The Power of Research

"Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition."
- Adam Smith

"Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving."
-- David Ogilvy

Research can identify new opportunities, suggest new strategies and tactics, test business propositions and the viability of product position, pricing and promotion. Formal and informal research methods can be used to improve web site planning a decision-making. Such efforts can include:

Surveys research can include mail, phone, e-mail and web site surveys. Omnibus surveys allow a number of companies to share the cost of custom research.

Focus Groups can reveal qualitative factors they are key to success and can be useful in testing marketing themes and concepts.

Usability Studies. Usability tests can be effective with just five test subjects and can reveal problems typical users might encounter in using a web site. Often usability studies can reveal design defects or opportunities to simplify web sites.

Resources:

http://www.useit.com
UseIt.com is a great source for information on Usability research and testing and offers many articles and columns by Jakob Nielsen.

http://www.gallup.com
The Gallup Organization, a leading research company and the source of First, Break All The Rules and Now, Find Your Strengths.

http://www.harrisinteractive.com
Harris Interactive is a worldwide market research and consulting firm, best known for The Harris Poll and for its pioneering use of the Internet to conduct scientifically accurate market research.

http://www.nua.ie
Nua.com is the authoritative online source for information on Internet demographics and trends. Over 200,000 people in more than 140 countries read our news and analysis every week.

http://www.pewinternet.org
The Pew Internet and American Life Project offers original, academic-quality research exploring the impact of the Internet on children, families, communities, work, schools, health care and civic/political life.

http://cyberatlas.internet.com
CyberAtlas is the source for Internet statistics, market research, demographics and surveys. Find statistics on e-commerce, Internet advertising, and online populations from a variety of sources in one place.

http://www.netratings.com
NetRatings, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRT) is the leading global source of information on consumer and business usage of the Internet.

http://www.forrester.com
Forrester Research identifies and analyzes emerging trends in technology and their impact on business.

http://www.gartner.com
Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,500 clients understand technology and drive business growth.

http://www.comscore.com
ComScore, which acquired Jupiter MediaMetrix, is a leading provider of researchj services.

http://www.dnb.com
D&B (NYSE:DNB) is the world's leading provider of business information, enabling business-to-business commerce for 160 years.