Comprehensive planning and extensive daily reporting makes Market Research project a success for William Reed.
William Reed Business Media has been providing market leading business information for 150 years. The markets they serve are central to everyone’s life. They include food and drink, where their activities extend across manufacturing, retail, wholesale and hospitality, and, more recently, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Since 1862, when the first issue of The Grocer magazine rolled off the printing presses, William Reed has been the authoritative voice of the UK grocery industry. Today, with the fifth generation of the Reed family running the company, they have an expanding portfolio of websites, newsletters, magazines, face-to-face and virtual events, exhibitions, conferences, data services and directories, across an international footprint
The Group has moved with the times and invested significantly in developing and improving brands and products. A number of successful strategic acquisitions throughout William Reed’s history have also boosted growth.
Project background
William Reed Business Media had recognised the need to research the current readership of their leading industry publication, Restaurant magazine. The main objective of the research was to gain precious knowledge and insight of how the recipient interacted with their own personal copy of Restaurant. The main areas which would be focused on would be the demographics of the reader - how they use the magazine, time spent reading, pass-on readership, what they like/don’t like about it in terms of content, news, editorial etc.
The Telemarketing Company were selected to provide a research project which would support the main objective by implementing a 10–15 minute CATi interview with a random sample of the publications readership.
The Telemarketing Company worked carefully with William Reed to plan and execute a campaign of 3 weeks.
Prior to the campaign launch, the following areas were planned and agreed through a process of open exchange of information and ideas which included detailed discussions surrounding the questionnaire and its structure, timeframes of when the research should be implement, to help increase the level of results and to minimize any disruptions to the customer operating in a demanding industry, and how the completed results would be delivered back to William Reed upon completion of the research project.
Project execution and results
William Reed Business Media approached The Telemarketing Company with a questionnaire they wished to conduct with 300 recipients of Restaurant magazine. This was reviewed and discussed to ensure the appropriate questions were being asked, and in the right way.
After detailed discussions surrounding the proposed questionnaire, which resulted in some minor amendments, The Telemarketing Company built and developed the agreed questionnaire into a bespoke CATi platform which was subjected to a vigorous testing process to ensure the developed questionnaire would ultimately supply William Reed with the valuable knowledge directly from their customers.
A small selected research team was assembled and briefed extensively on the objectives of the research to ensure a high level of interaction was achieved with the customer, this aiding the degree of knowledge and information collected during each interview.
During each research interview the agents were required to ask a set of comprehensive questions which ranged from identifying the customer’s individual organisation; how they used and interacted with media elements to aid their business operation; and most importantly, how each customer interacted and used their monthly copy of Restaurant magazine within their business environment.
Extensive call monitoring, including live monitoring, was conducted throughout the duration of the research project to help identify any areas of the call process which could be improved or changed to help improve the quality of information being captured.
The research project was conducted within the guidelines of Market Research Society’s code of conduct, which ensured industry best practice was delivered on each call. All agents within the team were trained research agents having all completed the Market Research Society’s Accredited Interviewer Training Scheme.
In addition to this, a minimum of at least 5% of all completed research interviews were carefully reviewed and monitored in accordance with the IQCS (Interviewer Quality Control Scheme), an independent organisation, which ensures and maintains high standards of data collection within the Market Research Industry.
The Telemarketing Company supplied William Reed Business Media with a written report on a daily basis, which detailed an update on results obtained to date. This was supported by both verbal and electronic communication on the progress of the project. Regular data extracts were supplied to William Reed Business Media, which identified customers who had yet to receive their monthly copy of the Restaurant magazine.
"The Telemarketing Company proved an exceptional agency for our research needs. Providing excellent consultation before the campaign began and constant updates once it had commenced. I had total confidence in their execution of the campaign, which was completed exactly to the schedule they predicted. The results are already being used by our sales team and would have no hesitation in recommending The Telemarketing Company to others." Marketing Manager, William Reed Business Media