The 10 Vital Questions To Answer
Before Beginning
Any Measurement Program
Don't know the answers?
Go get them right now.

By Katie Delahaye Paine

Editor's note: If you are new to research and measurement, you've come to the right place. After reading this article and its companion on the 7 Ws, head over to measuresofsuccess.com for all the research references and resources you can shake a spreadsheet at. And if you are not a measurement newbie, well, you better read these articles anyway, 'cause the whole idea of measurement is that there is something important out there that you don't know. Yet.

The first seven on this list are job goals and details that every accountable professional communicator should know so well that they inform every decision made. Before you begin any measurement program, make sure you have the answers to the last three as well. Once you've got these 10 W's answered, you're truly prepared to start designing your measurement program.

1. What are your corporate objectives?

2. What are your department objectives?
While it may seem facile and simplistic to actually put this question on the list, it is amazing how many communication professionals I've met with who cannot answer it. Or if they can, the objectives are not measurable. I help them through the process by asking them to shut their eyes and imagine that it is the end of the year, and they are celebrating enormous success. Corks are popping, champagne is flowing, and bonus checks are being passed out to everyone. What is it that they are celebrating? Alternatively, work from the opposite perspective to define your mission by getting your boss to answer this question: "If your department was wiped out tomorrow, how would the business suffer?"

3. What are your key messages?

4. Who is your program's target audience(s)?

5. Who influences that audience?

6. How do you distribute your product/service?

7. What measurement programs are currently underway?

8. What are you going to do with the information you get from your new measurement program?

9. What other departments/areas will be affected? …or… Who will be involved in implementing changes as a result of your measurement program?
This is one of the most important questions, because if you do not have buy-in to change behavior or strategy, then your measurement program will be a waste of effort. Whoever it is that might be required to change as a result of your measurement needs to be involved in the process of designing the measurement program. Without buy-in, change will not happen.

10. Who are your internal clients/audiences for measurement?
This is the other key question. If it's the CEO, your report must be a like a billboard, where you have 20 seconds or less to get your message across. If it is marketing, the report should be short, but detailed enough to include brand data as well as corporate data. If it is market research, you will need to provide cross tabs and other supporting data. If it's the VP of Communications, you'll want to make sure you go into a bit more detail as to why certain results were the way they are.

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