This article was recently featured in the April 2013 edition of Quirk’s Marketing Research Review. You can find the full article on Quirks.com/articles – ID 20090416. Thoroughbred Research Group and DataPrompt International assisted Quirk’s in authoring this article. The article discusses questions you should ask when selecting a telephone facility for your market research survey or recruiting needs.

market research call center

If you are looking for a facility to handle some or all of your market research calling component(s), think about these five factors before making your choice:

1. Basics

    • Can the facility accommodate small and large projects?
    • Does the facility have inbound and outbound calling?
    • Does the facility provide multi-mode research options (web, email, etc.)?
    • Does the facility have international/multilingual experience?

2. Staff

    • What are the required qualifications of the interviewers?
    • Have the interviewers conducted similar industry/client studies in the past?
    • How are the interviewers trained and what ongoing training is provided?
    • What is the supervisor-to-interviewer ratio?
    • What percentage of the interviewer completes is monitored?

3. Technology

    • Does the facility have remote monitoring capabilities?
    • Does the facility offer live monitoring of active interviews?
    • Are the interviews recorded?
    • Does the facility have interactive voice response (IVR) or predictive dialing?
    • Does the facility offer real-time access to data?
    • Does the facility offer CATI software to ensure routing is correct?

4. Procedures

    • What are the quality control procedures?
    • Is there a secure on-site server?
    • How often is the server backed up?
    • What percentage of phone calls are actively monitored for quality?
    • Do interviewers read verbatim or are they allowed to paraphrase?

5. Deliverables

    • During and after the telephone interviews – what are the deliverables?
    • What time are my reports ready each day and how do I receive them?

Research & Marketing Strategies (RMS) has an in-house call center QualiSight, which can be utilized for your market research call center and recruiting needs. If you are interested in using a call center for your market research study please contact Lauren Krell at LaurenK@RMSresults.com or by calling her at (315) 635-9802. Lauren is the Manager of RMS QualiSight and can assist you with your request.