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ALERT!
MARKETING RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
Time for a Qual Tune-Up?
See Different Perspectives
MULTI-CHANNEL QUAL RECRUITING
QUAL AND QUANT ARE LIKE PEANUT
BUTTER AND BANANAS
THE “OVERNIGHT QUAL DEBRIEF”
EXPLORING HEART AND BRAIN HEALTH
THROUGH QUALITATIVE APPROACHES
STORYTELLING FOR MARKET RESEARCHERS
INCREASING CLIENT ENGAGEMENT IN
ONLINE INTERVIEWS
THIRD QUARTER 2014 · VOL. 54 · NO. 3
Monday:
Saw new,
fabulous
shoes at
the mall
Tuesday:
Saw digital
ad for those
shoes on my
home PC
My Digital Path
Wednesday:
Compared cost
on tablet at
coffee
shop
Thursday:
Checked
retailer’s
mobile site
while at
dentist.
There’s a sale!
Thursday night:
Bought the shoes
A DIGITAL ROADMAP FOR
THEIR PATH TO PURCHASE.
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devices, but uniquely pinpoints their very location and offers the ability to conduct surveys with the exact same audience.
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Check out our new mobile video at luthresearch.com. They live. You learn.
© 2014 Luth Research. All rights reserved.
2
MRA’S ALERT! MAGAZINE – THIRD QUARTER 2014
CONTENTS THIRD QUARTER 2014
Editor
Editorial Board
Amy Shields, PRC
Sherri Dansby, PRC
Steven Gittelman
Jeffrey Henning, PRC
Angela Lorinchak, PRC
56
Storytelling for
Market Researchers
Twitter@MRAmrx
Phone202.800.2545
Fax888.512.1050
Look for us on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Article Ideas?
Contact Amy Shields at
[email protected].
Advertise in Alert!
Contact Lisa Lockwood for information at
[email protected] or
202.800.2545.
The views expressed in Alert! are solely those
of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions or positions of MRA.
Alert! is available online:
alert.MarketingResearch.org
Upcoming Conferences
September 17-19, 2014
Corporate Researchers Conference
Chicago
ALERT!
MARKETING RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
FEATURES
4
Multi-Channel Qual Recruiting
By Rob Iles and Rodney Kayton
12
The Application of Qualitative
Research for Effective Product
Portfolio Management
MULTI-CHANNEL QUAL RECRUITING
QUAL AND QUANT ARE LIKE PEANUT
BUTTER AND BANANAS
EXPLORING HEART AND BRAIN HEALTH
THROUGH QUALITATIVE APPROACHES
STORYTELLING FOR MARKET RESEARCHERS
INCREASING CLIENT ENGAGEMENT IN
ONLINE INTERVIEWS
7 Lessons Learned About Recruiting
Hard-to-Reach Populations for
Qualitative Research
By Karissa Horton
37
By Thomas P. Frauman
Alert! Magazine’s Qualitative
Marketing Research Directory
16
46
Qual and Quant are Like
Peanut Butter and Bananas,
Not Oil and Water
Qualitative Research in Action
By Susan Gillespie
50
By Jessica Broome, Ph.D.
20
Increasing Client Engagement in
Online Interviews
By Liz Van Patten and Jennifer Dale
54
26
By Will Pirkey
Finding Bouquets of Consumer
Insight in Acres of Wildflowers
Time for a Qual Tune-Up?
See Different Perspectives
34
By Kim Cason
Increasing Intimacy Through Rapport
The “Overnight Qual Debrief”
By Rob Iles
56
30
By Duncan Stuart
Storytelling for Market Researchers
Exploring Heart and Brain Health
Through Qualitative Approaches
By Allison Groom and Karen Robb
KEEPING INFORMED
Qualitative will always play a key role in
marketing research. This issue of Alert!
presents dozens of perspectives that can help
you retool your approach to qual.
60Campaigns: They’re “Ad”itive
By Kerri Norton and Ben Proctor
64The Power of Babble
By Eric Weight
61Hit Refresh for New Markets
By James McQueen
66 7 Keys to Executing a Successful
Business Rebrand
By Steve Blue
62 How to Conduct a Sales Win
Loss Analysis
by David Lithwick
DEPARTMENTS
2 Qualitative Research:
And the Beat Goes On
By Amy Shields, PRC
8 Welcome New Members
2 Au Revoir…But Not Goodbye!
By Jill Donahue
10 Transitioning You to the Future
By David Almy
71 Industry News & Announcements
The information contained in this publication is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an email to
[email protected] or [email protected]. Copyright © 2014 Marketing Research Association, Inc. (MRA), All Rights Reserved.
1
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Qualitative Research: And the Beat Goes On
H
ere’s what we can probably
agree upon: The general
purpose of qualitative research
is to gather meaningful
understanding (the how and why) of
decision-making. It sounds pretty simple,
yet is anything but in today’s complicated
and innovative world.
Understanding qualitative research has
perhaps become more complex than ever.
What really are the inherent weaknesses of
the approach and how are they overcome?
How do qualitative and quantitative
complement each other? What does
the future look like? How do capacious
amounts of information get transformed
into powerful insights? Isn’t it time to retire
“old” reporting styles and replace them
with something exciting and entertaining
for stakeholders? How is research quality
defined, pledged and delivered? How
is internal engagement obtained? The
questions go on and on.
I’d love to declare that this issue of
Alert! addresses all of the questions and
provides indisputable answers surrounding
qualitative research (it is after all The
Qualitative Issue), but let’s face it – that
would be a bit of a stretch. It is far too
complex an area of our beloved industry,
and one for which no single source can ever
provide a crystal ball. Instead, the future
of qualitative will continue to evolve, and
require bright minds and practitioners
who are willing to have meaningful
discussions. What I can promise is that it
delivers a multitude of views, opportunities
and potential solutions for researchers to
seriously reflect on… and begin discussing
with others.
I often call out specific articles to focus
on, however; as a qualitative researcher at
heart and in practice, it would be impossible
for me to be impartial in my choices. I leave
it to you, our shrewd reader, to consume
the words of all the articles in this issue. As
always, we encourage and appreciate your
feedback; where did we miss the boat and
what articles were most impactful?
Amy Shields, PRC is MRA’s director
of research and the editor of Alert!.
She can be reached at amy.shields@
marketingresearch.org.
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Au Revoir…But Not Goodbye!
T
he past 12 months as Chairman
of the Marketing Research
Association’s (MRA) Board of
Directors has flown by and has
proven to be amazingly rewarding and
challenging – in all the right ways. Taking
on this position (after having served on the
board for over a decade in a variety of other
roles) didn’t initially feel all that different,
but with each passing hour, the experience
strengthened my belief and support of MRA
in ways I could not have fathomed at the
beginning of my term.
In recent years, the MRA has been on
an incredible journey of growth – one that I
am truly honored to have been a part of. In
particular, this past year has included many
highlights, including a few exceptionally
special ones:
• Our distinguished conferences, ISC and
CRC, both continued to grow in size and
reputation. This positive momentum
confirms that MRA leads the way and sets
the bar for both content and networking
opportunities.
• The completion of our strategic planning
process and movement towards
implementation. This was such an
exciting journey, and something that will
continue into the next board year and
beyond. I am proud of the hard work that
staff and volunteers put into this process.
Having a solid strategic plan allows us
to keep an eye on the future while still
meeting the needs of our members today.
• A landmark revision to the MRA Code of
Marketing Research Standards (the Code).
The monumental task of creating the new
2
Code, which establishes 42 ethical and
best practice principles, would not have
been possible without the hard work and
dedication of a small but mighty team.
Having this vital tool (which reflects the
current landscape of the industry) to
guide marketing research practitioners on
a day-to-day basis is a true testament to
what MRA is all about.
It would be easy to cite many other
accomplishments, but instead I would like
to take a moment to thank MRA’s staff,
without whom these accomplishments
would not be possible. Day in and day
out, they work hard to innovate, develop
and maintain the products and services
that support industry-wide pursuit of
professional growth and better marketing
research. I would personally like to thank
the association’s CEO, David Almy, for his
unparalleled dedication and hard work, and
offer heartfelt gratitude to Amy Shields,
Lisa Lockwood, Jennifer Cattel, Ann
Morgan, Howard Fienberg, Jess
Forrester, Linda Pylant and Cheryl
Bechard – all of whom deliver incredible
work with a smile. This is a group of high
performers who take our mission, values and
goals seriously.
Of course, they can’t do this alone. I truly
believe the dedication of our volunteers is
unmatched! I have never met such a large
number of professionals, willing to donate
their time and resources without question or
strings attached. Because of you, I couldn’t
be prouder to be a part of this association.
Finally, as I wrap up my term as
Chairman, I must recognize the board which
has worked so selflessly over the past year.
This group of individuals truly became a
team who worked, debated and supported
each other with the common goal of keeping
MRA’s best interests first and foremost:
Immediate Past Chairman
Debby Schlesinger-Hellman, PRC,
Schlesinger Associates
Vice Chairman
Ted Donnelly, PRC, Baltimore Research
Treasurer
Vaughn Mordecai, PRC, Discovery
Research Group
Secretary
Dan Womack, PRC, Aflac
Directors at Large
Scott Baker, PRC, Schlesinger Associates
Janet Baldi, RTi Research
Jim Bryson, 20/20 Research
Jerry Haselmayer, Seek
Jeffrey Henning, PRC, Researchscape
International
Elizabeth Merrick, PRC, HSN
It’s with great encouragement that
I implore each and every one of you to
consider volunteering with the MRA. I have
been a member for almost 20 years and
active as a volunteer for many of those. It
has truly been so important to my personal
and professional growth.
I can’t wait to see what is next!
Jill Donahue is MRA’s Chairman of the
Board and senior brand insights manager at
Nestle Purina PetCare. She can be reached
at [email protected].
CONGRATULATIONS!
TED DONNELLY, Ph.D., PRC
Baltimore Research is proud to congratulate
Ted Donnelly, Managing Director, on his
appointment to the National Marketing
Research Association Board of Directors
Directors.
BALTIMORE RESEARCH
www.BaltimoreResearch.com 410.583.9991
MRA’SLocation
ALERT! MAGAZINE
– THIRD QUARTER 2014
Focus Groups I Depth Interviews I Ethnography I Central
Tests I Surveys
3
MULTI-CHANNEL QUAL RECRUITING:
Learning From the Experiences of a Research Consultancy
By Rob Iles and Rodney Kayton
Today, multi-channel recruiting is paramount, as is a huge measure of recruiting creativity. But what are the pluses and pitfalls of such multi-channel efforts – in terms of response rates,
cost-effectiveness, respondent quality, and other issues? And how far can – or should – creativity
be pushed in the pursuit of good (or great) respondents?
4
A
While it is important
to be creative in
finding channels and
other ways of reaching
prospects, it can be
counterproductive to
try to be too creative
in actual recruiting
messaging.
sk any client or research
consultant and they will
tell you that qualitative
research in its various
forms is currently in tremendous
demand. Brands and marketers are
increasingly attuned to the value and
benefits of well-executed qualitative:
Deeper customer knowledge, an
ability to capture nuances from more
specialized respondent audiences, a
faster read on key issues and questions,
and more. But with the increased
resurgence of qualitative research as
a meaningful and valuable research
discipline, the most critical part of any
qualitative research remains the recruit.
Unfortunately, increasingly
fragmented and digital media (and
media consumption), have required
recruiting to move beyond the
traditional respondent panels and
databases into social media, e-message
recruiting, more traditional media
and sometimes even almost guerilla
tactics such as on-site screening and
more. Today, multi-channel recruiting
is paramount, as is a huge measure
of recruiting creativity. There are a
series of pros and cons inherent in such
multi-channel efforts, and Study Hall
Research has learned many of these
lessons and challenges as a result of
direct experience and trial and error. If
you are a client, consultant or vendor
currently considering how to use or
offer multi-channel recruiting, here
are some lessons learned and some
guidelines to help you make the most of
the experience and the practice.
Lesson #1: Multi-channel
recruiting means more robust
recruiting and the probability
of “fresher” respondents or
respondents who are new to
qualitative research.
There are several key recruiting
channels outside of the traditional
respondent databases. Study Hall
Research has achieved successful
recruiting results in key areas such as
social media (Facebook, Twitter and
Pinterest, especially), but also through
building relationships with affinity
groups or affinity sites (e.g., AfricanAmerican, Hispanic or Asian chambers
of commerce, business organizations,
churches, and so on) and finding
opinion leaders (either online or off).
For any potential target audience or
research need, you can easily find a
series of affinity groups that match –
from seniors with specific Medicare or
Medicaid behaviors, to particular types
of fast food consumers, to players of
specific variations on classic sports like
soccer. And in most cases, the resulting
respondents have little or no exposure
to marketing research. So in each case,
finding and recruiting a specialized
audience opens the opportunity to
add these new bodies to an ongoing
database while also enhancing the
new:old respondent ratio in any qual
sample.
AND…
Lesson #2: Multi-channel
recruiting can greatly reduce
recruiting times.
Traditional phone-based recruiting
still yields solid results. But layering in
social or other media-driven recruiting
often yields results more quickly. Why?
First, because new media consumers
tend to check those new media with
high frequency rates, which means
faster exposure to recruiting messages.
And second, because those messages
can be easily linked to online screening
questionnaires. The end result is a
stronger ability to provide recruiting
phone staff with more precise lists of
pre-qualified respondents (vs. general
market). When recruiting via multichannel methods, it is not uncommon
for our field management team to fill a
series of groups or IDIs in 48 hours or
less.
BUT (and this is a big but)…
Lesson #3: Considerably more
back-end care is needed.
While the recruiting methods may be
faster and more precise, Study Hall
Research has learned a considerable
amount about respondents who are
recruited from less traditional channels.
• First, respondents are faster to share
project information in a larger way. In
the old days, a respondent might tell
a friend or two about a project. Now,
they can (and do) transmit recruiting
links or other details to dozens (or
hundreds) of people in a few quick
clicks. So:
∙∙ Carefully select the details you
make public. Don’t include project
place and times in the social
media realm to avoid those people
that “just show up” and were not
recruited. (And yes, it happens!)
∙∙ Don’t include all screening criteria
in outbound notifications. Use
social media to drive inbound
calls to screen for a project’s more
5
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6
sensitive data points or screening
criteria.
∙∙ Consider multi-category messages to
mask the project intent (e.g., “Are you
age 18-30 and a regular consumer of
fast food, cable television or carbonated
beverages?”)
• Second, there is a greater potential for
Experience
respondents to know each other or to have
shared some form of communication about
and Knowledge
a project beforehand. So:
∙∙ Over-recruit for the groups, knowing
With over 50 years of marketing
that you may face this issue. Total
research experience, we at Quick
recruiting costs are often lower, so this
Test/Heakin pride ourselves on
is a viable option that will allow you to
Real People. Real Results.
high customer satisfaction.
better choose the optimum qualitative
sample.
∙∙ Use a holding area staff person who
 Quantitative Research
can see respondents as they arrive and
Nationwide Network
leave and note any details like people
 Qualitative Research
grouping together, etc.
Quick Test/Heakin’s highly trained
∙∙ Most importantly, re-screen with highly
 In-store Interviews
staff conducts research on a broad
trained staff on-site. Schedule qual
rage of goods, services and
sessions with sufficient time in between
 Event Interviews
industries, utilizing our network of
to allow for re-screening. Take time
quantitative and qualitative mall
before a group or qualitative encounter
 Exit Interviews
to engage with respondents as a group
based data collection facilities
and one-on-one. Ask unexpected
 Hispanic Interviewing
across the continental United States.
questions. Observe texting (in the
event respondents are together but
 Mobile Interview Devices
texting one another from opposite sides
For more information
of the holding pen). And don’t make
 Panel Augmentation
contact us:
the re-screen a complete repeat of the
screener.
 Project Management
800.523.1288
∙∙ Because multi-channel recruiting can
[email protected]
generate more respondents in a shorter
 Programming
time period, don’t be afraid to blackball
www.QuickTest.com
a respondent for any of the issues
mentioned here. While respondents may
notify others about research, they rarely
(if ever) use social media to comment
Data Collection • Fieldwork • Project Management • Programming
negatively on research or a consultancy.
ALBANY l BALTIMORE l PHILADELPHIA l NEW YORK METRO l BROOKLYN l QUEENS
We note any observations or
occurrences relating to these issues in
MASSAPEQUA l W OODBRIDGE l BOSTON l GREENSBORO l ATLANTA
our respondent databases and regularly
JACKSONVILLE l TAMPA l MIAMI l DALLAS l HOUSTON l PHOENIX l AKRON l CHICAGO
cross-reference all database notes to
MINNEAPOLIS l DETROIT l MILWAUKEE l LOS ANGELES l MORENO VALLEY
ensure optimum respondent quality.
ORANGE COUNTY l SAN DIEGO l SAN FRANCISCO l PORTLAND
Lesson #4: Regardless of which
channel the recruits come from, they
need to be engaged.
small-scale surveys on a pro bono basis.
• Designate a regular manager for
Internal client or consultant databases will
This practice provides opportunities for
your database and social media
grow more quickly through multi-channel
marketing Study Hall (via press releases,
accounts. Whether the responsibilities are
recruiting, especially if respondents had
media opportunities, etc.) while helping
full-time or part-time (ours is full-time),
fun with the experience and quickly tell
pro bono clients and giving our consumer
this staff person is responsible for all facets
their friends. But once a respondent has
database an interesting range of surveys
of panel engagement.
been secured for the first time (and, in
to complete.
• Create opportunities for engagement
fact, with all respondents), engagement is
• Constantly monitor social and digital
rather than waiting for them. Study Hall
crucial or respondents will get bored with
media in key client/business categories to
engages our national honor roll respondent
your firm or forget about you completely. In
identify thought or commentary leaders
community once or twice per month with
our experience, engagement is more than
who can be turned into informal project
fun surveys and drawings that are not
just repeatedly screening for qualitative.
ambassadors or gatekeepers to various
directly related to a specific paid project.
Respondent engagement can be enhanced
consumer populations.
One way we do this is by working with
in several key ways.
a range of pro bono clients and offering
Continued on page 72
“The nationwide network with the personal touch”
7
Welcome New Members
Andrew Adelson
Rebecca Brooks
Jeff Dubin
David Harris
Azure Knowledge Corporation
Philadelphia, PA
Dialogue
Los Angeles, CA
Green Meridian, LLC
Princeton, NJ
Insight & Measurement
Durham, NC
Andaleeb Ahmed
Jason Brown
Matthew Dusig
Anne Herron
Technical and Management
Consultants Inc.
Columbia, MD
Simantel Group
Peoria, IL
Innovate MR, LLC
Sherman Oaks, CA
Allis Information Management
Midland, MI
Noor Alfares
Christopher Buchholtz
Misty Dykema
Kala Horvitz
RTI, International
Research Triangle Park, NC
Simantel Group
Peoria, IL
Publik Detective
Newport, RI
Jennifer Cantrell, PRC
John Eaton
Xiaodie Hu
Nissan North America Inc
Lebanon, TN
Ipsos SMX
New York, NY
Sarah Carlson
Linda Edwards
University of Maryland at
College Park
College Park, MD
Boise Paper
Bensenville, IL
Wayne County Community
College District
Detroit, MI
Marilyn Hudson
Rebecca Elmore-Yalch
Talley Hultgren
Northwest Research Group, LLC
Seattle, WA
TGM
Atlanta, GA
Alison Engelsman
Nicole Infortunio
Centro
Chicago, IL
MillerCoors
Chicago, IL
Kelli Erb
Clinton Jenkin
Rocky Mountain Health Plans
Greenwood Village, CO
Barna Group
Ventura, CA
Bob Fabrize
PJ Johnson
California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona
Pomona, CA
Pearl Insurance
Peoria, IL
Amy Feeman
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
Owings Mills, MD
National University
San Diego, CA
Jordin Alford
Johnson & Johnson Vision Care
Jacksonville, FL
David Almodovar
DNA Vertical
Tampa, FL
Ahmad Almoushiqeh
Saudi Telecom Company
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Robert Ameo, Ph.D.
Market Modelers
Warren, NJ
Aaron Anderson
Patrick Cassady
Ascribe, LLC
San Jose, CA
Walter Chan
FRC Hong Kong Ltd
Hong Kong
Anna Chiao
Orchard Park, NY
Wells Fargo
San Francisco, CA
Amy Anderson
Clinton Christensen
Solutions Through Research
Peoria, AZ
Hanover Research
Arlington, VA
Laurie Ashcraft
Dominick Cirigliano
Ashcraft Research Inc.
Chicago, IL
OptiBrand Rx
Montclair, NJ
Kristian Ayre
Stephanie Cochinos
ALDO
Montreal, QC
MetLife
New York, NY
Alka Baijal
Rowena Coe
Nissan North America Inc
Franklin, TN
Marketing Strategy Limited
Kingston, Jamaica
Cory Balthaser
Lynne Cornelison
INGATHER Research
Denver, CO
Federal Reserve
Bank of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Astrid Belt
Ball Corporation
Broomfield, CO
Earlene Biggs
MediMedia
Yardley, PA
Bill Bonnet
David Dawe
TriZetto Corporation
Union, NJ
Lauren DeRaleau
Groupon
Chicago, IL
Oakland, CA
Camille DeSantis
Ted Bouzakis
Guard Dog Brand Development
New York, NY
uSamp
Encino, CA
Hope Brinkmeier
Nationwide Insurance
Columbus, OH
Lori Dockery
Vernon Research Group
Cedar Rapids, IA
Patricia Downes
University of Texas at Arlington
Grand Prairie, TX
8
Westfield Insurance
Westfield Center, OH
Ellen Fischer
ASQ
Milwaukee, WI
Joe Fortino
Cint USA
Encino, CA
Matthew Gaffney
InSightsIQ
Overland Park, KS
Brittany Jones
Maggie Jordan
Jordan Consulting Group, LLC
Clarks Summit, PA
Jenny Karubian
Nunez Community College
Chalmette, LA
Himani Keswani
Branded Research Inc.
San Diego, CA
Unimrkt Research Private
Limited
Gurgaon, India
Kasey Gage
Mario Khoury
Cint USA
Lawrenceville, NJ
REACH (Research & Consulting
House)
Sharjah, Lebanon
Shuying Gan
Keiser University
Coconut Creek, FL
Bill Gottlieb
Microsoft
Redmond, WA
Susan Harmon
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA
Elijah Kim
Hyundai Motor America
Fountain Valley, CA
Tae Kim
RisingSun Marketing Research
Shanghai, China
Krista Knight
Ipsos Canada
Vancouver, BC
Kathleen Kopacz
Paul Nichols
Micheal Schneweis
Pam Thompson
Gainesville, FL
Abbott Nutrition
Columbus, OH
Southern Nevada
Water Authority
Las Vegas, NV
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Neenah, WI
Elisabeth Schultz
VMS BioMarketing
Avon, IN
Global Market Research
Professionals
Van Nuys, CA
Jason Sedlock
Kerstin Trapp
Penn Schoen Berland
Mercer Island, WA
Merck & Co., Inc.
Harleysville, PA
Malik Shamim
Ian Traynor
Dimensions Research and
Marketing Consultancy
Sharjah, UAE
Empanel Online
Flowery Branch, GA
Kedy’Ky Sherrill
Carmel, IN
Ivan Koueni
University of South Florida
Tampa, FL
Manoj Kumar
Skyline University College
Sharjah, UAE
Aline Lahood
Wiley
Lodi, NJ
Kim LaPlante
Spencer Research, Inc.
Columbus, OH
Amy LaRue
Ipsos InnoQuest
Chicago, IL
Kassidy Lillard
Huber Engineered Woods
Charlotte, NC
Nicole Linna Li
DePaul University
Chicago, IL
Jia Liu
Brandeis University
Cambridge, MA
Leslie Lowe
Country Financial
Bloomington, IL
Russell Lowe
National Athletic Trainers’
Association
Frisco, TX
Elizabeth Lowrey
True North Market Insights
Independence, MO
Lorne McMillan
BRS Group
San Rafael, CA
Alec Milne
Framework Partners Inc
Calgary, AB
Irina Mirza
Fleetmatics
Solon, OH
Robin Mishler
The Research Partnership
Wichita, KS
Amy Moffatt
Ipsos Canada
Vancouver, BC
Dave Mumford
The Institutes
Malvern, PA
James Myers
Radius Global Market Research
Schenectady, NY
Chad Orr
LingPerfect
New York, NY
Don Osburn
Wavelink Corporation
Overland Park, KS
Dave Pace
MarketSight, LLC
Newton, MA
Tammy Peterson
Capella University
Minneapolis, MN
Kim Plotzka
WL Gore
Flagstaff, AZ
Linda Porter-Cox
The AND Group, Inc.
Denver, CO
Terri Procopio
The Indianapolis Star
Indianapolis, IN
Nicole Proulx
Human Interfaces
Austin, TX
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Quirk’s Marketing
Research Media
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Quirk’s Marketing
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Eagan, MN
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Fieldwork San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
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Creative Insight Services
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Roswell, GA
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Guard Dog Brand Development
New York, NY
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MRops
Minnetonka, MN
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Observation Baltimore
Baltimore, MD
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itracks
Saskatoon, SK
VisitPITTSBURGH
Pittsburgh, PA
Frank Simer
Anderson, Niebuhr &
Associates, Inc.
