Published: 8/27/2024
Scott Wallace
Vice President, Customer Experience, Dynata
With the proliferation of vendors in the research space the past several years, it can be overwhelming to evaluate different options and tools that make the most sense for your or your client’s research processes. However, in my experience in this industry, the foundation of every successful client-research partner relationship hinges on two critical pillars: trust and accountability. Together, these elements create a robust framework that not only strengthens the relationship but also drives long-term success.
For tenured research professionals this message will resonate pretty quickly, but for those newer to the industry, if you do primary research long enough, here are some undeniable realties of the research process that you will encounter:
- You will run into projects where the data raises questions around the quality of the respondent and sourcing.
- You will not communicate every desired outcome and consideration in your research scope to your research partners.
- You will make a mistake in the design or execution that impacts your deliverables.
- You will see your timelines condense and shift on the whims of internal and client stakeholders.
- You will generate thoughtful and comprehensive analysis and deliverables and still have a client that remains skeptical or disputes the research outcomes.
- You will not be able to deliver every outcome on your client’s wish list and need support presenting tradeoffs and considerations.
And yes, at times, even the best partners like Dynata, will make a mistake in programming or fielding and you will have to figure out how to manage through this to a achieve a favorable outcome for your client.
In my time at Dynata, I have developed many meaningful client relationships that have fostered long term partnerships and growth for all parties. As I reflect on those relationships, the foundation of what has allowed them to flourish is that I am honest in my perspective, and accountable to our performance, as well as their successes and challenges.
Here are some tactical examples from my history in the research industry:
Relentless focus on solutions and not problems has led to the development of the strongest client relationships I have. In particular, one case I’ll cite was forged in an absolute nightmare project in China where we had, honestly, failed against our commitments and were now well behind our timeline commitments as well. Our foundational step – owning our shortfalls, communicating our action plan and leveraging every possible solution and partner relationship to make the best of the horrible outcome.
What we didn’t know was that this client had engaged another vendor on the same project a few months prior, and when it went awry, the other vendor just suspended their efforts. It was our willingness to take accountability and continue to solution that has made this client a Dynata loyalist for years since. Even when things are running smoothly, the commitment to solutions guides every conversation we have, arming our clients with tradeoffs and considerations to support their internal and client conversations and maximize their research outcomes.
Willingness to say no, we’re not the best partner for that, and also refer work to competitors with different strengths that we think will make the client work most successful. Growth in client-partner relationships begins when clients see you as an external consultant acting on their behalf and not as someone trying to sell you off the shelf solutions.
Tackling the cost problem together means recognizing that clients are sometimes paying for research out of their own pocket to try and win more business or truly partnering when they cannot deliver their commitments against with the budget they have available. My first inclination is not to offer a reduced scope, rather to explore how we can co-invest to make them successful in the short term, as research execution is not a commoditized process, but a long–term collaboration.
Accountability to your own data, sources, and quality issues – is not always easy but is admittedly easier given I’ve benefitted from Dynata’s commitment to high quality. Our approach is the best in the industry for a few key reasons
- Leverages AI/ML to actively AND passively evaluate respondents at the page/question level and not just the overall performance (copy paste, location, mouse movements, page velocity)
- The feedback loop to our panel for further evaluation/cleaning/removal. Vendors that aggregate sample or engage via marketplace exchanges may offer novel tools for measuring in-survey engagement, but if you don’t own the data source, there is nothing you can do to ensure that a respondent flagged in survey #1 won’t appear again in survey #2, #3, #4, and so forth.
Ownership of the flagged issues, partnership on optimizing the design and cleaning going forward, are the traits of data partners that aren’t focused on the short-term impact and are invested in a long term partnership together.
Understand client research objectives and how our approaches impact their research. The best relationships uphold research standards, even when clients aren’t explicitly stating their goals, are of high integrity and defensible by all research standards, and don’t take actions that could comprise these to avoid tough conversations. I recently had a project where another vendor was brought on in a representative fielding exercise and outperforming Dynata.
By happenstance, we were exposed to the invite the other partner was using to invite people to the project:
The issues of research integrity, or lack thereof, are clear and obvious with such a leading survey invite which makes this a poignant example of the importance of engaging with a partner you trust and not data vendors are just trying to win share by driving the perception of over-performance as a ‘strength’ of their capabilities. In most cases, clients are not exposed to such a flawed approach, which further emphasizes the importance of unwavering trust in upholding research standards, especially when no one is watching.
As I noted above, when questions/disputes arise around results or learnings from your research, you need a partner that is able to provide clarity and transparency in their approaches that empower you with confidence to stand by your results.
When engaging with myself, and my colleagues at Dynata, here is what our commitment to you as client looks like:
- Dynata will use only research tools and approaches of the highest integrity and quality.
- Dynata will commit to thoughtful two-way communication and consideration of your goals.
- Dynata will deliver consistently against our commitments and your research objectives.
- Dynata will provide clarity and transparency in their approaches that empower you with confidence to stand by your results.
- Dynata will bring forth ideas and capabilities that lead to more innovative solutions and sustainable growth for all parties.