It happens all too often. As a market researcher, you slave away for countless hours in pursuit of insightful data but, to your shock, your research report flops and your data are dead in the water. What went wrong? Chances are, it is how you presented the findings. The data-driven writing may either be so dry that it bored the reader to tears, or the real takeaways are buried underneath so many figures that your readers can’t follow along. Before you next open Microsoft Word, learn what you can do to hook readers from the first word to the last.

Think Before You 

Write Before you begin, while you’re writing, and during your final review, keep these three items top of mind: Know your reader, your data, and the context for your research. Orly Maravankin, executive vice president of GfK Custom Research North American in New York, says it helps for researchers to speak to business leaders or clients up front to get a clear understanding of their business objectives. Doing this helps you understand what you should accomplish with your reports. Beyond that, read your company’s (or client’s) annual business report, get a sense of the cultural and social trends surrounding your study, and determine the insight the data supports, she says.

“First and foremost, you have to figure out what you’re really trying to say. What are the primary things you want your audience to walk away with?” says Fred John, senior business leader of intelligence and planning for MasterCard Inc. Typically, readers aren’t looking for numbers but for insights into what business actions they should take. “The key thing is not to simply report what you found,” he adds.

Tell a Story As you get ready to write, storyboard, or visually outline, your research so you can find ways to organize and tighten your thoughts, says Ed Stalling, chief storyteller at Maritz Research Inc. in Fenton, Missouri, who splits his time between reviewing company research reports and promoting writing tips and concepts to employees. From that outline, the context for the research should seem more apparent, he says, and you can better appreciate which aspects of the data matter most. Remember when you’re writing that you’re trying to tell a story with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. “You have to go beyond the nuts and bolts if you want to connect with clients.”

Questions

1. Should you save all your good stuff for the end of your report? Why do you say that?

2. How do you keep people engaged throughout a report of presentation? Why is that important?

3. Are report readers looking for numbers or for insights into what business actions they should take? Why do you say that?

4. According to the author, what is the first thing you need to do before you begin a report or presentation? Why is that important? Is it easy?