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What would you say if we told you conducting research can save your company money? No, we aren’t offering free research – and if you find someone who is, we suggest you proceed with extreme caution – but here are six ways research can help your bottom line:

1. Validating New Innovations

You think you’ve come up with the perfect idea for a new product. You produce it and it fails. This trial-and-error approach is a waste of time and money. Conducting research early on will provide you with validated information on what products provide value to and are desired by your customers. Armed with that insight, you can focus resources on the ideas that will be most successful.

2. Guiding the Development Process

Rather than going into the development process without any or unvalidated assumptions, research can provide information to guide key design decisions, including aesthetics and useability, before the product is finalized. This saves substantial money, and headaches, associated with making changes to a product after it’s launched.

3. Helping Sales, Marketing Teams Plan

For B2C companies, using research to test your product with customers will help your team set realistic sales goals and determine an optimal pricing strategy. It can also assist the marketing team with advertising, offering insight into messaging and relevant channels. Just be sure to communicate your desired outputs with your research partner, so you get everything you want.

4. Confirming Product/Service Value

We’ve all been there – in a sales meeting or reading materials highlighting the benefits and features of a product or service. What do you expect? Of course salespeople and materials focus on that. What about feedback from those who have actually used it? That’s where research can help, providing objective, credible, third-party data about your product/service. You’ll show your offering’s true value and save your customer time from searching for unbiased feedback on your product.

5. Measuring Employee Satisfaction

Engaged and satisfied employees are a company’s most valuable asset – your company is pretty much nothing without them. You want to keep them satisfied because research shows (and common sense tells us) employee satisfaction and retention go hand-in-hand. Using research to measure and track employee satisfaction can address issues before an unexpected and costly employee turnover occurs.

6. Understanding Your Customer

The benefits of research in this example are two-fold. First, market research can help you understand your customer’s motivation when making a purchase and what factors they will consider for future purchases. By doing so, you will know how and when to market to them, so they remain a customer. And if they remain a customer thanks to your research, you save money and time versus having to win them back later!

In the end, research is a budget line item, but by using it in your business, you can eliminate several, potentially significant, costs in other areas of the budget. If you’d like more information on how research can help your business, contact us at info@unmutedci.com, we’re happy to chat!

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the world. A landmark event in human history, we now refer to timing as “pre-COVID” “during the pandemic” or “the new normal.” And while there are many negatives associated with COVID, most people agree that one of the most positive outcomes was increased workplace flexibility.

Employee satisfaction is a common performance measure with many reports claiming job satisfaction is most related to flexible work schedules because it provides employees with better health, increased work-life balance, and less stress. It also benefits employers with higher productivity, reduced absenteeism, and decreased turnover. However, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, turnover has increased at a compounded annual rate of 2% between 2013-2022. So, we have to ask: Why does employee turnover continue to rise, when flexibility is at an all-time high?

Factors of job satisfaction

According to Indeed.com, the top 5 reasons employees seek opportunities elsewhere include:

• 1. The need for greater challenges
• 2. Desire for higher pay
• 3. Lack of inspiration in current role
• 4. Wanting to feel valued by their organization
• 5. Seeking a better management relationship

 

It goes without saying that once an employee decides to leave, there’s a significant impact on the company. First, there’s a high cost associated with replacing an employee. There are a lot of studies outlining the cost, some have ranges from 33% to nearly 400% of an employee’s salary, while others are more defined, using 50% to 75%.However, employee turnover not only has financial implications, it also negatively affects the culture with remaining employees experiencing decreased morale and productivity. This was shown in 2020 with the “Great Resignation” when employee departures triggered a chain reaction. When one person leaves, it can cause others to evaluate their situation and, in many cases, discreetly check the “open to work” box on their LinkedIn profile.

 

So how do companies combat this wave of employee exodus? First, they need to acknowledge there may be internal factors causing a loss in job satisfaction. Then, they need to take steps to identify and understand the underlying issues. Unfortunately, many companies rely on exit interviews for this information. But most exit interviews fall short in identifying the employee’s true reasons or motivations to leave. Think about it – when the exit interview occurs, it’s too late to address an employee’s issues or problems. Employees recognize this and, in addition to a lack of anonymity, answers aren’t always honest or complete. Often times this is done to not “burn a bridge” for future references or interactions. Finally, employees often cite “more money” or “better opportunities” as reasons for leaving, but that is not the root of the problem. You need to uncover the reason(s) that made them start looking in the first place.

Conducting an effective employee satisfaction study

 

To truly understand the mindset of your workforce, you need to conduct annual employee satisfaction studies, be open to and act upon the responses, and track the results over time. By doing so, your leadership can identify and address issues that will help improve employee satisfaction.

 

First and foremost, the survey must be anonymous. Using a neutral, third party is best, but if that’s not an option, use an online survey tool and avoid asking identifying questions. You also need to be transparent and share the results with employees. This validates the time and effort they gave to provide input and demonstrates that leadership is listening. Finally, share your action plan. Nothing frustrates employees more than when an organization asks for feedback, the employee takes the time to provide it and then there’s no meaningful change. That’s not to say that everything needs to be changed at one time, but setting and communicating goals and improvement initiatives shows the organization is committed to employees, their feedback, and the culture, which results in boosting overall morale.

 

Like many things in “the new normal,” the work landscape continues to evolve, especially as more companies are requiring employees to return to the office for a pre-determined number of days each month. Now, more than ever, companies must protect their most valuable assets – their employees. By taking the initiative to measure employee sentiment and address the factors driving dissatisfaction, companies can cultivate a culture that fosters engagement and loyalty. This results in a workforce that is engaged and committed to achieving organizational excellence.

 

The experts at Unmuted can help you measure your employees’ satisfaction and track it over time. For information on how we can help, contact us at info@unmutedci.com.

Welcome to the Unmuted blog – a place for us to share insight, resources and information related to our area of expertise – consumer research studies.

Why a blog and why now? The answer is simple – good data enables better business decisions. There’s a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings about how to collect and analyze quality data that help guide decisions and drive success. Since COVID-19, many companies are forgoing research or attempting to do it themselves – both can be costly decisions.

So, we are here to set the record straight on consumer research – what it is, how to do it, why it’s important, what to do with results, methods used, and more. But it won’t just be our thoughts and insights, we’ll also share valuable resources from others.

If you have thoughts about topics, questions about a specific post, or want to learn more about our capabilities, contact us at info@unmutedci.com.