Arden Hills, MN
Lira Skenderi
Hunter College
New Brunswick, NY
Brett Smith
Keller Williams
Austin, TX
Juliana Smith Holterhaus
Lumi
New York, NY
Sandy Stansfield
International Coach Federation
Lexington, KY
John Steinlicht
Anderson, Niebuhr &
Associates, Inc.
Arden Hills, MN
Andrea Stern
Federal Reserve Bank of
Chicago
Minneapolis, MN
David Stevens
WL Gore
Flagstaff, AZ
Karen Steward
Freedom Partners
Arlington, VA
Tasha Stewart
Centene Corporation
St. Louis, MO
Nelson Tao
Chatter, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA
Pierre Tepie
Rockville, MD
Lynn Tiffany
Ishwari Venkataraman
Irene Voisin
Groupon
Chicago, IL
Bethany Vose
Fort Worth, TX
Preston Walters
University of Louisville
Lexington, KY
Mentha (Jiangyuan) Wan
DePaul University
Chicago, IL
Alan White
Fidelity Investments
Smithfield, RI
Brad Winfield
Lands’ End
Dodgeville, WI
Lia Wolfe
WL Gore
Flagstaff, AZ
Angela Woo
Dialogue
Los Angeles, CA
Kate Woods
Show Me Consulting
Jersey City, NJ
Richard Woods
Show Me Consulting
Jersey City, NJ
Lisa Zellmer
Neenah, WI
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Johnson & Johnson Vision Care
Jacksonville, FL
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marketingresearch.org/
membership
Chuck Thomas
The Valcort Group
St. Charles, IL
9
MESSAGE FROM MRA’S CEO
Transitioning You to the Future
and their years-long cultural denial of the
business impact of new digital sensors on
their film sales. History proved that denial
was an unsuccessful business strategy for
Kodak.
One fascinating nugget in the transition
of the profession was toward future-focused
research. Here was the rubric presented:
The old approach was that research could
tell you what had happened in your markets.
The current approach is that research
can tell you what is happening now in
your markets. Social media monitoring
is part of this camp. The leading or next
approach is that research should tell you
what will happen in your markets tomorrow.
Predictive analytics steps in here, among
other approaches.
I
just returned from a meeting hosted by
Reg Baker, one among several excellent
MR faculty members at Michigan State
University. The point of the gathering
of about 35 of the profession’s best and
brightest (my invitation must have been an
oversight) was to begin to discuss how to
educate researchers of the future.
Joining us at the beginning of the
meeting were 25 MSU marketing research
graduate students. They sat in a couple of
rows in the back of the room and listened,
hopefully like sponges, to a blizzard of ideas
about the world they will soon enter.
The tenor of the meeting reflected the
state of the profession – concern about the
pace and color of change, doubt about the
perceived value of MR, but confidence in its
core purpose and value, even as the toolset
used to discover insights and strategies is
evolving rapidly.
There were several takeaways. Perhaps
most important (and usually self-evident)
is the changing nature of how research
is conducted. If you’re doing, buying or
selling research, you must be conducting a
rolling reevaluation of the right combination
of research approaches best employed to
achieve a particular business goal.
Data, once the backbone of the
profession’s economic engine, is flooding
the market in such a way that some people
think it is free. We were informed that
this trend is likely to accelerate. For data
collectors of any stripe, and particularly
those whose income is largely dependent
upon data collection, it probably is past time
to consider diversification.
As the conversation progressed, I was
reminded of Kodak’s awareness of the
invention of digital sensors in the late 1970s,
The old approach was that
research could tell you what had
happened in your markets. The
current approach is that research
can tell you what is happening
now in your markets.
The corporate researchers reported
tighter budgets and higher demands –
not necessarily “news.” What was more
interesting was that these requirements
were tangible catalysts for innovation,
driving change and abandonment of older,
less agile and more expensive approaches.
Note, again; better, faster, cheaper wins.
The participants also agreed on the need
for continuing education for all researchers.
There is too much going on to not commit
to this.
And then there was the rigor debate – of
professionalism applied to the practice
of research. It’s an interesting take on
the quality of how research is done, but
self-focused, since many users of research
insights and strategies care less about
the specifics of how the output was
developed than its true utility in making
business decisions. There did seem to be a
begrudging acceptance that where quality
once was imperative (and may still be,
since quality drives utility), “good enough”
is making pervasive inroads into MR, as
seen with the rise of DIY research. An 80
percent correct answer for 20 percent of
the cost of more rigorous research will be
10 MRA’S ALERT! MAGAZINE – THIRD QUARTER 2014
an acceptable approach for many people.
This is an observation, not an endorsement.
“Good enough” appears to be palpable
criteria in the rolling reevaluation of new MR
approaches.
Only two topics even hinted at the
internationalization of markets and the
impact of new research approaches on
MR provider business models. If you’re a
corporate researcher, you might not care,
but the more (properly) MR buyers become
integrated with sellers, the more these
issues will affect everyone.
It used to be that research providers
viewed themselves as local or regional
players. A few of the larger providers viewed
themselves as national companies. Today,
many small companies and even a few sole
proprietors view the world as their market.
Fewer and fewer seem to care where you
are as much as how able and responsive
you can be in meeting their needs. One
mid-size company executive I spoke to
recently, who is based in Los Angeles,
said that she is dealing with Europe and
Asia daily, with late evening and very early
morning calls becoming normal disruptions
to her circadian rhythms. I suspect that this
phenomenon will increase as companies
naturally gravitate toward growth or
underserved markets, and marginalize
saturated ones here in the U.S.
How will you make a good living in this
new, changed world of MR? I hope the
students lining the back of the room are
taking a few courses in entrepreneurialism.
It’s an exciting time, but they’re going
to need a lot more than MR skills to be
successful. The opportunities ahead are
nothing short of amazing.
David W. Almy is MRA’s CEO.
He can be reached at david.almy@
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the insight, opinion and marketing
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MRA’S ALERT! MAGAZINE – THIRD QUARTER 2014 11
The Application of Qualitative
Research for Effective Product
Portfolio Management
By Thomas P. Frauman
By developing a four quadrant view of strategic products and customers, B2B
marketers may focus their organization on opportunities with the best current
and future potential for profitable growth.
E
xciting new technologies enter
our lives at an ever-quickening
pace, shaping the future for
decades to come, but the bulk of
a firm’s current revenue and earnings come
from well-established technology platforms.
For companies to compete in today’s
economy, they must focus delivery of their
product and service offering on the benefit
attributes that customers value most, and
accomplish this in a lean and cost-efficient
manner.
So if we accept that statement, the
question for senior leaders becomes “what
stands in the way of accomplishing this
task?” We must ask ourselves “Is the
product line and customer complexity
that developed with the business now
impeding efforts to move forward in
important areas?”
Following a typical industry life-cycle,
product lines experienced rapid growth,
followed by slowing growth, consolidation
and in some instances decline. During
the days of rapid growth, organizations
focus on new customer acquisition
while simultaneously testing the limits
of the new technology. Frequent design
“tweaks” are common and often aimed
to satisfy specific customers’ needs and
create minute points of competitive
differentiation. New customers become
greedy with their requests for a highly
customized product. The combination
of an unbridled “sales-driven” approach
with high levels of customization and
a developing technology suite, creates
a recipe for product proliferation. The
financial impact of an overly complex
product line that sub-optimizes
manufacturing productivity is often
masked in the “rapid growth” phase of the
cycle by higher selling prices and margins.
Growth and margins attract new
entrants, each positioning to claim a piece
of “rapid growth” for their shareholders.
As the new technology takes hold, growth
naturally flattens out. To the extent overinvestment in capacity occurs, competing
firms vie for market share to absorb fixed
cost. Margin compression inevitably leads
to consolidation through mergers and
acquisitions. Sound familiar to anyone?
A firm competing in the “difficult
middle” of the cycle may typically find a
product portfolio comprised of complex
over customized products from two or more
legacy companies that were combined
to create the current business entity. The
portfolio often includes less advanced
technology developed and supported for a
specific customer, but not necessarily as
robust or cost efficient as later designs.
Addressing Product
Portfolio Complexity
Benefits of Product Line
Rationalization
Tackling the task of product line
• Lower manufacturing costs
rationalization can prove daunting given the
• Fewer raw materials purchased
complexity of most businesses – thousands
• Increased purchasing leverage
of customers and thousands of products. A
• Reduced working capital
structured approach such as the DMAIC1
• Less obsolescence
process from six-sigma can prove highly
• Shorter lead times
effective in focusing this effort. Following
• Improved quality
this framework, a critical feature of the
• More robust product offering
define phase is “voice of customer.” In other
• Competitive advantage and growth
words, the project needs to be framed in a
• Better sales and research focus
way that delivers the clients’ priority benefit
• Lower SG&A expenses
attributes (e.g., lead time, applied cost,
• Reduced vulnerability to competitive
product consistency, ease of application,
share loss
etc.) Portfolio rationalization occurs not
for convenience of the
organization, but rather as a
Illustration 1 - Percent of Total Gross Margin By
means to an end for the client.
Product Sold
As with many things in life,
100%
a quick study of the product
portfolio typically reveals the
80%
all-too-familiar 80:20 rule – 80
percent of revenue or profit
60%
comes from 20 percent of the
products. Illustration 1 shows
40%
a hypothetical company’s
cumulative gross margin
20%
by number of products
manufactured.
0%
0
250
500
750
1000
So, confronted with the
Number of Products Sold
situation present in Illustration
1, do we simply “chop off the
tail” by discontinuing roughly
600 products that drive only
Illustration 2 – Strategic Product / Customer
a few percentage points
contribution to the firm’s total
gross margin? Send the letters,
new business rules, and call
Strategic Product
it a day? As appealing as this
Yes
No
Combined
may appear let’s consider the
likely outcomes. First, on the
Yes (125)
250
250
500
Strategic
positive side, manufacturing
Customer
No (875)
100
600
700
efficiency would no doubt
increase – larger batch sizes,
Combined
260
740
1200
fewer materials to procure,
Overlap
90
110
200
reduction in technical
complexity, as well as less
space and working capital
committed to inventory.
Some quick explanation of the table is in
Additionally, many of the lower contributing
order. The 1000 products produced by the
products are undoubtedly “dogs” placing
firm have been arranged by two dimensions
disproportionately high demands on all
– Strategic Customer (Yes/No) and Strategic
forms of service and after-sale support.
Product (Yes/No). Thus far, we have spoken
Now I must introduce a little reality: the
only of sorting products produced by total
customer portfolio and product portfolio
contribution to firm gross margin. Although
most certainly do not perfectly overlap.
this represents a good directional indicator,
A four-quadrant view as presented
I would argue for a more comprehensive
in Illustration 2 can prove useful in
view of individual product and customer
understanding the customer-product
value. Some suggested additional criteria are
relationship.
outlined in the Table 1. The correct criteria
will vary, but a firm’s customers and products
1 Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement, Control.
should be sorted in a way that gives full
consideration to both current and potential
business results.
Table 1 – Additional Factors
Customers
Strategic market
Growth potential
Products
Ease of manufacture
Differentiated
technology
Competitive rivalry
Product reliability
Relationship strength
Performance
versus alternatives
Financial health
Favorable cost position
Degree of collaboration Intellectual property
protection
Appreciates Technology Multi Customer Appeal
Returning to Illustration 2 (page 13),
I want to call your attention to a very
important feature of the data – in some
measure, strategic customers buy nonstrategic products. Likewise, non-strategic
clients purchase strategic products. Let us
consider this point quadrant by quadrant.
of a long term customer relationship, it is
not uncommon for important customers
to purchase outdated technology because
salespeople have not been proactive in
introducing newer replacements to existing
products. It often takes the advances of a
competing firm to make the client aware
of better alternatives. This discovery can
destabilize the customer relationship leading
to competitive entry and share loss. The
action with the 250 products in our
example is to continue supporting
these products in the short term, but
set an aggressive timeline to present
clients more robust technology where
available. I would expect that this group
of products could represent 10-30% of both
sales and gross profit. It is highly likely that
some difficult, highly customized products
will need to be maintained long term to
support important clients.
Non-Strategic Customers and
Strategic Products: In the example above,
875 non-strategic customers consume 100
strategic products. To the extent the firm
a win-win situation as discontinuing the
non-strategic product causes the client to
migrate to more robust technology. Before
initiating wholesale discontinuation of these
600 products, we must be mindful of the
overlap between strategic and nonstrategic
customers; in our example this is 110
products.
Importance of Overlaps: To take
this point one step further let’s look at the
implications of the following overlaps:
Strategic products: There are a total of
260 strategic products. Strategic customers
purchase 250 of these products, and nonstrategic customers buy 100. Therefore, 90
products are purchased by both groups and
only 10 strategic products are purchased
exclusively by the non-strategic client group.
Does it seem logical that the 90 products
purchased by both groups may have the
greatest appeal across a broad range of client
applications? Could it be that these are the
most robust and differentiated technology
and represent a priority opportunity for the
selling team? Likewise, might opportunities
exist for the 10 products sold to non-strategic
customers within the strategic client
group? Could these 10 products possibly be
“diamonds in the rough?”
Non-strategic products: Of the 740 nonstrategic products, 110 are purchased by
both client groups. More specifically, 250
non-strategic products are purchased by
strategic customers and 600 by non-strategic
customers. Therefore, discontinuing the 740
products would cause strategic customers
to seek new sources for 250 products,
destabilizing some customer relationships
and potential introducing new competitors to
the firm’s most valued clients. The coatings
firm must evaluate on a case by case basis
the cost and risk of discontinuing the 140
can control “cost to serve” (SG&A)
non-strategic products purchased exclusively
proportional to the incremental revenue by strategic customers.
and margins these transactions yield,
Conclusion
this represents good business. Marketing
Discontinuing products can be a frightening
leaders should recognize this business
exercise. However, focusing the sales
as purely opportunistic, perhaps with the
added benefit of driving some higher volume team on the best products should support
competitive differentiation and growth.
and better fixed cost absorption for select
Additionally, the operational efficiency
strategic products. Alternative channel
created from a streamlined product line will
strategies – independent representatives or
support a stronger and more responsive
e-channel – can prove helpful in controlling
business with lower costs and lead-times.
non-product costs while driving additional
In the context of a long term customer
relationship, it is not uncommon for important
customers to purchase outdated technology
because salespeople have not been proactive
in introducing newer replacements to existing
products. It often takes the advances of a
competing firm to make the client aware of
better alternatives.
Strategic Customers and Strategic
Products: This group of 125 clients
embodies the criteria identified as
consistent with advancing the firm’s
business strategy. The 250 strategic
products they purchase represent the
best of the best, delivering the highest
levels of customer value and competitive
differentiation. These products define the
state of the art for the business and the core
nucleus of the product portfolio. None of
these products should be discontinued
at this time. In our hypothetical example,
these 250 products may represent 50-75% of
both total revenue and margins. If you find
this percentage puzzlingly low, consider that
the strategic product set may include new
products early in their life cycle and low in
current annual sales volume.
Strategic Customers and NonStrategic Products: Most frequently,
these products are older technology or very
highly customized products. In the context
sales growth.
Non-Strategic Customers and NonStrategic Products: For the most part,
these products should be discontinued
and where practical, customers
offered alternatives from the strategic
product set. Many of these products are
highly customized and therefore without a
replacement from the established strategic
products. Nonetheless, in some instances
the customer and coatings firm will realize
Thomas P. Frauman has more than
25 years experience in senior leadership
roles in the coatings industry, developing
and executing global business strategy.
His specific expertise includes strategic
marketing, technology portfolio management,
mergers and acquisitions, branding,
turnaround management, organization
redesign and e-business. Contact Thomas at
[email protected].
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15
QUAL AND QUANT ARE LIKE
PEANUT BUTTER
AND
BANANAS
NOT OIL AND WATER
By Jessica Broome, Ph.D.
M
Yesterday, a
prospective
client asked me,
“Are you a qual
person or a quant
person?” He was
shocked (and
delighted, I think)
when I told him I
was both.
y academic training is in
survey methodology, and
people often assume that
I’m purely a quantitative
researcher who runs away in horror at
the thought of doing a qualitative project.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
I think of myself as an equal-opportunity
researcher who will happily employ a quant,
qual, or hybrid methodology depending
on the client’s needs. I view quant and
qual as allies in the goal that we as
market researchers are always pursuing:
conducting the best research possible.
Some researchers see qual and quant
as two distinct (and sometimes warring)
camps; I’ve heard colleagues complain that
“qual is too squishy” or that “quant is too
dry.” Sometimes this even devolves into
personal attacks: “Qual people are scared
of numbers!” “Quant researchers think
respondents are just rows in their data sets!”
I’d like to call for an end to the
segregation of qual and quant, and
encourage you to start thinking of the two
as peanut butter and bananas: Each is
viable on their own, but the two can be even
better in combination!
Often the smartest research involves
a combination of qual and quant
methodologies to address clients’ objectives;
I frequently recommend approaches
such as:
1. Using qual to inform quant. I often
work with clients who have vague
ideas around a topic they want to
explore, but no idea where to start. Any
questionnaire designed at this stage
is likely to be a disaster and sure to
leave you (and your clients) frustrated
and disappointed. When interest is
there but specifics aren’t, I usually
recommend that they start with some
type of qual to understand the lay of the
land before diving in with a quantitative
survey. What are some of the issues
respondents bring up in focus groups
or interviews (and what kinds of things
never come up)? What words do they
use to talk about the topic? Open-ended
conversations can provide answers that
researchers didn’t even know they were
looking for, and if these answers come
up often enough, they can become good
candidates for inclusion in a response
list.
Right now I’m working on a project
that is starting with IDIs among non-profit
leaders, gauging their interest in my
client’s educational offerings. While the
interviews are going on, I’m designing
a quantitative survey. The moderator
has been my best source of questions
and response options, feeding me ideas
that are top of mind for respondents,
in their own language. When I toss out
ideas, she’s quick to tell me that “They
don’t care about that” or “People don’t
talk about it in that way.” I’m positive
that the survey wouldn’t be nearly as
comprehensive if it hadn’t been informed
by the interview results.
Like many MRA members, I’m a
content-agnostic researcher. This means
I’ll ask questions about any subject –
often a subject I know nothing about.
As a result, in addition to developing
full research programs for clients that
use qual methodologies like IDIs or
groups to inform quant studies, I do a
lot of informal questioning to get myself
up to speed on topics about which I’m
writing surveys. I call these conversations
“expert interviews”– even if the “expert”
is my dad talking to me about statins
or my hairdresser weighing in on the
difference between hair serum and gel
for my recent project on “bad hair days.”
My facebook status is often a request for
people to talk to me about various and
sundry topics: “Anyone willing to talk to
me for 10 minutes about what it’s like
to have a broken bone?” “What are the
biggest headaches when you’re grocery
shopping with toddlers?” “Any friends
known anyone with diabetes? Please
have them call me – I’m writing a survey
and need some info!” It’s important to
note, of course, that a sample of my
Facebook friends doesn’t give a thorough
understanding of how people think about
a certain topic – but these conversations
certainly give me a place to start when
I’m writing questions on things I know
nothing about, like cat food, power tools,
or American Idol.
2. Using qual to perfect quant. When I
teach classes on questionnaire design, I
like to remind students that people will
answer any question you ask them – but
it’s up to you as the survey designer to
make sure that all your respondents are
answering the question that you think
you are asking. I use the real life example
of a question one of my clients wanted
to ask: “How safe do you feel in the area
where you live?” I was concerned that
the same word could have different
meanings to different people. Pretesting this question led to the following
descriptions of “area” from respondents:
“My area is just my block.”
“Area means the neighborhood, the part
of the city I live in.”
“I thought “area” meant this part of the
country. I feel safer in the Midwest than I
would on the west coast; at least we don’t
have to worry about earthquakes.”
This example usually opens people’s
eyes to the importance of making sure
survey questions are clear and have the
same meaning to all respondents. A
good way to work towards this uniform
understanding is pre-testing. I suggest
one-on-one interviews, sitting with a few
people while they go through a survey and
asking questions like “What does this word
mean to you?” or “How would you ask this
question in your own words?” or “Why did
you choose that response?” as well as using
exercises like “think-alouds” to get inside
respondents’ heads while they read and
respond to questions can show researchers
where there may be confusion or different
interpretations of words or phrases. The
survey can then be designed with language
included that clarifies any “fuzzy” terms.
An important note: pre-test respondents
should mirror the actual audience being
surveyed as much as possible. I worked for
several years in public relations agencies
in New York, and was always fighting
account teams who wanted to do informal
pre-tests of surveys with people around
the office. Pre-testing questions about
grocery shopping of people who work in PR
and live in Manhattan, when your actual
respondents will include stay-at-home
moms in Middle America, could lead to an
ineffective survey.
3. Using qual to enhance quant...I have
to admit, I’ve read (and probably written)
more than one research report that
lent some truth to the stereotype that
“quant can’t tell compelling stories.” This
isn’t entirely true, of course, but slides
announcing that 62 percent of moms
like a certain brand of peanut butter, or
that 28 percent try to limit their kids’
intake of certain foods, can only be so
interesting. Storytelling is key; nobody
wants their clients to fall asleep during a
presentation, or be overwhelmed with a
“data dump” of charts and graphs.
On the other hand, interspersing these
numbers with the story of Linda from
Baton Rouge, who gives her kids peanut
butter sandwiches for breakfast, makes
them come alive a little more. Add some
pictures or video clips from our visit to
Linda’s home to watch her make the
sandwiches for her adorable kids, and
now we have a research report that will
engage even the most uninterested client.
Layering qual and quant approaches can
be a great way to show the people behind
the numbers and make important data
points come alive.
4. …and quant to supplement qual.
The comeback to “quant can’t tell
stories” is, of course, “my client can’t
make a decision based on qual.” Of
course they can’t. When I learn that a
client is trying to use two focus groups
to select a logo or message, I’m quick
to suggest that they consider an online
methodology that incorporates both
open-ended responses or discussions
and quantitative questions. Rather than
two groups of eight respondents in one
market, I like to steer them towards four
(or even six) online groups or bulletin
boards of 25 respondents each, drawn
from across the country. For a similar
investment, we can get a lot of rich
qualitative reactions to concepts, but
substantiate them with analysis of some
closed-ended questions (based on a small
sample, admittedly, but still one that is
more robust than the participants in two
focus groups in one city). This approach
keeps everyone happy: It’s quantifiable
enough to inform decisions (though I
would still not recommend making major
business decisions based on the input
from 100 people), but rich enough to give
the client a sense of how consumers are
talking about their message. As an added
bonus, clients can view these groups
from the comfort of their home or office;
nobody has to travel or spend hours in the
back room of a focus group facility.
I hope this piece has convinced you that
qual and quant methodologies don’t need
to be exclusive. Each one has strengths,
and often the whole can be greater than the
sum of parts – just like a peanut butter and
banana sandwich.
Jessica Broome, Ph.D., designs and
applies qualitative and quantitative
research programs for clients in a wide
variety of sectors. Jessica holds a Ph.D. in
Survey Methodology from the University
of Michigan, an M.S. in Applied Social
Research from Hunter College and a B.A. in
sociology from Connecticut College.
Discover – Industry veterans provide perspectives on
overcoming the day-to-day challenges faced by you –
the corporate researcher. Find practical and applicable
information in every session.
Interact – Network and learn from your peers and
presenters at one of several networking events
designed specifically for corporate researchers.
Finding Bouquets of
Consumer Insight in
Acres of Wildflowers
How Qualitative Researchers Listen, Explore and Gain Insights from Social Media
By Liz Van Patten and Jennifer Dale
Today’s social media channels provide an unlimited
number of virtual soapboxes for people to express whatever
they may be thinking, feeling, seeing or doing. This vast
resource of expression is a disorganized world proving far
more challenging to navigate than current analytics may
lead us to believe. Charts and graphs quantify collective
behavior, but what do all these click counts and
sentiment scores really mean?
W
Adriana Rocha, co-founder & CEO of
eCGlobal Solutions, values social media as
“a new ecosystem… of social and mobile
technology platforms allowing people to
be connected, to socialize and exchange
information.”
Renee Murphy, owner of Hello There
Research, calls her online observation efforts
“netnography,” an emerging method based
in anthropology that mines social media
data for cultural insights. “What I do is not
specific to social media; I could apply this
to any other sort of artifact. This is just a
process that I apply to unorganized data.”
Murphy finds listening particularly useful
for inspiring innovations and insight for her
clients. “With social media, the artifacts
are already there. I don’t have to ask the
How Does This Garden Grow?
question and disturb the fish bowl. I didn’t
First, the good news: Despite grim
have to change the behavior to get it.”
predictions, social media research does
Ricardo Lopez, president of Hispanic
not replace traditional qualitative research.
Research Inc., also considers social media
The pioneers with whom we spoke all listen
a tool, not a new methodology, akin to
to social media as a complement to, not a
observational research that has been in
replacement for, familiar qualitative methods.
practice for decades. “While I may be doing
Not one envisioned social media listening as a
observation research in a supermarket
stand-alone methodology.
and watching what people select on the
Kathryn Korostoff, founder & president of
shelf, I can do the same type of observation
Research Rockstar LLC, explains one reason
research by going to an online forum and
social media listening is getting so much
reading comments.”
attention: “There are a lot of challenges today
While Lopez refers to his social media
in traditional research that are making social
listening as “online observation research,”
media research more attractive... Online
Ellen Fenwick and Jayne Dow, directors
survey response rates are horrible, behavior
at Firefly Millward Brown, describe their
economics is pointing out the limitations
efforts to gain a micro view as the natural
of self-reporting... there’s a lot going on in
complement to validating core metrics and
the conventional survey research world in
“a critical role for qualitative research… we
particular that’s making researchers feel a
think of it as social life streaming; it’s about
little bit dejected.”
reframing the idea of listening.”
