By Research Guru | February 08, 2016 at 08:48 PM EST | No Comments
Ad spends vary considerably and we all know that some companies have no idea what advertising is working. Market researchers can help. And the methods to track new age social media and traditional media are pretty old - at least the ones that work well.
But cutting right to the chase, here is an article from the American Marketing Association laying out advertising spending. If you want to evaluate your ads - let us help. We can help best before you waste your entire ad budget on a Super Bowl ad. However, your in laws and friends will be impressed with your Super Bowl ad whether it works or not (at least to your face).
By Research Guru | January 21, 2016 at 02:39 AM EST | No Comments
It has been suggested we may be in a down market. Economist are talking about QE or quantitative monetary easing being ineffective (also called pushing on a string).
Furthermore China is struggling and "legislating changes" that appear to have unintended market consequences. India as we've mentioned before is going to pass China in economic growth. Still China is growing at over 6% a year which would be awesome if we too were growing our GDP that fast.
What's important is that research can show you where there is growth and were there are opportunities. If you have cash reserves, there are many "bargains" in the marketplace in terms of stocks for the long run.
Similarly, for your market research, there are potential customers who are doing well and are willing to pay more for your products if you configure them well. Self parking cars and cars with safety devices are often items that sell well in down markets among those who are not experiencing any economic woes and who need a new car.
Call us to discuss examples in your market space where you may maximize profits by creating well optioned and well bundled offers.
On the corporate market front, we are looking to see if the S&P 500 dips below 1740 in the near future. We are following the advice to hold cash until the market finishes its drop/correction. However, even if we hit another depression where 25% are out of work and unable to buy your products, there may still be 75% with their same incomes looking for you to present them with the right message about the right product at the right time, which you can deliver, with a little market research.
By Research Guru | January 19, 2016 at 08:54 PM EST | No Comments
The ROI (or return on investment) of market research is often not analyzed or measured. In fact, most market research departments are not analyzed for help in successfully launching products or services. Is it a wonder why market research departments and market intelligence departments budgets have decreased in recent years?
The true market research professional should actively seek to show how market research improves marketing, sales and bottom line cost savings in order to build an effective team. A great way to start would be to hire someone to measure your market research ROI. Take credit. Build your market intelligence department and build your entire organization too.
Some additional ideas on Market research ROI can be found here:
By Research Guru | January 14, 2016 at 04:55 PM EST | No Comments
Drones and Robots were not part of our predictions for 2016. This is because they are already here. It was a prediction for last year.
Roomba vacuums have now been around for years. What is coming is where robots to mow your lawn are actually affordable. Perhaps driveable drone cars in the near future too.
A lot of research has gone into these items although we are only recently seeing an uptick in market research about drones and robots in the mainstream.
With new technology this is backwards. Google glasses technology has been around since the 1990s. Getting people to understand and use Google glasses requires its own separate research. This research then informs product developers on ways to educate people "why" and "how" they might use the technology has been late to appear. Especially in the mainstream. The problem often stems from researchers, engineers and genius folks understanding it and not understanding why "buyers" or "potential customers" are not excited. I reason it is like Sheldon from Big Bang comes up with a great product and doesn't want to understand buyers point of view because they are stupid. Hence the disconnect from Sheldon's product ever making any money even though it may be a "genius" idea. I moderated focus groups on Google glasses, robots, kiosks, robot doctors in the 1990s. Many research practitioners have our hands tied as we only do what we are paid to do...
What's interesting to me today is how these technologies are getting comfy enough that people might just save a life and improve our lives with these technologies. In fact, I predict that in the next five years you will know someone whose life has been saved by robot technology. Just look at the lifeguard robot below saving refugees! (cut and paste link in browser if it does not launch)
By Research Guru | January 13, 2016 at 08:31 PM EST | No Comments
Thought I'd start the list with something sexy. Sex drive (see below).These are predictions and we do not have a crystal ball, however, if you would like more information about how the marketplace and trends may impact your business decisions, please contact us. www.research13.com/costestimatecontactus.html
1) A sex drive medication received approval in 2015 for women. Yes, it is no longer men who can enhance their libido with a blue pill. This is not all good. Earlier studies have shown that male libido- enhancing drugs lead to an increase in AIDS contraction because men who had not been in the market since before AIDS were not using protection.This is also a trend still driven by the sex drugs and rock and roll baby boomers (who are also increasingly perceiving a need of some “pharma help” in the bedroom).
