对于那些害怕经济萧条的消费者来说，他们已经开始削减开支，谋求新的生计。在购物过程中，这些消费者会选择其他品牌的产品，前往价格更为优惠的商场。一些消费者甚至改变了已经坚持很长时间的消费习惯。对于许多百姓来说，疯狂采购大量货品或是一味追求时尚潮流已经不再具有吸引力。

因此，企业和消费者市场中开始滋生不确定因素。为了节约开支，许多公司削减了用于市场调研的经费。然而，在控制不确定因素的过程中市场调研又发挥着巨大的作用。在美国，市场调研经费已经连续四个季度出现缩水状况，而各大公司的首席市场官预计市场调研业务难以在短期内摆脱惨淡局面。绝大多数消费业巨头准备将调研预算削减10%到20%。

在市场行情看好的时期，即便某家公司没有良好的品牌、准确的市场及价格定位以及精确的业务划分，也可以依靠消费者大量的消费来维持运转。然而，如今全球面对着的是一个萧条的经济局面。一方面某些公司在削减调研开支，一方面这些公司又会渴求获得高质量的市场数据及讯息。

因此，我要向各大公司的首席市场官推荐以下七条法则，使得公司在削减调研开支的情况下能将不良影响降到最小。

第一点，要保持高度的注意力。精明的市场运营官会将调查方向集中在产品、品牌、市场等方面，而这些因素也恰好关系着公司市场战略的成败。在市场不景气的时候，针对核心消费者（一种是对该公司品牌极端忠诚的客户，一种是能够给公司带来巨大利润的客户）的情况要有足够的了解。请不要将调研经费浪费在潜在或是周边的消费者身上。当市场行情回暖后，如果有足够的资金的话，公司可以对第二级别的商品和客户进行调研。在目前的情况下，请不要花费金钱去获得一些不必要的信息。

第二点，争取可信任的伙伴。如果营销人员和调研员之间能够建立起互相信任的关系，并且进行长期合作的话，那么他们将共同研究，获得准确的讯息，在较少成本的基础上做出更好的决定。例如，整合数据可以为公司提供反映消费者行为变化的指标。跟踪研究要比一次性的调查更有优势。对于那些求助于综合性调研机构来降低成本的首席市场官而言，他们应当要求调研方积极利用旗下不同分支机构，形成合力，进行综合研究。同时，首席市场官还要令调研机构削减冗余的项目。

第三点，要重视经验和判断力。针对曾经经历过经济衰退的管理员和研究人员而言，首席市场官应当充分发掘他们的经验和直觉。例如，在制定价格的过程中，经验能够帮助公司确定最佳的折扣比例。同时，经验还会帮助公司“一叶知秋”。在市场不景气的时候，一些公司会参考瑞典市场的数据，从中得知整个斯堪的纳维亚半岛的市场状况，而不会对半岛上的所有国家和地区进行调查。

第四点，抓住海外市场的机遇。包括联合利华在内的一些大型跨国公司开始削减针对西欧市场的调研费用，将关注重点转向亚洲、拉丁美洲等新兴市场。相比发达经济体来说，针对新兴市场的调研费用要更低一些，而回报也会更高。中国、印度、巴西等新兴市场的品牌偏好和消费水平的灵活性更大。因此，对于目标群体为这些新兴市场的公司而言，调查消费者的工作是十分重要的。随着这些经济体的进一步发展，消费者调研会帮助公司巩固品牌影响力。

第五点，利用好在线调查。在线调查是一种廉价、快捷的调研方式，代表了调研业务未来的走势。例如SurveyMonkey这样的网站可以帮助“菜鸟”用户在几分钟的时间内创建好调查模板。在线调研可以将质性研究定为核心，了解客户对新产品和新广告的想法。在削减开支的时代，采取自助的调研方式颇具吸引力。但是，既然付出的成本很小，收到的回报也有可能不会很大。从一个在线社区得到的数据或许代表不了所有消费者的想法。

第六点，不要削减必要的开支。一方面公司要清楚那些开支是可以节省下来的，但也要明白一些经费开支还是必要的。随着新广告和新产品数量的减少，公司选出核心的主打产品无疑是必要的。在一些消费者观点易变的领域，必要的调研开支能避免公司损失更多的钱，防止公司进行无效宣传。关注“标准跟踪研究”能够避免公司无法掌握消费者的习惯和购买行为。针对关键产品来说，进行需求价格弹性及价格属性权衡信息调查是重要的，帮助公司在资金有限的情况下改善盈利状况。

