I spent most of this week at the 2010 Shopper Insights in Action Conference, which is always one of my favorite events of the year because unlike many market research related conferences the attendees are eager to push the edges and try new and different ways to understand consumers. Even though they employ traditional techniques, they are hardly wed to them and epitomize the concept of multi-method, multi-source research (using multiple types of data and data sources to answer a question.)
We’ve been talking about multi-source, multi-method for years at CMB, but it is pretty amazing how much the landscape has changed even in just the last four years. Searching through the article archives I found a 2006 article that laid out many of the available qualitative tools, and it feels (how do I say this nicely?) a bit outdated.
While a quick perusal of today’s list is a bit overwhelming, I am certain there are plenty of options that I failed to include. There is both a challenge and an opportunity in the fact that consumers are smarter than ever and willing to provide more robust and useful insights than ever before. Between technology that simulates real world experiences and improvements in our ability to listen to consumers in their own environment, there is no shortage of ways to give and receive feedback. The hard part is choosing the right technique or set of techniques for a given situation and making sure that information users understand the biases and limitations of each.
With all of the available options, what new tools have you added to the tool box in the last 4 years?
Posted by Josh Mendelsohn. Josh is our VP of Marketing and loves live music, tv, great food, market research, New Orleans, marketing, his family, Boston and sports. You can follow him on Twitter @mendelj2.
Posted originally on our Technology Pulse Blog by Chris Neal
We recently conducted research on social media to look at why people become fans and followers of certain brands. We wanted to get a high level view of why people become a fan/follower. Our gut (and some of our own personal experience) told us that many people that become a fan or follower do so because they are already customers of that brand. For the most part our instinct was right. Our research found 49% of people who become Facebook fans do so because they are already a customer.
The really interesting part is we found over half of those people who are engaged stated that they are more likely to buy and recommend that brand since becoming a fan/follower. It's clear that using social media as an engagement strategy helps cut through the online clutter and keeps brands "top of mind".
This makes a lot of sense for consumer companies, but is a social media engagement strategy right for harder to reach B2B audiences? The short answer is yes, but not without digging deeper to learn more about who you are trying to reach and where they "live" online. There are so many social media outlets available today and they are not all created equal and they're not a "one size fits all" answer.
Truly using social media as an engagement strategy may not take a lot of money, but it does take a lot of time. So the best place to start is prioritizing who you want to engage with and then look for the best places to find them and figure out how they want to be engaged in the various social media outlets available.
Recently we worked with AMD, a leading processor company to re-evaluate their social media effectiveness and develop a more optimized and targeted strategy to reach their widely disparate target audiences. It was important to start by looking at each of those targets and then systematically evaluate the true extent and impact of social media usage on each of those audiences.
- Audience: We used separate research modules for each unique target audience, spanning from extreme B2B to consumer segments
- Recruiting: We did not use social media to recruit research participants as to prevent sampling bias
- Techniques: Both qualitative/open-ended and quantitative research
This approach really allowed AMD to refine and optimize their social media content and tactics based on the different behaviors of each target audience. Learn more about this AMD case study at the Social Media and Community 2.0 Strategies event coming to Boston May 3-5.
Understanding B2B Social Media: An AMD Case Study
CMB's Chris Neal and AMD's Georgeanna Liu will presenting a case study of how CMB helped AMD better understand and capitalize on social media to drive their business. In this session, we'll explain the steps that AMD took to review and refine their social media strategy focusing on very specific target audiences.
Read more about social media
by downloading our report:
"Why Social Media Matters for Your Business."
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Recently, I posted on why companies should incorporate some measure of customer experiences into their brand research. In short, doing so helps organizations increase alignment and puts a spotlight on cases where front line interactions are undermining the brand. Or as CMB brand guru Rich Schreuer calls it - entering "the brand death spiral."
Below, Rich explains the brand death spiral and its importance.
MP Advantage Webinar
Chadwick Martin Bailey and CMG Partners will present the findings of a joint research study among over 400 CFO, CEO and marketing employees of companies with 100+ employees interested in measuring the performance of their marketing initiatives.
