Voices: the CMB Blog

"My favorite place in the whole world is Nashville. Because it's my home, it's Music City. It's like, everybody there is so artistic and so creative, and nice! Everybody's really friendly." - Taylor Swift

Far be it from us to argue with Taylor Swift! Next week we're packing up and headed to Nashville for TMRE to talk shop, share insights, get together with our terrific clients, hear from an exciting mix of speakers, and just maybe get to sample some Tennessee barbecue.Are you headed down (or up)? Stop by our booth to say hi and enter to win a New England Clam bake.

Spoiler alert! Don't miss our very own Chris Neal, on Monday at  11:15, as he joins Joanne Burns of the Council for Research Excellence (CRE) for their presentation TV Untethered: Quantifying Mobile TV Viewing and its Impact on Networks, Content Providers, Advertisers and Marketers. Chris and Joanne will share insights from their study aimed at helping audience measurement specialists, networks, advertisers, and others better understand how smartphones, tablets, and computers are changing TV programming.

We're also looking forward to hearing from Hilton's Christine Hight as she shares How “Franken-data” Conquers Hilton’s Big Data Challenges. Come join us on Wednesday at 1:45 to hear how Hilton Worldwide combines Big Data, consumer research, and creativity through an ad hoc, “Franken-data” approach to identifying consumer insights that have fueled innovation and adaptation across their global enterprise.  

If you're attending the conference we'll see you there, if you can't make it stay tuned for our TMRE recap in the coming weeks!

Going to CRC in Dallas tomorrow? We'll be there too! On Thursday the 17th, Amy Modini and UPMC's Jim Villella dig into the Challenges of Channel and Complex Pricing Scenarios. Stop by and learn how UPMC and CMB applied a discrete choice methodology to account for a number of challenges to estimate shifting consumer preferences, make key product development and marketing strategy decisions, and ultimately position UPMC for success.

By the CMB Light the Night Team

Thursday, October 10th, CMBers will gather for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Light the Night walk. The annual walk raises money to support a cure for the millions of people around the world who suffer from blood cancers. This is the 6th year CMB has had the honor of participating in this event and our dedicated team members have hosted a bbq and silent auction, a paint night, happy hours, bake sales (CMBers do love to cook!) and other creative fundraising events. Now it's just two days until the walk, and we're thrilled to announce that CMB is a  top 3 fundraiser for the LLS Boston Chapter!

As many of you know, the walk has a special place in our hearts because Catherine Shannon, our Director of Finance (and our inspiration to start walking in the first place) has been in remission from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for 3+ years.  We couldn't be more thankful for the research that led to the treatment that has helped Catherine, and so many others, get healthy.

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far, and if you're in town this Thursday please join us as we walk for a cure.

 If you'd like to donate click on The CMB Light the Night Team Page.

One of the wonders of modern medicine is the mountain of information available on every conceivable platform. Regardless of the condition, there are sure to be numerous sources dedicated to providing advice: chat-rooms, blogs, magazines and so on; it can be overwhelming. But, there’s one “condition” the human race has been collecting data and offering recommendations (and opinions) on since the beginning of time—I’m speaking, of course, about pregnancy.Even if you or your partner have never been, and never plan to be pregnant, you can probably rattle off a few items that moms-to-be should avoid: alcohol, coffee, cheese, fish … the list goes on. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, economist, mother, and author of Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong-and What You Really Need to Know, Emily Oster takes a deeper look at the stats in “Take Back Your Pregnancy.” Dr. Oster takes issue with the standard recommendations about pregnancy, arguing: “The key to good decision making is evaluating the available information—the data—and combining it with your own estimates of pluses and minuses.”

As a market researcher, I was drawn to Emily’s argument—a reminder to be thoughtful as we interpret information, both in our personal lives and our professional ones. This is especially important for those of us who spend our days understanding and decoding data. As a 27 year old woman, who hopes to become a mother in the next ten years or so, I was glad to hear there is good evidence I won’t need to go nine months without coffee.

