The importance of quality B2B practices
Editor’s note: Ruth Stanat is the CEO of SIS International. With over 40 years of experience, she is a recognized author who helps brands unlock valuable consumer insights, driving innovation and growth. Find Stanat on LinkedIn.
There's a problem with B2B research samples, and it's called the recontact problem.
You get a response from a senior executive on your B2B survey. She responded to a similar question from another brand last month. The previous month, another one. She is now a professional respondent, though no one set out intending her to be that way.
This is not the type of professional respondent the industry is concerned with. It's a real senior executive with real answers. The issue is that she is given those answers, or close to them, several times. The information she provides is no longer her opinion. It is what's left of a dozen yes/no surveys on her thinking.
It is a trend that is visible in most senior B2B audiences. It's a lot larger than the industry claims. And none of the normal quality checks that the researchers use for their data detect it.
The pool is not as large as the quote sheet indicates
When it comes to B2B audiences, most quote sheets assume that the number of people who can be addressed is big enough to make each one a new prospect. That's not the case for more specialized senior positions.
There are only a few senior leaders in any particular field in larger companies. There are few cybersecurity leaders in larger companies. There is a low number of older doctors specializing in a specific field. This applies equally to finance leadership of large banks, hospital executives, senior legal roles and most other C-suite operations. These pools rank in the low thousands around the world, and at times, the low hundreds.
The system operates under the assumption that respondents are equally distributed and that they are new samples. They are not.
The implications of over-recontact in research
A respondent who has taken six studies in the specialty in the past year and a half is familiar with the flow of the screener. They are aware of the format of common concept tests. They expect the probes to be a response to open-ended questions.
The set of responses becomes more specific. Edges round off. Open-ended responses return sharpened, sleeker and easier to work with. They sound like they know their subject, and they do. The respondent has been considering this type of question for a long time.
After two years, five different brands will have similar reports for the same audience. This is something that the standard quality checks do not even touch upon.
The future of B2B research
The demand for senior B2B samples is growing. However, there is a structural constraint on the supply. The companies that successfully crack hybrid sourcing (and be honest about it in the quote) will deliver noticeably better evidence than those that continue to run a single panel sweep and call it B2B research.