Watch the full Webinar.
Posted by Josh Mendelsohn. Josh is our VP of Marketing and loves live music, tv, great food, market research, New Orleans, marketing, Boston and sports. You can follow him on Twitter @mendelj2.
Brand tracking research usually focuses on how customers and prospects get brand impressions through market communications. However, research shows that once a person begins interacting with a brand, their actual experiences have a far greater impact on their perceptions and likelihood to shop, buy, or recommend.
Too often companies' brand tracking research doesn't account for this dynamic in any significant way, thus missing the opportunity to tell a more complete story. That's why I believe that the most effective brand tracking research incorporates both:
- Impact of the Brand: The extent to which market communications are delivering the most compelling brand promises; and
- Impact of Experience: The extent to which people's experiences at every touch point (e.g., the product, the store/purchase, personnel, problem resolution) match up with what the brand led them to expect
So where does social media fall into the equation? Obviously social media has both a brand element and an experience element. To keep things simple, I look at social media as another very important touch point. One that can impact people's perceptions and behaviors that is not under the "controlled" communications umbrella.
While it isn't possible (or advisable) to dive into great detail about experiences in your brand tracking, measuring both communications and experiences within the same research enables the findings to be very specific about the changes you can make to acquire and retain more customers. And it enables marketing resources to be spent more efficiently by detecting and diagnosing areas of the customers' experiences that could undermine even the most effective branding work.
Below is a great example of how bad experiences can undermine your best branding efforts. Enjoy!
Learn more by
downloading our social media report:
"Why Social Media Matters for Your Business."
Posted by Josh Mendelsohn. Josh is our VP of Marketing and loves live music, pugs, tv, great food, market research, New Orleans, marketing, Boston and sports. You can follow him on Twitter @mendelj2.
Today on the Research Brief Blog, Genesys, with Greenfield Online and Datamonitor/Ovum analysts, estimated that U.S. companies lose an estimated $83 billion each year due to defections and abandoned purchases as a direct result of a poor experience.
More and more often customer experiences are not a face to face or even face to phone interaction. Often times it is web-based or through social media. Making sure these interactions are in alignment with your brand has never been more important. And it has never more important to measure social media within your customer satisfaction and loyalty research programs.
When conducting customer satisfaction research we have always spent a lot of time putting the customer experience in context of the brand and making sure the two are aligned. More and more this involves understanding alignment and use of social media from both a marketing perspective (what most companies are doing) and a customer service perspective (what smart service organizations are doing.)
I'll give you a first hand example of the power of Twitter customer service.
Last week my home wireless network stopped working. After the tears, the violent shaking, and deep depression subsided I called my provider to see what the problem was. They sent a "refresh signal" to my cable modem and said to wait 15 minutes to see if it worked. Well, it didn't. But I was watching something on TV and concluded that because I could still connect with a hard wire, the router was the problem. When Saturday rolled around I bought a new router and expected the set up process to take about 15 minutes, 3 hours later I was still trying to get everything working.
The last hour and a half plus was spent on hold with my provider, Comcast. I have always defended Comcast in the face of bashing, having never personally had a bad experience. But this was maddening. In truth, I didn't know if they could help me at all. It could have been the router, but I wasn't sure. I just figured I would start there and move on.
But starting there ended up meaning 90 minutes on hold. Possibly longer, as I never actually spoke to anyone except a billing contact I wound up with 10 minutes in when I was quickly put back on hold. At the 100 minute mark I tweeted a complaint and was well on my way to joining the legions of Comcast bashers.
"Just made the 100 minute mark holding for Comcast customer support. Awesome."
I was just venting, but very quickly I received a direct message from someone named @ComcastBill asking if he could help. With nothing to lose I responded and after a few messages back and forth he was looking into the problem. His second suggestion (try taking the battery out of the modem) did the trick and within minutes I was on my way.
I quickly thanked him, both directly and publicly for saving my day - and here I am writing about him now. By proactively seeing my complaint and acting on it, Comcast was able to make a fan and advocate of me when I was ready to become a loud, obnoxious brand detractor. Twitter saved me as a customer. So for those companies wondering if investing in social media is worth it? In this case it most definitely was.
