Online
Online data collection is the most adopted data collection method for consumer research and makes up a considerable proportion of our work.
Lake benefits from having a dedicated in-house hosting facility for online research projects. We conduct scripting, hosting and panel fieldwork for online surveys and manage, process and deliver the data. This ensures that our executive team and project managers retain full control over the process of launching and running surveys. Our online software and programmers can deliver a range of capabilities including complex routing, sophisticated research techniques (e.g. conjoint and maxdiff exercises).
Recent projects include:
An online survey targeting 30,000 professional and student members of a professional accountancy body to assess opinions on their website and magazine content.
An annual survey of 2,000 motorists exploring their driving behavior, attitudes to driving safety and views on general motoring trends.
Face-to-face
We are advocates of face-to-face interviewing, believing that expertly sampled, in-person, surveys provide the very best data.
Our national field-force of 500 interviewers can deliver projects at scale and speed using handheld tablet devices. Our streamline structure allows us to offer very competitive fieldwork rates.
We invest appropriately in this method. We take the time to recruit interviewers with strong inter-personal skills who can build rapport with respondents. Our interviewers are trained to either IQCS or the ISO 20252 international standard and are managed and motivated by our long-standing team of local area supervisors.
Ongoing, our interviewers are individually appraised, coached and mentored by their experienced supervisors, who accompany them regularly to check adherence to quality standards on live projects. We also gain invaluable feedback from our interviewers to improve our working processes.
Recent projects include:
A nationally representative study of 2,000 consumers to understand levels and types of news and media consumption. This study required the most stringent sample frame and data robustness with data and reports published.
A three-year resident survey assessing council performance and local area issues. We interview 2,500 residents in home each year in line with population statistics; 125 interviews per ward. Consistent project and interviewing team across the three-year contract
Telephone
Telephone research remains a tried and tested data collection method for business-to-business market research.
We conduct thousands of interviews from our on-site telephone unit. We use the industry-leading software, Confirmit, allowing for centralised management of sample, appointments, callbacks, open-end comments, and reporting. All call outcomes are logged to provide statistics on screen outs, refusals, terminates and any other call outcomes for monitoring purposes
Our vast pool of retained interviewers, all trained to ISO 20252 standards, ensure that we deliver projects in a fast and efficient manner. They are experienced in building a rapport with potential respondents and are skilled in negotiating and scheduling appointments to maximise response rates.
Recent projects include:
An annual tracking survey of 1,000 SMEs exploring awareness, usage and satisfaction with company pension schemes. The study interviews those with decision-making responsibility for pensions within the organisation.
A customer satisfaction survey for a housing association gauging feedback from 500 residents on all aspects of the service they receive. The findings were used to focus initiatives and prioritise investment in areas deemed most important for residents.
Postal
Our in-house printing, postal and dispatch facilities allow us to quickly and efficiently manage large-scale postal surveys, a method that is commonly used by our numerous public-sector clients.
Design and layout has a major impact on response rates. We apply our experience and expertise, engaging design specialists, to expertly craft postal surveys. This is down to intricate details such as font type and size, paper colour and quality and page numbering. Getting all elements correct has a demonstrable impact on project success in terms of data quality and completion rates
All postal questionnaires are accompanied by a freepost envelope and we typically provide a Lake freephone contact number for respondents to call should they wish to discuss any element of the survey, together with a free phone number for the Market Research Society if they wish to verify our company.
Conscious of the impact on the environment, we use sustainably sourced paper of FSC standard for all our postal studies.
Recent projects include:
As part of a local plan evaluation our team managed a 50,000 postal survey on behalf of a local council. To meet tight deadlines, data coding was undertaken on a continuous basis and processed, analysed and reported within 10 days of fieldwork completion.
A County wide resident survey on behalf of a County Council capturing insight to support the delivery of its organisation strategy and 4-year business planning process. We worked with multiple stakeholders to develop a refreshed survey design to meet business aims more effectively. A large-scale postal survey across districts with sample management, printing and management conducted in house.
Mystery Shopping
We have extensive experience in recruiting for and conducting mystery shopping programmes. This tried and tested method provides invaluable insights to clients be it to evaluate a specific aspect of their service, the entire customer journey or to validate against compliance.
Recent project includes:
An ongoing mystery shopping programme on behalf of a building society to assess compliance and customer service across all elements of the mortgage application process.
Mystery shopping on behalf of a leading office machinery manufacturing company to explore product offerings and prices offered to customers.
“Start a conversation today. Contact Michael Botley on 01622 357065 or michaelb@lake-research.com”
Whether you have a research project in mind, have a specific business challenge or simply want an informed point of view on an issue, get in touch.