Also in this report:

– Market research comes of age: Once considered a poor second cousin to marketing, research today wields influence in corporate boardrooms p.39

– Internet research holds potential: But medium still in its infancy p.40

– Early research can increase direct effectiveness p.41

– Making the leap to micro-marketing p.43

– Technology supports product development p.44

They go by the nicknames ‘sugging,’ ‘mugging’ and ‘frugging.’ And they pose a major headache for marketing researchers.

For the uninitiated, that’s selling, marketing and fundraising under the guise of research. Many in the research business are concerned that these practices may disrupt their own information-gathering activities – to the point that industry groups have begun taking steps to combat the problem.

Methods of sugging (or mugging, or frugging) may vary, but the core pattern is generally the same. An organization approaches an individual requesting nothing more than answers to survey questions – then follows up with a sales or fundraising pitch.

This is by no means the exclusive domain of unscrupulous fly-by-night operations. According to the Canadian Association of Marketing Research Organizations (camro), such reputable organizations as the National Anti-Poverty Organization and North York General Hospital have hidden behind surveys to solicit donations.

Janet Hawkins, president of the Professional Marketing Research Society (pmrs) says her family has experienced sugging firsthand.

‘If companies would only get rid of the introductory part about a call or letter being a survey and go straight to the solicitation, things would be better,’ she says. ‘But the problem is, they suck you in with this deceptive thing.’

The Canadian Direct Marketing Association’s code of ethics expressly forbids telemarketers and others from making ‘offers or solicitations in the guise of researchwhen the real intent is to sell products, services or to raise funds.’ This, however, applies only to cdma members.

Sugging and its siblings are considered problematic because they tend to make consumers wary about responding to surveys. And higher refusal rates make it tougher for research firms to get representative samples.

‘It has a [serious] effect on response rates,’ says Ivor Thompson, director of Toronto-based market research company Thompson Lightstone & Company, and president of the Canadian Survey Research Council (csrc).

Indeed, in one recent csrc study, 52% of Canadians indicated they would be more willing to participate in a research survey if they knew for sure it was not being used for sales or fundraising purposes.

Concern over these practices led the csrc to spearhead development of an industry-wide survey registration system in 1995.

Under the system, research firms voluntarily register all market surveys they conduct. Each is given a file that names the company in question and summarizes the focus of the survey. A project registration number is also assigned. When members of the public receive calls to participate in consumer research, they can request the registration number and then dial a toll-free number (1-800-554-9996) to verify whether the survey is legitimate.

‘If a telemarketer or fundraiser tries to use the survey lead-in approach, the respondent simply has to ask if they have a csrc registration number,’ says David Stark executive director of the csrc and its sister organization camro. ‘If they don’t have one, that means they did not meet our code of ethics.’

Since its inception, the csrc system has registered 2,200 surveys, and the call centre has logged more than 3,200 phone calls. Stark expects the registration system to continue gaining support from research firms.

Researchers, he says, would also like to see Canada adopt legislation similar to that which now exists in the u.s., requiring companies that contact members of the general public by phone to identify themselves and state the purpose of their call within the first five seconds.

The pmrs, meanwhile, is planning public relations initiatives on behalf of the research industry. These will be targeted first to client companies, and eventually to the general public, with a view to helping people understand the value and importance of legitimate marketing research.

Individual companies, too, are taking steps to improve their telephone approach and generally enhance the public perception of research.

Sue Ince, co-president of Toronto-based Epic Consulting, says her firm spends a great deal of time reassuring consumers that the work they do is genuine research, and is not aimed at selling them a timeshare, or swampland in Florida.