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Eight Ways to Dress Market Research Reports:
Collecting Information Isn't as Hard
as Writing a Good Report

by Howard L. Gordon

Researchers have so many tools in their kit bags one wonders why research has not progressed further in its use in advertising and marketing decision-making. At least a part of the answer lies in clearer research reporting.

It's no big trick for marketing researchers to collect a lot of information. The real difficulty comes in collecting information that bears on the marketing decisions to be made—then presenting it to management for translation into action programs. It's in the presentation of results where much research stumbles.

Researchers traditionally take a lot of heat about this, but there are indeed ways to correct the problem.

Here are some things I have learned along the way about producing more readable, usable, and actionable research reports:

1. Present tense works better. Results and observations expressed in now terms sound better and are easier to read. Don’t say: “The test panel liked the taste of the juice;” say: “People liked the taste of the juice.” We do studies to help make decisions today and tomorrow, not yesterday. We want to know what people think now.

2. Use active voice. Passive voice doesn’t swing. There’s nothing wrong with saying “We believe …” rather than “It is believed that….” Passive voice is stilted. Use first person plural, not third person singular. Present tense and active voice make reports sound action-oriented, and businesslike. And it’s easier to read. Passive voice makes the reader work harder.

3. Findings, findings—don’t use the word “findings.” This word makes your report sound as if some archeologist just came across some old bones from the Paleolithic Age. Or, a turkey just walked across your report. Scientists use findings, but marketers should use results, conclusions, or observations.

Conclusions are the take-away section. What is it you want the reader to take away from your report? If somebody could spend only five minutes with your report, what should that person know?

4. Use informative headlines, not label headlines. Your reader will welcome this headline: “Convenience is the packaging’s major benefit.” Your reader will not generally welcome this one: “Analysis of packaging,” or this: “How people feel about packaging.” Follow the newspaper and magazine headline editors—they know how to get readers involved with informative headlines.

5. Let your tables and charts work. Help them with words when needed. Don’t take a paragraph or a page to describe what a table already says. If there’s nothing to say about a table or chart, don’t say it. The purpose of a table or chart is to simplify. Use your words to point out significant items in the table—something that is not readily clear. Or, use your words to offer interpretative comments. Use verbatims from sample respondents to support a point. But if you’re simply going to repeat what’s already on the chart, don’t bother. It wastes the reader’s time.

6. Use the double-sided presentation whenever possible. This format will reduce the verbiage in your report. It simply presents the table on the left side of the open report. Your information headline and interpretative comments are on the right-hand page. The double-sided presentation is one of the most readable report formats. And, it is much easier to write a report using it. The double-sided presentation also allows you to use white space effectively. White space helps readers get through the report—especially those in executive suites. If the table you use is a double-sided report format says everything you want it to say, then the only item yo need on the opposite page is your informative headline. However, it’s wise to make use of selected verbatims. They will breathe life into your table. Most people don’t like research reports because they’re wordy. Wordy reports offer little reader reward. Thin reports get taken home on weekends and slide easily into briefcases for airplane and train reading.

7. Use the show card report more often. This is an 8-1/2 X 11 stand-up presentation and while not always appropriate, it isn’t used often enough. It’s simple and it works. Market researchers usually don’t like using them, but marketers, salespeople, and business planners who use research results, do.

8. Make liberal use of verbatims. Great nuggets of marketing wisdom have come from people’s comments. Use verbatims if you have them. Sprinkle the verbatim throughout the report in appropriate places. Besides, verbatims help make research reports interesting and readable.

People who think research reports are readable, interesting, rewarding, and useful usually ask for more research.

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Howard Gordon is a principal of GRFI Ltd., a Chicago-based market research company. He can be reached at hgordon@grfiltd.com or 312-856-1444