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Adapting to win: SurveyMonkey’s 7 tips for scaling your own agile, DIY market research program

Written by: Morgan Molnar
Director of Product Marketing
SurveyMonkey Market Research Solutions


2020 has certainly been a crazy year – for life and for work. If you had told me at the start of this year that I would be doing ALL of my work from my guest bedroom, missing out on client visits, doing happy hours over Zoom, or raising a puppy (shout out to my new pup, Penny!), I’d say you were crazy. But here we are, 5 months later, and the way we get work done has changed significantly. Our companies have adapted. And that’s no different for market research.

COVID-19 and the surrounding effects have accelerated a major trend already taking shape in the research industry: the shift to DIY. In fact, due to COVID-19, 41% of insights teams are increasing their use of DIY tools, and 47% are using more online surveys. By contrast, 34% say they are decreasing their use of full-service vendors. 

Dig deeper into these insights in SurveyMonkey’s 2020 Market Research Survival Guide.

The benefits of DIY market research are well known: faster turnaround, cost savings, absolute control of research methods and analysis, data transparency, etc. But whether you’re establishing your research program from scratch or considering moving certain projects from full-service to DIY, it can be challenging to know where to begin. Luckily, technology-based research platforms like Fuel Cycle and SurveyMonkey have been able to support companies who need to digitize how they gather insights, but there are still questions that remain:

  • Which studies should I transition to DIY?
  • What tools should I include in my DIY research tech stack?
  • What documentation or training do I need?
  • How do I create lasting change in my organization?

At this year’s FC Connect, I hosted a session titled, “7 steps for building a scalable DIY research program that influences business growth.” SurveyMonkey has worked with thousands of brands who have made the successful transition to doing their own research—without a larger team or more in-house expertise. In this session, I lay out 7 practical steps to build and scale a DIY research program that delivers high-growth results for your business. 

Can’t wait to get your hands on the secrets? Here’s a sneak peek:

For all the information, check out the recording!


Have questions about Fuel Cycle’s partnership with SurveyMonkey? Let’s chat


Accelerate Decision Intelligence

Fuel Cycle accelerates decision intelligence for legendary brands. We achieve this by enabling enables brands to quickly capture, analyze, and act on insights required to launch new products, acquire customers, and gain market share.

By leveraging the Research Engine, which powers leading insights communities, brands forge connections with their key audiences and harness actionable insights that drive confident business decisions.

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