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If you are just looking for a general view (a feel) on a subject, then the quality of your survey tool can be loose.  However,  it is important to consider the limitations of your study particularly if you plan to act on its’ output.  Whilst there are many aspects that require consideration in constructing a study; the number of respondents is an important component.

Proportion Measurements

In this article the focus is on proportion measurements; a common output for surveys. For proportion measurement; the errors in the % output can be very large for small sample sizes.  This is particularly an issue  if the measured proportion is small.

For example, if you wanted to gain an understanding on the proportion of customers choosing your product if in blue packaging versus red?  If your output is anticipated to be  in a 20% range then for a sample of 50 respondents, the error is +/- 11%. Not a very informative result.

If your measured proportion is moving from 20% to 24%, it would be difficult to make a conclusion on making a potentially costly change with only 50 respondents.  In this case, you might consider 1500 respondents which would make the error +/- 2% and improve confidence on moving to blue packaging.

If you are in the process of deciding on the number of respondents for a given project, click on Sample Size Error Chart to review possible errors for a given respondent count at a 95% confidence level.  This may help you negotiate and choose an appropriate respondent number, particularly where the cost of acquiring them is high.  As a general rule,  if costs permit, the more respondents the better.

More ideally, you are being guided by someone with expertise through limitations of your full study; either to help restructure it to meet your needs and/or use the results in context of its limitations.

Private label is driving performance challenges for both suppliers and Supermarkets. Weak approaches or undisputed assumptions around these challenges can result in detrimental long term decisions for supplying businesses.

One resounding assumption is that the strength of brands can withstand the onslaught of Private and Grocery labels.  Coca Cola share fell to 33% from 63% in UK Sainsbury’s stores as can be seen in the article http://supermarketnews.com.   The Australian Coca Cola CEO on ABC’s “The Business” interview in 2012; mentions that consumers still prefer their branded product and noting the importance of keeping branded product “affordable”.  The CEO’s comments at that point in time could be seen as an accepted reduction in brand equity to combat grocery brands.

It is crucially advantageous to quantify shifts in relative brand equity with the positioning of a private label product.  This helps you revise your brand strategy.  In the short term (whilst your brand continues to exist) research helps you avoid either charging too little (profit loss) or charging too much (accelerate share loss/be taken off shelf).  As a supplier, setting your price incorrectly high can also have detrimental effects on profits in attempting to navigate a lower shelf price with your customers.

Whilst in the long term, survival of your brand is significantly more complex than a simple pricing exercise. To correctly reposition your brand strategy requires sound analytical backing; one component of these analytics is pricing market research.  The article “Is Price Market Research A Waste of Valuable Marketing Dollars?”, I hope generates discussion toward delivering your organisation more effective market research.