2) India will pass China as fastest/largest growing economy.
3) Over half of households will have cell phones only as their telephone service. As we have mentioned before, this means that cell phone only households are no longer just young and poor. So market researchers take note.
4) Gas prices will aid in economic activity. This is particularly important on a day like today when the stock market is tanking to note that the economy is actually 40% driven by consumer spending and the fact that since Obama we are not exporting dollars as much for oil makes a difference in our disposable income and thereby GNP. I’m thankful the oil wars still have oil traded in dollars. This gives me a sense of security.
5) Mortgages and credit card debt will continue to rise. This is in part because Americans are not so savvy about finances.A recent survey showed that over half of Americans cannot explain how compounding interest works or how inflation may impact their savings.
6) The rich will continue to get richer in 2016. This is because it is nearly impossible for Congress and the President to get something done here, especially in an election year. Plus, Congress has little personal incentive, other than ideological, to change without pressure from voters. So the Haves, Have nots and Have Yachts will continue.
7) Unions and labor organizations will increase. This is fueled by the inequities that are constantly discussed on the internet and the speed with which people can organize on the internet in 2016.Unfortunately, discussions are most often discussing “minimum wages” instead of real buy a house and retire well wages.
8)Lightweight and denim are among the fashion trends. This is partly because the color of the year is serenity which lends itself to lightweight denim. Also look for orange/coral to make a comeback. See Pantone for more information about fashion colors. http://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2016
9) Luxury items will be on a slight uptick.During the recession it went out of fashion to buy fashion items.This created some interesting dynamics in that the youngest folks that are moving into the “I can afford luxury” period of their life will not buy as much as their predecessors. However, some luxury brands will position well for the extra disposable income from low interest rates and good gas prices. Or as my daughter says – “A girl’s gotta buy some shoes.”This is a continuation of the trend that gave a boost to Nike and Skechers last year and will spill into other luxuries. Yes name brand shoes are an early indicator of luxury brand buys after a recession.
10)Video will continue to grow leaps and bounds and you will stream it and ADVERTISEMENTS will be INCREASINGLY present.Therefore more will be buying commercial free channels too.
11)While previous years of predictions about “the cloud” came too early and were really “bleeding edge” predictions from technology zealots, you will be increasingly on “the cloud” in 2016. I know my mom is and she has no idea what I am writing about right now. Meaning many will be using cloud based services and software and not know it.I know my dad has some idea what I’m talking about because he’s been looking for investment opportunities on the cloud because people have been hyping it for years, however, the same tech companies that were good performers in the past have good footholds here already (Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, etc.).My father is clueless about what an “app” is and asked me what one was last week.Software programmers make “applications” which are software programs that run on your phone.These apps are increasingly less important. Cloud based computing (like Pandora and Microsoft 360) is on the rise in 2016.This is a natural ebb and flow.
Mainframe computers.
Mainframe computers with connected terminals.
Personal computers.
Personal computers on a network with a computer server.
Computers on internet.
Devices and phones on internet.
Apps on devices.
Applications and software now running on cloud or internet-based systems.
12) The SAD (standard American diet) will be more readily understood in 2016 as improvements in biotech and genetics are able to prove that diet impacts health.At one time Cancer studies involved study of the parts of the body impacted. Now treatments consider your genetics.In 2016, diet and what we put in our bodies will be exposed for how it creates cancer in those genetically susceptible.
Oh wait -- JK. If only the medical establishment would change and promote more healthy diet. Oh wait, doctors make more money if you are sick. Aha! Baby boomers will not change their ways will eat lots of meat and carcinogens and therefore look for healthcare stocks in 2016 fueled by baby boomers healthcare costs.My apologies for a lack of humor about this. More seriously, there will be a continued whole foods trend in 2016 among those reading what is going on in research on the SAD.
