Organizations invest a lot of time and money in conducting market research. Objectives are outlined, questionnaires are developed, and data are collected, processed, and analyzed. However, when it comes time to presenting insights, research reports often fall short. Poor reporting can cast doubt on the entire process and diminish executive confidence in the insights gathered. While there is no single “best” way to prepare a report, there are pitfalls to avoid and principles to follow.

In this series, we’ll present common costly mistakes in reporting insights – and how to avoid them.

First Common Mistake: “No Story”.

Too many reports simply present the results of each survey question. This makes it hard to see the big picture and to determine what should be done, potentially wasting good research.

Solution: Tell a story, and use your findings to substantiate this story. Provide insights, not just data. Consider leveraging info-graphics to present your insights in a story format.

Example: While developing a report, we were tasked with reporting on the Asian population in the US. Instead of just listing percentages, we created the info-graphic shown below, which does a good job presenting the data and clearly highlights states with the highest percentages.

Gold Research Inc. has extensive experience in journey mapping, path-to-purchase research, deploying customer intercepts and mobile surveys for concept testing, marketing testing, satisfaction research, shopper insights, and mystery shopping. We can also act as an extension of your research team in helping with data processing, analysis, report development, and survey programming. Contact us at 1-800-549-7170 or send us an email for a free 30-minute consultation on this topic.