our Customer Feedback: for small business workshop in 2006.

The challenges for LaRoo were:

• to increase understanding of survey design; types of questions and how to ask them
• to create a survey to see if LaRoo’s monthly store newsletters (mailed at a cost of $150 plus time each month) were really valued and used by the retailer recipients
• to develop an alternative to face-to-face research on the popularity of potential Mock designs, as these could only be collected in Sydney hindering nationwide predictions

Lara came away from the day with the tools for several new initiatives she has since implemented in her business, including:

• A survey for retailer customers, to explore their thoughts on service, the newsletter and promotional items. It has become an annual barometer of business performance and confirmed their newsletter was valued and service levels to retailers were about 90%. Since the workshop the survey has been instrumental in deciding on point of sale materials for stores.
• Redevelopment of an existing Mock design range survey, with improved questions and an online survey tool. The new survey had increased survey participants from about 100 to 300, broadening the range of participants and making it easier, cheaper and quicker for LaRoo to collect and analyse their research.

Overall, Lara’s attendance at our Masterclass increased LaRoo’s productivity, reduced their risks and enhanced their sales.

Lara has since sent other LaRoo team members to the Masterclass, to ensure that as Lara moves into other areas of the business, she maintains consistency when conducting research and their surveys are still designed to produce optimum results.

Lara was the 2008 NSW Telstra Micro Business Award winner and has published the book, Brand New Day.

What can you collect internally to benefit your business?

Valerie Khoo talks about getting a journalist’s attention in your media release. Valerie reinforced the value of doing your own research well.

Here are three key quotes from Valerie Khoo:

“Statistics are your friend”

“Use quotes from your customers”

“Use your own database”

She provided an example for getting the press’ attention, where an accounting firm calculated the proportion of their clients that needed adjustments to their tax return – adjustments that the firm were able to make to maximise their client’s return. Because the media release included a statistic, the media were drawn to the release and able to create a news story from it. Even though the firm didn’t mention how many people they included in their research and didn’t hide that it was their database that they were reporting on.

Conducting a well designed survey on your own database can give you powerful statistics that you can then use in your own media release to gain exposure for your business.

Why not start now?!