Measuring your marketing impact — research, feedback and evaluation

Donna Luckman • 14 May 2020
Author: Elise Constable
Contributor: Natalie Toohey

Consider using research, feedback and evaluation before, during and after your project. It can help you increase the number of people who get involved in, and support, your cause.

1. Why you should carry out research

Research can help you:

  • assess community feeling towards aspects of your renewable energy service
  • identify areas in your community where you need renewable energy
  • find out what stakeholders think about your project and group
  • identify any barriers to involvement in your project.

2. How to do the research

Before you start your research:

  • clarify why you need to do it
  • plan how you'll use the information you gather
  • check to see if any material already exists on the subject. For example, has your local university or council done any studies on community support for renewable energy?

If you can’t find any existing research reports or case studies to help your project, you'll need to do your own research. There are two main approaches: quantitative or qualitative.

Quantitative research involves collecting and analysing numerical data. For example, the number of people who support renewable energy.

Qualitative research involves collecting and analysing information from interviews, pictures, video or observation. For example, information from interviews asking why people support renewable energy.

Research methods

There are many ways to do research. Two common methods are surveys or focus groups.

Surveys can capture both quantitative and qualitative information. You can conduct your survey:

  • online
  • by phone
  • face to face
  • by mail
  • in publications.

Focus groups are a qualitative research method. It's where you bring a group of people together to ask them about their ideas, views and perceptions of a particular issue.

3. Gathering feedback and evaluating information

Feedback and evaluation are closely linked. Feedback is any information you gather that helps you promote your project. For example, you might review media coverage, stakeholder discussions or conversations in the local community.

Evaluation is when you critically assess the value of a particular communication or promotional activity. For example:

  • the number of positive responses you get to an email promotion
  • the findings of a telephone survey to see whether people understand your sales brochure, or find your website useful.

4. Steps to conducting research, measuring feedback and evaluating

Before you start, you should:

  • decide what you want to know, and why
  • decide how you'll go about getting the information you need
  • decide how many people you need to include, what your budget is and choose who can help you do the work.

You can then:

  • collate your findings
  • share the information you get with internal and external stakeholders, as appropriate, to help you improve your project offering or communications.

5. How to use the results of your research

You can use the findings from your research to:

  • provide material for a press release, to help you attract attention about an issue
  • validate a statement in your promotional material and enhance your project's reputation
  • work out the quickest and easiest way to communicate with specific groups of people
  • prepare an annual communications and promotions plan
  • modify the product, service or price of your community renewable energy project.

More information

Tools of Change Website Overcoming barriers to involvement in your project.
A basic tutorial on survey and questionnaire design
GuideStar Research

SurveyMonkeyhttps://www.surveymonkey.com/