(Sample) Size Matters. But, Maybe Not as Much as You Think (Part 2)

Part 2: Three Times When a Small Sample Isn't a Big Deal

Common sense dictates that having a large sample size is always better. However, in Voice of the Customer research, it's rarely your goal to extrapolate findings to a population of several hundred million people. You don't need hundreds or thousands of research subjects to walk away with valuable information.

Here are three specific examples where you can still expect to get great results despite having a small sample size.

The Million Dollar Customer

If there's an argument to be made for a sample size of one, it's when your largest customer shares an opinion. Imagine if a very large client gave you feedback and it was clear they would be shopping for another vendor if you didn't adapt to meet their needs. Would you require validation from 100 other clients before implementing a change? Depending on the specific feedback, you may already know it's an issue other customers have and address it across the board — or it might be unique to this client and not translate well on a larger scale.

When You Know Your Audience Very Well

If you make an effort to ask for feedback on a regular basis and through a variety of channels, you may be able to generalize more broadly from a small group than a company that doesn't maintain that sort of connection to its customer base. If you send out satisfaction surveys after each interaction and have a well-established trend of what's "normal" for your business, even a small number of abnormal responses can be enough to raise red flags and justify a deeper dive.

When Time and Money Are of the Essence

When factors such as time or money limit your ability to gather data in quantity, you need to focus instead on quality. If you're only going to be able to get a small number of responses, make sure the ones you get are as representative of your customers as possible. If you're looking for feedback from customers of a specific product, focus your efforts on soliciting responses from them.

The point is, sample size isn't everything. Ask yourself: how many times do you need to hear the same feedback before you're ready to make a change? If the answer is "once," then you don't need to conduct 100 interviews. How many study participants are "enough?" The answer is the number it would take for you to put their recommendations into action.