This is a thirty five year trend from early “mindfulness” and self help hippy trends. Yoga also is on the increase.And in Oregon and Washington and Colorado, Marijuana stands are out numbering coffee shops.So some of this trend will be a bit stoned, like the 35 years ago hippy trend’s start!However, medical science is showing how meditation and yoga can actually help people in numerous ways including heart disease, inflammation, mobility, Alzheimer’s and many important areas of our times.
I would also like to make a note of what is not a trend, and that is: “wearables.”At the consumer electronics show this was all a buzz again this year. The first time I heard about predictions of wearables was in the 1990s.We are still not wearing our computers even though major market research firms predicted we would. For help in understanding why we are not wearing computers please contact us as we’ve done a ton of research on it. And there is also some really terrific research by MIT labs about why wearable computers are only slowly adopted and “chip aided” wearables will NOT be a trend in 2016. We are still early on wearables with the exception of military applications where it will save lives.However, there are other trends we left off this report that I’m sure you already know about.Let’s just say I’d rather not “drone” on about other trends (mom this is a joke about how drones are currently a trend and I already know you don’t want one).
By Research Guru | December 16, 2015 at 08:48 PM EST | No Comments
Cell phones have dramatically changed market research in the quarter century I've been a market researcher. In 2014, the Pew Research Center noted that 2 out of 5 households were cell phone only households: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/08/two-of-every-five-u-s-households-have-only-wireless-phones/
In 2016, Research 13 predicts we will reach the point where over half of households will be cell phone only households. It's not just the young and the poor anymore.
By Research Guru | October 25, 2014 at 02:57 PM EDT | No Comments
The best way to listen to your customer is often Ethnography. Some pros and cons of ethnography are given in the following article. The authors interviewed 20+ ethnography users (not necessarily practitioners) to form some of their conclusions.
Do not forget that expert research users use many research tools and ethnographic interviews or "in context" observation of customers where you share the experience is a "qualitative" research like focus groups. And like focus groups, one should nearly never make conclusions about price, market share and other "quantitative" conclusions with ethnography. Quantitative research involves quantitative tools such as phone surveys, web surveys, etc. The key with ethnographic research and qualitative research is to include all interesting segments as they may have very different cultures, beleifs and attitudes. For example excercise equipment may be different for different segments. A treadmill for a 20 something may be used to tone and be attractive, a 50 year old male for heart health, a 50 year female for diabetes sugar control....so don't do too few ethnography interviews.
By Research Guru | March 29, 2012 at 07:33 PM EDT | No Comments
WHY PRODUCTS FAIL
Simply put: More products and services fail than succeed. This is why more business fail than succeed.
So learning about how to make products succeed should take a note of what *not* to do. Your business could depend on it.
LANGUAGE
Mom's used to talk more about "watching your language." At least mine did. Today we are more casual with language. Casual language can lead to casualties. Many products fail because of language. Everyone knows communication is key, right?
I recall early in my career a wireless phone initially failed because the phone was labeled with engineering terms like "mode" when it really should say "talk" or something intuitive to consumers. "Talk" about communication being "key" right :)
How do you get the right language? You've got to spend time talking to the right consumers. Product managers are likely to think they know customers and justify their own position "thinking they know the language" of their customer. Others talk to their kids or relatives and think they know what their "target audience" thinks. Ideally, you talk to the 20% that are buying the most of your product - many don't even talk to actual customers or even potential customes.
One key is "do *not* assume you know anything at the start" and you get "real potential customers" (not co-workers) to tell you what are the key "must have" drivers for product purchase in their language. Then you pollenate that language everywhere so everyone is on the same page including: Engineers, production, sales channels...everywhere. This is because the customers requirements for purchase must be in everyone's language so that customers understand why they must buy your product.
