Rise of Commercial Due Diligence Surveys

Commercial due diligence surveys, whether B2B or B2C, are highly popular these days. There are a few reasons for this trend. First, we have seen the rise of the information based economy in the past years. Think of the constant need for information that people have nowadays. Be it tracking your Deliveroo order or seeing when your Uber arrives. There is a need for ‘instant information’ in all aspects of our lives. Commercial due diligence surveys serve that need of having instant information, from a business perspective. Second, emerging technologies have facilitated this need for constant information. Without smartphones that have apps like Google Maps, we would never have been able to get this tracking data in the first place. 

In particular, online commercial due diligence surveys are the best option to save money. The real USP for online surveys is that they almost cost zero to administer. Additionally, you can get a vast amount of data very quickly. In an online survey, a panel provider can do survey programming to administer the survey. Additionally, follow ups are also possible in phone surveys but they are going to take much longer.

3 ways in which Commercial Due Diligence Surveys save a business money

Other than providing easy access to information, commercial due diligence surveys can also save your business time and money. These surveys integrate into every function of business such as sales, operations, strategy and save money in each arena.  Below we explore 3 ways in which commercial due diligence surveys do this:

1. Marketing check

Say a business is spending the bulk of its marketing budget on Instagram to generate leads from targeted ads. Now, the company partners with a survey panel provider to conduct a commercial due diligence B2C survey. The aim of this survey is to justify their marketing spend by seeing if most customers actually do come from Instagram. The results of the survey reveal that LinkedIn is the most valuable channel in terms of generating leads. In this way, they can save money on Instagram and wisely spend it on LinkedIn to increase their revenue. 

2. Operations

On the operations side of a business, there are savings to be realised in CRM. Imagine that your business administers a B2C commercial due diligence survey to find customer pain points as well as positive feedback about your product or survey. You can incorporate some of those customer opinions into your CRM team to increase customer satisfaction. In this way, you’ll also be able to retain customers better.

3. Competition analysis

Let’s say your business administers a brand perception survey. Using the data gathered, you find out that there’s a particular reason why customers prefer Brand X’s products over yours. You take that feedback and use it to alter the look and functionality of your product to try and get some people to convert. This way, you’ll be able to raise your margins and save money on outdated product costs.

Examples of how commercial due diligence surveys can save a company money

Example #1

Consider a brand who’s launching a meal kit delivery service. They decided to run a billboard campaign and a print ad advertising their new launch. They spent $50,000 on the two ad campaigns. Because of the campaign, they earned $500,000 in revenue. They are roughly making a 10x return on their investment. But till now, they have done no research. 

Now, they consider using commercial due diligence surveys to see who their target audience is. They find that their target audience are working professionals in the age group of 22 to 34. They also find their customers' preferred advertising channels using the results of the surveys. The commercial due diligence surveys reveal that Instagram is their preferred advertising channel, because they spend the most amount of time on that platform. If they revise their campaign to only focus on Instagram they end up spending $25000 in ads. With this targeted approach, they increase their revenues to $600,000 because they attract core customers.

Using commercial due diligence surveys they have now saved $25000 and increased their ROI to 24x. They would spend some money on commercial due diligence surveys but that would be considered an investment as it leads to increased returns and not an expense. Additionally, they can reduce survey expenses using online surveys. Check out this example of commercial due diligence surveys, where a Swedish milk company improved their ROI through GrapeData.

Example #2

We know that business websites are some of the first touch points that a consumer makes with a business. As a result, a business will want to make sure that user experience on the website is as smooth as possible. Of course, Google Analytics is very effective in showing which pages customers stayed at, how long they did and what they looked at. However, Google Analytics only shows the ‘what’ behind the consumer buying journey and not the ‘why’. You may not know that a certain percentage of people leave your website but you don’t know the reason behind it. Using commercial due diligence surveys, businesses can gain a 360 degree view of why customers are leaving a page. B2C commercial due diligence surveys will allow you to get some customers on, go through your website with them, and ask them questions on how to improve. Even if you increase your conversion rate by a half percent, it could mean increasing thousands of dollars in revenue.

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Having trouble conducting your commercial due diligence? We are here to help. We know that conducting commercial due diligence can be a daunting process. At GrapeData, we use geo-located B2B surveys and a combination of AI and hyper-personalised targeting to obtain unique insights from individuals anywhere in the world. Moreover, we offer reliable services and have contributors from over 90 countries. Make sure to reach out to us and get the best research services. With over two hundred and fifty thousand contributors, we are sure to find the right fit for you.