Issue: 4
August 18, 2010
Please note that the text below is from Issue 4 of the EMC Business Bulletin.
Most companies in the EMC marketplace don’t have the resources for in-depth market research, but tradeshows and conferences are a quick and inexpensive way to get feedback from your customer / prospect base. Think about it – while you are standing in a booth for a few days, you typically have a few hundred customers right in front of you – and with a brief survey and a little incentive or two, you can learn a lot. Over the next several weeks, some of the regular fixtures on the electronics / EMC tradeshow circuit are taking place: EMC Europe (September), European Microwave Week (September), ACIL (October), EMC UK (October), Electronica (November) . So if your company is going to be exhibiting, this could be your chance to test out your latest product development idea, or find out what how buyers view your company versus competitors, or whatever it is you need to know. Last month of course was the IEEE EMC Society Symposium in Florida, so I took the opportunity to take the temperature of the attendees. This survey took us a few minutes to compile, it cost nothing to print, and we offered a water canteen (really!) as a prize to one winner each day. We received 65 entries in 2 ½ days – not a bad return! I’m happy to share our survey and their responses with you as an example, and hopefully it will provide you with some food for thought for your own surveys.2010 IEEE EMC SYMPOSIUM ATTENDEE SURVEY1. What is your role with regard to EMI purchasing decisions for your company? (Please circle all that apply):a. Design influence – 32 responses / 50%b. Sourcing influence – 25 / 39%c. Final decision maker – 20 / 31%d. No influence – 9 / 14%2. How long have you been a subscriber of Interference Technology?a. 0 to 1 year – 24 responses / 38%b. 1 to 3 years – 9 / 14%c. 3 years + – 9 – / 14%d. 10 years + – 22 / 34%(Comment: We have been working on attracting newer subscribers for a while, so this response was particularly satisfying for us to see. Also, all but one person surveyed were Interference Technology readers )3. Did you receive a copy of the 2010 Interference Technology Symposium Guide?a. At the office / before the show – 33 / 52% b. My hotel room / in the tradeshow – 19 / 29% c. At booth – 15 / 23%4. Did you use the 2010 Interference Technology Symposium Guide before coming to the show to…. a. plan attendance at technical events – 29 responses / 45%b. plan to visit exhibitors? – 20 / 31% (If so how many? Average answer 10)c. No plans – 23 / 36%5. On average, how often have you referred to our Symposium Guide each day of the Symposium?a. No reference – 18 responses / 28%b. 1 or 3 times daily – 36 / 56%c. 4 or more times daily – 10 / 16%6. What do you hope to learn most from this year’s show?a. What’s New – 40 / 63% b. Standards information- 26 / 41% c. Testing information – 27 / 42% d. Technical expertise – 31 / 48% e. Design information – 23 / 36%(Comment: It may surprise you, but “What’s New” is the top answer by far ,every time we do this survey!) 7. Can you remember short listing or purchasing EMI components, equipment or test services as a result of reading any Interference Technology media? Yes 14 / 22% —– No 50 / 78%(Comment: What is interesting here is that even though only a quarter of responders answered “yes”, the real question here is “can you remember…”, so the real figure is something higher than 22%, and when we multiply that out against our total readership, it’s a lot of buying!).OK, so this is an example, but hopefully the content is also useful for those of you who are Interference Technology clients. We certainly learned a lot for our purposes, and especially when we compare answers from year to year. We use data like this to drive our circulation efforts, to design our future Symposium activities, to develop new content and a lot more.TIP: If you have not written or conducted a tradeshow survey before here are a couple of useful ideas i) Of course, keep it short – no more than one sheet of paper!ii) Don’t start by writing the questions – start by writing down what you want to know, and then devise the questions.iii) Last, I always assign our tradeshow survey efforts to one person, and give them a target number of surveys to complete during the show.Comments and Questions for the EMC Business Bulletin, as usual , please to Graham Kilshaw, Editor –gkilshaw@interferencetechnology.com
