Monday, May 25, 2015
4:00 - 4:25 PM
Ted Talks - Trinity Ballroom Two

Death by Survey Length

Many research agencies, panel providers, and client side researchers feel that we are caught on a treadmill of lengthy surveys that we can’t step off of. Agencies know that data quality is affected after minutes of survey time, but are worried about losing clients. Panel providers know that response rates suffer, but are worried about losing their customers. Clients know that these problems are real, but they have stakeholders and budget constraints to satisfy. In this session, a Senior Agency Researcher, a Senior Panel Provider and a Client Side Researcher will identify some of the key issues in the losing battle between survey length and data quality, and discuss possible solutions from these three different perspectives.

Scott Megginson
President, Millward Brown Canada

Scott is a 25 year veteran of the Canadian Market Research industry. After graduating from Queen's University, he started his career at the Angus Reid Group, where he spent 8 years learning the practice from Field through to Client Management. He spent the next 11 years on the Client side (Warner Lambert-Adams Brands), and then PepsiCo Canada where he launched and Directed the Consumer Insights function for Pepsi Cola Canada (followed by Quaker, Tropicana, and Gatorade). Scott's work at PepsiCo was recognized with the Chairman's Award in 2008.

In 2010, Scott returned to the consulting side of research in the role of President of Millward Brown Canada. He has since been increasingly active in the industry (Vice Chair of the Advisory Board for Research Analyst Program at Georgian College, and a Director on the Research Agency Council of the MRIA), along with regular speaking engagements and publications. Scott hates long surveys, and would like to stop the madness.

 
Raj Manocha
Senior Vice President, AskingCanadians

Raj Manocha is the Senior Vice President of AskingCanadians, an online market research community with access to 600,000 Canadians, which offers a range of innovative data collection tools and Voice of the Customer platforms designed to provide insights that meet client's information needs.

With more than 10 years of experience in online client development, including eight years with an online market research focus, Raj is focused on expanding the AskingCanadians brand, building the firm's internal team, and continuing to develop relationships with current and new clients. In 2014, Raj led the firm's expansion into the United States with the launch of AskingAmericans, a data collection firm with access to more than 10 million consumers.

Raj is an active speaker within the market research industry and is a member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) where he chairs the Emerging Leaders Task Force.

 
Monica Alfonso
Senior Research Manager, Unilever Canada

Monica leads the Consumer and Marketing Insights Department at Unilever Canada. With over 15 years of CPG experience in Finance and Marketing research, Monica recognizes the dynamic nature of the market and the need to constantly challenge the status quo to deliver actionable insights to the business in an efficient manner.
Monica's expertise is around:

  • Translating market data and consumer insights into business actions
  • Focusing on the consumer and shopper understanding that uniquely adds value
  • Uncovering consumer and shopper needs to drive sustainable growth and portfolio expansion

Monica joined Unilever in 2009 as CMI manager for the Personal Care business and then led the Shopper and Media Insights areas before being promoted to Team Leader. Prior to Unilever, Monica spent 10 years at Procter & Gamble in Mexico and Canada working across a wide range of categories and roles.