As a business seeking a research partner, what boxes need to be ticked for you to feel you are working with the best fit research agency?

• Budget always plays a part of course; can they deliver insightful research that answers your objectives within the budget you have assigned?
• You want experience in your sector. A roll call of impressive brand names would reassure you too, perhaps even evidence of work with direct competitors?
• Guessing you want to see the evidence too, what have they delivered and for who, does the research output deliver value, and lead to direct business benefit? Do they talk the language of your sector? Do they understand your customers?
• What about their depth of relationship with your sector, are they focused enough, or do they claim to be experts in every sector? Do they give back, and provide sector insight?
• Getting the right personal fit is probably important too, do you speak the same language, is there good chemistry and trust?
• We’d suggest recommendation is important for some. Has a peer tipped you off about a certain agency, have you seen some of their sector work, or have you got positive vibes from online reviews?
• And accreditations? Being an MRS Company Partner is a great yardstick, and highlights that an agency abides by their strict research guidelines

Decision time?

While some of these boxes are not directly ours to tick, we feel we measure up well in those areas where we can showcase our strengths and impress.

Leading brands

Take a look at some of the brands we work with here, were sure you’ll be impressed. Not only have we built impressive brand relationships, we also have developed strong ties across the trade sector with market experts, influencers, trade association and publications.

We don’t claim to be experts in every sector, and only really shout about our expertise in two. We are proud of our client roll call in the trade sector. Not only do we get repeat business from great brands and awesome testimonials, but we also get direct feedback from tradespeople completing our surveys (and focus groups, depths, etc) telling us that they a positive experience and showcase our knowledge and expertise in their area. Now, from what we know about the trade, and the challenges they face, having met thousands over the years, them taking the time to give us positive feedback really does mean the world! Take a look at our testimonials and Google reviews.

Talking the talk

What about our ability to talk your language? Well, this is the area that motivated us to write this piece! We were recently invited to complete an online survey on behalf of Wickes (run on their behalf by a large agency) aimed at tradespeople; were naturally curious to see what others in the sector are up to, so we get invited to a lot of this type of stuff, but we were quite literally flabbergasted by this survey. Someone was clearly trying to undertake a tradeoff type survey, but it was the sheer number of monotonous questions that made us think; what experience does this ‘national agency’ have in this sector? On what evidence were they selected to undertake this research?

To our mind there was very little appreciation for the real-life experience of tradespeople, its surveys like this that turn off our finite audience from ever completing another survey. The blunt truth is: People on the tools just don’t have the time, energy or motivation to wade through over 50 agree-disagree statements. And if researchers are putting this stuff out, then I don’t think we can expect accurate results to come back. In fact, we have a responsibility to not overburden, but we must meet our client’s objectives. It’s a fine line, but we know how to walk it, we have the sector experience and we have it in bucket loads.

Free sector research

And what about the fluffy stuff too, ‘free thought leadership research’ often undertaken by large businesses who can afford the time and money to throw this stuff out? Well, Eureka! do this too, it’s one of the things we are most proud of. This is completely our own research for the benefit of the sector, tackling issues such as Covid, Mental Health and Price pressures; what other micro research business invests their own time and money in delivering free insight for any sector; we believe we stand alone and it’s a real differentiator for us.

Just check out what a sector expert said about our work recently. Stuart Duff, the former editor of PHPI Magazine said “I wrote approaching 200 comment pieces on different aspects of the industry as it evolved through technological advances, environmental challenges, and economic peaks and troughs.

Over the past five years or so, as the community grew across social media, I was drawn further into the bubble by the opportunity to speak directly to ever greater numbers of installers. Their insight has been invaluable in gauging the health of the market in real time when it comes to order books, supply chain issues and the overall stresses and strains of the job.

As vital as this anecdotal evidence is, though, there’s no substitute for fully formed research. If you’re not familiar with Eureka! Research, it’s a fantastic resource for data that not only drills into the views of the trades as a collective, but also into the specifics of individual sectors – covering topics such as mental health and COVID-19”.

MRS Accreditation

And of course we tick this box too. We are fully signed up members of the Market Research Society and abide by their code of conduct which sets out best practice for research professionals.

If you want to see what all the fuss is about and how we can make a difference for your business, get in touch.