A few myth-busting data points:

O  Sample Bias: avoiding wine while pregnant (and other alcohol, too): When reviewing data comparing mothers who consume alcohol during pregnancy vs. those who abstain, it’s important to understand social norms and physician guidelines. In the U.S., drinking is strongly discouraged during pregnancy. Therefore, U.S. mothers who drink during pregnancy (vs. those who do not) tend to exhibit other behavioral and attitudinal differences. Those who tended to drink are more likely to be “rule breakers” and, in the study Emily cited, were significantly more likely to have used cocaine. Emily cites another study of Australian women, where drinkers and non-drinkers were more similar, the results of which show that light drinking (2-6 drinks a week) is fine.

O  Correlation ≠ causation: avoid coffee while pregnant: Fueled by her love of coffee, Emily was determined to understand the data behind the claim that coffee drinking is related to a higher rate of miscarriages. Digging into the data, Emily concluded, “we may well be mistaking a correlation for an underlying cause. The women who drink less coffee have fewer problems not because they limit their caffeine intake but because they tend to suffer from nausea, which inhibits coffee drinking.”

Emily also tackled soft cheese, deli meats, and weight gain during pregnancy; with the amount of research done on pregnancy, there’s no doubt Dr. Oster will have plenty for a second edition. Regardless of what you set out to research, be it brand health or your own, it’s important to make sure you understand the recommendations within the context of the findings and how the research is conducted.

Jeannine is a Project Manager at CMB. She loves to read, travel, and takes her coffee black, no guilt.

More and more companies are focusing on trying to better understand and improve their customers’ experiences. Some want to become more customer-centric. Some see this as an effective path to competitive differentiation. While others, challenging traditional assumptions (e.g., Experience Co-creation, originated by my former boss, Francis Gouillart, and his colleagues Prof. Venkat Ramaswamy and the late C.K. Prahalad), are applying new strategic thinking about value creation. Decision-makers in these firms are starting to recognize that every single interaction and experience a customer has with the company (and its ecosystem partners) may either build or destroy customer value and loyalty over time.

While companies traditionally measure customer value based on revenues, share of wallet, cost to serve, retention, NPS, profitability, lifetime value etc., we now have more and better tools for deconstructing the customer experience and understanding the components driving customer and company interaction value at the activity/experience level. To really understand the value drivers in the customer experience, firms need to simultaneously look holistically, go deep in a few key focus areas, and use a multi-method approach.

Here’s an arsenal of tools and methods that are great to have in your toolkit for building customer experience insight:

Qualitative tools

• Journey mapping methods and tools

• In-the-moment, customer activity-based tools

  • Voice capture exercises (either using mobile phones or landlines) where customers can call in and answer a set of questions related to whatever they are doing in the moment.

  • Use mobile devices and online platforms to upload visuals, audio and/or video to answer questions, (e.g., as you are filling out your enrollment paperwork, take a moment to take a quick—less than 10 second video, to share your thoughts on what you are experiencing).

• Customer diaries

  • E.g., use mobile devices as a visual diary or to complete a number of activities

• Observation tools

  • Live or virtual tools (e.g., watch/videotape in-person or online experiences, either live or after the fact)

  • On-site customer visits: companies I’ve worked with often like to join customers doing activities in their own environments and situational contexts. Beyond basic observation, company employees can dialogue with customers during the activities/experiences to gain immediate feedback and richer understanding.

• Interviews and qualitative surveys

• Online discussion boards

• Online or in-person focus groups

Quantitative tools

• Quantitative surveys/research tools (too many to list in a blog post)

• Internal tracking tools

  • Online tools for tracking behavior metrics (e.g., landing pages/clicks/page views/time on pages, etc.) for key interactions/experience stages. This enables ongoing data-mining, research and analysis.

  • Service/support data analysis (e.g., analyze call center data on inbound calls and online support queries for interaction types, stages, periods, etc. to look for FAQs, problems, etc.).

What tools are you using to better understand and improve the customer experience? What tools are in your toolkit?  Are you taking advantage of all the new tools available?

Jennifer is a Director at  South Street Strategy Group. She recently received the 2013 “Member of the Year” award by the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP), the preeminent professional association for those engaged in strategic thinking, planning and action.

