The idea of the Big Society has been a recent development and Facts International has been involved with its sister company, Opinion Leader, to understand the views of those in paid employment. They were asked how they felt about giving up some of their time to help society in general and/or the communities close to their home or work, and about the role their employer can play in allowing such activity.

Facts International successfully set-up and completed 2000 interviews using an online methodology over a four day period. A ten minute questionnaire was carefully designed by Opinion Leader, containing a number of behavioural statements, to better understand the public’s attitude towards volunteering their time, both personal and during work hours.

Upon completion of fieldwork, Facts International processed and analysed the data thoroughly and presented the results back to the client in a set of tabulations. With effective communication and working closely with the client, the research was turned around in a record time in order to meet the client’s tight deadlines.

Being able to survey online allows quick feedback to be obtained where visual creatives or ideas need to be shown to respondents. An area where Facts International used this approach was for tourism campaigns for destination countries.

Facts International conducted a quick turnaround online survey using a conjoint approach (1000 surveys in two days), targeted at the UK and the US consumer. Different mood boards, which our sister advertising agency VCCP had developed in conjunction with their client, were included on each survey. Respondents evaluated each mood board, explaining how it made them feel about the country and perceptions of the place as a holiday destination.

VCCP were clearly able to see which two mood boards they should present to their client as suggestions for usage in advertising.

Online surveying allows UK and international customers' views to be combined quickly and easily, and common insights identified. This allows clients to gain a deeper understanding of the end consumer and to build a strategic direction for the brand globally.

Our online survey approach can easily provide understanding on key attitudes and personal values. A recent survey was undertaken for a flooring covering company who wanted to develop their brand into new markets. Research was conducted online in the UK (805 respondents) and US (852 respondents), and this enabled a robust segmentation of potential consumers, and helped to identify opportunities and inform consumer targeting strategies.

Facts International was responsible for the design, set up, analysis and interpretation of all stages of this programme. We played an essential role in helping the client to segment the floor covering market by creating segment solutions, ensuring that these solutions were both realistic and workable within the business. These solutions were presented to the client in the form of a formal debrief and workshop session, enabling the client to interact with the solutions, understand the characteristics of the customers that fell into each segment and how they could be targeted within the marketplace. Following on from this session, the results of the research will impact future marketing strategies, which will help drive their business forward.