Market Research Society

Relaunching the Research Buyers Guide

Sector

  • Membership

Expertise

  • Design
  • Digital development

Deliverables

  • Marketing services
  • Website

The client

The Market Research Society (MRS) is the UK professional body for research, insight and analytics. MRS recognises 4,000 individual members and more than 700 accredited company partners in over 50 countries which are committed to delivering outstanding insight. As the regulator, MRS promotes the highest professional standards throughout the sector via the MRS Code of Conduct.

The Research Buyers Guide (RBG)  features agencies from around the world that offer the full range of research specialisms, the guide is the definitive starting point for high-quality research.

The challenge

With consumers moving to digital platforms, MRS made a decision that the RBG would no longer be printed and would move to an online-only guide from 2020. There was risk attached to this decision, as MRS had traditionally obtained most of its listings and renewals via the printed version, although the online version was also available. The challenge was to redesign the online buyers guide making it easier to use and a more attractive proposition for advertisers.

The solution

MRS came to CPL with a desire to redesign the online RBG to attract new users and raise the profile of the guide. 

CPL was also commissioned to make recommendations around increasing the reach of the online RBG by analysing its past performance and suggesting new ways of marketing the platform via a range of digital channels. 

The results

50%

increase in traffic to the RBG in the last year

4,000+

users coming to the directory every month

47%

increase in traffic from Europe

214%

increase in traffic from Asia, noticeably India and China, but also incrementally across all countries in southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific regions

“We’ve been really pleased with the relaunch of the Research Buyers Guide. We’ve seen a good uptake in renewals and new entries, which is great given the risk associated with stopping the print publication. There has also been a significant increase in web traffic to the RBG - particularly from an overseas audience - and the reskin definitely contributed to this.”

Christian Walsh
Content and Digital Director, Market Research Society

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