Stop what you’re doing and take a minute to think back to last week. Go on, give it a try. Do you remember details about the stores you visited? Do you remember where you ate all your meals? What products did you purchase? Moreover, do you remember the specific experiences that you had at the stores or restaurants you visited. If the experience was either exceptional or absolutely terrible, you probably remember bits and pieces of it but many of the details have escaped your memory.
The challenge when conducting surveys is getting the respondent to accurately recall the events or experiences that you’re asking about in the survey. Often times these experiences happened weeks or even months ago from the time you’re asking them to remember the details. Furthermore, the details that a person can no longer remember are often the insights that companies are hoping to gain when conducting studies.
The phenomenon is known in psychology as ‘The Forgetting Curve’. When there isn’t a real attempt to retain information, the brain’s ability to retain that information decreases over time. For example, a week later we’ll only remember about 20% of the information, and even more staggering a month later, we only remember about 5%. When thinking about this in terms of market research and conducting studies, this becomes very problematic as the person’s ability to recall specific details is of paramount importance.
So what can be done about it?
The answer is simple. Conduct in the moment research when they are using the product or service. Survey customers right after they buy the latest gadget or finish up eating at their favorite restaurant. After all, this is when recall and memory retention is at it’s best. It’s when you’ll get the true insights that you’re searching for when conducting market research.
Conducting in the moment research isn’t as daunting as it sounds. At QuestionPro Communities, we have the tools and technology so that you can easily incorporate this into your current research plan. The process is simple yet very powerful. With our feature rich Communities toolset and our native custom mobile app (SurveySwipe), you’ll be able to reach your customers and/or prospects wherever they are, in the moment, so that you can get true insights. From push notifications to geo-triggered surveys, we’ve got you covered.
So before it’s a week later and you only remember 20% of this blog post, contact us today to start conducting in the moment research.
