We see it time and again. Critical policy messages that miss the mark.  The reason is simple: they were vetted with the wrong people.

If you are based in the Washington, DC area, whether you’re a corporation, association, think tank, or politician, here’s some free advice: Test Your Message Outside the Beltway.

We do policy message testing for a living.

➤ Please reach out- we’d love to help.

That’s what we’ve been telling our clients for nearly two decades. And even though they know that—of course they know that—clients are always surprised at what outside-the-Beltway testing turns up.

Here’s why it matters:

➤Average Americans Only Consume a “Trickle” of News

Most people outside the Washington metro area are not immersed in the details of your issues—sometimes they’ve never even heard of the issues. We’ve validated this again and again through our Swing Voter Project, which taken us to swing states every month for the last 18 month. Average Americans by and large get their news is small doses from LOCAL SOURCES. Yes, some watch cable news  but are almost as likely to get their news from Facebook.

➤Average Americans are Fixated on Themselves

This is not to imply that they don’t care about other people or the world as a whole. It simply means that while trying to pay their bills and care for their family, they don’t have the LUXURY of immersing themselves in DC news.

Some of them are working multiple jobs.
Some of them are a health crisis away from bankruptcy.
Some of them are working 18 hour days to keep the family farm afloat.
Some of them are caring for a chronically ill family member.

Their challenges are real and immediate.  

➤Validate That Your Policy Messages Are Connecting

And the best way to do that is to test your messages with them. Get in their heads. See their reactions. Hear their thoughts. Then refine based on what you’ve learned.

Again, our clients know all this. But they still—regularly—say things like, “I did not expect that one to tank!”; “I am really surprised none of the respondents have heard of that.”; “I didn’t realize our language was so full of jargon until this dial test.”

And we especially like: “Good thing we tested this!”

We do policy message testing for a living.

➤ Please reach out- we’d love to help.

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To demonstrate how different Washington, D.C. is from other parts of the country, here are some facts and comparisons:

—Bigger salaries: highest per capita income in the country ($75,569; the national average is $49,571)[1] with an annual growth rate of 4.5% (vs. 3.6% national average)[2]

—Educated: 55% of the population 25 years or older has at least a bachelor’s degree (29.3% nationally);[3] 31% have an advanced degree (11.2% nationally)[4]

—Expensive housing: median value of a house is $460,700 ($163,900 nationally)

—Lower rate of home ownership: 40.4% own their own homes (63.7% nationally)

—High crime: 6,408.6 crimes per 100,000 people (3,295.0 nationally)[5]

[1] http://www.courant.com/business/hc-per-capita-income-connecticut-20170328-story.html
[2] https://wtop.com/business-finance/2017/03/dc-per-capita-income-25-percent-higher-national-average/
[3] https://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/50states
[4] https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_15_5YR_S1501
[5] https://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/50states

This group of swing voters think the country is in trouble but don’t lay the blame on President Trump. Read this month’s findings to see what they had to say.

Here’s a couple of interesting things this group told us:

President Trump still has their vote — at least 7 of the 9 of them. Only 2 in the group say they would vote for Biden over Trump if the election was held “tomorrow.”

They feel life between now and election day will be chaotic, divided and emotional.

They feel that the demand to “Defund the police” is going too far and could have a negative impact on Biden’s chances.

And they largely want schools to re-open in the fall

View the highlights for yourself: 

Couple of direct takes from this group:

On the pandemic and re-opening the country…

“I believe [scientific experts] should be part of the guidance, but… if we listen to nothing but scientific guidance, we’d be shutting down every business in the country.”

On social unrest and the ramping up of protests in some cities… 

“They (protestors) are still burning buildings. They’re rioting. They’re doing things that aren’t going to bring us together. They’re doing more things that are going to bring us apart.”

➜ Check out all the key findings in our July summary report

Should We Wait To Do Research “Until this is Over?”

We have been fielding these questions since March. We can now say definitively that yes, now is not only a good time, but a great time.

Back when this all started we did not know (nobody knew) how the coronavirus economy and lockdown would impact qualitative research. Will people fixate on the short-term? Will their mindset impede insights?

Back then, we were advising our clients to push the PAUSE button until things changed, stabilized or we got a better read. 

But here’s what we have found, and why we have so much confidence in the quality of online qual research being done right now:

5 Reasons Why Now is a Great Time to
Do Online Market Research

➤People are bored with the same-old quarantine-based conversations. They are very eager to participate in research right now, if for no other reason than to communicate with a different human being than their quarantine buddies. (It is not an over statement to say that many respondents are down right thrilled to have a chat!)