The signature advantage of social media
What shifts social media listening to a
listening is the ability to observe spontaneous
different dimension is the fact that millions
conversations in a natural environment
of people across the globe are engaged,
where people feel comfortable expressing
spanning thousands of websites and blogs.
themselves. Free-flowing conversations,
Doyle sums it up by saying, “It’s qualitative,
opinions, and even rants replace the orderly
[but] on a massive scale, like we’ve never
question-and-answer structure of traditional
seen before.”
market research. For Kathy Doyle, president of
That “massive scale” is exactly what
Doyle Research Associates, the social media
creates some of the confusion and
conversation is “a qualitative conversation
controversy surrounding social media
with one difference – we don’t get to ask
listening. With millions of posts and
the questions, but we do get to listen to the
photos, friends and likes, isn’t all that data
responses.”
hile elevator definitions may
vary, social media research
boils down to the act of
observing people’s behavior
online. Quantitative researchers harvest
this data field with large plows, aggregating
and calculating every comment, post and
blog available. Qualitative researchers,
on the other hand, are carefully assessing
the landscape, sorting out the weeds and
selectively plucking rich insights in advance
of their studies.
We tracked down nine research pros who
effectively listen and derive keen insights
from this vast garden of conversation, to learn
how they leverage freely available data for
real-time discovery and understanding.
quantitative? Maybe not. Korostoff explains
that, “without rich demographic data, I
can’t tell if the comments in social media
are representative of my target market… the
results are never directly actionable without
additional research.”
Annie Pettit, chief research officer of
Peanut Labs, says the distinction lies in
how the information is used, explaining
that while the analysis can be quantitative
(e.g., tracking brand sentiment or
comparing brand image), it can also be
qualitative (when it is used to gain an indepth understanding of groups of people
and how they communicate). The other
researchers we spoke with agreed: Social
media listening perfectly fits the qualitative
researcher’s listening and synthesizing skill
set.
Mary Aviles, principal consultant at
Connect 4 Marketing, has recently added
social media research as a standard
offering to clients. “Social media gives me
a whole new way of listening to my client’s
competition… We believe social media is
a useful source of information, so we offer
clients an analysis of online messaging.”
Qualitative researchers also appreciate
the speed and efficiency with which
social media listening projects can be
initiated and completed. There’s no delay
while participants are recruited, and the
conversations are continuous and always
up-to-date. Social media listening is a fast,
cost-effective way to gather information
from a large number of consumers.
“We use social media when we don’t
have time to do other methods,” explains
Korostoff. Murphy further highlights
the speedy advantage when she asks
rhetorically in “what other research method
can you get shopper insights in four days?”
Gathering Rosebuds While We May
While online searches can be ad infinitum,
the key to successful social media
listening is knowing both where to start
and when to stop. “I’m not exhausting
the world of possibilities, I’m looking for
recurring themes among a fixed number of
preselected comments,” explains Aviles.
Both Aviles and Murphy prefer to
start with a hypothesis – the client’s
understanding of the problem – then seek
out real data online to prove or squash
the idea. Aviles explains, “I try to show a
pattern that might suggest where the tide is
turning, what consumers are experiencing.”
While only two of the experts we
interviewed actually interact with
customers on social media, all of them
go online for their preliminary phase of
research, as the forerunner to a traditional
qualitative study or an online survey. These
applications typically include:
• Discovering more about an issue, trend,
category, industry, company, brand or
competitor;
• Monitoring what consumers are saying
about a brand, product, company, or event;
• Researching and comparing positioning
and experience against the competition;
• Tracking sentiment toward brands,
companies, events and personalities over
time;
• Looking for white space to stimulate
product innovation;
• Developing further hypotheses for
subsequent qualitative investigations;
• Driving questionnaire development and
helping reduce survey length;
• Understanding semantics;
• Generating quotes to support other
research phases (both qualitative and
quantitative); and
• Recruiting participants and obtaining
consent to observe their private behavior
on social media.
Both Murphy and Aviles use their
findings in social media as a jumping-off
point for competitive analysis and driving
questionnaire development. They scour
the Web, including popular social media
channels, public forums and blogs, to find a
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While online searches can be ad infinitum,
the key to successful social media listening
is knowing both where to start and
when to stop.
slew of available conversations on the topic.
Aviles explains the detailed process she
took in a recent project, using TweetDeck
to conduct initial Twitter hashtag and @
[competition] searches to reveal alternate
data sources, then plugging sources into
SocialMention and TweetReach to locate
influencers in the field. On a typical study,
Aviles will look through hundreds or
thousands of comments to identify trends
and themes, which she ultimately separates
and codes for further analysis.
Social media listening is just one piece of
the qualitative research puzzle. It is limited
to recording what people say or do, not what
they think or feel, or even don’t do. Fenwick
explains that “we still have to balance what
we observe with additional exploration and
insight. When we are observing interactions
with social media, we’re able to see what
they actually do but we’re not necessarily
able to see what they thought about doing,
or what they considered but didn’t do.”
With the client’s research objective
top-of-mind, Murphy goes online in search
of “unmet needs, pain points, category
trends, target or segment identification,
humanizations, articulations, brand
positioning, what people are talking about,
how consumers are experiencing and
using the product… I always have specific
questions in mind.”
Some researchers are blending social
media listening with existing online
methods to create new ways to interact
and observe consumers’ behavior online.
Firefly Millward Brown recruits social media
users for custom studies and observes
their behavior across multiple social media
channels, using an aggregator to condense
what they describe as the “raging river”
of conversation to a “more manageable
stream.” Lopez dons a research hat and
actively dives into topical forums in both
English and Spanish to engage consumers,
noting that “this piece is closer to what we
refer to as ‘online research.’”
Miami-based eCGlobal Solutions also
focuses on Latin America and the U.S.hispanic market, combining listening in
the natural social media environment with
custom online insight communities. Rocha
explains, “When we create an environment
that is social – an online community, for
example – we can listen. That’s where the
greatest and deepest insights come, when
we just let people talk and we listen.”
A Good Garden May Have
Some Weeds
As exciting and useful as social media
listening can be, our nine pros pointed out
some key challenges and limitations.
It’s easy to get lost
The experts we spoke with all stressed
the importance of having a plan for
social media listening and anticipating
what you want to find. There’s so much
conversation going on, in so many places,
that aimless searching can easily lead you
down a time-consuming rabbit hole. There
are several useful tools available to help
categorize, aggregate and compile social
media conversations [see inset]. Finding
the ones that work for you and your study
can be challenging, as they vary in purpose,
features and price.
Too much information
The flood of data online is never-ending. “I
caution clients about putting themselves in
the type of situation where it is information
overload,” explains Korostoff. “If nobody
has the time to actually read it and assess
it, then [listening efforts are] really being
wasted.”
If it’s not there you won’t find it
Social media listening is most fruitful for
brands, issues, companies, events and
other entities with higher awareness and
greater presence online. If people aren’t
talking about it, or only a few people are
talking about it, chances are you won’t find
enough conversation to make the search
worthwhile.
Automation has its limits
While coding and sentiment analysis tools
are constantly improving, there are no set
standards, and according to Pettit, these
automated tools agree with a human’s
interpretation of a series of posts less
than 60 to 70 percent of the time. This is
where the skills of qualitative researchers
are invaluable – reading and synthesizing
summaries of social media conversations
within the context of consumer behavior, as
well as the client’s business issues. Murphy
understands the approach can be laborious,
noting that “there’s always a refinement
process… the first time you will always see
some stuff that shouldn’t be there… there
is a lot of garbage out there.” Through an
arduous process of careful selection, our
pros are all looking to find the right stuff to
harvest from the start.
Extremes of opinion
Social media offers consumers an open
platform. While some comments have no
emotion, others will reflect extremes of
opinion. “The sentiment that you get does
seem to be extreme… the middle ground
is missing,” explains Korostoff. “The super
brand ravers or the complainers, we’re
missing the middle. We’re getting these
extremes of what is being harvested, the
neutrals are just not out there.” That said,
she’s also quick to point out that today, “it’s
our best opportunity to understand online
word-of-mouth, and given the volume, it
does have a lot of value.”
There are no demographics
We can infer some things from what
individuals say and do online, but there’s no
current way to confirm basic demographics
like age, income, household composition,
or brand usage. So although social media
listening tools can group consumers by
the attitudes they express online or the
behaviors they display, it’s currently not
possible to correlate these segments with
demographics, which limits how actionable
the findings can be.
Few people in the industry
understand it fully
There’s a tendency in the market research
industry to equate social media with Big
Data and view it as quantitative, but social
media listening is just that – listening to
conversations that are going on around
us and using the skills of the qualitative
researcher to look for trends, behavior,
attitudes, opportunities and insights. “Big
Data talks about the buzz,” Doyle notes,
“but natural language processing is still not
perfect, so when the analysis is automated
sometimes the true meaning gets lost in
translation. What we are doing is traditional
qualitative analysis and discovery on a large
scale.”
As a result, ownership of social media
listening varies; Korostoff estimates less
than half of her clients have a social
media listening function within the
research department, instead placing
the responsibility in the marketing, PR or
customer service areas.
Privacy is a growing concern
This is a great unknown in the world
of social media listening. Some of the
researchers we spoke with worry that this
valuable tool might become impossible in
the future if privacy regulations affecting
social media conversations become
too strict. Others are more optimistic,
anticipating a future of better-informed
social media users who monitor their own
privacy settings and websites that facilitate
privacy controls.
Currently, it’s the researcher’s ethical
responsibility to protect the identity of
consumers they quote or otherwise attribute
when reporting on social media listening.
Depending on how social media users are
sourced, these protections include getting
opt-in agreements from participants,
stripping out all identifying information
when reporting, or even avoiding highly
sensitive topics, such as health care.
The Outlook is Sunny
While the pros acknowledge the challenges,
all envision a bright future for the art of
social media listening. People are not only
online, they are active and comfortable.
Among our experts, however, there was
some difference in opinions as to where
on the horizon the sun would be rising
tomorrow.
While Rocha feels the science is in its
early stages, she believes more researchers
are coming aboard and anticipates an
increase in overall understanding and
acceptance. She believes the tools also will
evolve and prices will drop.
Murphy believes future tools will be
customizable and enable more in-depth
analysis.
Noting the rapid evolution thus far, Aviles
envisions a world with more purposeful
tools designed specifically with the needs
of qualitative researchers in mind. She also
sees a bright future for more B2B listening.
Pettit, who’s excited about using mobile
for self-ethnography, points out that future
improvements will be motivated by the
academic field, which she carefully monitors
for new advances. She also foresees freely
available platforms merging and offering
more fee-based services.
While Doyle continues to educate her
clients about social media listening, she
expects many will manage most of these
services in-house in the future. She also
believes privacy will be a greater concern as
the industry evolves.
Korostoff points to the growing limitations
of online quantitative research to fuel a
greater increase in demand for social media
research and sees paid tools becoming more
affordable.
Dow believes social media research will
continue to evolve as consumers change the
ways they use social media and wearable
technology allows them to capture and
share their own personal data with others
through online channels.
Lopez sees privacy and international laws
getting sticky, yet eagerly anticipates the
future when an open-source code will hit the
scene and reveal even greater opportunities
for better tools and approaches.
The social media research field is vast
and growing. Fenwick sums up the value of
The social media research field is vast
and growing. Fenwick sums up the value of
this new data source definitively by saying,
“There’s no debate that this is where people
are. There’s no question that social media is a
part of people’s lives today. This is where the
consumer is. We should be there too.”
this new data source definitively by saying,
“There’s no debate that this is where
people are. There’s no question that social
media is a part of people’s lives today. This
is where the consumer is. We should be
there too.”
Liz Van Patten, owner of Van Patten
Research, is an accomplished qualitative
research consultant and strategic
partner expert in using online qualitative
research methods to engage research
participants. Liz is integrating social media
listening inquiries to help guide clients
to deeper understanding of the consumer
conversation. She can be contacted at
[email protected].
Jennifer Dale, president and CEO of
InsideHeads LLC, designs and executes
affordable approaches to understanding
human behavior. Jennifer developed
one of the first browser-based platforms
for conducting online focus groups in
1997 and has moderated more than
twelve-hundred online focus groups and
trained more than five hundred individual
researchers to DIY. She offers social media
deep diving among other valuable services
to global clients. Reach out to Jennifer at
[email protected]. Interviewees:
Mary Aviles, principal consultant at
Connect 4 Marketing
Kathy Doyle of Doyle Research
Associates, Inc.
Ellen Fenwick, managing director
and Jayne Dow, director of qualitative
insights and digital innovations of Firefly
Millward Brown
Kathryn Korostoff, founder & president
of Research Rockstar LLC
Ricardo Lopez, president of Hispanic
Research LLC
Renee Murphy, owner of Hello There
Research
Annie Pettit, chief research officer at
Peanut Labs
Adriana Rocha, co-founder & CEO of
eCGlobal Solutions
Free SML tools used
• Twitter’s search engine
• Tweetdeck
• LIttlebird
• Tweetreach
• Wordle
• Twitonomy
• Followerwonk
• Revelation (free tool for Word trees)
• Pinterest
• Google+
Where the data comes from
• Proprietary aggregators for sentiment
analysis
• Proprietary listening tools
• Proprietary data analytics
• Boolean search on Google, etc.
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Blogs
• Google tools (e.g., analytics, trends,
search)
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Flickr
• Reddit
• Vine
• Snapchat
• Scoop.it
• Whatsapp (this private site cannot be
sourced, but is a good place to watch
for trends)
Social Media Listening Tips
• Customize approaches for each client
• Hypothesize before beginning
the search
• Set boundaries for time
• Pull relevant comments and
identify themes
• Use Evernote to organize the data
Showcase your Talent
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Contact us at 215.653.7100 or visit our website
at www.m-s-g.com for more information.
IT’S POSSIBLE, PROFITABLE AND ACTUALLY KIND OF FUN
By Rob Iles
One of the key client service challenges is always the debrief. How
will the client want it? Word? PowerPoint? Other? And more
importantly, when will they want it? Today, clients are generally
more positive about marketing researchers who produce substantive
debriefs in a shorter timeframe (since client decisions don’t have
weeks to wait). But what about the ultimate “shorter timeframe?”
I
s it possible to produce an overnight
debrief? More importantly, how? The
answer is yes and, as Study Hall
Research has learned, it can be a
highly profitable “premium priced” offering.
This article will outline our experience in
overnight debriefs: How to best structure
and use them, how to set expectations and
parameters for them, key types of research
for which an overnight debrief works best,
and how to execute it (without panic!) when
the client says “ok, I’d like that.”
What types of qualitative (and
clients) are best-suited for overnight
debriefs?
The overnight debrief isn’t for every type
of qual, or for every client. Based on our
experience, the best types of qualitative for
overnight debriefs are those projects which:
1. Are in one market only.
2. Involve no more than three to four
groups, all conducted on the same day
(or, at the very least, on two consecutive
days).
3. Involve respondents that are similar,
versus dramatically different target
groups. (As an example, Study Hall
produces overnight toplines for a client
that is one of the top six QSR – fast
food – brands. Our group recruits are
always heavy category users who fall into
two of the client’s specific user target
segments.)
4. Have a high degree of structured inquiry,
such as creative evaluation, taste testing,
or other types of qualitative where both
the stimulus and the range of questions
are consistent.
5. Involve issues where the client is looking
for more defined responses (e.g., “go vs.
no go” on concepts, etc).
When deciding whether or not a client
might be the right fit for overnight debriefs,
that decision is best if based on a few key
issues:
1. Do you have a strong working
relationship or partnership with the
client?
2. Have you already proven your analytical
and debriefing abilities to the client?
3. Is the client comfortable with less
structured documents?
4. Does the client have a degree of “fun”
about them? (We have found that our
more “fun” clients have proven the most
open to overnight debriefs.)
If your client is this sort of engagement
partner, consider floating the idea of an
overnight debrief. Depending on your
comfort level or experience, it may be best
to consider offering a 48-hour debrief before
you offer an overnight option!
What’s the best structure for
overnight debriefs?
Because of the nature of anything
“overnight,” this is clearly not an idea
suited for lengthy PowerPoint decks or
long narratives. While it is a critical part of
client service to know how end clients want
debriefs, an overnight debrief is best for
all parties if it is delivered either via email,
or as a brief topline memo. We have found
that clients are willing to sacrifice longer
narratives for timely and highly informationpacked bullet points. This is how we coach
clients when discussing overnight debriefs,
and the idea of “immediacy and concise
substance” vs. “longer timeframe and longer
narrative” is a rather easy one to make
under the right circumstances.
In terms of the actual structure of the
debrief, consider the following as you set up
a reporting format:
1. Focus on what’s critical. A research
project can easily morph into something
it wasn’t intended to be at the start,
making a debrief difficult and time
consuming to write. Remember
the primary objectives for an
overnight. Determine (with the client)
key reporting needs and what will most
help their decision process.
2. Omit the “small stuff” or anything
unnecessary. For overnight debriefs,
we do not include verbatims. (Partly
because we have, over time, proven our
analytical and observational skills to
clients. This makes them comfortable
without verbatims, since they trust we
have seen and heard all the important
comments and insights). Keep it simple
and straightforward.
3. Include strong and very direct
recommendations, since the client
is likely looking to make decisions
quickly. But remind everyone that the
recommendations and implications will
be based on the core issues, and that the
overnight debrief will not branch out into
unrelated topics.
4. Divide the debrief into key segments that
telegraph what to do. Some examples
of simple and effective sections: “What
concepts worked,” “what concepts
didn’t work,” and “what concepts are
in the middle for now.” Don’t include
conclusions or major findings that you
haven’t had time to vet out completely/
thoroughly.
5. Create a custom reporting template for
the debrief (for clients who will engage in
similar projects on an ongoing basis).
Going into the actual fieldwork with
this sort of structure in mind will greatly
help how everyone thinks and engages
with the research. It does not, in any way,
diminish the ability to use the qual groups
or interviews to probe deeply on issues
or follow-up on new/divergent topics. It
does help with the sort of “mindset” of all
involved team members.
How to structure the actual
fieldwork day to help with the
debrief.
A client has decided they want an overnight
debrief for the project, and you’re thinking,
“now what do I do?” For starters, don’t
panic! It’s actually quite simple – it requires
a disciplined approach to the groups and a
willingness to follow some key guidelines.
1. Schedule groups strategically. Place at
least 30 minutes between groups. This
allows the research team to summarize
key notes from a group while the room
is being reset. This break is generally
something clients want or need anyway,
as it gives them time to check emails,
etc. And work to schedule groups with
an ending time before 7 p.m. to give time
for debrief writing that evening.
2. Utilize junior staff/consultants to observe
the research and take detailed notes
regarding the key objectives or key
learning areas. It’s fun for them, it gives
them client interaction time, and they
have an opportunity to learn and work
closely with senior consultants.
3. Develop a template for concepts, ideas or
key discussion topics. This will give you
a common area for noting insights and
make it easier to summarize after the
groups.
4. Develop your own “shorthand” for ingroup moderator notes. Study Hall
consultants use a series of pluses,
minuses, key summary words and
abbreviations (“RT” for recurring theme,
“KI” for key insight and so on). When
taking in-group moderator notes, these
tactics reduce repetitive writing while
also making clear the key takeaways
from each group.
5. Know the client and their research topics
(concepts, campaigns, etc.) very well.
6. Do an immediate “post group download”
with clients where the moderator
shares his or her immediate thoughts
about what the groups all said. Yes,
this requires some quick analytical and
extemporaneous speaking skills, but it
also a) gives the junior consultants very
specific comments to take notes for; b)
gives everyone a chance to share any
“seen or heard” comments; and c) gets
everyone on the client side engaged and
going in the same direction on the same
day.
7. Commit to working that evening and
the next morning. Assign specific parts
of the debrief to any junior consultants
and optimize “divide and conquer”
opportunities. Again, it’s good practice
for any consultant. Generally, for a series
of two to four groups on one day, an
overnight debrief takes about two to
three hours of writing the same evening,
and another one to three the following
morning and it’s done! The end result is
generally an email or a word document
of no more than six or seven hard-hitting
and bulleted pages.
A few words about the benefits for
everyone involved.
While the idea of overnight debriefs may
sound a bit challenging at first, it’s a
reporting practice that gets much easier
over time. And the benefits for both clients
and research consultants are clear:
1. Speed! The client gets what they need
faster and the project can be closed
faster, which means quicker “final
billing” to a client and faster payment.
2. Efficiency. There is less total effort
required from everyone. The “day of and
day after” effort is intense, but the end
result is that clients get faster and more
concise insights and recommendations
without having to wade through lengthy
debriefs.
3. Relationships. The clients for whom
we have deployed overnight debriefs
are hugely appreciative, and see this
as Study Hall working diligently to
give them what they need. There are
longer-term benefits relating to client
relationships, partnerships, and the
deepening of both.
4. And finally, there is the revenue benefit
for the consultancy. For a one- or two-day
project (and again, one-day is optimal
for overnight debriefs), a price premium
of four to six percent of total project cost
can be negotiated for overnight debriefs.
Interestingly, Study Hall Research has a
standard practice of delivering all qual
debriefs in 10 business days or less. But
in the current business climate, clients
see the value in overnight debriefs and
generally find that the price differential is
worth it.
For those who decide to consider
overnight debriefs, good luck! As a final bit
of advice, gather your consultants and try
a practice run. Find your strongest people
in terms of analysis and writing compelling
key points. And then add it to your
arsenal of consulting tools that will deliver
considerable value to clients.
Rob Iles is one of two partners and
the Managing Director of Study Hall
Research, a 10-person full-service brand,
communications and strategic research
consultancy, headquartered in Tampa,
Florida. Study Hall works with Fortune
100, 500 and 1000 clients worldwide, with
particular focus on healthcare, QSR/fast
food, travel and leisure, retail and
broadcast television.
dnavertical.com
EXPLORING HEART AND
BRAIN HEALTH THROUGH
QUALITATIVE APPROACHES
By Allison Groom and Karen Robb
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association conducts consumer
marketing research just like for-profit companies, with similar objectives: to change
attitudes, beliefs or behavior. Our end goal, however, is markedly different from
companies aiming to sell products and services.
W
e aim to help everyone
make choices that we
believe will lead to
healthier, longer lives.
Essentially, we are aiming to sell the best
ways people can prevent heart disease
and stroke – the two leading causes
of death in the world. Understanding
knowledge, perceptions, motivations
and barriers to heart and brain health are
key to achieving our mission of building
lives free of cardiovascular diseases and
stroke.
We use qualitative research for various
exploratory purposes. Most often it is
to direct or supplement quantitative
research. Sometimes it has stand-
alone merit for creative development or
communications. We traditionally use
in-person focus groups as our primary
qualitative methodology. While this
approach still makes sense in certain
situations, we have begun to explore
other options and are finding deeper
insights in hybrid approaches. Though
technology has opened up many new
opportunities to gather qualitative
insights online, observational discoveries
through ethnography have significant
value. Here are some examples of
qualitative methods we have utilized.
Online Chat Sessions
We recently conducted a quantitative
online survey to test message and image
concepts to convey our new brand
positioning. The positioning is designed
to portray our role in the community
and our role in influencing a culture
of health. We tested several messages
that communicated key elements of
the positioning. We also tested mood
boards – photo collages of people who
represented activities and emotions we
wanted to elicit. Questions were crafted
to detect the emotions triggered by
the positioning, as well as the extent to
which respondents felt it was relevant to
them.
We supplemented the survey with
online chat sessions to further explore
the motivations and emotions tied to the
positioning. Twenty survey respondents
were invited to participate in 30-minute
chat sessions immediately following the
survey, conducted with a live moderator.
The verbatim comments added color and
richness to the online ratings that we
wouldn’t have received otherwise. We
learned that the most effective positioning
messages and images incorporated positive
elements that convey hope and aspiration.
Messages relating to family and friends,
as opposed to self, were most powerful.
Results-focused facts (e.g., number of lives
saved through our scientific discoveries)
illuminated the impact that our organization
is having. Finally, imagery that reflected the
viewer’s life stage heightened the relevance
of the positioning.
In another study, we tested names
and messages related to hypertension.
We were consolidating current programs
and rebranding the umbrella initiative.
This umbrella program encompassed a
new name, tagline and messaging for our
website, and in social media and brochures
in doctors’ offices. The aim of the research
was to determine what would motivate
people to check their blood pressure, change
their lifestyle if they are hypertensive, and
control their blood pressure. An online
quantitative survey obtained ratings of
names, taglines and messages, followed
by live online chat sessions with 40
respondents. The qualitative probing helped
us understand what words and phrases
would motivate consumers to take action.
We moved forward with the name “Check.
Change. Control.” because it was actionoriented. The most effective message
elements were “longer, healthier life” and
“helping millions,” which gave us direction
for communications strategies.
Online Software-Moderated Surveys
We conducted a quantitative online survey
that incorporated automated softwaremoderated questions to probe on particular
responses and discover consumer insights
not revealed through a traditional tracking
study. This approach elevated qualitative
to the statistical power of quantitative.
