Dallas West Church of Christ Market Research Study

Market Research Case Study

Challenge:

The DWCC leadership was experiencing challenges attracting new members and retaining the existing membership. The scope of this project was focused on addressing the immediate need which involved the membership turnover. In order to properly address and ensure the appropriate initiatives were implemented, the leadership needed to obtain an in-depth understanding of members attitudes, perceptions, and motivations. This information would help leadership identify the underlying problems, which would guide their efforts and campaigns to improve membership retention.

For this purpose, DWCC hired InCon, LLC to conduct research that would provide the type of information leadership needed to make necessary improvements that would appeal and meet the needs of DWCC stakeholders. The research was centered around the following objectives:

To understand current and previous members attitudes and perceptions toward DWCC.
To understand factors that influence and motivate members to be active.
To identify unmet needs and desires of current and previous members the DWCC failed to meet.

Solution:

Our approach included a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Below gives a quick snapshot of all phases of the project: Internal Data: Access to the DWCC internal data was a critical component and need for InCon, LLC. The type of information by which InCon, LLC gained access consisted of the DWCC membership database (i.e. Excel spreadsheet) that listed all those who have been a DWCC member within the past 5 years. Membership Demographic Assessment: This demographic assessment was done to give leadership a true understanding of their existing membership composition, as well as to help determine who were existing DWCC members and who were no longer members of DWCC. Focus Group Study: Considering there was not a clear understanding of the existing concerns, attitudes, perceptions, and needs amongst the membership, a series of focus groups were conducted. The focus groups were used give better understanding of the problem as well as how best to develop the quantitative instrument. InCon, LLC used a survey questionnaire (which is a quantitative method) for the validation of information obtained during the focus groups sessions and to measure perceptions, motivations, needs, desires, and differences.

Results:

The DWCC leadership became completely aware of the internal issues that have impeded Church growth. They have been able to implement the right initiatives to focus on retention and outreach. The information was also used to help develop the Church brand and how best to engage the audiences they seek to attract.