Learn more about the state of social media
by downloading our report:
"Why Social Media Matters for Your Business."
Posted by Josh Mendelsohn. Josh is our VP of Marketing and loves live music, pugs, tv, great food, market research, New Orleans, marketing, Boston and sports. You can follow him on Twitter @mendelj2.
It's been over two weeks now since the first Royal Caribbean ship returned to Labadee, Haiti, after an earthquake devastated the island nation's capital of Port-au-Prince. The cruise line, though pledging money and supplies to the relief effort through this action, has generated considerable debate. The travel trade, mainstream press and cruise travelers have voiced strong opinions both in favor and against continuing port calls.
Given the importance of international expansion to many travel and hospitality companies, the increased risk (both natural and man-made) found in developing economies, and the power of social media to spread news to millions at the push of a button, I think it's worth taking a few minutes to reflect and review lessons learned from this natural disaster and Royal's response.
Note: Royal Caribbean is a client but this blog post is compiled from publicly available information.
First the facts:
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1/12/10: A magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes Haiti, causing severe damage.
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1/13/10: Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein in his blog on the website speak about Haiti:
"As one of the leading investors in Haiti through our private destination at Labadee, we have nearly 30 years of involvement in the country and many, many relationships. We will attempt to utilize this blog to convey what we understand is happening and what our involvement will be in the relief effort." -
1/15/10: Royal Caribbean resumes cruise calls on Labadee, a peninsula on Haiti's northern coast.
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1/16/10: A story ran in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper highlighting comments from travelers uncomfortable with visiting in light of last week's tragic earthquake, which sparked a flurry of debate - articles and blog posts in support of or highly critical of the cruise line's decision.
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On 1/19, Cruise Critic found that 65% of U.S. and U.K. readers (almost 4,700 voted) praised the aid and financial support ships and passengers are bringing to the port. Some 14% were on the fence leaving 21% who felt that vacationing on Haiti at this time is inappropriate.
Now for the opinion: Nearly two weeks after the quake, news about the devastation and suffering in Haiti continue. We all - cruisers as well as those of us sitting in a heated room with a full belly - need to determine if and how to share our wealth with the people of Haiti. In my opinion, Royal Caribbean has done the right and ethical thing by continuing visits to Labadee. Consider the alternatives: divert the ships to visit another island (asking guests to avoid looking to the left as they sail past Haiti?) Cancel the cruise? What benefit or impact would either of those actions have had on the cruising guest? On the people of Haiti?
I applaud Royal's continuing commitment to the people of Haiti (for more information, see the blog on Royal Caribbean's website). In the last two weeks, Royal Caribbean has donated more than 120 pallets of goods -- primarily water, the island nation's number one need, but also nonperishable foodstuffs. Four more ships will bring supplies over the next week and a half, including not only more food and water but also medical supplies. In addition, they are donating all money made during Labadee calls through at least February 1, at which point the cruise line will re-evaluate the situation. The first three days of calls netted $110,000 -- all passed on to the relief effort. Finally, the line has pledged at least $1 million in aid, but the final tally will far exceed that and is already projected to be closer to $2 million.
Here are 5 lessons I've learned from observing Royal Caribbean's actions that are relevant to all travel and hospitality marketers:
- First and foremost, consider guest/employee safety. Ensure that all plans made keep customers and employees out of harm's way.
- Quickly plot a course of action. Consider alternative scenarios and the impact of each on key stakeholders. Share your decision-making process and justify your decision knowing that there may be no "right answer" but some are better and more defensible than others.
- Communicate - through all possible channels - with empathy. Expect the topic to be discussed in online consumer chat sites. Ensure accurate information about your initiatives is available to readers
- Get the word out about your initiatives - Publicize the heck out of it. Royal used multiple communication channels: Blog. PR. TV. Tweet. Facebook.
- Determine the contribution -- particularly if your organization has access to unique benefits -- you can make to relief efforts.
- Equip your employees - particularly Managers - who are ‘on site' to communicate with customers
- Listen. Be sensitive to customer concerns and solicit customer feedback. Express real concern.