The software is designed from analyses
of thousands of verbatim responses and
intuitively knows what probing questions to
ask. Respondents feel like they are chatting
with a live moderator instead of a computer
program.
From this in-depth approach, mental
maps were developed on a sample of
over 500. We were able to understand
health priorities of diet and exercise, how
consumers view the amount of effort
they personally invest in their health and
what motivates them to make an effort to
be healthy. Understanding the nuanced
differences of what the term “effort” means
to multicultural audiences allows us to
encourage healthy behaviors when someone
tries as well as succeeds. The confidence in
these qualitative results quickly impacted
the relevancy of our messaging.
advocate for them and help them choose the
hospital that meets their health needs. They
believed their level of care at hospitals with
AHA/ASA accreditation would have the
most up-to-date technology and procedures,
and the highest quality.
We found that familiarity
with the healthcare
quality improvement
concept was fairly
low. But, once
educated about it,
consumers believe
these programs are
essential because
patients need
someone to advocate
for them.
In-Culture Focus Groups
In-home Ethnography Groups
For a study about healthcare, we conducted
focus groups in respondents’ homes. Our
objectives were to gain an understanding
of consumers’ awareness of the concept of
healthcare quality improvement, determine
what factors drive their decisions around
hospital choice and assess their perceptions
of our role in the healthcare quality arena.
The association has developed healthcare
quality improvement programs that help
ensure consistent application of the most
recent scientific guidelines for heart
disease and stroke treatment at more than
2,000 hospitals nationwide, as well as in
outpatient settings.
The focus groups followed an online
quantitative survey and allowed us to probe
on key issues. We recruited participants
who met our criteria and asked them to
invite friends and family to participate
in focus groups at the hosts’ homes. The
friends and family shared similar participant
qualifications we were seeking to ensure
they represented our audiences. The
participants felt at ease to discuss personal
and emotional issues regarding their health
and views about healthcare quality. The
rapport among participants led to candid
and honest opinions that may not have
been revealed in traditional groups of eight
strangers.
We found that familiarity with the
healthcare quality improvement concept
was fairly low. But, once educated about
it, consumers believe these programs are
essential because patients need someone to
Many of our initiatives focus on specific
races and ethnicities, so we conduct
research among African-Americans,
Hispanics, Asians and Caucasians.
Historically, the composition of our focus
groups was representative of these
segments, but it was insufficient to
understand the differences among the
segments. Now, we conduct in-culture
groups, recruiting separate groups for each
segment with a moderator of the same race
and ethnicity, to help us discover cultural
differences that influence attitudes and
behavior regarding health. We explored
motivations and barriers to manage high
blood pressure, uncovering many cultural
beliefs, traditions and habits. Hispanics
tended to have a fatalistic attitude toward
their health; if they have high blood
pressure, that’s their cross to bear and
there’s little they can do about it. African
Americans held a similar belief, that high
blood pressure is prevalent in their family,
so it’s inevitable that they’ll have it. These
cultural nuances have provided direction for
crafting communications strategies to each
segment.
Discussion Boards
Sometimes it’s not convenient or feasible
for some audiences to attend a focus group
in person. Stroke survivors may have
physical conditions that prevent them
from being mobile or driving to a facility.
Additionally, family members who provide
care for a stroke survivor may not be able
to leave their loved one to attend a group.
Those were among the key reasons we
conducted online discussion boards with
stroke survivors, caregivers and stroke
support group leaders. The objectives were
to identify issues and concerns related to
post-stroke recovery in order to provide us
with direction for materials and tools that
we could develop to meet their needs.
The discussions lasted three days, with
the moderator posting questions in the
mornings and again in the afternoons.
Participants could view and comment on
one another’s posts. The moderator made
the participants feel comfortable and open
to sharing personal experiences. The
conversations evoked intimate comments
about their emotions – fears, grief,
frustrations and joy – that they felt as they
managed their post-stroke lives. We found
that there is an opportunity to proactively
DID YOU KNOW...
Issues & Answers is a Qualitative Resource with 4 moderators on staff!
While Maintaining Our 4 US Call Centers
It is with great pleasure that we announce our expanded service offerings from our international call center,
“Intercontinental Survey Consortium, Ltd”, based in Europe!
The additional facility boasts a fully bi-lingual staff conversant in over 45 languages. This unique expansion
will allow us to do both B to B and consumer telephone research in Europe, Asia, Middle East and North Africa.
reach out to new patients and caregivers,
in partnership with a hospital advocate,
to answer initial questions and help them
during the recovery period.
Journaling/Photos and
Discussion Boards
Evaluation of a nutrition program was a
good opportunity to use a multi-mode
approach. The need to understand changes
in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors
around food shopping, preparation and
consumption led us to integrate an online
quantitative pre/post study with two
different qualitative methods. All pre-test
respondents received an email with recipes,
information about food preparation and
cooking skills, and encouragement to use
resources on a healthy living website. A
sub-sample of 31 participants from the presurvey participated in three weeks of online
journaling, activities and photo sharing
regarding their thoughts and experiences
on shopping and cooking more nutritiously.
At the end of four weeks, the journaling
participants also took part in a three-day
discussion bulletin board. Feedback was
first captured individually and then shared
among the group. Finally, all participants
completed the quantitative post-survey.
This method allowed us to quantify change
in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors
related to fruit and vegetable consumption,
and eating at home. We were also able to
gain insights into daily struggles, challenges
and successes. The richness of the personal
perspective brought the quantitative data to
life, which helped secure additional funding
for the project.
We found through these groups that
though awareness of heart disease as the
number one killer of women has significantly
increased over the past 10 years, women still
underestimate the possible personal impact.
These learnings are being used to develop
new communications to further elevate heart
disease as a priority for women.
Friendship Mini-Groups
Conclusion
These groups were conducted to explore
women’s beliefs and attitudes about heart
health. The learning provided direction for
communications, positioning and touch
point activation. Just as we did in the inhome ethnography groups, we recruited
one person who in turn invited friends. All
participants met the screening criteria.
These groups were held in a traditional
focus group facility, behind a two-way
mirror, but the environment was anything
but traditional. Couches, pillows, a
coffee table, drinks and snacks made
the experience comfortable and relaxed.
Participants more quickly eased into
the topic and tended toward more open
dialogue. We did, however, learn that the
type of friendship influenced this comfort
level. In our situation, groups with friends
from work were not as productive. We now
know to tighten up our screening criteria.
The American Heart Association/American
Stroke Association values qualitative
marketing research approaches so we
can better understand health concerns,
challenges and motivation. Writing this
article makes us realize the breadth of
qualitative methods and the value we receive
from them. New qualitative and hybrid
approaches are well received and deliver
against stated objectives. We will continue
to use traditional methods while exploring
new qualitative approaches to provide rich
insights into how we can engage individuals
and communities to create a culture of
health, so that all Americans live healthier,
longer lives.
Allison Groom is Marketing Research
Consultant and Karen Robb is Manager,
Customer and Marketing Research, at the
American Heart Association/American
Stroke Association.
7
LESSONS LEARNED
ABOUT RECRUITING
HARD-TO-REACH
POPULATIONS FOR
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
By Karissa Horton
As qualitative researchers, we are tasked with capturing the voices of a target population, but
oftentimes, certain segments of the target population are extremely difficult to find and recruit.
T
hrough our experiences
conducting research across
the U.S. for the Women,
Infants, and Children (WIC)
supplemental nutrition program (that
provides food, nutrition education and
breastfeeding assistance for families at or
below 185 percent of the poverty level),
we have discovered several key lessons
to help identify and recruit hard-to-reach
populations.
Some of our most recent work for the
Arizona WIC program required focus groups
with both English and Spanish speakers
who meet the WIC income guidelines, but
have never been on WIC before. Good luck,
right? This is a small percentage of the
population!
For statewide recruitment, we turned
to Facebook ads. This worked well for
recruiting the English speaking population,
but failed with the Spanish speaking
population. Nearly all of the Spanish
speakers who responded to our ad qualified
for WIC, but were already participating
in the program. The remaining Spanishspeaking respondents exceeded the WIC
income guidelines substantially. In a
previous project, we used a recruitment
facility to find these individuals, but they,
too, had difficulty locating this audience.
In fact, over 50 percent of the participants
in our focus groups were bilingual, nonnative Spanish-speaking individuals, rather
than native Spanish speakers. Determined
to find native Spanish speakers who were
eligible for the WIC program, but who had
never been on WIC, we abandoned the
Facebook ad and opted to recruit through
local community programs familiar with this
population.
In order to recruit low-income Spanish
speakers, it was critical that we connect
with local community members who
were trusted and well-liked by our target
population. Although it took a lot of time
and persistence to network and find the
right people to help us recruit, our efforts
paid off and we were able to recruit this
hard-to-reach population using Promotoras.
These community members are trained to
provide basic health education to others
in Hispanic/Latino communities and are
trusted and respected liaisons between
their neighbors and local health and human
service organizations.
We hope the lessons we learned through
this process may help others in their
qualitative research endeavors.
1. Hard-to-reach populations are truly
hard to reach! Why? Because they
typically do not opt-in to online surveys,
panels, focus groups, etc. We’ve found
that this occurs because they are unaware
of market research opportunities, or they
simply do not want to be found, which
means they are rarely identified through
traditional market research recruitment
methods.
2. Use your networks; they are key
to your recruiting success. Put your
client and personal networks to work to
help maximize your recruiting efforts.
Ask for introductions to others who are
in a position to help recruit your target
audience. Carefully consider whom
you will ask to help with recruitment
endeavors because your target audience
must like and trust these individuals.
For example, we experienced great
recruiting success with existing
community organizations whose staff
were well-liked and trusted by local, lowincome Spanish speakers. Specifically,
we partnered with Promotoras at local
community health centers and doctor’s
offices to help recruit Spanish speakers.
To locate the Promotoras, we worked
through our clients’ professional networks,
requesting introductions to many
community partners, who then referred us
on to individuals in their networks. This
particular example illustrates how valuable
clients’ networks are when recruiting
hard-to-reach populations. Other methods
include: (1) obtaining lists of phone
numbers in order to call our clients’ former
participants/customers; (2) requesting
individuals we’ve already recruited to
ask a friend to participate; and (3) asking
local program staff – who are peers and
connected to the population – to help us
recruit. However, we caution that each
of these approaches may potentially
introduce bias into your studies. Think
about your own hard-to-reach populations
and who they like and trust – these are the
people with whom you want to connect. If
you don’t know them, use your networks
to gain introductions.
3. Go where they are. Social networks are
a great recruitment resource for general
audiences and some special audiences
as well. However, it is our experience
that certain segments of low-income
populations are not as prevalent on social
media (e.g., Facebook). Oftentimes, these
individuals aren’t on social media because
they don’t have a smartphone or computer
to access the Internet. Thus, don’t rely
solely on this medium. Learn where your
hard-to-reach populations live, work and
play, and meet them there. This may
mean attending faith-based organizations,
community health fairs, flea markets
and local parent meetings to talk about
your project and recruit participants.
For example, we recruited hard-to-reach
populations at a school health fair by
setting up a table with items of interest.
4. Be organized. When calling on networks
to help you recruit, you must know exactly
what you want from them before you
call and what you will provide in return
for their help. You may only get one
opportunity to talk, so have your pitch
prepared! Be ready to quickly establish
rapport, authority and credibility all while
being polite and patient. In addition, be
flexible and prepared to conduct your
research on the spot.
5. Be persistent. Be prepared to call and
call and call again. Explain to them who
you are and what you are doing. Do not
expect to get a call back from them; it is
not going to happen. Keep calling.
6. Choose incentives wisely. Know
what incentives will resonate with your
population. Most groups prefer cash.
We’ve had a couple of instances where
we were conducting online or phone
groups and did not have a cash option.
Visa gift cards work great with English
speaking audiences who are familiar with
the gift card process. However, we found
that some low-income Spanish speakers
are not familiar with how Visa gift cards
work and are fearful they must provide
personally identifying information in order
to use the gift card. If you end up using
gift cards, be prepared to explain how
they work.
7. Be Patient. Recruiting hard-to-reach
populations takes time. If at all possible,
add two extra weeks to the project
timeline to allow ample time to network
and find the right people who can and
are willing to help you recruit your target
audience.
Dr. Karissa Horton is co-founder, principal
consultant and primary investigator at
Limetree Research, a firm specializing
in applying commercial market research
techniques to public health research.
She earned a Ph.D. in Health Behavior
and Health Education at the University of
Texas at Austin. Find Limetree online at
limetreeresearch.com.
consistent.
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3Q GLOBAL, a Quick Test/Heakin
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Contact: Terry Brisbane
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Full-service firm offering a top-rated,
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Contact: Erick Pennington
[email protected]
Selected as one of the Best New Agencies
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www.aocresearch.com
Contact: Cathleen Christopher
[email protected]
6060 Primacy Pkwy., Ste. 401
Memphis, TN 38119
901.821.4333
www.axiom-mr.com
Contact: Carla Fray
[email protected]
Top three in the nation for Recruiting
and Personnel according to Impulse
Survey of Top Rated Focus Facilities 2014.
Specialties include large quota taste tests,
CLTs, focus groups and IDIs. Expanded
in 2014; each of our four rooms are within
a private suite and include a lounge,
office, restroom, exterior entrance/exit
and separate HVAC zones for clients and
participants. Fully equipped, dedicated
test kitchen.
Unsurpassed recruiting and high show
rates. Modern, beautiful facility. Spacious
and comfortable client areas. Oversized
viewing areas. Exceptional client support.
In upscale office district surrounded by
city’s best hotels/restaurants. Closest
facility to airport. Largest database
in market. HIGHEST RATINGS IN
MEMPHIS FOR RECRUITING, VALUE,
FACILITY, FOOD SERVICE, LOCATION
AND PERSONNEL!
Artafact LLC
Babbletype
43165 Sabercat Pl.
Fremont, CA 94539
800.618.3228
www.artafact.com
Contact: Linda Stegeman
[email protected]
1 International Plaza., Ste. 550
Philadelphia, PA 19113
888.678.7782
www.babbletype.com
Contact: Angela Wood
[email protected]
Artafact offers chat, phone and webcam
online focus groups. Included are drawing
tools for marking up images, ads and Web
pages, remote website navigation, and
polling. Artafact Diaries (bulletin boards)
are asynchronous chat focus groups with
advanced features supporting photos,
video, polling, Web surveys and more.
Real-time recruiting services.
Babbletype transcription services come
highly referred and are designed to
reduce your costs, reduce turnaround and
dramatically improve the quality of your
reports. Don’t settle for memory or cryptic
“notes.” We offer ultra-easy, standard
all-inclusive pricing and have incredible
volume discounts. We also handle
language translation, teleconferencing
and content analysis.
AVC Research
304 Front St.
Belvidere, NJ 07823
908.475.3366
Contact: Aileen English
[email protected]
MARKET RESEARCH VALIDATIONS.
Validations are used to insure quality and
act as a deterrent to invalid fieldwork.
For over 10 years AVC Research has
specialized in validations. We can tailor
your project to your specific needs,
large or small. We provide fast, efficient
turnaround. Our reports have been used
frequently for legal purposes. We also
do product placement callbacks that are
prompt and cost effective.
Baltimore Research
8320 Bellona Ave., Ste. 210
Baltimore, MD 21204
914.761.1909
www.baltimoreresearch.com
Contact: Heather Collins, PRC
[email protected]
54-year-old, full-service marketing
research firm and focus facility. Our
service quality is unparalleled and we are
experienced across diverse industries.
Facility features eight well-appointed
focus suites, chic client lounges, test
kitchen with observational viewing,
private bathrooms in every suite and
ample free parking. Full-time chef on
staff for a superior culinary experience.
Each suite is outfitted with the latest
technology. Highly experienced recruiting
team with acute attention to detail.
Deeply profiled medical database.
Boston Field & Focus, Inc. dba
Performance Plus
Concepts In Focus
Customer Lifecycle, LLC
1329 Kingsley Ave., Ste. A
Orange Park, FL 32073
904.264.5578
www.conceptsinfocus.com
Contact: Kathy Hayman
[email protected]
319 N. Weber Rd., #360
Bolingbrook, IL 60490
630.412.8989
www.customerlifecycle.us
Contact: Karin Ferenz
[email protected]
Think Jacksonville - a growing and
diverse market. Concepts in Focus,
northeast Florida’s premier focus group
facility, top-rated by Impulse - designed
with your needs in mind: personalized
service, suburban atmosphere, attention
to quality recruiting, two spacious
suites, high-speed Internet, free digital
recordings, FocusVision. We invite you to
visit “Florida’s First Coast!”
CLC is a global research consultancy
that works with B2B/B2C companies to
plan and conduct research to accurately
identify and measure requirements
for customer acquisition, satisfaction
and loyalty, share of wallet growth and
retention. We help organizations get
better business results through improved
integration of research findings into the
day-to-day operations of the organization.
61 East Highway 8
PO Box BF
Steelville, MO 65565
573.775.4550
www.cfrinc.net
Contact: Colson Steber
[email protected]
Creative Consumer Research
Engage In Depth
3945 Greenbriar Dr.
Stafford, TX 77477
281.240.9646
www.ccrsurveys.com
Contact: Patricia Pratt
[email protected]
2510 Urbana Pike, Ste. 1
Ijamsville, MD 21754
240.206.6295
www.engageindepth.com
Contact: Lisa Marshall
[email protected]
CFR delivers clients individualized
research solutions. Our focus is on
providing honest, dependable and
knowledgeable service that builds
sustainable business relationships. We
are experienced in various methods of
data collection, recruiting, tabulations,
panel management, and many more
specific research services. The CFR team,
led by a dedicated project manager,
brings a valuable asset to your business.
Over 37 years experience in Houston.
Five spacious focus group rooms with
viewing capabilities. Two permanent
mall locations. Seventy CATI telephones.
Expertise in recruiting low incidence
studies, consumer, business and medical
groups, mock juries and music tests.
Multilingual capabilities. Translators
available.
Engage is a premier market research firm
specializing in nationwide recruiting for
B2B, Medical Professionals/Patients and
Consumers. Focus Groups, IDI’s Mock
Trials, Political Issue Studies, Online
Communities, Online Focus Groups,
Bulletin Boards, Webex Interviews,
Telephone Depths, Teleconference
Groups, Home Usability, Ethnographies,
Immersions, Shop-Alongs, Custom Hybrid
Research Studies.
111 Speen St., Ste. 105
Framingham, MA 01701
508.872.1287
www.performanceplusboston.com
Contact: Annette Garrepy
[email protected]
At Performance Plus we have been at the
forefront of bringing new techniques, new
methodologies, and new technologies to
our clients for more than 40 years. For any
type of data collection or management
project, Performance Plus has the
facilities, dedicated people and industry
expertise to get the job done right.
Communications for Research, Inc.
Complete Research Connection
Complete Research Connection (CRC),
an award winning, Impulse Top Rated,
certified woman-owned business
enterprise, is a Columbus-based
qualitative research company offering five
state-of-the-art focus group suites, quality
recruiting, project management, research
design consultation, questionnaire
development, auditing, data collection
and processing and report writing.
12625 HIgh Bluff Dr., Ste. 218
San Diego, CA 92130
858.792.0500
www.CulturatiResearch.com
Contact: Marissa Romero-Martin
[email protected]
Culturati is committed to research and
consultation that takes a deep dive
into the transformation of the Total
Market with a specialization in the most
influential ethnic segment: the Hispanic
population. Our tenured researchers are
the backbone of our company, including
eight fully bilingual/bicultural Hispanic
moderators who are native Spanish
speakers and also have extensive
experience in General Market research.
Essman/Research
100 E. Grand Ave., Ste. 340
Des Moines, IA 50309
515.282.7145
www.essmanresearch.com
Contact: Deborah Stearns, PRC
[email protected]
For 37 years, Essman/Research has
provided custom-designed qualitative
research services. Our focus group facility
offers tiered seating for 16+ observers,
A/V digital recording, FocusVision, and
instant messaging for moderator and
observer communications. We offer inhouse moderators, excellent recruiting
and a professional and responsive staff.
2323 West Fifth Ave., Ste. 150
Columbus, OH 43204
614.220.4120
www.crcmr.com
Contact: Jenny Schlesinger
[email protected]
Culturati Research & Consulting
Fieldwork Inc.
Focus Plus, Inc.
The Human Collective, Inc.
111 E. Wacker Dr., Ste. 220
Chicago, IL 60601
800 TO FIELD (800.863.4353)
www.fieldwork.com
Contact: Molly Lammers
[email protected]
462 Seventh Ave., 18th Fl.
New York, NY 10018
800.340.8846
www.focusplusny.com
Contact: Liz Markham
[email protected]
1401 S. Ocean Dr.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
954.655.9142
www.thehumancollective.com
Contact: Tameka Linnell
[email protected]
Fieldwork has been a leader in world-class
marketing research services and facilities
for over 30 years. We have 16 premier
facilities across the U.S., a multi-market
project management team that covers the
globe, and recruiting capabilities for any
type of project in any location. We offer
solutions and support for online research,
ethnographic research, usability research,
convention research and focus groups.
New facility in the heart of midtown
with state-of-the-art A/V and Internet,
large focus and client rooms, adaptable
configurations available, 18th floor views.
In-house recruiting for all qualitative
studies, CLTs, mock juries, usability, etc.
with consumers, B2B, C-level, financial,
high-tech, medical professionals and
patients, IT execs, trendsetters/early
adopters, seniors, GLBT, luxury market,
voters, ethnic groups. 25+ years in NYC!
You can have all the right answers to
all the wrong questions if you ignore
context. Understanding why people
do what they do, make the choices
they make, and behave a certain way
is the key to unlocking the power of
your brand and communications. The
Human Collective, Inc. unlocks brand
power through a bespoke multi-method
approach: traditional, visual and mobile
ethnography, social visual analytics, and
documentary film.
Focus Forward
950 West Valley Rd., Ste. 2700
Wayne, PA 19087
215.367.4000
www.focusfwd.com
Contact: Liz Granahan
[email protected]
Nationwide Recruiting - Medical, B2B
and Consumer. Recruiting for online
boards/Web chats, phone interviews,
in-person, ethnos, juries, and more.
Transcription: English and translation,
notes, fast turnaround, high volume,
experts in every accent and topic.
Coding: Verbatim coding with dedicated
project management at a price that fits
your budget.
Focus Market Research, Inc.
Two Meridian Crossings, Ste. 160
Minneapolis, MN 55423
612.869.8181
www.focusmarketresearch.com
Contact: Bob Yoerg
[email protected]
Focus Market Research can think through
recruiting challenges and define issues
and concerns to reach a successful
conclusion with you. We are pro-active!
We meticulously manage our database
to insure high participation standards.
Our environment and staff is friendly,
hospitable and welcoming. Experience
and caring are the tools that make your
project a success! Qual/CLTs/Taste
Tests/Online with excellent execution of
specifications.
GMI, a Lightspeed Research
Company
icanmakeitbetter.com
3 Mountain View Rd., 3rd Fl.
Warren, NJ 07059
908.605.4500
www.gmi-mr.com
Contact: Kathy Miller
[email protected]
9600 Escarpment Blvd., Ste. 745-254
Austin, TX 78749
512.498.3830
www.icanmakeitbetter.com
Contact: Matt Thurston
[email protected]
GMI empowers insights around the world
and adds value at every stage of the
research process. With millions of deeply
profiled double opt-in panelists across 40
proprietary panels, real-time respondent
sourcing and advanced sample balancing
capabilities, GMI, a Lightspeed Research
Company, offers a wide range of
respondent access in a single, trusted
partner.
We are a cloud-based insights community
platform that centralizes your research
and innovation efforts - surveys, OBB
discussions, open innovation, and your
own panel - all in one place. We’ll get you
up and running in one day, not weeks.
icanmakeitbetter.com is a powerful tool
built by researchers for researchers to
streamline the management of your own
community. Less labor, more insights, all
at the speed of business.
Herron Associates, Inc.
Corporate Office
710 Executive Park Dr.
Greenwood, IN 46143
317.887.8901
www.herron-research.com
Contact: Sue McAdams
[email protected]
Illuminas
Indianapolis and Tampa locations.
Emphasis on Recruitment, Qualitative,
Quant/hybrid and Taste Tests. Oversized
focus suites, large viewable CLT suites
and test kitchens. Projects are managed
using a team concept giving each project
multiple minds with vast experience
and creative out-of-box troubleshooting.
Experienced National Project
Management.
Illuminas is a full-service, global
consultancy dedicated to helping
companies leverage market intelligence.
Solutions are customized to enlighten
clients’ unique strategies and empower
them to make informed decisions, and
Illuminas’ team of expert researchers
utilize extensive quantitative and
qualitative experience to recommend
the most appropriate tools for client
objectives.
3801 S Capital of TX Hwy., Ste. 200
Austin, TX 78704
512.652.2714
us.illuminas-global.com
Contact: Amelia Carry
[email protected]
Insight Evolution LLC
L&E Research
Markette Research Inc.
PO Box 708
Windermere, FL 34761
404.551.5007
www.insightevolutionllc.com
Contact: Thais Senger
[email protected]
5505 Creedmoor Rd., Ste. 200
Raleigh, NC 27612
877.344.1574
www.leresearch.com
Contact: Renee Wyckoff
[email protected]
One Fairchild Sq., Ste. 101
Clifton Park, NY 12065
518.383.1661
www.marketteresearch.com
Contact: Dawn Whalen
[email protected]
Insight Evolution is a small, personalized
market research company with a large
global reach. We are a consumer and
sensory research company, experienced
in qualitative and quantitative research,
from early product development through
all marketing stages. Industries: Personal
products, home care, food and beverage,
pharmaceutical, services (hospitality,
financial, telecommunication), etc.
