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Is Your Market Research the Functional Equivalent of an iToaster?

Is it the functional equivalent of an iToaster? Sure Apple has a loyal fan base that would get excited if it launched an iToaster. But the company enjoys a broader base because it consistently raises the bar on ease of use and innovation. If Apple started launching new products with dramatically less intuitive user interfaces and featuring stale technology, its new launch momentum would be lost. And quickly. How can we apply Apple’s momentum lessons to market research? We need to show people that we researchers are raising the bar on ease of use and innovation…

Article Synopsis: How to Link Customer Loyalty to Profits

[Article synopsis]…Another hot topic in customer research is NPS (Net Promoter Score), based on self-reported likelihood to recommend as a measure of loyalty. However, as the author points out, respondents may give high recommendation scores at the same time they give low satisfaction scores, as satisfaction and recommendations are often driven by different factors. And haven’t we all seen cases where…

Article Synopsis: Quantitative or Qualitative Research Methods, Let’s Go Back to the Basics

data, different statistical methods and models can give different readings. Gray states, “Causation requires correlation of some kind but correlation and causation are not the same.”

When looking at probabilities and categories, Gray cautions the researcher to, “Avoid confusing the possible with the plausible and the plausible with fact. It’s also not difficult, though, to miss something of genuine practical significance that lies hidden beneath…

12 Actionable Tips from the 2014 MRA Corporate Researcher’s Conference

The MRA’s Corporate Researcher’s Conference (CRC) was full of great sessions and first-class attendees. And I came home with a pile of business cards that are covered with scribbled down notes for follow-up. If you didn’t make it to CRC this year, here is a sampling of my notes from this 2.5 day event.

1. Sally Hogshead: High performers tend to specialize & tend to over-deliver in one area. I find this to be true, though she said it more articulately than I ever have.
2. Sally Hogshead: Successful brands know how they are different and what they do best. They avoid the “all things to all people” trap…

Getting Your Training Requests Approved: All in the Timing

Here are three tips to keep in mind when submitting your training budget request:
1.Add context. When submitting your training request, put it in context. Rather than simply say, “I want to take a class on writing qualitative research reports,” show why. For example, “I want to learn new ways to analyze qualitative research so that I can really get the most value from our research investments.” …

5 Ways You Know You Are an Awesome Market Researcher

Here are the five core attributes of an awesome researcher. Make sure you have these nailed, and your clients will quickly begin to appreciate your awesomeness.

1. You use multiple research methodologies. You are familiar with multiple research methods, and can match a project’s goals to the best available method. You don’t assume every project is either a survey or a focus group.
2. You think carefully about sample source. You know when to use panels, …

Article Synopsis: Listening In on Social Media: A Joint Model of Sentiment and Venue Format Choice

The results from the authors’ modeling shows that the inferences marketing researchers obtain from monitoring social media are dependent on where they “listen.” For example, Facebook tends to be more positive, and Twitter more negative in the opinions expressed, based on the dynamics stated in the above paragraph. Common approaches that either focus on a single social media venue or ignore differences across venues…

Article Synopsis: The High Price of Customer Satisfaction

Highly satisfied customers = revenue dollars. Or do they? Some data has shown that the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer spending behavior is surprisingly weak. In this article, the authors share their analysis of the relationship between satisfaction and business outcomes, gathering data from more than 100,000 consumers covering more than 300 brands. This data came from two sources, the American Satisfaction…

Article Synopsis: Still Full of Beanz (Effective Data Management)

Using a philosophy of test and learn, Heinz looks to multiple information sources for research, including electronic-point-of-sale, Nielsen data, panel data, and social media and brand monitoring. One such panel, Heinz 57, is an online community of 300 consumers that the company uses as a source of customer feedback.

Article Synopsis: Seasonal marketing in a social age.

Analysis of actual shopping behavior conducted from mobile devices suggests that conventional definitions of seasonal shopping behaviors are being disrupted by mobile shopping. Beyond the powerful implications for marketers in general, this also has implications for market researchers who may be timing research on purchase plans and branding around seasonal shopping assumptions.