- Give
openly and generously and enable customers to contribute in support of relief efforts
I'm sure others with more experience in PR or Crisis Communications can improve the list. What other reactions do you have to Royal? What else have you learned from their actions?
Relief Update
http://www.nationofwhynot.com/blog/?p=906#more-906
Posted by Judy Melanson. Judy leads the Travel & Hospitality practice and loves collaborating with clients on driving customer loyalty. She's the mom of two teens and the wife of an oyster farmer. Follow Judy on Twitter at @Judy_LC
By Jim Garrity, Vice President
As the leader of our financial services practice, I travel a fair amount to client sites to deliver market research findings or discuss upcoming initiatives. Recently I've noticed something interesting (and a bit frustrating). It seems that with the past decade's run up in real estate prices that many of my clients have abandoned the city centers and moved to suburban campuses.
Okay, so what so frustrating about that you ask? Well, nothing really.
Except that I used to be able to get a cab at the airport and ask to be taken "downtown please, the Merrill Lynch building on Vesey." I now find myself asking to be taken to "suburb X, the Financial Plaza, specifically building 5 on Mega Conglomerate Avenue." It's not the 15 minute drive into the ‘burbs I mind, rather it's the knowledge that where in the past I had no idea where my cabbie was going, I was certain he did. Now, I'm fairly certain that he has only the vaguest idea of where we are going. And what's worse, I can now use several iPhone apps to determine precisely how far off track he is...while simultaneously attempting to redirect him as he ignores me.
But why does he ignore me? Well first, he is supposed to be the expert, so he really seems to dislike getting directed by me, the customer. Second, in an attempt to be helpful, I am providing him with suburban landmarks that he is unfamiliar with (so maybe he has good reason to ignore me!). Third, while he doesn't have a GPS device, he does have a Bluetooth earpiece that allows him to obtain directions from his dispatcher. Well at least that's who I assume he's talking to, because he most certainly isn't responding to me anymore.
So what's the lesson here? I think it's something about understanding how technology has made the consumer more knowledgeable, more powerful, AND oftentimes more easily frustrated. And this frustration occurs most frequently when the consumer and company are working off of two different knowledge platforms. In financial services this means bankers and advisors need to know their stuff, obviously...but that simply isn't good enough anymore. They also need to know what their clients know, and know WHERE their clients obtained this information, in order to have a truly productive interaction.
So how has the proliferation of information impacted your business, your client relationships, your training programs? What are you doing to ensure that your customers' knowledge doesn't turn into customer frustration?
Jim Garrity is our VP of Financial Services, never wears blue jeans to work, and knows exactly how to get to his home in the suburbs.
I love Domino's new ads as both a consumer and someone who works in the market research industry. And before research purists jump down my throat, I know that Domino's new Focus group centric ads seem to show a single focus group, that the information used is merely directional and we'd like to assume that this research is probably part of a bigger study or perhaps even faked for the purposes of the advertising. And I know it raises obvious questions about respondent confidentiality. I also don't know what other techniques were used, nor do I really care that much. What I do care about is the impact of the ads on the "brand" of the industry.
In recent years the industry has come under fire and mocked continuously on televisions (see the office's brilliant customer satisfaction scores episode), so I am excited to see a positive portrayal of what we do and how company's use information to better serve their customers.
In addition to the fact that Domino's has done an excellent job being self-deprecating and recognizing consumer perceptions about their quality, I believe the ads break down three basic negative conceptions of the research industry.
- Corporate beliefs that market research isn't actionable
- Consumer beliefs that they aren't being listened to (and this people don't want to participate)
- Traditional techniques don't work as well as listening to social media and using interactive questions
The video below shows how they have adopted the findings at the highest levels.
What it means for Domino's
Coming off of last year's social media disaster, that painted them as unknowing and unhealthy, Domino's ads are sending a message that says "We hear what people have been saying and we've dealt with it. Now give us a try, you might like us more than you think." I know that they have at least re-entered my consideration set, the first step to becoming a customer and potentially (with some free bread sticks, perhaps) an advocate. As was often muttered in Bill Murray's great 1991 movie "What About Bob?" Domino's is taking baby steps.