ENGLISH-PORTUGUESE-SPANISH
L&E Research is Impulse Survey Top
Rated & GreenBook Health Certified with
offices in Raleigh, Tampa, Charlotte and
St. Louis. Our clients know that they
can expect impeccable service from
project planning, through recruiting,
and execution. Our professional team of
market research consultants provides
daily updates, and accurate, on-time
recruiting. We have a database of over
100,000 active recruits updated daily.
This brand new focus facility opened
March 1, 2014 and is centrally located in
a suburb of Albany, NY. Composed of 2
focus suites with seating for up to 14 and
state-of-the-art video/audio equipment.
We also offer a 1000 sq. ft. testing area for
large group studies. On-site recruiting
and a dedicated staff. In business since
1977. Located minutes off I-87, we are
conveniently located between Albany,
Schenectady, Troy and Saratoga.
Issues and Answers Network, Inc.
Lucas Market Research, LLC
Matousek & Associates
5151 Bonney Rd. Ste. 100
Virginia Beach, VA 23462-4384
757.456.1100
www.issans.com
Contact: Carla Lindemann
[email protected]
4101 Rider Trail N, Ste. 100
Earth City, MO 63045
314.344.0803
www.lucasresearch.net
Contact: Suzanne Echelmeyer
[email protected]
1270 Main St., 3rd Fl.
Green Bay, WI 54302
920.436.4647
www.matousekandassociates.com
Contact: Stacy McCellan
[email protected]
Issues and Answers is a global marketing
research company specializing in
telephone data collection and all types of
quantitative and qualitative research in
the U.S. and internationally. We offer: 5
U.S.-based call centers, 400 CATI, focus
groups, online, in-person, political polling,
4 on-staff moderators and international
research alliance partnerships.
Consistently rated by Impulse Surveys
as One of the Best Facilities Worldwide
and #1 in STL. Family Owned. Service
Driven. Client Focused. 1000 sq. ft. multipurpose space is the perfect venue for
mock juries, CLTs. Facility-wide remodel
includes 3 well-appointed/contemporary
suites. Articulate respondents, 98% show
rates, competitive pricing, 50+ years
experience.
Matousek & Associates specializes
in providing a variety of research
and consulting services across a
spectrum of industries, including
healthcare, universities, nonprofits,
and manufacturing and product firms.
We have been providing customized
research solutions locally, statewide,
and throughout the U.S. for over 30
years. Matousek & Associates also offers
recruiting services in the Green Bay and
Madison markets!
Just Qual+
Just Qual+ conducts qualitative and
quantitative studies across the healthcare
spectrum of pharmaceuticals and medical
devices. Our team is known for being
creative and flexible while leveraging
technology to make research more
efficient and effective. Our expert team
specializes in hybrid methodologies,
combining various research tools to
maximize conversations with healthcare
professionals and consumers around the
world.
Market Inquiry
5825 Creek Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45242
513.794.1088
www.marketinquiry.com
Contact: Lee Adams
[email protected]
The Nashville Research Group, LLC
Focus Group Facility, Marketing
Research Recruiting Services (from our
large current Business-to-Business,
Medical, Pharmaceutical and Consumer
databases), Home Use Product Testing/
Product Placement, Mock Jury/General
Opinion/Political Interviewing, Marketing
Research Video Streaming Services.
230 Great Circle Rd., Ste. 226
Nashville, TN 37206
615.399.7727
www.NashvilleResearch.com
Contact: John Kilpatrick
[email protected]
Since our founding in 1983, The Nashville
Research Group has been dedicated to
providing excellence in market research.
Our facility is consistently rated one of
the Top Facilities Worldwide by Impulse
Survey. Conveniently located near the
heart of Nashville, mention this ad and
receive complimentary shuttle service to
and from our facility.
245 N Tamiami Trail N., Ste. B
Venice, FL 34285
941.882.0204
www.justqual.com
Contact: Eric Swatek
[email protected]
New England Marketing Research
Olson Research Group, Inc.
Recruit and Field Inc
200 Connecticut Ave., 4th Fl.
Norwalk, CT 06854
203.855.5500
www.NEMR.com
Contact: Brian Barton
[email protected]
1020 Stony Hill Rd., Ste. #300
Yardley, PA 19067
267.487.5500
www.olsonresearchgroup.com
Contact: Paul Allen
[email protected]
54 Sunnyside Blvd., Ste. I
Plainview, NY 11803
646.400.5650
www.RecruitandField.com
Contact: Josh Dyszel / Kristin Ameruoso
[email protected]
NEMR is celebrating its 17th consecutive
year as one of the top rated Focus Group
Facilities in the world. Located in the
Stamford/Norwalk area in the heart of
Fairfield County, Connecticut with easy
access by all the major highways and
Metro North from Grand Central Station.
Olson Research Group has been
supporting the life sciences sector for
nearly two decades by providing both
qualitative and quantitative market
research services and harnessing
the latest technological offerings.
What drives our deliverables is our
proprietary database of HEALTHCARE
PROFESSIONALS, PAYERS and
PATIENTS from all corners of the
healthcare space.
Top quality recruitment and project
management to clients across the country
and internationally. From Focus Groups to
Online Communities and Ethnographies
to Webex Interviews... we’ve got the
individuals you need, delivered exactly
how you need them. Our database
spans the domestic and our services are
available nationwide.
Nichols Research, Inc.
44 Montgomery St., Ste. 1550
San Francisco, CA 94104
415.986.0500
www.nicholsresearch.com
Contact: Paul Valdez
[email protected]
The ONLY independent marketing
research company specializing in focus
group recruiting in the San Francisco
Bay Area. Mock juries, usability,
video streaming, Tier 1 Internet, WiFi,
transcription services, digital audio,
consumer, technical, medical recruiting.
Five facilities throughout Northern and
Central California: San Francisco, San
Jose-Sunnyvale/Silicon Valley, Concord,
Fremont and Fresno.
Observation Baltimore
5520 Research Park Dr.
Baltimore, MD 21228
410.332.0400
www.observationbaltimore.com
Contact: Peter Scanlon
[email protected]
Observation Baltimore is the premier
focus group facility in Maryland. The
gorgeous facility offers focus group
suites as well as precise recruiting of
consumers, physicians, health care
professionals, and business professionals.
Observation Baltimore is conveniently
located just 10 minutes from the BWI
Airport and AMTRAK, as well as
downtown Baltimore.
Opinions, LTD.
33 River St. Chagrin Falls, OH 44022 440.893.0300
www.opinionsltd.com
Contact: Mark Kikel
[email protected]
Opinions, LTD offers complete data
collection services from coast to coast
with 25 strategic locations. Quantitative
Services: Mall Intercepts, In-Home
Use Tests, Field Management, In-Store
Intercepts, Bilingual Interviewing, Central
Location Tests and CATI/Telephone
Surveys. Qualitative Services: Focus
Groups, Ethnographies, IDI’s, and
nationwide recruitment. The Opinions
LTD team will work hard for you!
Q & A Focus Suites
925 Ygnacio Valley Rd. Ste 200
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
800.706.3467
www.QAFocusSuites.com
Contact: Tom Mabe
[email protected]
Q & A Focus Suites offers Top-Rated
facilities. Two are located in the San
Francisco Bay Area. Walnut Creek is in
the heart of East Bay suburbia and Novato
(Marin County) anchors the North Bay.
Our Kansas City facility offers a Midwest
option and GREAT barbecue! Luxurious
suites. Knowledgeable and attentive
staff. Accurate recruiting with responsive
participants. It all adds up to a superior
qualitative experience.
Roda Market Research, Inc.
261 Old York Rd., Ste. 404
Jenkintown, PA 19046
215.887.4700
www.rodaresearch.com
Contact: Adele Roda
[email protected]
Qualitative company specializing
in medical marketing research. We
encompass the nation and all medical
professionals. Call us for a bid.
Schwartz Research & Consulting, Inc.
5027 W. Laurel St.
Tampa, FL 33607
813.207.0332
www.schwartzresearch.com
Contact: Randall Carson
[email protected]
A full service marketing research
consultancy offering custom qualitative and
quantitative services. Housed in our World
Class Facility, minutes from Tampa Airport.
Our facility boasts 3 focus suites, video
streaming, digital/DVD/CD recording and
streaming, bi-lingual staff, on-site call center,
bilingual in-house moderators.
Shifrin-Hayworth, Inc.
26400 Lahser Rd., Ste. 430
Southfield, MI 48033
248.223.0020
www.shifrin-hayworth.com
Contact: Arlene Speiser
[email protected]
Experienced focus group facility. One
focus group room (soon two) with
large viewing room and client office.
Friendly and well trained staff. Highspeed Internet throughout the suite.
Interviewing and recruiting of consumers
and professionals. FocusVision facility.
Our database and professional recruiters
allow us to recruit to your specifications.
Shugoll Research
Survey Center Focus
Three States Interviewing Service
7475 Wisconsin Ave., Ste. 200
Bethesda, MD 20814
301.656.0310 x601
www.shugollresearch.com
Contact: Angela Lorinchak
[email protected]
153 W. Ohio, 4th Fl.
Chicago, IL 60654
312.321.8100
www.scfllc.com
Contact: Susan Stanicek
[email protected]
1270 Dixie Lynn Dr.
Southaven, MS 38671
662.349.5588
www.3statesresearchservices.com
Contact: Wanda Shelton
[email protected]
Shugoll Research is the premier
qualitative research facility in the
DC metro area. We are committed
to providing our clients the highest
quality recruiting, a beautiful high-tech
facility with all-digital audio and video
recording, and staff who are dedicated
to anticipating your needs and going
beyond meeting your expectations. Our
facilities are located on the Metro line.
Ideal for urban and suburban projects.
Survey Center Focus, 35 years strong,
is located in a modern loft space steps
from Michigan Avenue. Our new focus
group suites incorporate a sophisticated,
warm and welcoming feel for clients
and respondents. Experienced and
professional project managers and
recruiting staff to ensure qualified,
engaged and articulate respondents,
nationally and internationally.
Our expertise covers recruiting for focus
groups, mock trials, one on ones, farmers
and business studies. We do taste test
and product testing. We also do in-store/
on-site assignments. We can do store
audits and mystery shops.
Smith Research, Inc.
2423 North Racine Ave., Unit 1
Chicago, IL 60614
760.470.1111
www.TapeToType.com
Contact: Karen Obert
[email protected]
710 Estate Dr.
Deerfield, IL 60015
847.948.0440
www.smithresearch.com
Contact: Nancy Smith
[email protected]
During our more than 45 years of
experience in recruiting qualified
respondents, we’ve mastered the art.
We understand our clients’ objectives
as well as the many circumstances that
can arise in the course of meeting those
objectives. Our staff is adept not only at
identifying qualified respondents but also
in determining when something is wrong
with someone who says all the right
things. Three Chicagoland locations.
Survey Analytics
Survey Analytics is an enterprise
grade research platform that provides
companies with powerful crosscompatible tools to collect feedback.
Survey Analytics can collect and quantify
data in real time on a global scale from
multiple channels. We specialize in
the kind of “listening systems” that
are geared toward deployment across
all channels including Web, email,
mobile, social media, custom panels and
communities.
Tape to Type is a team of U.S.
transcriptionists who specialize in market
research. 100% of the transcripts we
produce are provided for the qualitative
research professional. That is what we
do and we do it well - with over 15 years’
experience. We make your project our
project and you’ll have your own manager
who will work with you to ensure
your transcripts are delivered on time
according to your specifications.
Telepoll Market Research
180 Lesmill Rd.
Toronto, ON M3B 2T5
Canada
416.977.0608 x222
www.telepoll.net
Contact: Christine Schmakies
[email protected]
Telepoll Market Research is a boutique,
data collection firm specializing in
telephone market research since 1990.
Our surveys assist organizations manage
product and service offerings, markets,
marketing campaigns and consumer
perceptions. Telepoll delivers insight
by applying proven and proprietary
telephone data collection methods,
crafted over 20 years in the trenches.
13160 Mindanao Way, Ste. 100
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
310.306.6866
www.trotta.net
Contact: Diane Trotta
[email protected]
Top rated, convenient and spacious.
Experienced with fresh ideas. We deliver
what you need. Come to Marina del
Rey (10 minutes from LAX) or Irvine (45
minutes south of LAX in Orange County),
CA. We can provide diverse populations
from trendy Santa Monica to Beverly
Hills and Beach Cities and inner city
ethnic populations. We’re sticklers for
quality control and field management.
FocusVision. First Choice Facilities.
Unimrkt Research Private Limited
Building #556, Phase 5
Udyog Vihar
Gurgaon, Haryana 122016
India
91.124.424.5210
www.unimrkt.com
Contact: Kanishk Sheel
[email protected]
Unimrkt Research is a global data
collection and market research
outsourcing firm with an effective backend office in India for your worldwide
operations and assurance on data quality,
security and confidentiality. A global data
collection operation consisting of both
CATI and online capabilities, specializing
in business and consumer research,
supported by our extensive CATI facility
in New Delhi, India office.
823 Delta Ave., Ste. F
513.801.5356
www.surveyanalytics.com
Contact: Gina Yeagley
[email protected]
Tape To Type
Trotta Associates
Various Views Research, Inc.
Vital Findings
11353 Reed Hartman Hwy., Ste. 101
513.489.9000
www.VariousViews.com
Contact: Kevin Vaselakes
[email protected]
10557 Jefferson Blvd, Ste. E
Culver City, CA 90232
310.279.5510
vitalfindings.com
Contact: Jason Kramer
[email protected]
Full service data collection company
providing marketing research services
from our headquarters on the north side
of Cincinnati. Methodologies: Recruiting/
facilitation of focus groups, IDIs, CLTs,
HUTs, ethnography studies, panels,
intercept interviewing, and quantitative
customer satisfaction/tracking studies via
telephone. Ad hoc: Consultation/study
design, project management, screener/
questionnaire design, moderating,
videostreaming.
At Vital Findings, we believe that good,
innovative market research should be
judged by the actual impact it has on
product development, marketing, and
business strategy. Our mission is to
elevate the market research profession
beyond just delivering reports and
PowerPoint bullets, using the tools
of design, marketing science, and
innovative research consulting to allow
researchers to actually enable business
action.
Wilkins Research Services, LLC
(WRS)
1730 Gunbarrel Rd.
Chattanooga, TN 37421
423.894.9478
www.wilkinsresearch.net
Contact: Lisa Wilkins
[email protected]
As a market research company that
has been in the business since 1971,
we understand the need of gathering
opinions for companies that desire a true
connection with their customers. We offer
a wide range of services including: Focus
Groups, Telephone Surveys, On-Line
Surveys, Recruiting Services, On-site &
one-on-one surveys, and a host of other
services.
You don’t reach a
quarter century
without some help
from your friends.
Thank you very much
for your business!
Visit our website for your birthday gift.
1-800-363-4229
www.opinionsearch.com
years of data collection excellence
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QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH IN
ACTION: THE
POWER OF
CONNECTION,
DISCOVERY AND
CONTEXT
By Susan Gillespie
I
’ve been fortunate to work at
companies of all different sizes. I’ve
been part of a 20-person staff, hired
as employee number 104 at a growing
company, and worked at mid-size and
global corporations. Today, I own a business
celebrating its third anniversary in June.
I’m also the founder of a less than one-year
old startup, which is proving to be my most
thrilling role yet.
Businesses face common challenges,
regardless of size. One of the most critical
is understanding the market and customer.
Without this knowledge, it’s difficult
– perhaps impossible – to achieve key
business goals, such as growing market
share, increasing revenue, positioning a
brand or product, or improving customer
satisfaction.
Another important challenge is listening,
evaluating and acting on feedback from
customers and prospects. This is always
a hot topic, but today’s technology
innovations have led to ever greater
volumes of customer data and amplified the
opportunity to harness its power.
Fortunately, market research offers a
proven way to help businesses of all sizes
address these challenges, with qualitative
research playing a key role.
From a market researcher’s perspective,
I’ve often spoken with clients, business
owners or internal customers who
associate most forms of research with big
companies and big budgets. I routinely try
to emphasize that this doesn’t have to be
the case – and that qualitative research, in
particular, can be conducted and leveraged
successfully with even modest budgets.
Over the years, I’ve seen firsthand how
a variety of qualitative approaches have
informed new product development, led to
service enhancements, improved customer
satisfaction and served as the basis for truly
insightful discoveries.
Furthermore, qualitative research results
can be used to tell compelling customer
stories, inspire employees and business
leaders, and help research stakeholders
gain a better understanding of the unique
perspectives and experiences of their
customers and prospects.
Informing and Influencing:
Qualitative Research in Action
From focus groups to triads, there are
varied and distinct examples of how
qualitative research is skillfully conducted
and applied to support key business
needs. The following studies stand out as
Qualitative research
results can be used
to tell compelling
customer stories,
inspire employees
and business leaders,
and help research
stakeholders gain a
better understanding
of the unique
perspectives and
experiences of
their customers and
prospects.
memorable examples of effective qualitative
research, thanks to a combination of
clear research goals, skilled moderators
and insightful findings. In each example,
smaller, entrepreneurial organizations
used qualitative research to inform their
organizations and influence development of
their products and services.
In these studies, qualitative research was
used to:
• Evaluate and improve program results,
secure funding, and shape marketing
and community outreach messages that
resonated with key audiences;
• Uncover consumer attitudes, beliefs
and perceptions, leading to better
opportunities to engage with customers
who used an existing service; and
• Inform development of a new product
concept, where a small product team
needed to think like a startup and quickly
learn about a new market and potential
customers.
Each of these qualitative research studies
generated results that directly impacted the
success of the program, service or product,
and uncovered insights that wouldn’t have
been possible by using quantitative data
alone.
To accomplish this, we conducted triad
interviews at a research facility. The first
interviews generated fairly predictable
results: consumers voiced concerns
about changing to a new and unknown
service, perceived issues about quality and
consistency, and concerns about service
timeliness and not feeling confident about
outcomes.
At one point in the discussion, the
moderator tried a new tactic. He asked
participants to sketch their understanding
of the service process. Over several
sessions, we learned that study participants
had similar understandings of the service
mechanics, but not about the people who
supported the process. In fact, in some
drawings, there were no people. The
takeaway was that a service designed to
provide a high quality and individualized
output was being perceived as a
warehouse-like event.
While this particular study generated
useful feedback, customer commentary and
insight into potential service enhancements,
the customer sketches were among the
study’s most visible and memorable outputs.
They contributed to a better organizational
understanding of customers’ beliefs and
perceptions, and they generated insight
into how service and communication
I don’t recall the specific numbers
associated with the study results, but I
Quantitative research is useful for measuring still remember some of the comments and
experiences shared by participants. In this
program results and customer satisfaction,
case, qualitative research was successfully
but it can be challenging to bring data and
numbers to life in a way that fully informs and used to help evaluate the program, inform
the organization about its long-term
engages an audience. Qualitative research
effectiveness and create reporting and
can help bridge this gap.
messaging that the program was helping
Early in my career, I worked at an
entrepreneurial non-profit. My role at the time participants and having an impact on
their well-being. The participants’ voices
didn’t directly include market research, but
and experiences contributed to a greater
because we were a small organization of 20
understanding and more compelling human
or so employees, I had valuable exposure to
connection than quantitative data alone
market research studies.
could have achieved.
As a non-profit, we needed to show we
could achieve compelling results through
Triads: The Power of Discovery
the use of public and private donor funds.
It’s a challenge for growing companies
Programs and events were routinely
to understand and manage customer
evaluated, with results quantified through
expectations, especially when products,
attendance numbers, surveys and other
services and technologies are rapidly
measures. The results provided important
evolving.
data for reporting and assessing program
In a qualitative research study for a
effectiveness.
growing consumer service, the goal was to
For one program, the organization studied gain feedback from current and prospective
a young, at-risk population using a traditional customers on their reasons for using or not
focus group format. The small-scale study
using the service. Specifically, we wanted
yielded feedback on the program’s usefulness to uncover why consumers were hesitant
and participant rating, but more than that,
to try the service and learn more about
it contributed to a greater awareness of a
how communications, incentives or other
population that was often marginalized.
variables could change their thinking.
Focus Groups: The Power of
Connection
Telephone sampling, IVR and related services.
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enhancements could deliver a more
personalized experience.
On-site Interviews: The Power of
Context
Qualitative research is often conducted
in professional focus group facilities. This
approach has many benefits, from providing
a safe and central setting to allowing
stakeholders to observe behind one-way
glass, but it can be equally beneficial to
talk with study respondents in their own
environments.
I once worked with a small product team
to explore a new concept. The general
idea was to offer a new online product that
would be faster and more accurate than
an existing manual system. The product
presented a new business opportunity,
timing was urgent and there were no
dedicated project funds for the research.
Together, the product team and I needed
to think like a startup, maximizing time
and limited resources to quickly learn more
about the market and potential customers.
We decided to use a qualitative research
approach based on in-person interviews
at participants’ work locations. This would
help us learn more about how the current
process worked, gather feedback on
potential interest and adoption of the new
product, and observe current conditions
that could influence the effort.
The results were eye-opening and led to
important conclusions. Participants were
generally open to the product concept as a
way to streamline workflows. Their existing
systems were disjointed, inefficient and
differed by location, as we saw with our
own eyes. The work environments varied
greatly, from large, modern office complexes
with newer technologies, to smaller standalone office locations with older computers
and fax machines.
To successfully convince participants
to adopt the product, we learned it would
be more important to position it as a way
to improve quality versus emphasizing
an improved technology. We also learned
that participants were more interested in
a product that was built around common
user needs and could better connect and
inform users, as opposed to a product that
was built to streamline a process and move
it onto a screen.
In the end, we concluded that
participants were interested in the product
concept; they could readily understand
its use and benefits and, in their view,
the product technology took a backseat
to its ability to improve quality. The
qualitative research met each of the
product team’s goals, while providing a
better understanding of how to develop and
potentially market the product.
How Small Organizations Can Get Started with Qualitative Research
The reality for many startups and small
businesses is that budgets are extremely
tight. As market researchers, many of
us need to stretch our budget dollars to
ensure we’re getting the most insights
for our money, but small organizations in
particular may have limited funds or no
budget at all for market research.
In this case, it’s important to remember
that in-depth knowledge of the market
and customer is critical to success.
Insightful research can be used to grow a
business, develop products and improve
services. It’s even more expensive to spend
time and money building a business
without being fully informed up-front.
Smaller organizations can start or build
their market research initiatives by:
• Making connections. Many startups
and small businesses are so engrossed
in the daily race to stay afloat that they
don’t have time to meet or develop
connections with market researchers.
Granted, not all market research
agencies work with small clients, but
those who do can form good business
relationships early on that can benefit
both parties as they grow.
• Defining objectives. Before beginning
any type of market research, it’s critical
that businesses define their overarching
goals and objectives. Who’s the
audience? What’s most important to
learn? How will findings be applied? For
Bottom Line: Good for Business
Qualitative research is a practical and
valuable tool that can be used to inform and
enlighten business of all sizes. It can provide
timely, useful and relevant feedback directly
from customers. It can help business owners
and entrepreneurs get a better glimpse into
customer mindsets and attitudes, along
with insights into changing them. Finally,
it can foster greater market and customer
understanding by creating memorable
contexts and connections between
businesses and their key audiences.
Customer feedback comes in many forms.
Qualitative research shouldn’t be reserved
only for big organizations with big budgets.
It can take many forms to accommodate
various research objectives, timelines,
budgets and business types.
small businesses, this is a useful exercise
in defining and setting goals, even if the
research isn’t immediately initiated.
• Considering methods. Many
entrepreneurs and business owners
have the perception that any type
of market research is too expensive.
In fact, newer technologies, such as
online communities, panels and virtual
meeting tools, can reduce costs. Market
research firms who specialize in these
approaches and can advise on options.
• Getting started. We often hear about
the challenges and opportunities
inherent in dealing with big data, but
many small businesses or startups
may have no data. No customer,
performance or satisfaction data.
Businesses can get started by figuring
out what they most need to know, then
take steps to learn. Even simple first
steps can lead to greater awareness and
insight.
Qualitative research can benefit small
businesses because it is not reliant on
existing data, can offer an entry to
further research and doesn’t have to be
expensive. It makes good business sense
for entrepreneurs and business owners to
develop knowledgeable market research
collaborators. And market research firms –
know that small businesses will value your
support early on and may become repeat
customers as they grow.
For small businesses and startups,
qualitative research provides the ability
to hear directly from current and potential
consumers. It can inform new business
ideas, support product development and
form the basis for further research or
quantitative studies. Research results can
be leveraged – as customer commentary
or quotes in marketing materials, for
stakeholder presentations, in white papers
or other communication formats – to
educate, engage and inspire. Many times,
the most memorable studies also turn out to
be the most insightful.
Susan Gillespie is a business owner,
entrepreneur and market researcher. She’s
principal of Jourdan Group and founder of
VelaView.
