Manufacturing association assesses workplace training needs
A manufacturing industry association wanted to better understand its members’ needs for workplace training courses
Image: Manufacturing needs assessment
The Challenge
A niche market and a multi-lingual audience
The manufacturing association served a niche industry that is critical to IT hardware. It wanted to understand how it could better help to upskill workers by surveying its members in both English and Spanish.
Initially, the client wanted to design the survey themselves. However, the complexity of the project called for a B2B market research agency. It was important that the agency was already familiar with manufacturing market research, and capable of delivering multi-lingual quantitative surveys.
Our Approach
Quantitative survey of association members
Werk Insight, a B2B market research company, designed a quantitative survey to measure awareness of and demand for the manufacturing association’s workforce training courses. The questions were customized to incorporate relevant skills based on the roles that decision-makers need training for. They assessed the following factors:
Awareness of the association’s workforce training courses
Overall demand from members for workforce training courses
Demand for specific skills training courses
Desired format for workforce training courses
Key drivers and barriers for clients to take the courses
Current member satisfaction and likelihood of using training services
We guided the client through the survey distribution process by providing email templates and identifying the most relevant members for research. The survey was also translated into Spanish for members based in Mexico and the U.S.
The Insight
Tailored approach to workforce training courses
The research insights gathered from the survey helped the manufacturing association to understand which courses to develop for each role by balancing demand, willingness to pay, and correct format. It provided insight into what keeps clients from being more engaged with these courses and marketing materials, so that the manufacturing association was able to address those pain points. This included how to improve awareness for its training services, and what content and formats its member organizations would most benefit from.