Industry overview
What is shaping tobacco
Tobacco research sits at the meeting point of regulation, public health and farm livelihoods. Every study we take on in this sector follows strict ethical guidelines and focuses on compliance, awareness, livelihoods and cessation.
- Point-of-sale and packaging rules are tightly regulated
- Public-health programmes track awareness and cessation
- Farm households weigh alternative crops and livelihoods
Client background
A national quitline operator, working in Pan-India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A national quitline operator
- Sector
- Tobacco
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Offline data collection (CATI), Quantitative research, Data analytics & dashboards
Client challenge
The quitline wanted to understand callers’ experiences and quit outcomes after their first call, to improve counselling and follow-up.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: improving a tobacco quitline through caller feedback.
- Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 6 months.
Target audience
Scope: 2,500 callers over six months.
Audiences we typically reach in tobacco
Retailers and point-of-sale ownersTobacco farmersPublic-health programme teamsAdults trying to quitRegulators and enforcement officials
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Pan-India. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
A structured quantitative design, so results could be compared across groups, locations and time.
- 1Brief
- 2Follow-up telephone survey
- 3Dashboard
- 4Insight
With callers’ consent, our telephone team followed up at set intervals to ask about counselling quality, quit attempts and support needs. Results were shown on a monthly dashboard by language and region.
Offline data collection (CATI)Quantitative researchData analytics & dashboards
Sampling strategy
- Telephone contacts were dialled from verified lists, with quotas tracked live by the field team.
Data collection
- callers
- 2,500
- Telephone interviews were run from our CATI centre, with calls monitored for quality.
Data quality & validation
- Live call monitoring and recording review
- Call-back verification
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Interactive dashboard for ongoing tracking
Key findings
- Callers who received scheduled follow-up calls reported more quit attempts.
Follow-up support was as valuable as the first conversation.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: follow-up support was as valuable as the first conversation.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: callers who received scheduled follow-up calls reported more quit attempts.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The quitline increased follow-up capacity in the languages where demand was highest.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interactive dashboard
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: are retailers following display and sale rules?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.