INCREASING CLIENT
ENGAGEMENT IN
ONLINE INTERVIEWS
By Kim Cason
In the area of qualitative
research, advancements
in online video technology
have dramatically
changed the landscape
of possibilities for
data collection. These
advancements allow for
multiple efficiencies and
conveniences, but aren’t
without their own unique
challenges. One particularly
difficult obstacle is capturing
the undivided attention of
your viewing audience.
N
ot too long ago, moderators
had little choice but to board
a flight, along with the entire
client team, to view in-person
interviews across the nation or globe. Early
adopters of video conferencing products
experienced technology hang-ups that may,
at times, have distracted from the research
goals or even derailed interviews entirely.
Today, there are several reliable options
on the market that will allow a researcher to
conduct online video interviewing without
experiencing the barriers of the past. Not
only does this lower costs and expedite
“travel” between cities, but it also allows for
more intimacy with the respondents, who
can participate in research from the comfort
of their own homes, which often yields
deeper and more meaningful insights.
Moderators have been excited about this
methodology for years in the hopes of a
future with less travel. And the proliferation
of video conferencing in our personal lives
has made most respondents receptive to
online interviews. However, what we are
experiencing now is an adoption curve
on the client side. Clients are accustomed
to leaving all the responsibilities and
distractions of their personal lives while
traveling to attend traditional research, and
sometime have trouble fully immersing
themselves in online research sessions
they’re viewing from the office or at
home.
While we’re accustomed to traditional
focus group facilities’ logistics, we are
still learning how to manage the project
when all of the research is conducted
virtually. As good researchers, we get
the job done: The respondents have the
proper equipment, we test their video
connections, we get them online at the
scheduled time, and we plan how to
show the stimulus. The stage is set, but
the seats in the audience – those people
viewing from the “back room” – are often
vacant.
This coordination was inherent in
the old process. Research dates and
locations were set, flights were booked,
and seats were filled with a captive
audience from the day the interviews
started until the very last session
wrapped.
Now, we are faced with a new
challenge: How to increase client
engagement during the interview
sessions to ensure that stakeholders
understand the complete range of
feedback we’re collecting.
At the American Cancer Society, we do a
large proportion of our qualitative research
online. This presents some new and unique
challenges to keeping the business owners
engaged. The days bonding behind the
glass and over dinner in an exciting new
city are over. As a team, we have had to get
creative. Along the way, we have learned
tips and tricks.
1.Communicate that participation from
the client-side is a necessary vehicle
for understanding.
What is worse than a client that didn’t
attend the research at all?
A client that only attends one or two
interviews, no debriefs, and gets a limited or
distorted view of the feedback as a result.
You’ll want to ensure that your client team
is aware of the importance of viewing most,
if not all interviews.
• The best way to get full team participation
is to get the person in the lead stakeholder
position to commit to all research sessions;
not just your marketing research partner
within the organization, but also their
internal partner on the topic at-hand.
• An invite to a 10-hour day is more
overwhelming when you’re in your home
city. ∙∙ Get people to commit to the research
by getting the interview sessions on
calendars as early as possible, before
calendars book up with other meeting
requests and personal obligations.
∙∙ It also helps to send interview time slots
as individual meeting invitations. Add
the label of the respondent target to the
“subject” line so that people can accept
the sessions of most relevance to their
area of interest.
∙∙ Attach all relevant study documents
to each invitation to ensure the
viewers have all log-in credentials,
the discussion guide, and respondent
profiles at their fingertips, as well as a
phone number where they can reach
technical support during the sessions if
they have any trouble getting online.
2.Keep the conversations going both in
front of and behind the “glass.”
One of the things that great research
partners all have in common is that they
keep the client team engaged throughout the
sessions with a well-balanced blend of valueadd insights as they go and entertaining
party tricks.
• Ensure there is a productive private
client chat during the session. This not
only maintains accountability for remote
attendance, but it also keeps viewers
engaged.
∙∙ Start the conversation by sending
out the respondent profile during the
introductions.
∙∙ Keep the conversation active by
pointing out when you hear trends and
when the respondents are expressing a
viewpoint on key objectives.
∙∙ Call out “quotable” quotes.
• Some of the most discerning comments
are made in the moments between
interviews, so don’t lose those
opportunities. Include time for quick
15-minute telephone debriefs between
sessions and a 30-minute comprehensive
wrap-up debrief.
• If it’s appropriate for the culture of your
organization, try gamifying the viewing
sessions after you’ve hit your stride on
capturing the insights. Games related
to the research at-hand keep viewers
engaged in the live conversation, lighten
the mood, and help build relationships
between the research partner and client
teams. Just be certain that the game you
choose doesn’t disrupt the data collection
in any way.
3.Be a great host.
It’s human nature to multi-task and there
are a lot of distractions at home. Provide
options to lure clients out of their homes and
into group viewing sessions to ensure that
you have their attention.
• Host the remote viewing sessions in a fun
location (e.g., a place that hosts sporting
events, or a coffee shop with a private
viewing or party room you can reserve).
∙∙ You’ll want to take extra precautions
about the security of the Wi-Fi
connection and ability to prevent other
patrons from seeing or hearing your
interviews.
∙∙ If this isn’t feasible, try to find another
common location for clients to view
the research together – corporate
conference rooms work well for this
purpose. If the sponsoring company
doesn’t allow after-hours use of the
conference center, check with local
hotels.
• Plan to have a basket of treats available
on-location to get everyone through the
long days.
• And never forget how powerful a free
meal can be for drawing attendees. Be
sure to clearly message this out to viewers
and schedule time for this break.
4.The details matter, no matter where
the interviews are taking place.
Interest will wane quickly if the video
doesn’t perform optimally. ∙∙ Technology needs to be tested prior to
each interview.
∙∙ A technology support person should be
online during all live sessions.
∙∙ Be sure your stimulus is formatted
to the smallest size possible without
degrading its quality for the purpose of
the sessions. A large HD video file, for
example, may leave you with buffering
issues.
∙∙ Don’t forget to test the technology
using your stimulus – nothing shuts
down an interview faster than the
respondent not being able to see the
concept they are there to evaluate.
∙∙ Ensure the video interviewing product
you are using is not only secured, but
also has a dedicated “back room” area
where clients can freely comment on
the research without interfering with
the interview.
Overall, the most important thing to
remember is not to forget your roots. Most
typical logistics and terms of engagement
still apply, and the more organized you are,
the better chance you’ll have at hosting
research people will want to attend.
Kim Cason is a senior marketing research
consultant at the American Cancer Society.
Kim received her undergraduate degree
from Saint Louis University in 2000 and
MMR from Southern Illinois University in
2005. She has worked on both the vendor
and client-side of marketing research.
At the American Cancer Society (ACS),
Kim analyzes data and acts as a conduit
for action on master brand awareness,
attitudes, perceptions, and messaging
development, as well as the Society’s
nationwide VOC programs.
Increasing Client Engagement
in Online Interviews
Tips and Tricks
1.Communicate that participation
from the client-side is a necessary
vehicle for understanding. Enlist
the help of a client-side partner and
their key stakeholder to get on the
team’s calendar.
2.Keep the conversations going
both in front of and behind the
“glass.” This increases insight,
engagement, and accountability.
3.Be a great host. Make your clients
want to attend the live sessions.
4.The details matter, no matter
where the interviews are taking
place. Test and re-test to ensure both
client and respondent experiences are
flawless.
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With OAC you’ll retain control with a dedicated Project Supervisor who will
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through recordings. Our real time 24/7 Dashboard allows you to be hands on.
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INCREASING INTIMACY THROUGH RAPPORT
By Will Pirkey
M
uch like our personal
relationships, our connection
with respondents can be
improved by increasing
intimacy. Intimacy produces greater trust,
understanding, and knowledge of another
person’s experiences, perceptions and
perspectives. It’s what allows us to truly get
to know another person or group of people,
which is the whole point of research.
If we are going to build intimacy, an
increasingly important part of marketing
research even in a Big Data world,1 we
have to build rapport with the people we
are asking to take part in our research
projects. Recently, large companies such
as General Mills2 and Intel3 have expressed
their commitment to building more intimate
relationships and achieving a better
understanding of consumers’ stories as
essential aspects of their research approach.
Additionally, a recent study on the desires
of CMOs cites the crucial need to build and
maintain intimacy with customers.4
as a commodity for which we can get the
lowest price per complete. In turn, we have
many respondents who are only engaged
via the incentive they get for completing
a survey. This can result in bad data (e.g.,
straight-lining, bad open ends) and does little
to create intimacy.
Overall, is this the best way to engage and
build relationships with respondents? Can
we find intimacy in a purely commoditized
relationship? While incentives will always be
a part of the deal with respondents, can we
deepen our relationship by creating more of
a community feel and reciprocity that goes
beyond dollars, cents, and panel points?
Coming from a background in cultural
anthropology, the impersonal relationships
plaguing online market research are
definitely a puzzling experience. As an
anthropologist, the backbone to any research
started and finished with building strong
relationships with the people participating,
or better yet, collaborating in my research.
On the first day of grad school, developing
This title might sound like a relationship
self-help article. In a way it is, but instead
of romance and friendships, it is about your
relationship with your respondents.
With intimacy becoming the new
buzzword in the industry, it is important
to step back and think about not only the
opportunities we have to promote closer
relationships, but also the barriers posed
by past and current practices. That is the
thing with buzzwords – they sound great as
ideas, but too often reality impedes turning
those ideas into action. If we are to achieve
greater intimacy in our research and with our
consumers, then we need to start by thinking
about what changes and new innovations are
necessary.
One of the first things I noticed when I
started working in the field of online market
research is the lack of a relationship with our
respondents. We bid with sample vendors to
supply respondents. They are sent through
an exercise once and usually never engaged
again. We take no time to get to know them.
Even if we wanted to build more long-term
relationships with respondents, the high
turnover rate on most panels makes that
difficult. Not to mention, we also treat people
1 http://www.imoderate.com/how-to-createconsumer-intimacy-in-a-big-data-world
2 http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/
General_Mills_seeks_consumer_intimacy.
news?ID=32423
3 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/
technology/intels-sharp-eyed-social-scientist.html
4 http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cmo/
cmostudy2011/downloads.htm
rapport was stressed as one of the most
important aspects of successful, quality
research. And by rapport I mean building a
close relationship through developing trust,
communication and emotional connections.
I found that once people realize you are
truly interested in learning about their
experiences, opinions, and lives, they open
up and begin to share on a much deeper
level. While monetary incentives were used,
they were not the basis of the relationship
that developed. I realize that online market
research and ethnographic fieldwork are two
very different animals, but if our industry
wants to move to more intimate relationships
with consumers in research, we can learn a
lot from ethnography to do it.
When conducting fieldwork, I created
personal connections. I thought of these
people more like friends and family
than research subjects (and I think they
felt similarly towards me). This type of
relationship allowed me to learn about the
lives of people in, my case, Belize, but also for
them to learn about my life back home and
my experience living in their community. It
was a two-way street where the exchange
of knowledge went in both directions. This
might be a larger point for another time, but
through building greater rapport and more
long-term research collaborations (as I think
is best to think about the research process),
the act of conducting research can be an
important touch point. With properly-laid
groundwork, people begin to feel some sort
of belonging and thus intimacy is created
beyond the research process. It just may be
the case that conducting more thoughtful
research can lead to stronger relationships
between brand and consumer as people
feel more connected to the companies with
which they truly engage.
Now for the difficult part. How do we
actualize more intimate research in an
environment that currently is structured
to promote the opposite? Is it possible
to develop true rapport in an online
environment? What would it look like?
How do we make respondents feel more
like collaborators? Are there new ways to
keep participants engaged (and engaged
for longer periods of time), and increase the
ease of re-contacting them? As an industry,
the answers to these questions will be
crucial for developing deeper, long-lasting
relationships.
While changes in how we sample need to
be made by research and panel companies
if we are going to move to greater intimacy,
we can also think of designing new research
projects that aim to engage participants
in a more collaborative relationship. This
will ultimately involve conducting more
qualitative research, since it is the approach
best suited to develop rapport. We should
also ask how trackers would look if we
qualitatively gauged changing perceptions/
attitudes with the same set of participants
over a whole year. How could the R&D
phase improve if we had future consumers
collaborating in the entire process? Can we
work together with research participants in
the creation of concepts instead of showing
them a set of previously developed options?
Can we find new ways to connect on a more
emotional level?
If we want to cultivate greater intimacy
with our research participants and
consumers, we have to think of new and
innovative ways to create more human
relationships with them. This is essentially
what rapport is all about – connecting on
a personal level with someone in order to
deepen relationships and develop mutual
respect and understanding. In my mind,
you can’t separate intimacy and rapport;
they’re two sides of the same coin. If greater
intimacy is the goal, then rapport is the path
to that goal.
Will Pirkey is the sample manager at
iModerate, touching almost all aspects of
the firm’s various research projects. He came
to market research with a background in
cultural anthropology where he developed
an intense curiosity about how people
understand, perceive, and live in their
worlds.
Storytelling for Market Researchers
By Duncan Stuart
A solution to the increasing
volume and complexity of research
reporting is to increase our
storytelling skills. Here are 10
useful guidelines.
S
torytelling has recently become
a hot topic in business circles.
One reason for this is the sheer
explosion of the amount of
information that must be processed by
organizations and communicated to their
various stakeholders. So how should
business people communicate all this
information?
Market researchers, before the age of the
PC and projector, used to communicate by
only two means. One was to physically get
up, shuffle papers and present a lecture
to the client. The second was to present a
written report. We were famous for them,
and market research firms are still criticized
for delivering doorstopper reports that end
up in the bottom drawer of the client’s desk.
It was like this from the early decades
of the 20th-century when pioneer Charles
Parlin would submit reports hundreds of
pages long, right through to the 1980s, when
computers and PowerPoint began to change
the way we told our stories to clients.
At first, the use of visuals and PowerPoint
was an exciting new thing for market
researchers. The medium suited our use
of statistical charts, though most senior
professionals will remember the heady days
when assistants would come charging into
their office saying “look at this” and show
how they’d used clipart to help deliver the
visual metaphor to whatever was going
on inside the data. Fortunately, the fad of
adding whoosh sound effects passed quickly.
But did it lead to better storytelling? Not
really. Over time, market research slide
decks turned into gargantuan productions
showing slide after slide of pies and bars,
commoditizing a lot of market research.
Senior researchers may deny this, but many
of their staff gauge a day’s success by
the number of slides they have produced.
Presentations are described and measured
by being a deck and 60 or being a major
120+ kind of presentation. Whole MR
organizations are structured around the
production and delivery of these slide decks.
This is a tragedy. Technology has led us to
focus more on presenting greater volumes of
supporting statistical evidence rather than
the quality of insight delivered. With the
amount of data increasing exponentially, the
problem is only getting worse.
Volume is not the only issue. The typical
insights we deliver in 2014 are surely
deeper and more complex than the insights
delivered 20 or 30 years ago. I remember
joining a very good market research firm
in the 1990s and discovering in the bowels
of the filing room a set of 1970s political
polling reports. The charts were rudimentary
and hand drawn. The reports were basic,
without segmentation work, or any kind
My uncle told me the story to impart two
lessons. First he wanted to show me that
even with billion-dollar decisions such as
hydro projects (the Venezuelan project is
one of the 10 biggest in the world), one can
get too bogged down in decimal points.
To paraphrase those hundreds of pages of
expertise, the choice between Location A
and Location B was about 50-50. In the end,
the experts should have had the courage
to put it in those simple terms. The second
point was that the report was too big and
too technical for the audience. Hugo Chavez
was no fool, but neither was he a qualified
engineer. As he said, all he wanted was to
make a decision.
Market researchers think long and hard
about the engagement level of respondents
to the surveys we conduct. We are fully
aware in questionnaire construction that
we must keep things simple, brief, easily
understood and engaging. At the same
time many of us fail to think of our reporting
these same terms. Why do we need
--------------------- along
to show page after page of pie charts? What
is the benefit of making a deck 90 slides
Stories act as a
long? What processes do we implement to
boil down all our information into one easily
kind of cognitive
understood story that passes the Hugo
coathanger on
Chavez test?
which we can drape
Here is where storytelling technique
becomes a useful tool in the armory of
emotions, characters
the professional market researcher. Many
as well as the sense
organizations instill presentation skills
of actions and
by giving younger researchers practice
internally and then in front of clients in the
consequences that
process of sharing decks of PowerPoint
are the hallmark of
slides, but this training process only
human dramas.
covers half the story. We get very good at
presenting, but the stories we present are
--------------------- underdeveloped or dull and overcomplicated.
Yet stories are an elegant solution to the
problem of too much information. Humans
My own uncle first alerted me to this
are wired to process stories and understand
problem back in the 1990s when he was
them. Stories act as a kind of cognitive
an engineer in charge of major hydro
coathanger on which we can drape
projects worldwide. Montreal-based Uncle
emotions, characters as well as the sense
Rod told me a true story about how he had
of actions and consequences that are the
received an urgent phone call from Hugo
hallmark of human dramas.
Chavez, then-leader of Venezuela. The
Even a 4-year-old can hear the story of
President wanted help to decipher a huge
Little Red Riding Hood and gasp in the
report about where to build a major hydro
knowledge that Grandma’s house is now
dam. The report had been put together by
acknowledged experts in hydro construction occupied by a wolf. In doing so, that 4-yearold is handling irony, and processing a moral
and civil engineering. They considered the
universe that is in fact quite complicated.
financial, engineering, geo-technical and
social costs attached to each option. In short, I doubt if a deck of 30 PowerPoint slides
showing pie charts (and various KPIs) of
the report , which was hundreds of pages
right and wrong could impart the same
long, set out the up-and-downsides of two
competing locations. My uncle explained to level of wisdom. Aesop’s fables are another
example of simple stories being able to
the President that the authors of the report
impart rich life lessons.
had practically written the book on these
And get this. A pre-schooler may not
kinds of complex decisions. “That’s the
problem!” exclaimed Chavez, “They wrote a have the mathematical skills to interpret
statistical charts, but even at the age of
book. All I want is the answer!”
of underlying driver analysis. There was
nothing except simple descriptive statistics.
Today, statistical analysis may be quite
advanced and require some explanation in
order for the clients to understand how we
have reached our conclusions. Researchers
may also be dealing with several streams of
data, including sales data, consumer survey
data, and verbatim feedback collected by
the client’s own call center. These various
rivers of information may be compiled into
one particularly rich report that goes beyond
descriptive statistics and into the world of
strategic thinking or what-if modelling.
At this point, our reports may get
bogged down not just in sheer volume, but
complexity as well. The solution to this
growing problem is surely not “the same, but
more of it.” We require a step-change in our
reporting style, and I’m not alone in arguing
that we need to shift from evidence-based
reporting toward a storytelling emphasis.
five they have the intellectual horsepower
to comprehend the complexities and
film grammar of a two-hour movie. The
storytelling techniques of moviemaking
should in fact package up the rich and
complicated story that comes out of our
market research work.
So what are the basics of filmmaking?
What storytelling techniques do script
writers, directors and film editors use to
keep us engaged for 15 gripping weeks of a
TV series such as Breaking Bad?
My own career as it turns out was blessed
by the fact that I spent eight years in TV
drama scripting. I was a script editor and
writer for a host of shows predominantly
soaps and cop dramas. This early career was
entertaining and made for great dinner party
conversations, though to be honest by the
time I quit television in my early 30s I felt
as if the experience had taken me down a
professional cul-de-sac.
Not so, as it turned out. Over those
eight years I was immersed in the world
of storytelling and never realized what a
universal skill-set this turned out to be – at
least not until recently. So here’s my list of
10 techniques that are useful for market
research storytelling.
1. Include some back story. Before
you launch into the main thrust of the
report, recapture why the research
was conducted in the first place. In a
recent report for a bank, I recounted
how during the observational research
project we had witnessed a customer
who attempted to open an account,
but failed in their quest. It was a minor
drama compared to the bigger questions
we were going to explore in the report,
but the incident illustrated how even
small and incidental details contributed
to a failure by the bank. For the sake
of two minutes the bank forfeited the
lifetime value of their customer. So
I framed the report in terms of this
incident. My subtitle for the report was:
The two minutes that cost $50,000. That
little back story framed the rest of the
discussion: it set the theme.
2. Develop good characters. Whether
qualitative or quantitative, professional
research standards require keeping
respondents anonymous. For the sake
of privacy this anonymity is a good
thing, but it makes for lousy storytelling.
This is why I love verbatim questions
in my questionnaires. Without naming
names, I can refer to the lady who
complained about the coffee. Without
divulging identifying details, I can
refer to the grumpy old guy who just
wouldn’t be pleased. In script writing,
good characterization does not come out
of demographic descriptions, it comes
out of the decision-making by these
characters. The Denzel Washington
character in the train movie Unstoppable
can be described demographically,
but what makes him interesting and
trustworthy are the decisions he makes
along the way. The same in our data:
Here is the lady who is prepared to pay a
premium price! Over there, the customer
who yearns for the old-style products.
By introducing a few of these characters
into our narrative we can explain later
results quite simply. Instead of pointing
to slide after slide of NPS scores, we may
simply conclude that the new strategy
got the thumbs down from Mr Grumpy.
Everybody in the room gets it.
3. Find suitable metaphors. Sometimes
very complicated things can be
explained simply with a good illustration.
When asked to explain a factor
analysis, I ask the audience to picture
a new kitchen device called the unblender. Where a blender turns diverse
ingredients into gray statistical soup, an
un-blender starts off with gray soup and
after 30 seconds reveals the underlying
ingredients: the factors that made up the
soup. So far, my layman’s explanation
of factor analysis has received warm
reviews from all my clients including, uh
oh, two Ph.D.s in statistics. Far better the
metaphor that gives the gist than the full
technical explanation.
4. Structuring a story very carefully.
One of the biggest challenges in film
writing is to find a structure that
produces a compelling tale. I quite like
movies where two or three different
strands either click together or collide
just before the end of the movie. When
you have 45 minutes to convey the rich
discovery and the insights of a research
project, you have the same time available
to you as that available to the writers
of an episode of CSI or Law & Order. In
other words, you have room to introduce
a couple of twists and turns as you piece
together the blood stains, fingerprints
and ballistic details required to reach a
conclusion. Clients don’t mind if in the
course of that presentation you show
them a little bit about your forensic
techniques. Your audience doesn’t mind
seeing some of the story behind the main
story. When we put together cop shows,
the question of whodunit was always
less interesting than the question of how
to the cops find the guilty party. Market
research follows the same narrative arc.
5. Involve the audience. The audience
of the drama can at any one moment be
either up with the play, ahead of the play
or behind the action. A skilled storyteller
varies the pace so that sometimes the
audience knows what is coming around
the bend before our main character
does. “Don’t go down the alley,” we
yell at the hero. “There’s a bad guy
waiting for you with a gun!” We love
those moments, in moderation. If we
get ahead of the protagonist too often,
however, we begin to wonder why we
are bothering to watch such a klutz. On
the flip side, sometimes the hero does
things and we don’t understand what
he or she is up to. All will be revealed
later! In TV storylining we refer to these
as mysterioso moments. A few add
spice to the drama and they allow the
audience to revel in the intelligence of
the protagonist. At other times within
the movie, we are simply up with the
play, neither ahead of it or behind the
protagonist. Alfred Hitchcock was
a master of control when it came to
these three audience statuses. Within a
heartbeat he could take us from being
ahead of the action to being 12 steps
behind. Just when we think we’ve
figured everything out, we realize we
are embroiled in something much
bigger and more complicated! I’m not
suggesting that market researchers
go for that effect too often, but there
is a lot to be said for having a kind of
rhythm between the lean back and listen
elements of the presentation and the lean
forward moments in which the audience
is challenged. Rhetorical questions, for
example, signify a change in audience
status.
6. Remind the audience of what’s
at stake. Don’t forget we are in the
business of providing the information
required for our clients to make
important and sometimes very expensive
decisions. If we work in FMCG (fastmoving consumer goods), then perhaps
we need to remind the client that, in
this business, 80 percent of new product
launches fail on average every year. One
reason I used the story of the lost bank
customer was that I wanted to reinforce
that our modest project was not about
measuring customer resources at the
bank, but about mitigating risk of failure.
I wanted that top of mind, so that even
during the prosaic bar charts that I had
to present, these were contextualized by
what was at stake.
7. Seek storytelling variety. When I
worked on a cop show in Australia, we
used to crank out two episodes every
single week. As a group of storyliners,
we recognized that cops only do a
certain number of things. They examine
In a recent report for a bank, I recounted
how during the observational research project we
had witnessed a customer who attempted to open
an account, but failed in their quest. It was a
minor drama compared to the bigger questions we
were going to explore in the report, but the
incident illustrated how even small and incidental
details contributed to a failure by the bank. For
the sake of two minutes the bank forfeited the
lifetime value of their customer. So I framed the
report in terms of this incident. My subtitle for
the report was: The two minutes that cost $50,000.
That little back story framed the rest of the
discussion: it set the theme.
crime scenes, they grill the bad guys,
they chase suspects, and they observe
from the anonymous grey van parked
over the road. We boiled this down to
eight modes of behavior, and we made
sure that in any given episode of the cop
show, each mode was used no more than
once. In other words, we didn’t have a
car chase followed by a foot chase, or
have an interrogation scene followed
later by another one. In market research
reporting, we also have a shortlist of
reporting modes. But this is why I
get critical of seeing a deck of slides
featuring a whole stream of descriptive
charts, followed by yet another stream
of descriptive charts. It is useful to break
down our reports into chapters, and
for each chapter to be fundamentally
quite different than those previous.
