Far too little is being spent on market research
165 members completed the Forum's July 2007 survey on market research budgets.
50 anonymous responses confirmed a near universal view: "not taken seriously enough; under-funded and underutilized; never enough; treated as a redundant cost; not fee earning but fee burning; inadequate; continuously neglected; they never invest enough; excessive scepticism about the quality of the results and defensiveness about allowing anyone else close to clients; partners want results but don't want to invest too much money in securing success; market research is a luxury most 'hands-on' marketers have to do without - which is ridiculous!"
Detailed findings:
39% of firms spend less than 1% of marketing budgets on market research.
48% of North American firms are in the 'less than 1% of marketing budget bracket' compared with 38% of UK firms and 35% of truly global firms. Global firms are most in favour of research with 16% of them spending more than 10% of their marketing budgets on research.
Overall, client satisfaction is the most researched area with economic trends and employee satisfaction lowest.
It was interesting to note that over 80% of UK firms carry out client satisfaction research compared with 42% of North American firms, who focus their research more on market opportunities.
Accountancy firms prefer external agencies to in-house units whilst management consultancies strongly favour the in-house route.
Law is neutral. Other sectors (design, HR, investment banking, marketing services, property, technology) appear to do less research.
There is a more or less equal divide between those firms with small in-house units and those with more than five researchers, with few firms in the middle.
The future:
67% of those currently using external researchers are likely to employ more external researchers, with only 21% of other firms likely to do so. 50% of firms that currently have an internal research capability intend to expand the unit, whilst only 22% of others are planning to develop such a unit.
Participants in the survey:
Law was the largest sector with 55% of respondents. UK was the most common primary market with 45%. 60% worked for firms between 51 and 1,000 employees
Download the full results summary | Press Release | Media Coverage - Research magazine | Media Coverage - Law Society Gazette
Return to Snapshot home page