Bespoke surveys
the client

The client is one of the UK’s major supermarket retailers.

the requirement

The client was looking for a user-friendly and cost-effective solution to managing customer research data that came from a variety of UK locations on a wide range of products. Customer market research is handled mostly by the client’s dynamic in-house team; they were looking for a system that would meet the company’s needs initially and into the future.

the solution

Easi-Quest is Reference Point’s own powerful software designed specifically for enabling the creation, data entry and analysis of questionnaires and surveys.

This version of Easi-Quest is unique – and comprises additional bespoke modules, including specific statistical analysis – having been carefully modified to meet the client’s specific consumer research requirements.

The company uses Easi-Quest primarily to test the standard and quality of its own brand products. For the food lines, this will involve asking the customers in store to compare the client’s own brand dish with those of competitors. Customers will be asked to evaluate the appearance, the aroma, the flavour, the texture and the overall appeal.

The system is used in remote test sites around the UK and the test details are simply emailed over to the researchers. Once the project is complete, the results are fed through Optical Mark Readers (OMR) and then emailed back to head office. The OMRs are especially useful for the client because they operate a multi-user system, which means many people can use the software at the same time. With such a high volume of data flowing constantly between Head Office and the Research team, the OMRs can accurately scan each response in seconds.

Once the information is on the system, the client uses Easi-Quest to generate a range of analysis at the click of a mouse. The data may also be transferred into other packages or applications if desired.

The demands on Easi-Quest are intense and performance is all-important. As the client says: "We have over 4,000 pieces of research conducted every year from specialist panel work involving 20 people up to consumer research involving 200 people. We have to be sure that our products are of consistently high quality for our customers. That’s why we demand nothing less than the best and use Easi-Quest."