So after introducing what’s at stake in
chapter one, I might present a series of
descriptive slides in chapter two before
searching for strategies using different
techniques in chapters three and four.
This keeps the storytelling interesting.
8. Don’t be afraid to develop a theme
of a deeper nature. Very often in
market research we get to study a
subject, but in the course of that study
we ruminate on deeper material. We
may be tracking the performance of
the brand, but at the same time we
are witnessing a shift in the zeitgeist.
Development of such scenes in the
movie or TV program adds a lot of
richness to the storytelling. We are
not just witnessing a story about a
person; we are reflecting on the human
condition. In my own presentations, I
refer to these parts as the “I’ve been
thinking” zone, and it may consist of
a single photo, or a discussion about a
relevant and fascinating book that I have
been reading in conjunction with the
research study. Sometimes these pauses
in the narrative spark a much greater
discussion than might be expected. Just
as the film will resonate with the public
because it seems to capture the mood of
the audience, so a thematic discussion
may capture and resonate with the mood
of the client.
9. Action is better than talk. Charts are
stepping stones in a forward-moving
narrative. Your headlines ought to be
spiced up with verbs and your summary
findings should lead to consequences.
You’re building a case and working
toward a verdict.
10.Finally, good storytelling always
has an authenticity. What made that
terrific, nail-biting movie Captain Phillips
so genuinely exciting was the absolute
authenticity of the Somali pirates. It
was brilliant casting. The director also
allowed a degree of improvisation from
his cast, so that the scenes were never
over-polished or slick. Those actors
didn’t look like they were acting; they
were the real thing, lean and desperate.
In market research reports, our statistics,
charts, evidence and conclusions must
all reek of similar authenticity. I quite
frequently add an anecdote in my
presentation about my own journey of
doubt during the project, or about the
difficulties of fieldwork. I will mention
the fact that one respondent, a sleepless
parent perhaps, completed the online
survey at three o’clock in the morning,
or that another respondent wrote 1200
words in response to a question about
why they would recommend a product
or service. I want the client to inhale and
smell the reality of our work.
Storytelling places on us one demand that
challenges many corporate style guides.
Your firm may specify a certain tone, look
and feel to its reports. I find storytelling by
nature is more personal than that. A good
story requires the emotional investment of
the storyteller. In an age of more data than
conventional reporting systems can deal
with, storytelling demands that you lay your
heart bare in the telling and sharing of the
tale. Are you up for that?
Duncan Stuart is an independent market
researcher and founder of consultancy
company Kudos Organisational Dynamics
Ltd. based in New Zealand, where he was
the first elected Fellow of the Research
Association of New Zealand (FRANZ), and
later elected as Life Member. His first career
was in TV scriptwriting, storyline creation
and editing.
KEEPING INFORMED
Campaigns: They’re “Ad”itive
By Kerri Norton and Ben Proctor
After a combined 15 years of campaign testing with work completed on ads that have launched
some of the biggest entertainment properties of the past decade and redefined some of the
nation’s leading providers of media and technology, do we call ourselves experts? Not even close.
C
ampaign testing remains one of
the most elusive aspects of market
research. Let’s be honest – if
anyone had figured it out, they
would be the only research shop in existence,
and their clients would have no competitors
after putting everyone else out of business.
However, we have learned a thing or two
in our years behind the curtain. Here are
some of our favorites and how they’ve guided
our own approach to campaign testing:
Understanding the Additive Quality
of Campaigns
Many times, clients want to find and use the
TV commercial that scores best in dozens of
rounds of ad testing. This is understandable,
but problems arise when the digital team
is testing their banner ads in a separate
vacuum, while the outdoor team is testing
their billboards without knowing that TV
commercials are even in development.
It’s a new era, with innovative
technologies and channels for getting the
message out. In reality, people experience
campaigns that span all of these channels.
While we understand the importance of
testing individual ads and often do just that,
a key component of our testing is a campaign
walkthrough. Whether a rich online survey,
a qualitative assessment (where we literally
walk people through each phase of a
campaign as they would experience it in
reality), or a geo-targeted mobile survey
that pings people as they move past various
campaign elements after the initial launch,
we want to measure not only impact, but
also cohesion. An amazing poster can
be little more than artwork if it doesn’t
connect back to the rest of the campaign.
A groundbreaking TV ad can become a
hindrance when the outdoor channels
spread a completely different message. To
avoid this, use various methodologies to
understand the whole.
Norms
Some clients live by them; others never want
to hear about them. Our team attempts to
look at benchmarking a little differently.
If we’re able to create a rich enough set
of norms, on target with the exact type of
content we’re looking at, we’re happy to use
them. But things have changed – a television
ad is no longer just a television ad, but an
experience in and of itself. And because it’s
nothing like the ads from years past, using
5 to 10 year old data from this platform to
inform current norms may be unwise.
With benchmarking, we look for the best
comparative tool to give us the strongest
sense of how well our client’s ads are driving
consideration – and ultimately action.
Sometimes this means norms. Sometimes
it means a social media analysis to look
at volume, sentiment, and engagement.
In truth, there is no single
answer when it comes to
campaign testing. With clients
rolling out marketing efforts that
include TV ads, YouTube minimovies, digital banners, mobile
games, static posters, lenticular
and animated posters, and much
more, we can’t rely on a single
methodology or technology to
give us all of the answers.
(There’s a big difference between a post
that’s been re-tweeted a million times and
one that has created a million sparks of
unique, thoughtful discussion). Other times
it means comparison alongside ads from
competitors to see whether the message
is overshadowing the competition, or
getting lost in its wake. By thinking about
campaigns individually and assessing
each client’s particular goal, we use unique
benchmarks to get a truer sense of how the
campaign will perform in reality.
Furthermore, while norms make us feel
“safe” about what we’re putting out there,
many times they keep us from taking risks
to create truly innovative campaigns that
breakthrough. “Innovation” is sometimes
hard to measure in a quantitative survey
because consumers don’t always know
how to rate something they haven’t seen
before, which makes a unique and mixed
approach to campaign research all the more
important.
Mixing monadic and sequential
Whoever came up with monadic testing
is a genius. In most cases, people see
advertising for one product at one time,
so testing a single piece of advertising on
its own makes a lot of sense. However,
roadblocks can present themselves.
Let’s say we show an ad to 400 people
on a specific weekend and gather crystal
clear feedback that couldn’t provide a
better roadmap for moving forward. The
following weekend, when it’s snowing and
everyone’s in a bad mood, we test the new
ad with another (and different) 400 people.
And a few days before the second testing,
a competitor releases an ad that looks an
awful lot like what we developed. The
comparison is far from apples-to-apples.
This can be combated by pairing monadic
with sequential studies. By testing single
ads in isolation in one survey, and testing a
variety of ads against each other in another,
we help to minimize the pitfalls of each
approach and come up with an answer that
has a bit more clout (and a lot more reality)
behind it.
In truth, there is no single answer when
it comes to campaign testing. With clients
rolling out marketing efforts that include TV
ads, YouTube mini-movies, digital banners,
mobile games, static posters, lenticular and
animated posters, and much more, we can’t
rely on a single methodology or technology
to give us all of the answers. Campaign
testing works best when there’s not a set
template. Mixing quant, qual, social media
and desktop research is key to a successful
approach.
We want to encourage an open dialogue
with others about how they are tackling
campaigns because, let’s face it, the
research community is small. If we didn’t
have each other to brainstorm with, we’d
likely spend our days staring at the wall!
Ben Proctor and Kerri Norton are
insights strategists at Miner & Co. Studio.
Ben has over 10 years of experience in
campaign testing, preceded by nearly a
decade helping studio and TV marketers
refine campaigns for hundreds of theatrical
and television releases. Kerri has been
involved in campaign work for over 5 years.
KEEPING INFORMED
Hit Refresh for New Markets
By James McQueen
Debuting the lighthearted design of Rumble’s nutritional supplement shake to the Canadian
market was a special milestone for us. As a young startup operating off the west coast of
Vancouver, we were proud to rally behind and launch the preliminary design, developed by a
boutique New York agency, to Canadians in 2012.
T
he consumer response to
the brand was positively
overwhelming and our all-natural,
protein-packed supershake
quickly found its way to store shelves in
more than 600 locations across Canada.
But would the same design appeal to
our U.S. neighbors? Would the existing
brand survive the transition from a product
originally meant for natural grocery stores
into one for more conventional grocery
stores?
The move to the U.S. market came
with many brand positioning variables
to consider. The decision to do a brand
refresh, for a product that already had a
strong brand, did not come easy. Would
spending considerable time and effort
redesigning a brand that was less than
two years old ultimately be worth the cost,
or would it prove to be an unnecessary
endeavor? Finally, we made the decision
to go ahead with the redesign. Our choice
to move forward was made based on our
belief that disruptive branding pops in a
sea of sameness – and who doesn’t want
their product to stand apart from the rest? It
seemed like a no-brainer.
Due to the highly competitive and
saturated U.S. beverage market, the time,
cost, and energy we put into the brand
refresh was two-fold: To make a strong first
impression upon entering the States, and to
position Rumble as a stand-out product in
the crowd. We had the benefit of launching
in Canada first, where the diversity in
customer interactions gave us the insight
we needed to determine what both our new
and existing consumers were responding to.
Bottle Backstory
From the start, we knew there were some
basic changes to the design that had to be
incorporated. Unlike Canada, the U.S. does
not require bilingual labeling, which freed
up a significant amount of packaging real
estate. We flagged this as an opportunity
to include Rumble’s backstory – a strong
differentiator that we weren’t able to
incorporate in the initial Canadian design.
The story of Paul Underhill, his battle with
cystic fibrosis and determination to create
Rumble is a compelling aspect, since we
position ourselves as an aspirational brand.
By putting the story right on the bottle,
we’re able to communicate our core values;
rather than being perceived as a product
from one of the big brands, we could now
communicate that we are a small team
dedicated to promoting healthy living,
and standing for something more than just
drinks.
We anticipate the story will resonate
with our existing and new customers. The
feedback we’ve heard from customers
is that Paul’s perseverance and positive
attitude is a strong factor in connecting our
customers to our products.
Up the Engagement
Brands today can’t rely on a well-designed
logo to facilitate engagement between
customer and product, so it is important
to recognize all opportunities to increase
customer engagement. We were excited
to exploit the top of our cap for this. Our
decision to add graphics to the cap was
based on additional brand visibility if
Rumble was merchandised on a lower
shelf, as well as calling out instructions on
how best to enjoy Rumble: Shake gently
and open slowly, because the bottle is
pressurized. The resealable cap is another
consumer connection point that allows
our customers to engage with those same
graphics each time they take a drink.
We believe this extra layer of interaction
is fun, on brand, and creates another point
of packaging differentiation from the
competition.
Stand Out
We found that with our old design, the
product descriptor and flavor differentiation
weren’t clear enough. The packaging
lacked a pop of color which decreased its
shopability and overall shelf appeal. After
several rounds of informal market research
and numerous preliminary drafts, we
decided to move to blue for our logo, due
to its gender neutrality, and a milky shade
for the background to properly reflect the
shake-like product inside. We specifically
chose to venture away from black and white
to avoid a sterile feeling – we wanted to add
some warmth and brightness.
In terms of the narrative on the front of
the bottle, we wanted to expand on the
playful design we established initially, while
communicating the important health aspects
of Rumble. From our informal consumer
research, we found the most important and
relevant health claims for this group to be
non-GMO, gluten-free, and the amount of
Omega 3s (with labeling to reflect this). In
addition, we wanted to communicate the
protein dosage to consumers, given that
Rumble, at its core, is a protein drink.
Design Lifespan
It’s critical to continually evolve and breathe
new life into branding, especially before
entering new markets. In the case of startups, closely monitoring the relationship
between a new customer base and a brand
is critical as it can determine long-term
success.
Refining a brand is an ongoing process
that takes valuable time and resources,
but with our anticipated entry into the
ultra-competitive U.S. market, we knew we
needed to act quickly and be strategic about
the changes we were making. Operating on
a limited budget and a strong connection
to our existing branding, we recognized
that being selective in how we refreshed
the Rumble branding would determine
the success of our launch into the U.S.
marketplace. The added benefit of not
committing to a large-scale rebrand means
we’re able to adjust aspects of the branding
and design in the future.
I’m a strong advocate that brands should
consider a brand refresh, no matter how
small, before entering new markets. You only
get one chance to make a first impression,
and that impression could last a lifetime.
That’s why we confidently hit the reset
button with Rumble.
James McQueen, co-founder of Rumble,
works behind the scenes managing daily
operations. Originally from Victoria, James
pursued a career in investment banking,
working in both New York and Toronto.
Before joining the Rumble team, he was vice
president of Viresco International Capital
Management. James currently resides in
Toronto, Canada.
KEEPING INFORMED
How To Conduct a Sales Win Loss Analysis
by David Lithwick
T
oo often we assume that price
is the determining factor in
which supplier a client decides
to use when, in fact, there are
other factors to consider such as pre-sales
support, presentation content and the
presenter’s enthusiasm and effort to followup.These are the factors that become critical
when providers offer similar pricing.
How can you pinpoint the factors that
came into play when a client decided to go
with another supplier? By providing direct
feedback from the client on your company’s
performance in pitching their business, Sales
Win Loss Analysis (SWLA) can be a helpful
tool. The following article explains SWLA,
and through a mini case, provides tips to help
you conduct this research.
What is SWLA?
In a nutshell, SWLA provides companies
with a clear understanding of how well they
performed on a new business opportunity,
whether it be a face-to-face presentation,
proposal submission or quote.
What Are The Benefits of SWLA?
SWLA will help you:
• Focus on companies most likely to
buy your products or services versus
prospects less likely to become clients.
• Improve the effectiveness of your sales
presentations.
• Uncover the reasons behind lost
opportunities.
• Gain objective and accurate information
from the client that your representative is
unable to provide.
Table 1 – Survey Example
Date: Jan. 15, 2014
Prospective Client: Desserts Matter Inc.
Respondent’s Title: Purchasing Manager
Question
Response
How many times in the past 2 years have you requested bids for safety equipment?
4 times
Question
Response
How many companies do you send out RFPs to for these bids?
5 providers
Question
Response
Has this number increased, stayed the same or decreased in the past few years?
Stayed the same
Question
What was the key factor (e.g. price, solutions given) in deciding which provider to go with?
Client care is the big factor. We are talking about equipment to protect our workers eyes, face and heads. When there
will be issues relating to product, delivery or training, we want the very best support.
Response
Question
Response
Who else did you invite to pitch for your business?
3M, MSA, Safety Equipment Company (SEC) and Protective Industrial Products
Question
Response
Why were they invited to present (e.g. used them before, were referred to by a colleague)?
3M and MSA are both well known. We used SEC before. We met Protective Industrial Products at a trade show
Question
Response
Can you tell me which provider won the business?
Protective Industrial Products
Question
What made you decide to choose them?
I would say their client support. They will assign us a dedicated account rep. They have 24/7 call centre support and
will replace any product that arrives damaged or the wrong model within 24 hours. Those are the advantages that
stand out in my mind.
Response
Question
Response
Question
Response
Question
Response
What did the winner do that set them apart from the other presenters?
They invested up front time to learn our business, including visiting our plant. Also their follow up was excellent.
Without any prompting they emailed the day after a recap of our discussion and provided additional recommendations
Where did we fall short?
In convincing us that you offer excellent customer service; the reps glossed over this area. They spent most of the
time explaining product features and pricing. Also the presentation was not customized to our needs. Only the last 2
addressed our needs. The other 20 slides could have been for any client; just a rehash of your website.
What suggestion do you have for us to improve?
Your reps must demonstrate what your company can do to ensure we will always have a positive client experience.
What happens if we have a complaint? Will there be someone assigned to our account to help? Do you have a call
centre or online chat support? What about returning product, do you charge a replacement fee? None of this was
covered in your presentation
And make an effort to follow up sooner and with more vigor. Whereas other presenters followed up within 2 days your
reps took a week. Protective Industrial Products followed up several times, recapping their advantages and providing
suggestions. Your reps just sent a thank you note and left it to us to get in touch with them.
As an example, when asked why he lost
the pitch, an employee might claim, “the
client was looking for a full service partner
and didn’t feel they could get that from us.”
The reality from the buyer’s perspective,
however, might reveal that “the presentation
was weak and incomplete, and the
representative was slow on following up.”
Mini Case
Let’s assume you are the market research
manager for “Safety Plus,” a major safety
equipment manufacturer. In the past 12
months your company lost 45 percent of the
business they bid on. The representatives
blame this poor record on high pricing and
increased competition. Your VP of marketing
thinks otherwise and requests you conduct a
SWLA to see if the claims are true.
What are some tips to help you research
effectively?
1. Set Up Guidelines
Put together some guidelines to
follow, given that this is your first SWLA
undertaking, and others may follow:
• Begin by speaking to the representatives
who made the pitch to see what they have
to say.
• Create two introductions, one for your
company wins, the other for customers
who did not choose your company.
• Be objective; don’t go into the interview
with a predisposed view of what
happened.
• Work in increments. Conduct one or
two surveys and analyze results prior to
conducting the next set of surveys.
• Incorporate a table with ratings into your
survey to pinpoint your representatives’
key strengths and critical weaknesses.
• Track SWLA findings over time to gauge
whether performance is improving and
where gaps still exist.
2. Determine Sample Size
Because this is qualitative research, you
have the option of determining how many
interviews to conduct. I recommend at
minimum interviewing two prospective
customers for every 10 pitches (one who
chose your company, the other who went
with a competitor).
Put Together Your Questions
Keep questions to a “dialogue mode” so they
are easy to follow and to the point:
• How many times in the past two years
have you requested bids? • How many companies do you send RFPs
for these bids? • Has this number increased, stayed
the same or decreased in the past few
years? • What was the key factor (e.g., price,
solutions given, accuracy) in deciding
which provider to choose?
• Who else did you invite to pitch for your
business? • Why were they invited to present (e.g.,
used them before, were referred to by a
colleague)?
• Which provider won the
business? • What made you decide to choose them?
• What did the winner do that set them
apart from the other presenters?
• Where did we fall short?
• On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being poor, 10
being outstanding) how would you rate
our performance versus the winner on :
∙∙ Presentation (e.g., informative,
convincing, easy to follow, customized
to your needs).
∙∙ Representative’s professionalism (e.g.,
prepared and organized, understanding
your business, appearing
knowledgeable).
∙∙ Company as a whole (e.g., having the
necessary expertise, resources and
support, technology).
• What suggestions do you have for how we
can improve?
Continued on page 72
Table 2 - Comparing Your Company’s Performance to the Winner’s
On a 1 to 10 scale (1 being poor, 10: being outstanding) how would you rate the winner’s performance versus our effort?
Winner
Your Company
Difference







Presentation
Informative
Convincing
Easy to follow
Customized to Your Needs
Concise
Demonstrating product
Showing they are accommodating and flexible
9
9
8
9
8
9
10
7
6
7
5
8
6
6
-2
-3
-1
-4
0
-3
-4








Professionalism
Being prepared and organized
Understanding your business
Appearing knowledgeable
Being good listeners
Making you feel they value your business
Providing helpful suggestions
Making commitments
Follow up
9
9
8
9
8
7
8
7
7
6
7
5
4
3
8
2
-2
-3
-1
-4
-4
-4
0
-5





Company As A Whole
Necessary expertise
Resources
Technology
Ability to deliver on time
Servicing your account
8
8
8
8
9
8
8
8
7
5
0
0
0
-1
-4

Significant gap between the winner and your company
KEEPING INFORMED
The Power of Babble: Using Text Analytics and Data Mining to Uncover
Actionable Customer Insights
By Eric Weight
From CRM databases, transactional systems, questionnaires and customer contact logs, pop-up
surveys, online consumer reviews and forum postings, to chats, blogs, tweets and other threaded
conversations and online babble: Hearing the voice of the customer has never been so easy.
O
r so difficult. Thanks to Web 2.0
and Big Data, we now have too
much information (or, as the
Twitter generation would say,
TMI).
Since much of this content is
unstructured, the challenge is to chisel
out the “gold” nuggets trapped inside this
bedrock of customer feedback and use the
refined raw material to make decisions aimed
at specific business goals.
Relevant to this task are two intertwined
disciplines: text analytics and data
mining. During the text analytics process,
unstructured content and underlying
sentiment are transformed into data (concept
and sentiment variables) that can be
quantified and combined within a structured
framework. The variables derived from text
analytics are then combined with other
structured variables within a traditional data
mining model.
Text Analytics Extracts and
Structures
In the past, business decisions relied
primarily on structured data (checkboxes
and rating scales on surveys, transactional
details from point of sales and CRM systems)
that could be easily entered into relational
databases and spreadsheets. Free-form
answers from open-ended questions on
survey questionnaires, though widely used,
were often rightly ignored. Anyone involved
in survey research knows how difficult
(and time-consuming) it is to read and
code hundreds of free-form comments. The
complexity, nuances and contradictions of
the English language often prevent easy,
reliable categorization.
Modern text analytics tools have changed
all that. Rooted in technology first used in the
1950s, these text analytics engines enable
unstructured content of every type to be
represented and analyzed in the same way
that structured information is represented
and analyzed.
The earliest text analytics methods
involved keyword or statistical analysis.
These have largely been replaced by more
comprehensive and reliable natural language
processing (NLP) solutions that analyze text
as spoken or written by human beings. The
algorithms and rules behind NLP represent
basic grammar usage and word forms (verbs,
nouns, prepositions, adjectives, etc.) and
are used to discern facts and entities (such
as persons, places and things) as well as
attitudes and opinions (sentiment).
For example, in analyzing a call center note
such as “The system is slow,” NLP analysis
would identify a thing (system) and an
associated qualifier (slow). Creating a pattern
such as “System +” would ensure that similar
statements, though worded differently, would
be identified and categorized.
An estimated 85 percent of
all information available to
companies is unstructured.
Different Flavors of NLP
Even among NLP-based text analytics
engines, there are crucial differences.
Named Entity Recognition (NER) types of
NLP engines identify entities and assign
them to groups or classes. The drawback of
NER is that it requires predetermination of
entities and groups or classes, so it can miss
novel problems, issues or topics that weren’t
anticipated in advance.
Targeted Event Extraction is a type
of NLP that uses trigger words, each of
which is associated with rules that define
common attributes in relation to that word.
For example, the word “cancellation” might
trigger a rule that identifies the reason,
customer location, product and date of all
cancelled orders mentioned in the source
documents.
Exhaustive Fact Extraction is a third NLP
methodology. It uses linguistic heuristics
and patterns to discern an exhaustive list
of key facts and concepts contained within
the entire universe of text (e.g., all the
free-form answers in a given survey+call
center, notes+feedback from the corporate
blog, etc.) This results in a database that
can be queried and analyzed just like any
traditional database to, for example, report
on the most frequently occurring topics and
identify trends in the data. The advantage
of Exhaustive Fact Extraction is that
nothing is defined in advance, so there are
no preconceived notions or risk of missing
customer insights or emerging issues. (As a
wise person once said, “How can you know
what you don’t know?”)
TMI into Business Intelligence (BI):
Combining and Mining Data to
Obtain Actionable Knowledge
The next step towards transforming TMI into
BI involves bringing the concept variables
derived from text analytics into a data mining
model.
Ideally, the variables culled from text
analytics are used alongside structured and
transactional data from many other databases
such as customer satisfaction scores,
geographic data, demographics, purchase
and usage histories, or product-feature data.
Through data mining, we can uncover the
hidden value of information and identify and
refine patterns and trends among hundreds
or thousands of variables. We can then make
predictions based on information obtained
from analyzing and exploring this data.
For example, in the area of customer loyalty,
preceding data mining with text analytics can
determine which variables extracted by the
text analytics engine have the biggest impact
on loyalty scores or satisfaction ratings, and
help answer the following questions:
• Are there patterns in the data that
differentiate non-promoters from
promoters? Which combination of variables
best predicts whether a customer will be
one or the other?
• What factors are associated with customer
attrition, and are there certain groups that
have a greater propensity for “churn?”
• Which groups exhibit readily identifiable
patterns that are more predictive of future
behavior (as compared to other groups or
the total population)?
• How much “lift” does one group have over
another? (Lift measures the degree to
which a given subgroup deviates from the
general population in response patterns.)
The following example shows results from
a customer loyalty survey that contained
structured and unstructured items. Though
only 17 percent of the total number of
respondents indicated they would highly
recommend the company, further text
analytics and data mining uncovered a
Getting Started with Text
Analytics and Data Mining
Choose a text analytics engine that
suits your needs and the type of
content you are analyzing. Know its
strengths and weaknesses. Even among
NLP engines, there are important
differences: For example, can the
solution handle idioms, slang, variations
in sentiment, tone and voice, pronoun
resolution, etc.?
Start with verbatim responses from
surveys. Using text analytics on public
sources like forums, product reviews
and social media is more vulnerable
to inconsistent and inaccurate results
due to the noise inherent in publicly
available data, including out-of-context
replies, repeated forwarding and reposting of the same comments and
online slang and abbreviations.
Tackle basic sentiments (like, dislike;
happy, angry) before more subtle
sentiments.
For text in other languages, determine
how the results will be analyzed. If they
will be analyzed in English, translations
can be utilized. If they are to be
reviewed in the native language, use
a text analytics engine tuned to that
language.
