Most national brands do extensive consumer research related to consumer needs and desires,  offerings (current and future ) and customer satisfaction. This information is usually shared regularly with channel partners and affiliates.

But, how can information flow the other direction, from the local affiliate back to the national brand? It requires education, tools, and possibly incentives.

Education. National brands should educate their local affiliates and channel partners on simple ways to conduct local market research: easy-to-implement methods for post-purchase follow-up, survey questions on local websites/microsite/blogs, 1:1 interviews, and even “how did you hear about us” inquiries.

Although this example from the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center of Iowa is a little long, it does a good job educating about the importance of market research, it is industry-specific and it chronicles a case study throughout the piece. It also provides sample questions and lots of “how to” tips.

Tools. Provide research tools to your channel partners. This can be as simple as a questionnaire template they can repurpose. Or perhaps access to online survey tools, like SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang. Share the questions you ask in national research or develop specific tools for your local researchers.

Interestingly, though not surprising, the below 4 questions are the most frequently asked customer feedback questions, according to data from Survey Monkey. Although quite obvious to corporate marketers, these types of questions may not be top-of-mind for your very busy local affiliates.

• Overall, are you satisfied with your experience using <our product | service>, neither satisfied or dissatisfied with it, or dissatisfied with it?
• What do you like <most | least> about <our product | service>?
• What changes would most improve <our product | service>?
• How likely are you to recommend our <our company | product | service> to people you know?

Findings and Incentives. Develop a process or mechanism for local affiliates to share results with the national brand and with other local affiliates. Consider offering an incentive for the most research shared or the best customer quote. Also, showcase local affiliates who participate at annual meetings or on affiliate portals.

PS: Here at Balihoo, we will be trying out some new research tactics in 2012, including user-generated content on our blog. We’ll keep you posted on what we are doing and how it is working.