Susan Bell Research specialises in communications and language research - for any kind of internal or external communications, such as website, documentation or packaging, and for spoken communication. This research could be:
- Exploratory qualitative research on how people use communication material
- Website, user and readability research. We are the experts in financial disclosure testing.
- Before and after tracking studies
- Ongoing tracking studies to measure the impact of communication improvements
- Semiotic research
- Understanding the nuances in the way people express themselves about a product, service, or brand.
It makes an enormous difference to the quality and usefulness of communication research if the lead researcher is (as I am) both a trained linguist, and an experienced researcher. We care about representative samples, quality control, and plain language.
We have made considerable investment in studying a range of communication theories, especially semiotics and discourse analysis, and have found innovative ways to apply them, so they yield useful business-ready results.
We have developed a new observational and face to face interviewing technique which has yielded great results for our clients. We watch how people read. In a recent study of people who generally avoid reading, we have been able to identify three different strategies for our client to use for three different types of readers. We are now conducting tracking research to measure the effects of the changes they have made.
In other recent work we are helping a client optimise the efficiency of his direct mail.
We are now using our experience with readability for website research as well.
We work closely with our clients to help you get the most out of the research results, including practical guidance in how to improve layout and language.