第七点，关注新客户。没有人能够准确无误地预测未来，而经济衰退更是令消费者难以把握自己的需求。一些精明的营销人员尽管也面对着经费压力，但还是会投入一定经费，了解消费者的行为在未来会出现何种变化。当经济萧条期结束后，消费者是否会转变回之前的消费模式？如果萧条状况持续很长时间的话，消费者是不是会继续目前的模式？消费者会接受何种新产品或服务？在金融服务领域，消费者对大公司的信心基本丧失殆尽。那么重塑消费者的信心需要多长时间？当经济衰退结束后，未来的成功取决于公司正确的定位，而定位的基础便是成功的调研。

How to Use Market Research in a Recession

Recession-challenged consumers are buying less, looking for deals, or switching to different brands, product categories, or stores. Some are even changing long-held attitudes toward consumption. To many folks, filling the home with more stuff or keeping up with the Joneses is no longer appealing.

As a result, the degree of uncertainty in business and consumer markets has soared. Yet, to conserve cash, most firms are reducing spending on the market research that would help manage that uncertainty. In the U.S., spending on market research has dipped for four consecutive quarters, and chief marketing officers don't expect the situation to turn around soon. Most big consumer marketers are seeking to shave 10 to 20% off of research budgets.

In flush times, a rising tide of consumption can compensate for less than optimal branding, positioning, pricing, or segmentation. That is certainly not the case now. At the same time that marketers must pare down research expenditures, they face added pressure to secure high-quality data and insights.

I recommend that CMOs take the following seven steps to minimize the impact of reduced spending.

Stay focused.Savvy marketers focus their research on the products, brands, and markets that are key to their marketing strategy. In a recession, it's essential to get a clear read on existing core customers, including those who are most loyal to the brand and those who are most profitable, rather than fritter away research resources on potential or peripheral consumers. When times are good, there is budget available for increased research on secondary products or customers. Now, nice-to-knows that are not essential will have to wait.

Enlist trusted partners.Marketers and research suppliers who trust each other and have established long-term relationships can jointly plan how to extract more insights and make better decisions based on fewer expenditures. For example, combining data sets may reveal new leading indicators of changes in consumer behavior. Tracking studies may have an edge over one-off projects. CMOs who trim costs by consolidating their budgets with an integrated research supplier should insist that the supplier aggressively explore synergies across its various component agencies as well as eliminate research redundancies.

Value experience and judgment.CMOs should tap the knowledge and intuitions of managers and researchers who've lived through previous recessions. In setting prices, for example, such insight can help calibrate the optimal level of price promotion offers. Experience also reveals proxies: in tough times, some marketers use research results from Sweden as a proxy for Scandinavia, rather than conducting the same research in all Scandinavian countries.

Seize opportunities overseas.Some large multinational marketers, such as Unilever, are shifting research expenditures away from Western Europe and toward emerging markets in Asia and Latin America. Relative to the developed economies, the costs of research in emerging economies are less and the payoff from incremental insight can often be greater. Brand preferences and consumption levels in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil tend to be more fluid. Consumer research is therefore critical to aid marketers trying to cement brand preferences early on as these economies develop.

Go online with a dash of skepticism.Online research is cheap, fast, and the wave of the future. Tools like SurveyMonkey allow non-expert users to create custom surveys in minutes. As an alternative to offline focus groups, custom online panels of consumers can be formed for qualitative research on new product ideas or new ads. Taking the do-it-yourself approach rather than outsourcing to a market research firm is attractive in a cost-cutting era, but you risk getting no more than what you pay for. The opinions of convenience sample of an enthusiastic online brand community may not represent all users.

Don't cut across the board.Just as important as knowing where to cut research is knowing where not to cut. When marketers are creating fewer new ads and introducing fewer new products, it is doubly important to use rigorous pretesting to select the strongest alternatives. In categories where the bases for consumers' value judgments are changing, modest expenditures on copy research can prevent blowing much more money on ineffective messaging. Adding a few questions to standard tracking studies is a low-cost way to shed light on changes in customer attitudes and purchase behavior. For key products, running conjoint studies to check on shifts in price elasticities of demand and price-attribute tradeoffs can usefully improve the profitability of pricing decisions at a time when cash is king.

Keep an eye on the new consumer.No one has a perfect record of predicting the future, and the recession is making it harder for consumers to envision or articulate their needs. Even so, and despite budget pressures, smart marketers devote a portion of their market research to getting a handle on future changes in consumer behavior. Are consumers of your brand going to revert to previous consumption patterns when the recession ends? Or are they developing coping mechanisms that will endure, especially if the recession is lengthy? What new products and services will consumers be open to embracing? If, as in the financial services category, consumer confidence and trust in brands have been seriously eroded, how long and what steps will it take to regain them? Eventually, the recession will end, and future success depends on being well-positioned, based on sound research, when it does.