➤People are living thru a most unusual (arduous? painful? frightening?) time. Their emotions are raw, and their walls are down. This vulnerability means they are opening up much quicker than usual during online focus groups.

➤People have had a lot of downtime to dissect their angst. This new level of self-awareness is leading to super candid conversations in our online IDI’s.

➤People have had to forfeit so many of their simple pleasures: dining out, retail therapy, family events. This deprivation has given them a fresh take on what your products and services really mean to them. 

➤The silver lining to this slow-moving tsunami we are living through: people have never been more connected with the world around them. That leads to great insights.

Have a research project you’ve been thinking about doing? Now might be the right time!

Reach out and we can talk it through.

Have you noticed consistent trends in each month’s SVP report? You’ll want to read this month’s findings—there’s been a shift. 

Trump’s support among these swing voters has fallen

• • • The country is in chaos, and he’s not bringing order, he’s bringing more conflict.
    • They’re still not crazy about Biden. But they’re more willing to give him a chance.
    • How are they feeling in general? No surprise here—anxious, depressed, frustrated, fearful.

• • • They’re horrified about George Floyd’s death, and they’re supportive of the initial protests; but they think the protests have made their point. And protest violence is causing more division. They want it to stop.
    • They oppose defunding the police, and if Biden supports those efforts, he’ll lose many of their votes.
    • They want a national conversation about race, but they don’t want politicians to lead it.

“Our entire year has been taken away from us,” they said, with the prohibitions on weddings, funerals, and other public gatherings. Meanwhile, thousands are allowed to crowd together for protests. They want consistent pandemic gathering rules.

➜ Like we said, you’re going to want to read the whole thing

Have you noticed consistent trends in each month’s SVP report? You’ll want to read this month’s findings—there’s been a shift. 

Trump’s support among these swing voters has fallen

• • • The country is in chaos, and he’s not bringing order, he’s bringing more conflict.
    • They’re still not crazy about Biden. But they’re more willing to give him a chance.
    • How are they feeling in general? No surprise here—anxious, depressed, frustrated, fearful.

• • • They’re horrified about George Floyd’s death, and they’re supportive of the initial protests; but they think the protests have made their point. And protest violence is causing more division. They want it to stop.
    • They oppose defunding the police, and if Biden supports those efforts, he’ll lose many of their votes.
    • They want a national conversation about race, but they don’t want politicians to lead it.

“Our entire year has been taken away from us,” they said, with the prohibitions on weddings, funerals, and other public gatherings. Meanwhile, thousands are allowed to crowd together for protests. They want consistent pandemic gathering rules.

➜ Like we said, you’re going to want to read the whole thing

This high-security platform for web conferencing is used by fewer than 1% of all accounts. ZoomGov was specifically designed to serve sensitive areas of the US Government. We use this same technology for all our online qual research: online focus groups, virtual IDIs and online dial groups.

Why we use it – Using the same encryption as the Pentagon gives peace-of-mind to our clients. In addition, the video and audio quality is far superior.

How is this different from the standard, commercial web conferencing – ZoomGov is built on a different technology platform, GovCloud, which is used by US intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the CDC, and many more. ZoomGov is also compliant with FedRAMP, HIPAA, & Dept of Defense security guidelines. 

Why it’s good for our clients – Through us, our clients can confidently and securely conduct any form of online research—including for projects which require a high level of security or confidentiality.

• • • • • Sensitive advocacy and political message testing
        • High-profile litigation and jury research
        • Patient healthcare research interviews
        • Pre-release media research (movies, TV pilots, CEO speeches)
        • Testing of sensitive or copyrighted materials

This robust level of security and encryption is your safeguard. It ensures clients and stakeholders that the important content you are testing will remain under your control.

Do you use the commercial version of Zoom? We have some best practices for you to ensure you are leveraging their security features. Check it out here➤

About FedRAMP

FedRamp is the security standard required across the US government for sensitive information.

It is required by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, the CDC, intelligence agencies and the Justice Department.

Learn more about FedRAMP security and encryption compliance.

About Amazon GovCloud

AWS GovCloud  https://aws.amazon.com/govcloud-us/?whats-new-ess.sort-by=item.additionalFields.postDateTime&whats-new-ess.sort-order=desc

Learn More:

➠FedRAMP compliance for online research https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2019/05/07/zoom-achieves-fedramp-moderate-authorization/

➠HIPAA compliance for online research tools https://zoom.us/docs/doc/Zoom-hipaa.pdf

➠DoD SRG (Security Requirements Guide) https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/dod/

➠Zoom security whitepaper https://zoom.us/docs/doc/Zoom-Security-White-Paper.pdf