Posted by Josh Mendelsohn. Josh is our VP of Marketing and loves live music, pugs, tv, great food, market research, New Orleans, marketing, Boston and sports. You can follow him on Twitter @mendelj2 and at The Better Research Blog
NPR radio host Lian Hansen, gave an on-air call-out this weekend to a recent social media study conducted to gain insight and suggestions for the Weekend Edition show. I applaud NPR's preparation for the future media landscape where traditional methods of consumption (TV, radio, print) could be greatly marginalized in favor of digital distribution. I am also interested in NPR's ability to acquire and engage fans on Facebook (582k as of 1/21/10) and their ‘management' of the sub-brand Weekend Edition (NPRs Weekend Edition has 4,500 followers). What can we learn from their social media study?
Well, over 7,000 listeners participated, providing reactions and suggestions for Weekend Edition. According to the broadcast: "You've alerted us to stories, suggested questions for guests and become a part of our program in ways that weren't possible just a year ago." In the results, NPR found evidence of the importance of engaging with their audience through various communication platforms, and suggested that the end result may be stronger audience relationships.
They recruited respondents from a variety of sources: the NPR Listens national online listener panel, on-air invitations during Weekend Edition on December 19th & 20th, Facebook postings from Weekend Edition, as well as tweets from Lian Hansen, Scott Simon and other Weekend Edition staff. While market research professionals might frown upon the projectability of results from these self-selected respondents, since the purpose of the study was to support their social media strategy, this open invitation approach provided them a cost-effective and fast sample list.
NPR shared some of their learnings:
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Following Weekend Edition through social media is a relatively new experience for most of the 7,000 respondents, but one they engage in frequently.
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Listeners say that initially they became Weekend Edition followers because they wanted to receive updates and additional information. But they've continued to be followers because it has been a way for them to get to know the hosts as and interact with them.
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The longer listeners follow Weekend Edition on Facebook and/or Twitter, the more positive their opinions of the show (Weekend Saturday and Sunday) and NPR become.
Listening to these results, I was curious to know:
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(Regarding that third point above....) Are they assuming causality - or noting a correlation - between length of social media engagement and positive opinions of the show? It reminds me of crappy advertising effectiveness research that shows that people who ‘saw the ad' are much more engaged with the brand....
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Are those who follow the show on social media more - or less- likely to contribute? Is there a financial benefit to this increased engagement?
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How many of Weekend Edition's listeners engage in Social Media activities?
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What percent are fans of the show on Facebook or follow a host on Twitter?
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For those who aren't interested or active, how do the frequent references to Twitter, etc. affect them?
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How do the respondents compare to the ‘typical' listener?
What do you think? How are you using feedback from social media sites? Or do you feel that your organization is misrepresenting or misusing information from social media sites? As a marketer - or a market researcher - tell us about your experience!
Learn more by
downloading our social media report:
"Why Social Media Matters for Your Business."
Posted by Judy Melanson. Judy leads the Travel & Entertainment practice and loves collaborating with clients on driving customer loyalty. She's the mom of two teens and the wife of an oyster farmer. Follow Judy on Twitter at @Judy_LC
The question posed to the group of 5 Bloggers this month was: "Mobile surveys - For/Against, Pros/Cons, Right Situations/Wrong Situations?" Links to my fellow bloggers Annie Pettit, Joel Rubinson, Bernie Malinoff and Brandon Bertelsen can be found below.
Mobile devices are changing the way people interact with brands, each other, and market research. From the reduction of land lines among younger consumers to the prevalence of internet usage via smart phones and the proliferation of text messaging as an option. Below I have laid out some of the factors contributing to the research industry understanding and adopting mobile research as a concept.
