Market Research and Telemarketing – Maintaining the Great Divide
The success of Market Research depends on maintaining the divide between Market Research and Telemarketing. Most people being interviewed will baulk at even the slightest sense of some kind of hard sell being put to them, particularly given the poor reputation of international Telemarketing companies who make repeated unsolicited calls during the family dinner. This has the potential to discourage participation in Market Research when people are not made completely aware of the difference between the two. Willing participation of the public is critical for the success of a Market Research project, which in turn depends on the respondent’s confidence that the research is carried out with integrity, objectivity and for the purpose stated. As such, Market Research needs to commit to high standards and keep well away from Telemarketing to maintain and grow public response rates to Market Research surveys.
There are various ways to try and ensure Market Research remains separate from Telemarketing in the eyes of the public. For example, the purpose of the research should be made clear to the participant before commencement, with strict adherence to this purpose. Also, at no stage should Market Research be conducted at the same time as Telemarketing so as to not confuse the participant about which is which. Researchers should never pass on participant details to clients for database creation, follow-up selling or any promotional activity to ensure anonymity of respondents is preserved; otherwise Market Research simply becomes a marketing exercise and not meaningful research.
One of the main industry organisations has policies and guidelines which require members to be mindful of the Market Research/Telemarketing divide. For example, the Australian Market and Social Research Society discourages use of the words “Research” , “Survey” and “Questionnaire” by telemarketers, discourages use of the word “Research” in the name of any Telemarketing company and suggests a separate business name for companies that carry out both research and Telemarketing activities. This focus on separating the language of Market Research and Telemarketing will help keep the two disciplines quite separate in the minds of both researchers and the public.
The Society also has a policy that highlights the difference between Market Research and Telemarketing, where the respondent remains anonymous and all information is confidential in the former but is impossible in the latter, where information the respondent provides is used to sell products and services to them. Finally, the Society has a code of professional behaviour for its members that covers the issue of Telemarketing, stating that the “purpose of Market Research market is to collect and analyse information, not to directly sell or promote goods or services”. The separation of Telemarketing and Market Research depends on researcher’s adherence to these standards, as does the professionalism and integrity of Market Researchers.
Sticking to these policies and codes regarding the distinction between Telemarketing and Market Research will help researchers and our profession at large to ensure public participation in Market Research. After all, lose the participants and there will be no Market Research.