Industry | Market research |
Company, brand | BDA, First ADS Respondent Recruiting Agency |
Year | 2021 - up to now |
Original source | Mengfei Lui, Jaden Wang |
Source | Marketplaces project |
Author - "packer" | Metodieva Ilona, Tavitskaya Elena |
Accepted | Igor Berezin |
Problem
This time, the need to recruit respondents came from the Asian company BDA.BDA, an investment consultant based in Beijing, founded in 1994. Colleagues contacted our Agency with the problem of selecting respondents in the Russian market. Target audience for recruiting is quite complicated, at least online store managers and higher positions were required, so only a specialized agency with experience and resources can make such a selection of high quality.
Task
It is necessary to recruit respondents (the head of the company / e-commerce department or the person directly managing online stores) who are responsible in their company for interacting with marketplaces and placing goods on them. Preferably, each respondent sells products on multiple e-commerce platforms, and in general, the seller dashboard covers various product categories such as food and beverages, household appliances, clothing, etc. Based on this data, a new e-commerce platform will be developed and launched.
Solution
We recruited respondents:
using your own database,
third-party base of respondents
social networks, mobile application, push notification, Telegram channel
snowball
paid recommendations from experts
We used google translator to communicate with colleagues.
We agreed with the customer about work in Google form and questions for it, and provided editor access for the table with respondents, so that it would be convenient to make notes. The respondents had to clarify in advance the data on turnover and their willingness to talk about 6 interview topics. The respondents were asked to confirm their positions, as well as links to stores.
From our side, there was operational communication, despite the time difference, we tried to quickly provide information and outside working hours. The status of the participants was announced the day before the interview until 17:00, so that it would be convenient for colleagues to receive information at their local time. Also, whenever possible, we tried to schedule as many interviews per day + if possible, then appoint a new respondent on the same day. If a client's schedule suddenly changed dramatically, then we adjusted to it and moved respondents without additional costs on their part.
In this study, we independently created a link to Zoom conferences and purchased a paid account for this, although we usually do not. The link to the conference was sent to colleagues in advance, and during the connection, our manager, who was leading the project, also connected to the conference and redirected administrator rights to the client, often around 8 in the morning, during our off-hours. Communication with all respondents was checked in advance (the presence of a headset and a camera, the quality of audio / video communication, the speed of the Internet and the ability to fumble the screen).
By agreement with the client, we pay up to 1 hour 30 minutes. the study was one fixed amount, when exceeding 1 hour 30 minutes, the payment was increased. If the client's duration increased and was, for example, 1.40-1.50, then we calculated at a reduced cost.
Difficulties
Linguistic boundaries. Colleagues could only correspond in English.
Difficulties with communication. Since the colleagues previously had their own experience in recruiting and a convenient system of interactions, so we agreed on a common system that would be convenient for everyone.
Tight deadlines for the project. After the approval of the project, the launch had to be done the next day.
Big time difference. With colleagues from the BDA company, the time difference was 5 hours with Moscow, which made communication difficult and there were difficulties in coordinating the time with the respondents. Convenient time for interviewing colleagues was mainly at 8-10 am Moscow time.
When communicating with a respondent, it was required to clarify a large amount of data, the average screening duration was about 15-20 minutes, not all respondents immediately had this time. Plus, they needed a willingness to report all real data on turnovers. As a result of the information received from the respondent, it was necessary to wait for the client's approval.
Price
Implementation of the project cost: 170,000 rubles, with a sample of: 10 respondents.
Result
The total was 10 relevant respondents. The big plus is that during the entire study there was not a single unsuitable respondent or respondent with whom there were technical difficulties. All respondents were organized and ready for research on all "fronts".
In the shortest possible time, we managed to recruit hard-to-reach experts and establish themselves in the new market.
As a result, the company received a representative sample and, based on the results of working with it, will be able to form a plan for the development of a new marketplace.