1. "Guys, where are we?" - Charlie on ABC's Lost
Three or four years ago there were a plethora of SMS (text-message) based survey tools developed and launched in the market. Many were self serve but simple, others tried to simulate the full traditional survey experience with skip patterns and longer questionnaires. Some were connected to panels (e.g., Greenfield and Market Tools) and others were simply opt-in (e.g., Invoke Solutions). While all of them gathered great initial interest, none really took off for three primary reasons. 1) The market and use cases were not fully conceived. 2) Client side researchers weren't ready to limit the amount of information they could acquire from respondents and 3) Most of the systems weren't built to connect well with other feedback mechanisms.
In the end, while SMS based surveys received a small amount of adoption (primarily for event feedback), we learned that what was a seemingly simple landscape, one where people were paying to text to vote on American Idol, wasn't exactly what it seemed.
2. "Right now, hey, it's your tomorrow" - Van Halen
While it pains me to quote the Sammy Hagar version of Van Halen, the truth is that the use mobile technology is changing so rapidly that consumer adoption makes today and tomorrow the same, depending on who you ask. For iPhone and other smart phone users, the mobile web is about getting the same functionality as a computer with simpler formatting. For traditional cell phone users, texting is still optimal as mobile browsers are often slow and frustrating. So, what does that mean for researchers?
- Be patient. As with all technology adoption, the industry talk is well beyond the average consumers. Most people still do not own the most functional mobile devices and building gen pop. surveys around this functionality would be foolish.
- Don't try too hard. One of the upshots of great web browsers on mobile devices is that if people choose, they can complete traditional surveys wherever they are. In fact, many of the progressive interactive research techniques discussed last month can be problematic because flash applications are not available in mobile formats.
3. "The customer is always right" - Stew Leonard's and other respectable stores
Researchers need to let people participate in the way they desire, not the way we desire. For example, when I was at Invoke Solutions we ran a test of a mobile survey asking grocery shoppers to opt-in and answer a few simple questions while shopping. This seemed like a simple, valid idea on paper, however people shopping with kids or carrying groceries had no interest in filling out a survey, even for a small incentive. It was too much hassle. Yet, when we ran a program embedded in a promotional event that had on site fulfillment and a number of people prompting people to participate, we saw success.
4. "We're at the crossroad my dear, where do we go from here?" - Alicia Keys
With all of the potential downsides of mobile research, there are some great opportunities to grow.
- Qualitative research via "self-ethnography" or "diaries." Having a device on your person at all times mean you can always record what you are thinking and doing via text, photos, or recordings. A few years ago I saw my friend Rebecca from Dunkin' Brands speak about a program where they had teens record what they were thinking and doing every time they wanted coffee. The information was incredibly deep and useful. At the time they shipped each participant a digital recorder. In today's world they could have simply given them a number to call or text to.
- On-site feedback. Promotional events are by their nature participatory experiences and people are willing to give their feedback. In addition, event staff are on site to encourage people to opt-in and handle incentive fulfillment.
- Everything else. Consider making every questionnaire as mobile friendly as possible. Consumers treat their devices the same as their computers and you don't want to unintentionally block people from participating. That may mean shorter, less interactive questionnaires that include more open ends.
In all cases, we need to continually put ourselves in respondents' shoes and think "would I fill out this survey?" Just because you can utilize mobile technology doesn't mean that you should. And just because you haven't in the past doesn't mean you can't. It is all about asking yourself what the best solution is for the problem you are facing.
Read the other blogs:
Joel Rubinson of the ARF: post coming shortly at http://blog.joelrubinson.net/
Annie Petit of LoveStats: http://lovestats.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/1topic5blogs-the-only-thing-cell-phone-surveys-are-good-fer/
Bernie Malinoff of Element 54: http://element-54.com/2010/01/1-topic-5-blogs-mobile-surveys/
Brandon Bertelsen: http://www.bertelsen.ca/market-research/1-topic-5-blogs-mobile-surveys
Revised Build-Your-Own Digital Camera ACBC design
See how Adaptive Choice Based Conjoint works by building your own digital camera in this demo exercise.
Get started by clicking here.
Posted by Josh Mendelsohn. Josh is our VP of Marketing and loves live music, pugs, tv, great food, market research, New Orleans, marketing, Boston and sports. You can follow him on Twitter @mendelj2 and at The Better Research Blog