2012 Annual Survey of Market Research Professionals

Overview

More than ever, the Market Research Industry is experiencing change. New technology. Challenging and uncertain economic times. The need to do more with less.

The 2012 Annual Survey of Market Research Professionals can help you:

• Navigate the change associated with shifting and shrinking MR budgets
• Offer competitive compensation to retain or expand your research teams
• Identify quality Suppliers
• Help allocate resources, staff, and methodologies for maximum impact

The 2012 Annual Survey of Market Research Professionals is based upon the attitudes and opinions of 500 Market research professionals.

Each invited participant completed our online survey between January 12 and February 1, 2012. The aggregate results have a data tolerance of +/- 4.4% and include many questions from the 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2005 research initiatives -- providing an invaluable longitudinal perspective.

 

2011 Recap

Despite having all of the promise of a second banner recovery year, 2011 came up short compared to 2010 for many in the Market Research Industry. Fewer research organizations reported fiscal success -- fully eight percentage points less than 2010. Often cited challenges include client budget compression, an increasing number of Suppliers chasing the same business, and generally a lackluster economic environment.

Whatever the reasons, we believe the 2012 Annual Survey of Market Research Professionals can help you better position your firm for a stronger 2012.

 

Employee Compensation

Across all experience levels, geographies, and roles (Client vs. Supplier) salaries increased by just 1.9% over the past year. With detailed salary, raise, and bonus data from more than 500 MR Professionals, we are confident that the table below represents among the most accurate and current compensation data available anywhere.

For additional compensation information revealing the impact of experience level and role as well as forward looking expectations, please see the complete report.

 

Perceptions of Market Research Suppliers

This year MarketResearchCareers sought to quantify perceptions of Suppliers beyond pure customer satisfaction. In this year's report we inquired about the following perceptions for more than 100 market research suppliers:

• Is a Thought Leader
• Offers Unique Methodologies
• Provides Quality Deliverables
• Has the Best Employees
• Effectively Uses Technology

With more than 5,200 individual evaluations across five market segments (Full Service, Qualitative, Syndicated, Online Sample, and Online Survey Software) we have developed an online interactive ranking tool that enables MR Buyers and Suppliers to:

• Conduct Competitive Benchmarking
• Identify New Suppliers
• Create Customer Announcement and Public Relations Opportunities
• Aid in Strategic Planning
• Numerous Others

The list of evaluated firms include:

Evaluated Suppliers

Full Service	Qualitative	Syndicated	Online Sample	Online Survey Software
BASES	Blackstone Group	comScore	Authentic Response/Return Path	"In-House" Software
Brain Juicer	C+R Research	Data Monitor	Epocrates	Apian
Burke	Clear	Forrester	e-Rewards	CfMC Survent
C&R Research Services	CMI	Frost & Sullivan	Experian	ConfirmIt
Data Development Corporation	Doyle Research	Gartner	GMI	eSurveysPro
DataMonitor	Firefly	Guideline	LightSpeed	EZSurvey
Decision Analyst	Flamingo	Hitwise/Experian	Luth	GMI
Directions Research	Gongos Research	IMS Health	MarketTools/Zoomerang	Inquisite
GfK	Hall and Partners	J.D. Power	OTX/Ipsos	InsightExpress
Gongos	InsideOut Insights	Nielsen	SSI/Opinionology	Nebu
Harris Interactive	Murphy Market Research / Trendtown	NPD	Toluna/Greenfield	Qualtrics
InsightExpress	Primary Insights	Scarborough	uSamp	QuestionPro
Ipsos/OTX	Synovate	Simmons Market Research		SAS
Kelton Research	TNS	SymphonyIRI		Sawtooth Software
Knowledge Networks/Dime Store	Understanding Unlimited			Snap
Lieberman Research Group (East)				SPSS
Lieberman Research Worldwide (West)				StatPac
Maritz				SurveyGizmo
Market Strategies				SurveyMonkey
MarketCast				SurveyWriter
MarketTools				Vision Critical
Millward Brown/Dynamic Logic				Vovici
Morpace				Voxco
MVL Group				WebSurveyor
National Analysts				Zoomerang/ Ztelligence
National Research Corp
Opinion Research/InfoGroup
Phoenix Marketing
Q Research Solutions
Research International
Synovate
TNS
Vision Critical
Vizu
Walker Information
Westat

 

2012 Staffing Forecast

Overall, the Market Research Industry anticipates staffing at levels slightly below those of 2011. The report will help you identify the organizations that are likely to hire and the titles of those in demand. This information can be vital as you extend offers in 2012 and efficiently staff your research organization.

 

Expectation for Layoffs

Tragically, MR Professionals expect a resurgence of layoffs across research organizations during 2012. The report helps to reveal the characteristics of those organizations that are more likely to engage in these workforce reduction policies.

 

Online Survey Rates Continue to Raise Concern

Despite the ubiquitous use of online surveys and the decline of telephone and mail-based surveys, Market Research Professionals continue to be concerned about online survey cooperation rates. This trend continues unabated from 2007 through 2012 and threatens to severely impact the quality of data provided by the MR Industry.

The report identifies key drivers and solutions to address this critical industry issue.

 

2012 Market Research Budgets

Consistent with other indicators, buyers of market research expect to aggressively manage their budgets in 2012. In fact, MR Buyers expect to spend approximately 3% less in 2012 compared to the prior year.

We strongly encourage every MR Supplier to purchase this year's report to understand the industries and the company charactistics that are planning to decrease spending -- and those planning to increase spending. This information can be the difference between a productive and lackluster sales year.

 

Detailed Report

The complete, in-depth report provides additional analysis and quantitative data.

About MarketResearchCareers

MarketResearchCareers is the career website with the most comprehensive database of resumes and jobs focusing exclusively on the Market Research industry

Visited monthly by nearly half of all market research professionals in the United States and possessing the resumes of more than 40,000 market researchers, MarketResearchCareers is your market research staffing headquarters. See why so many corporate hiring managers, human resource professionals, market research suppliers, and thousands of skilled researchers turn to MarketResearchCareers to fill their market research jobs.

Please contact Mike Carroll at 1-800-872-5401 or mcarroll@marketresearchcareers.com for permission to use these results.