Know what native data sources are
supported by your overall solution. Are
you restricted to certain data sources?
How easy is the process of merging
data from multiple sources?
Don’t assume you can automate every
step of the text analytics process.
Humans will alway be necessary to
train, guide and interpret findings.
Choose a method that matches your
resources. Many text analytics solutions
require technical expertise whereas
others have out-of-the-box features
that jumpstart the process. Seek ease
in deployment, understanding and
sharing unless you have unlimted
resources.
“hidden” highly loyal subgroup. Within
this subgroup, 56 percent gave top loyalty
ratings. What differentiated the subgroup
from the overall respondent group was the
fact that all mentioned “technical expertise”
in answer to an open-ended question
about the strengths of the company. This
represents a lift of 3.2 in engagement
ratings for a given group (i.e., this group
is 3.2 times more likely to be engaged
compared to the overall population.)
Overall 17% of the respondents are Engaged, 15% answered “what do our support reps
do well” with a comment regarding Technical Expertise, 56% of those who answered as
above are Engaged, This group is 3.2x more likely to be Engaged compare to overall
Prioritizing Actionable Insights to
Achieve Results
In short, text analytics/data mining solutions
help us connect data to business practices
and obtain insights that will make a
difference. The results of an effective text
analytics/data mining paradigm are insights
that can be acted upon to achieve specific
business goals in many areas, including
operational efficiency, customer engagement
or product innovation.
For example, a successful software
company gleaned some surprising insights
after analyzing text and data from multiple
sources, including net promoter scores
(NPS), structured survey data, demographics,
customer experience data and free-form
answers to open-ended survey questions.
After completing the text analytics phase,
all the data were merged into a data
mining decision tree model. In addition
to identification of highly concentrated
subgroups of customers, the company
discovered:
• Those customers who mentioned “feature
set” within their free-form answers were
six times more likely to be a promoter of the
product and company.
• Those customers who made a negative
comment about “reliability” were most
likely to be non-promoters.
• Of the variables found to be most predictive
of the NPS, the least important predictor
was the number of times a customer had
used the software in the previous three
months.
Using the results as a blueprint for
improvement, the company pulled out
specific surveys from the group of promoters
who had mentioned the feature set to help
them understand what it was about the
feature set that triggered their comments.
The company then devised a strategy
centered on this variable, with the goal of
implementing a relevant action to raise
the overall NPS among the group of nonpromoters.
Text analytics capabilities also save
time and money. HireVue, a provider
of digital recruiting and interviewing
technology, performs 90,000 surveys a
year and achieves a 30 percent response
rate. Because feedback is critical to the
widespread adoption of the company’s
innovative interview platform, HireVue felt
it was important to take action on verbatim
comments in surveys. Therefore, the
company used personnel to manually scan
through all the comments and categorize
them using spreadsheets. Today, that is no
longer necessary, thanks to an automated
text analytics tool that automatically “reads”
verbatim comments and channels them to
the appropriate person or department for
immediate action.
Text Rules!
As the preceding examples illustrate,
companies that limit data analysis to
structured data are missing critical nuggets
of information that only text analytics can
unearth. Data derived from text has proven
time and again to be more predictive
and valuable than structured data by
itself. Additionally, combining data from
many sources and applying data mining
techniques provides lift – the ability to see
more than can be discerned with any one
source or method.
Eric Weight is VP of solutions consulting at
Allegiance, Inc. Weight has spent more than
20 years working with computer software
businesses, including past positions as
manager with Deloitte Consulting, senior
product line manager with Novell, and
business development director at Attensity.
He has an MBA in Marketing from Indiana
University.
KEEPING INFORMED
7 Keys to Executing a Successful Business Rebrand
By Steve Blue
No matter your reason for embarking upon a business rebranding effort for a company or product
name, logo, phrase, design scheme or other such asset, one thing is certain: Execute poorly and
suffer extreme consequences.
T
here is simply no rebranding
effort where the stakes are not
extraordinarily high and the
margin for error slim at best. This
history has been proven repeatedly amid a
litany of rebrand debacles that didn’t heed
just a few fundamental principles.
With this in mind, I’m sharing what
I believe are seven key best practices
for effectively executing a rebranding
initiative:
Key #1: Get clear on what a
brand is.
A brand is not just your logo. A brand is
the sum total of the messages, interactions
and experiences a customer has with
your product, services and people. To a
customer, a brand is the promise of an
experience and the customer’s experience
of that promise delivered. It’s a valuable
asset to nurture over time.
Measure the branding work you do
against these criteria:
• Discover and express the brand story
only you can tell.
• Be telegraphic and focused in meaning.
• Balance functional benefits and
emotional reward.
• Create visible, tangible and felt
associations in the design.
• Provide a platform for current and future
services.
• Assure current clients and invite
prospects to learn about you.
Key #2: Maintain control of the
rebranding process.
Use a third party guide, because it is easy
for a renaming effort to deteriorate into
likes/dislikes or what your spouse thinks.
To rebrand properly, first set strategic
objectives and criteria. Ground your brand
in a strategy that recognizes not only
the brand’s origins but also its ultimate
destination in the current and future
marketplace. As part of the process, you
must also research your competition to
identify gaps, opportunities, and positions of
competitive advantage.
Keep an open mind. Small ideas can get
bigger and big ideas can diminish over
time. Also, be sure to identify those equities
that should not change.
Key #3: Understand that a brand
has two owners: the marketer owns
50 percent and the customer owns
100 percent.
Yes, that’s 150 percent in total. The
marketer produces products, services and
the marketing messages about them. Your
customer experiences the brand, and in
the digital age, they are in ultimate control
of the messages they receive. Therefore,
check in with customers and, at the very
least, include those internal players who
have the most customer contact. It’s best to
include all the key stakeholders, including
internal people who deliver your brand’s
experience (from the front and back office to
line workers and customer service). Involve
them in defining the brand. When you ask
for, listen to and acknowledge multiple
contributions, people feel they have been
heard and are less likely to criticize the
end result. The worst thing you can do is
decide all branding issues at the top level
and dictate them to your troops, who must
deliver the brand experience, and to your
customers. You risk a loss of relevancy and
buy-in.
Key #4: Your logo, tagline,
typography and design should tell a
single-minded story.
Every brand is heroic in some way. Its
look, feel and message should tell one
story. Think about what your brand fights
for and against what odds. Consider what
is at stake for customers in terms of their
problems and how you solve those issues
for them. Similarly, your brand may seize
opportunities for customers. In story terms,
you may help them attain a longed for
“object of desire” such as a new line of
business. Heroes are creative about how
they help and do so faster than anyone
else does. Of course, the people who make
your brand heroic can be found within
your organization – be sure to give them
due credit. By becoming a hero to your
customers, you, in turn, make heroes out of
them. That’s truly adding value.
Key #5: Never forget that a brand
should always remain fluid.
Some will warn you that changing your
brand is a major risk. If it fails, it can be
expensive and disruptive. (Remember
Coca Cola’s experience with “New Coke?”1)
However, if you do not violate a brand’s
established equities and values, you can still
add flexibility to a brand, while disallowing
it to lose relevance. For example, Tide
Detergent is built on consumers’ trust that it
1 www.coca-colacompany.com/history/the-realstory-of-new-coke
gets clothes clean2 – yet the brand has found
multiple fresh expressions of that proposition
over the years, even adding benefits, to fend
off competitors. Create a brand positioning
that is broad enough to be as relevant today
as yesterday and flexible enough to be
relevant in the future.
Keep in mind that every brand is in
transition and needs to remain flexible. Think
of your brand as a buoy, solidly anchored to
the ocean floor but able to weave and bob
with the oncoming waves. External factors
continually demand that you re-assess your
brand, such as presently unpredictable
domestic and global economies that are
bouncing between boom and bust. You
have to ask yourself if your brand is resilient
and can survive under any economic cycle.
The exploding digital age has turned most
selling and buying processes upside down.
Customers or consumers are armed with
more information, while at the same time,
bombarded with more choices. With so much
noise – and that noise getting louder by the
minute – you need to consider whether your
brand stands out and is engaging or whether
it is a static billboard that is passed over as
the world goes flying past.
2 www.pg.com/en_US/brands/global_fabric_
home_care/tide.shtml
Key #6: Never stop supporting and
promoting your brand.
Successful brands are a living presence
in the marketplace with a tangible
relationship with their customers. It’s easy
to support a brand in boom times and more
difficult to do so in down times, but study
after study has shown that brands who are
consistently supported during a down cycle
(compared with those who cut support
activities) gain greater sales and share
when the economy turns up.
In a world of accelerating change, it’s
smart to regularly take a snapshot of
your brand to maintain its relevancy and
meaning. At the very least, you need to be
marketing with a professional Web site and
social media presence.
Key #7: Be a brand champion and
groom your brand ambassadors.
Continue to engage your employees in the
branding process by developing an internal
campaign that builds up to the launch of
the new brand. Introduce it first with a
company-wide celebration and posters,
t-shirts, buttons and other giveaways
touting the new brand and proposition.
Make sure the announcement is big, loud
and fun. Ensure the new logo on your
building, Web site, stationery and uniforms
change with the announcement. Don’t allow
the old logo to linger anywhere.
Having gone through the discipline of
crafting or refreshing your brand, appoint a
key leader, typically in marketing, to be the
brand champion. Set up brand guidelines
and procedures to make sure the identity
you have carefully created presents a
consistent image and message in marketing
communications from business cards to
digital media, sales presentations, signage,
events and trade shows – wherever the
customer will engage with your brand.
In summary, executing a rebrand must
be extraordinarily strategic, not violate
the company’s cultural roots, be relevant
and consistently supported and place the
customer benefit front and center at all times.
It really is all about them.
Steve Blue is CEO of Miller Ingenuity
(www.MillerIngenuity.com). With more than
three decades of management, executive,
consulting and speaking experience in
markets all over the world, he is a globallyregarded business growth authority and
author of the upcoming book, Outdo,
Outsmart… Outlast: A Practical Guide to
Managed, Measured and Meaningful Growth.
Follow Steve on Twitter: @MillerIngenuity.
You can earn an
MRA Certificate in
Qual or Quant Research
Credentials help advance your marketing research career!
MRA Certificate holders demonstrate to clients, management
and the profession an advanced level of expertise and dedication.
MRA has approved two Certificates in a new series provided
by Research Rockstar. These live, online, interactive, instructorled classes are fun and fast-paced. They take place in a virtual
classroom, so no travel required! Classes are recorded and
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• Live, expert instructors
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• Lots of peer interaction
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HAVING SUCCESSFULLY SATISFIED THE EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS ESTABLISHED BY
THE MARKETING RESEARCH ASSOCIATION,
HAVING SUCCESSFULLY SATISFIED THE EDUCATIONAL AND PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS ESTABLISHED BY
THE MARKETING RESEARCH ASSOCIATION,
Your Name Here
Your Name Here
HAS EARNED A CERTIFICATE IN
HAS EARNED A CERTIFICATE IN
Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
The MRA Certificate in Qualitative
Research Principles is available through the
completion of the following online courses:
The MRA Certificate in Quantitative
Research Principles is available through the
completion of the following online courses:
Managing Focus Groups
• Learn how to manage a focus group project. Students learn
the process of planning and managing a focus group project
step-by-step.
10-point Checklist for Questionnaire Design
• Planning to run a survey project, but don’t know where to
start? Learn to manage the process from beginning to end,
including tips for pre-testing and how to avoid common
mistakes in survey research.
Writing Qualitative Research Reports
• The options for analyzing and reporting qualitative research
results are taught here in a fun, practical way. Students learn
how to analyze qualitative information in order to address
project objectives, and how to report the findings using
various text, visual display and multimedia approaches.
Conducting Research Interviews
• Students learn how to design an interview guide, conduct
interviews, and efficient ways to identify key results.
• B2B and consumer research examples included.
Introduction to Ethnography
• Anthropology meets market research in this fast-paced,
crash-course on ethnography. Ethnography has been a niche
market research methodology for decades, but with the recent
increase in observational methods overall, its practice is rising.
Learn important concepts that will help decide when to use
ethnography and how to plan a project.
Social Media Meets Market Research
• Learn the basics of how social media can be used as a
market research resource. Get a practical perspective on
how to use social media in market research projects through
this introduction to social media monitoring, social sample
sources and more.
Questionnaire Design 201: Scale Section
• Survey designers quickly learn that scale choices are a critical
part of the process. The choice, wording and formatting
of different scales can have a huge impact on a project’s
success. Learn various ranking and rating scales, including
Likert, semantic differential, constant sum, and more.
Intro to Quantitative Data Analysis
• Learn the basics of quantitative analysis in a fun and
practical way through examples, exercises and realtime demonstrations. This class is ideal for those new to
quantitative data analysis: No previous background in
statistics is required.
Intro to SPSS
• An introductory class for absolute beginners taught in a
virtual classroom. If you have never touched SPSS before, you
can get started with this brand NEW step-by-step course. The
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data, and concludes with conducting and reading crosstabs
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Introduction to Conjoint Analysis
• What is conjoint analysis? Students learn basic concepts and
usage scenarios. Learn how to consider and discuss conjoint
analysis and MaxDiff with confidence. Designed for project
managers; this class does not include programming.
To register or for more information visit:
training.researchrockstar.com/collections/mra-certificates
508.691.6004 Ext. 701
INDUSTRY NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Passing of Former President
and CEO of the Advertising Research
Foundation (ARF)
Bob Barocci, the former president and CEO
of the Advertising Research Foundation
(ARF), has died at 72. Barocci ran ARF for 10
years, from 2003 to 2013, and is credited with
bringing the organization back from the brink
of collapse. He was an ad agency executive
earlier in his career, working for Leo Burnett
and Young and Rubicam. He also founded
his own company, McConnaughy Barocci
Brown. Barocci retired from ARF in December
2012, but remained with the organization in
a senior advisory role until Gayle Fuguitt was
named as his successor in March 2013. He
died on March 27, 2014 and is survived by
wife Mary Anne Moloney, two children and
four grandchildren. (As originally published
at www.research-live.com/news/newsheadlines/obituary-bob-barocci-former-arfpresident-and-ad-agency-executive/4011474.
article.)
Quick Test/Heakin Announces
Two Key Promotions
May, 2014 – Christy Crossan has been
promoted to director of account
management and Heather Hyland to
account representative. Crossan has been
with Quick Test/Heakin since 1993 and is
building a fresh and exciting team. Hyland
most recently worked as a project manager
for Quick Test/Heakin’s sister company, 3Q
GLOBAL, and brings vast experience to her
new role. Both will be based in the corporate
office in Jupiter, Florida.
Directions Research Announces Five
Promotions
April, 2014 – Directions Research Inc.
promoted Dan Argo to director IT, security
and compliance. Beyond managing the
IT department, Argo has implemented
the procedures necessary to successfully
complete two SOC2 Type II audits, HIPAA
and GLBA assessments, and many other
routine client sponsored audits. Eric
Groeschen was promoted to senior data
consultant and is responsible for technical
consultation in the areas of tabulation and
data handling. Mark Erwin, promoted
to account executive, is responsible for
research design, client consultation, data
analysis, presentation of findings and general
client services. Since being promoted to
senior research analyst, Matt Stenger is
responsible for analyzing and interpreting
data in a wide range of applications from
crosstabs to multivariate research methods
for marketing projects such as concept/
product testing, segmentation and tracking
studies. And newly promoted Neelu
Kodumuri is applying her extensive
consulting experience with secondary data
within marketing sciences as research
consultant, business intelligence group.
Q Research Solutions Assembles
“Dream Team” to Service Rapidly
Growing Client Base
April 28, 2014 – Q Research Solutions
announced the recent hiring of several
market research industry veterans. Q’s
recent hires include: Mario da Cruz, former
North American head of MMR Research
Schlesinger Announces Senior
Worldwide and founder of Blueberry (a
Appointment
Reckner division), who has pioneered
May 14, 2014 – Schlesinger Associates has
cross-functional integration between
appointed Matt Campion as an executive
marketing and R&D in innovation, helping
vice president. His role will be developing
multidisciplinary teams to create compelling
the company’s quantitative client portfolio
consumer experiences; Michele Reisner,
in healthcare and expanding its service
former VP of research and 25 year veteran
solutions across the group. Campion holds
with Moskowitz Jacobs; Eve Oster,
over 30 years experience in marketing
former vice president of client relationship
research with a focus in the healthcare
management with Ipsos Synovate, whose 25
quantitative data collection space. He
year career has been focused on innovation
previously held senior positions at WorldOne,
and product development across CPG
Epocrates, Total Research Corporation and
categories; and Dawne Watts, former
Schrader Research.
senior account manager with Ipsos Synovate
Myla Kovac Appointed Vice President and product design and development
specialist. Her 20+ year career showcases
of Research at Taylor Research
May 12, 2014 – Myla Kovac has joined Taylor expertise in the operational, research
execution and client service areas for the
Research in San Diego as vice president of
research. She has over 25 years of consumer CPG sector.
and healthcare experience in qualitative
Diane Hessan Receives Asper
research. Prior to joining Taylor Research,
Award From IBS for Outstanding
Kovac was with Adept Consumer Testing as a
Entrepreneurship
senior project director and most recently with
April 25, 2014 – The International Business
Field Dynamics as president. She has been
School (IBS) at Brandeis has recognized
an active member of the MRA and is a past
Diane Hessan for her outstanding
president of the Southern California Chapter
entrepreneurship with the Asper Award
of MRA.
for Global Entrepreneurship. Brandeis
IBS Dean Magid presented her with the
award on Thursday, April 3. The award is
bestowed annually to an “entrepreneur who
achieves outstanding success in the global
marketplace through creative marketing and
business strategies.” Input from faculty at
IBS and the Dean’s office is combined with
research by the IBS Centers and Initiatives
to create a list of candidates, also reviewed
by Asper, in a thorough process that aims
to present the award to the most qualified
candidate. Hessan was president and CEO of
Communispace, a recently global company
that she founded in 1999 before handing
over the reins and becoming chairwoman
in January of this year. (As published in
part from http://thebrandeishoot.com/
articles/14202#sthash.muLc7jbU.dpuf.)
Research Now Appoints Michael
Bigby as Chief Technology Officer
April 14, 2014 – Research Now announced
the appointment of Chief Technology Officer
Michael Bigby. In this role, Bigby will lead
Research Now’s global technology team,
driving major technology-enabled initiatives
as part of the company’s advancing business
model. With nearly two decades of software
development and management experience in
both startups and large companies, he brings
a great deal of knowledge and expertise to
the organization.
StandPoint Wins the American
Marketer of the Year (AMY) Award
April 11, 2014 – StandPoint was honored with
the AMY Award for Marketer of the Year in
the Market Research Innovation category.
The award was presented at the American
Marketing Association’s (AMA) annual event
in Atlanta, GA and recognized StandPoint’s
proprietary SCORE (Scope, Consult,
Originate, Refine, and Evaluate) concept
development approach and the company’s
TeamBuilder™ online assessment. The AMY
award is presented annually by the AMA.
Carlos Eduardo Chiba Joins
BrainJuicer
April 10, 2014 – BrainJuicer announced the
appointment of Carlos Eduardo Chiba as
client director, Brazil. He will join Gabriel
Aleixo, managing director, in managing
relationships with the company’s clients in
Latin America. Chiba’s appointment signals
a continued investment in Latin America,
with the opening of BrainJuicer’s office in São
Paulo in 2010.
SoapBoxSample Acquires ClickIQ
Panel
March 18, 2014 – SoapBoxSample, the
online sampling division of U.S.-based data
collection firm ISA , acquired ClickIQ’s
e/visor panel of more than 350,000 panel
members across the U.S. and Canada
as part of its strategy for growth and
expansion. In addition to the ClickIQ panel,
SoapBoxSample will be retaining the
IQCenter®, ClickIQ’s award winning full
service research team.
The Marketing Research Institute
International (MRII) Introduces
A Comprehensive Online Mobile
Market Research Course
March 18, 2014 – MRII, a non-profit
educational institute which, in partnership
with the University of Georgia (UGA), is
devoted to fulfilling the educational needs
of people worldwide in the marketing
research profession, announced that it has
launched an online Principles of Mobile
Market Research course. Recognizing
the proliferation of mobile device usage
in all facets of communication, MRII and
UGA have taken a comprehensive and
progressive approach to synthesizing
and espousing those tools critical for the
successful deployment of market research
across this emerging platform. The new
10 hour self-study course provides a solid
foundation for market research professionals
at all levels to conduct mobile market
research globally. Graduates receive one
Continuing Education Unit from UGA along
with a Recognition of Course Completion
certificate from MRII, Marketing Research
Association (MRA), ESOMAR and UGA,
all of which are among the primary
institutions and organizations responsible
for maintaining the standards of excellence
for the market, opinion and survey research
profession. For more information, visit
www.mobmarketresearch.org.
SSI Announces New Chief
Marketing Officer and Leadership
Team Member
March 17, 2014 – SSI, a global provider of
sampling, data collection and data analytic
solutions for survey research, announced
that Chris Clarke has joined the company
as chief marketing officer.
Clarke has more than 28 years of marketing,
communications and technology
experience. Ashlin Quirk, SSI’s general
counsel and secretary, who joined the
company in 2012, was elevated to the
company’s leadership team. Quirk has
almost 20 years of legal experience and has
specialized in privacy and advertising and
marketing law for the past 13 years. cultures that balance commercial strategy
with personal career development. Abigail
Stuart was announced as global CEO and is
also based in the company’s London office.
Stuart has focused her career on helping
pharmaceutical companies develop brand
strategy and communications for new and
existing brands. She joined Hall & Partners
in 1999 to help set up the specialized
healthcare division in the London office.
Continued from page 7
Lesson #5: Excess creativity isn’t
necessary.
Our final lesson is this: While it is important
to be creative in finding channels and
other ways of reaching prospects, it can
be counterproductive to try to be too
creative in actual recruiting messaging.
The contemporary consumer understands
marketing research and often knows a lot
about it, but the contemporary consumer
also understands advertising and marketing
communications messaging, so there is
little to be gained by over-designing posts,
small-space ads, and other messages. In the
end, the direct approach has always proven
most effective for our recruiting, and will for
you too.
These five areas of knowledge have
proven most critical for our team when
conducting multi-channel recruiting. They
also represent a strong guide for avoiding
pitfalls that may be encountered as multichannel recruiting is implemented. And
avoiding pitfalls makes qual recruiting and
research more enjoyable for everyone!
Rob Iles is Managing Director and Rodney
Kayton is Managing Partner of Study
Hall Research, a 10-person full-service
brand, communications and strategic
research consultancy, headquartered in
Tampa, Florida. Working as an ownership
team, Rodney and Rob founded Study Hall
Research based on their desire to provide a
strong custom qualitative and quantitative
research firm that was also populated with a
team of professionals with strong marketing
background. This means that Study Hall not
only understands research, but also deeply
understands the marketing, advertising,
strategic- or product-development contexts
for various research engagements.
Hall & Partners Welcomes New Head
of People and Global CEO, Health
March 6-7, 2014 – Hall & Partners
announced Estelle Shepherd has joined
the company as the new global head of
people, based in its London office. With
nearly 20 years of experience, Shepherd
builds high performance, empowered
Continued from page 62
3. Approaching Potential Respondents
Now comes the challenging part: getting
companies to agree to be interviewed.
To facilitate cooperation:
• Offer respondents an honorarium
(e.g.$150 donation to their favorite
charity).
• Point out that you are not in sales and
will not be re-opening the sales process.
Your goal is to use their feedback to
better understand the market, buyer/
seller process and ultimately improve
performance.
• Make it easy by giving them the option to
complete the survey by phone or email.
4. Writing Up the Survey
The survey should be detailed with
insights that can readily be translated into
recommendations on improving your new
business presentations.
Writing Up Observations and
Implications
Because you are talking to the decision
maker, what they say is extremely
important. In fact, a single survey can
become the template for what your
representatives need to do to win more
business.
Key take away points for this mini case:
• Safety Plus was outperformed on 15
criteria, and tied with the winner on only
5 criteria (concise, making commitments,
showing they have the necessary
expertise, resources and technology).
• Significant gaps (spread of 4 or 5
rating points between the winner and
Safety Plus) relate to customizing the
presentation, being accommodating and
a good listener, making the prospective
client feel valued, providing suggestions,
demonstrating they can service
effectively and following up.
• The client suggested our representatives
make more effort to a) explain what we
do to ensure a positive client experience,
and b) follow up (i.e., within 2 days,
highlighting our advantages and
providing recommendations).
Conclusion
Whether you are a research supplier or
a client who helps assess new business
opportunities, SWLA can play an important
role in improving presentations, proposals
and quotes. At the very least it will
enlighten your representatives as to what
other factors, besides price, impact a client’s
decision on who they select.
David Lithwick is principal of Market
Alert (www.markertalert.ca), a research
intelligence consultancy. He can be reached
Think Fast,
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Better Business
SSI B2B inSSItes
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is the fuel for fullycharged insights.
When you use sample from SSI B2B inSSItes™, you’ll
get high-performance results. The reasons are simple:
Reliability & Flexibility: Our unique multi-mode access to
mobile, online and CATI data collection gives you the options
you need to help your project finish on-time.
High Quality: SSI B2B InSSItes™ uses phone verification and
precise profiling that follow the highest standards in the industry.
As a proprietary panel, we’re constantly optimizing, growing
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[email protected] surveysampling.com

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