Originally posted in Loyalty360

In early July, shoppers at Shaw’s, Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco and Star were greeted at the door and asked to hand in their store loyalty cards. These chains, recently acquired by Cerberus Capital Management LP, all shut down their loyalty programs, focusing instead on everyday low prices and storewide sales.The move left some industry analysts scratching their heads, questioning why the brands would kill off decades old programs with millions of members. They pointed to the vast quantities of information that can be harnessed improve merchandising and marketing, and to customize products and messages. They hypothesized that the stores hadn’t invested in the data mining activities needed to extract insights. Perhaps…

Or perhaps the financial experts at Cerberus had done the calculation and determined that in today’s marketplace, the loyalty program – and its strategy and value– was standing in the way of profitable growth.

Think about it. What impact do the grocery store loyalty program cards you carry on your key chain have on your behavior?  Can you point to any benefit you’ve received beyond the ‘loyalty member price’ and coupons at check-out? Can you point to any special benefits you receive from your primary grocery store?  Or do you get the same level of benefits whether you spend $1 or $1000 per trip?

I think there are 3 compelling reasons these grocery stores don’t need a loyalty program to drive customer loyalty:

1. They need to compete with Wal-mart: These brands have to compete with Wal-mart and other warehouse stores offering EDLP (everyday low prices). To grocery and drug store shoppers, price matters!  And to sustain a business and drive profits at low prices, the brands need to focus on operational efficiency – not customer intimacy promised by a loyalty program.

2. They can take a local approach: The executives at these brands promise that analysis will be done at the store – not the customer – level.  Mining the data at the individual store level will, they theorize, provide plenty of data on what merchandise is important to shoppers and the impact of marketing decisions on spend. They also believe that taking a local approach – where store managers can make marketing and merchandising decisions – will enable stores to better meet customer needs.

3. They can focus on what matters to shoppers: Most customers are applauding the move to consistently lower priced products.  In addition, they suggest the brands focus on the basics – the features that drive their shopping decisions, including: (1) clean the store; (2) stock the shelves; (3) keep sufficient registers open to reduce check out time; (4) mark sale items clearly; (5) create a customer-focused culture.

In most locations, shoppers have many choices and in the absence of consistent delivery on these core elements, customers won’t shop at the stores, loyalty points or not.

“Sun setting” a loyalty program is not a low-risk decision. But program managers in every industry must be prepared to defend their programs by answering the following questions:How do you recognize and reward your most loyal and valuable customers?  How do you make participating in the program worth their while…and something they would miss if it were not present.

• If you ran a grocery store program, how would you treat the person who spent $1000 per trip? Would your first check-out register be for those with 10 or fewer items?  Wouldn’t you help the shopper get the items into their car?  Into the house?  Into the pantry? Do you really have to make them come to the store and shop? Do these customers get any special recognition in store?  Could they visit customer service to get a free cup of coffee or a piece of a new signature pastry when they enter the store?

What mechanisms are in place to grow the share of wallet from light shoppers?  What incentives and processes are in place to support your shopper’s goals and encourage them to spend a higher share of wallet with you?

• Could you look in my basket and make recommendations for recipes that my family might like?  Or like Amazon and Netflix, develop a recommendation engine (people who buy xyz also buy abc)?  Would you price match on identical items to prevent shoppers from fragmenting their baskets?

What has your organization learned from the data collected from the program?  Think about the tactical (e.g., merchandising, marketing) and strategic (e.g., location selection, branding, pricing) decisions supported and how you can get more value from the data you collect.

• Have you shared insights with store managers?  Your media partners/ad agency?  If not, schedule some meetings and connect data you have with what’s relevant to them. Today.

Consider what would happen if your loyalty program “went away?” Are you prepared to answer the question “Do you need a loyalty program to drive customer loyalty?” in a way that would satisfy your CFO?

• Get and communicate data on the value of your program, and how to drive additional value.  

It will be interesting to see the impact of Cerberus’ decision on the industry as a whole.  Will other grocers, to compete with Wal-mart, follow suit and disband their programs?  Or will we start to see some retailers ‘break away’ from the pack and to drive incremental behavior and true loyalty?

Where would you place your bet?

Judy is VP of CMB's Travel & Entertainment practice and loves collaborating with her clients. She's the mom of two college students and the wife of an oyster farmer. Follow Judy on Twitter at @Judy_LC

Headed to TMRE next month? Use our code CMB2013, and get 25% off of your registration.