With dial groups, participants utilize hand-held dial devices to answer the various questions. They respond using a defined scale that appears on their dials, the data is collected by the system immediately and viewers can see the results of the gathered quantitative responses. This approach, paired with moderator freedom, allows viewers to delve deeper into the true opinions of their participants. Dial groups are useful to the housing industry — for home builders, marketers, developers and architects — because research teams are able to test floor plans, designs and community concepts quantitatively with the dials to reduce participant bias as well as qualitatively to gain further insight. Dials can be used to test participant reactions to direct mail, Web sites and other marketing information. They can also test advertising concepts such as brand and names. Lifestyle Segmentation: To Better Understand Your Target Market’s Needs Have you ever wondered how retailers decide where to build their next store? Or how they know that a certain corner will bring more business than the one across the street? Along with a great deal of analysis, retailers use lifestyle characteristics of the market to determine what locations will bring them the most success. Real estate communities can now do this as well through lifestyle segmentation. Lifestyle segmentation is the division of a heterogeneous market into relatively homogeneous groups on the basis of the market’s attitudes, beliefs, opinions, personalities and lifestyles. By means of this segmentation process, marketers can understand the target audiences that they most want to reach. Focusing on Those With a Propensity to Buy More marketers today prefer segmentation profiling over standard random sampling procedures. The main reason is that segmentation profiling allows marketers to focus marketing efforts on prospects with a greater propensity to buy their product as opposed to spending precious marketing dollars on a random, low-interest group. In addition to cost-savings, segmentation provides the necessary background for understanding the target prospect better. Lifestyle segmentation also has the benefit of being a more sophisticated process. The target population is defined not just on the basis of one or two criteria (age, income, etc.); it takes into account a broader set of criteria (i.e., geography, spending habits, education, occupation, etc.). This allows more meaningful and evolved target market definitions. Lifestyle segmentation is beneficial to the housing industry because it specifies target groups most likely to move into a certain area or community. Thus, developers can have a better estimate of demand for their product before solidifying plans. Web Surveys: To Get the Same Results — Quicker and at Lower Cost Web surveys are helpful to the housing industry because developers can access immediate opinions on plans for their communities and can reach a broader audience unlimited by geographic boundaries. Web surveys work similarly to traditional research techniques in all aspects except the survey medium itself. Research experts still determine objectives and timelines with their client, utilize sample size and sampling methodology, conduct the survey and deliver results at its conclusion. Of course, the major difference is the opportunity to utilize Internet technology as a survey medium. Web surveys offer the advantages of quick turn-around and elimination of costs that are associated with traditional fielding and data entry. A Web survey tool gives clients the opportunity to view “real-time” results as participants complete the Web survey. Internet surveys typically sample from a panel of pre-qualified respondents with valid e-mail addresses. Once sample size is determined, invitations for the survey are e-mailed to the selected sample group. Web links to the survey can be posted on client Web sites, as well. Survey respondents are voluntary and look at the information as being helpful; often, respondents are rewarded for their participation in Web surveys. Rob Adams is president of Brooks Adams Research, a Richmond, VA-based full-service market research company with a national client base. Adams focuses on the housing industry and is a past speaker at Building for Boomers & Beyond: Seniors Housing Symposium. For more information, e-mail Adams, or call him at 866-680-3704. | 
Technology is constantly evolving and revolutionizing all aspects of life as we know it, including market research. Those in the housing industry have endless opportunities to utilize these research technologies to better understand and reach their target markets, to better hear their thoughts and to better meet their needs. 