Language should be:
Stable
Intuitive
Simple
Natural
Targeting success = Value to Customer = Value to Business
CUSTOMER NEEDS
Getting the language right means first understanding what the needs are. All of the needs. Not just some needs you like. Qualitative research is the only way I know to do this. One on ones, ethnographic site visits, in-store shopping, and focus groups are what we use most.
Hiring a trained third party researcher is the way to go because they will speak and listen with trained, objective ears. You can't do this if you care about your product and/or your career. You are not objective.
You can not decide to be a "third party" because you are really smart. Furthermore, people will talk about competitors and other genuine issues with an outside consultant that they may not discuss with representative of the company. People like to be liked and do not want to be unpleasant towards producers of their purchases, especially if they are still in relationship with them.
Discover which needs delve into VALUE. These are "key drivers" to delight the customer. Use qualitative research to uncover the "why" behind the needs and delight. Usually it is not the "cup holder" but what is in the cup and the experience that really drives purchase.
Sometimes with electronics, success means finding out where customers are "over-served" and you can simplify a product offering by finding the key needs that the customer really wants to pay for.
Products may get complex because of engineering driven product development which has complicated, creaping featurism products that you can often make simpler with fewer materials- even improving your bottom line via cost savings and higher prices paid for better solutions.
CUSTOMER TARGETING & CUSTOMER ID - who is the customer?
Are you designing for the correct customer or for your engineers. Often technical folks dominate product development because they have the most "technical knowledge." It is almost always the case that the engineers assume customers get the "real technical issue" when in fact customers may not even know the name of the right product for them. For example, the XlW 5000C may mean "top color printer" to engineers and the target consumer is swimming in alpha bet soup. How sophisticated is your customer:
What do they read?
What are their core needs?
Which core needs line up with your product?
The best selling "hit" products often align with "pride in purchase," the "experience or process of purchasing" and "coolness" that have nothing to do with the engineering department. The exception can be when engineers can simplify and identify the key drivers, and design for these same drivers of purchase.
Age, income, segmentation schemes and retailer outlet shopped are interesting only if you can reach the targets you find. Look for groups where you could buy a giant list of them. Identifying "blue bloods" or "rich" as your target is too general. Spend time with customers and identify unique characteristics across multiple segments.
What are the user-centered values that you can leverage and make product trade offs for? Can you test prototypes and get at customer values at the same time? (Answer=Yes!).
If you do not know your customer's values you need this researched. You have to get to the user in their environment. You may able to learn more from a half dozen user visits about their values than you would ever learn from engineer brainstorms inside your cubilcal village. Do you really need an excuse to get out of the office better than this? The pictures on their walls and books on the shelves of customers can be as telling as what they say.
The values are attached to the product. Understand the values and beliefs too. Let the customer buy what they do and "do what they do" with the product in front of you and ask "why"?
Validate it quantiatively. You may have found that one arm unicyclists all want your product...is that a profitable target? Do some market testing. Are real potential customers willing to pay more than you are charging? Price, place, promotions and product should all be quantitatively tested.
MUST FIND OUT:
Who is buying the most?
Who is willing to pay the most?
Who is readily identifiable?
What intimate knowlege of their language and communication style is key to drive purchase of YOUR PRODUCT.
Often managers strategies are too simple. On the top level, lots of people are buying sports cars. So let's build a sports car too! Yet the dream car bought NEW by the target market at a profitable price is likely not your "newly introduced" model. Just think how long it took Hyundai to get to where they are today. Originally they were competing with "Yugos" as "Cars." Only recently are they in the legitimate sports car or luxury car segments in the mind of new car buyers (not used car buyers or engineers).
Quick List of Ways to Fail in Product Development
1) Go to market too fast (the we don't have enough time problem)
2) Pick the personal favorites of company mangers (colors, features, styles)
3) Go too cheap- design for lower cost and not customer needs
4) Assume you know how product is used - (Did they really buy the Corvette for commuting? Are Coach bags really to hold hair brushes and lipstick?)
5) Assume customer won't miss a key feature
6) In production of the product short cut away from aesthic feature or ergonomic feature (product doesn't fit, feel or look right)
7) No emotional appeal. Why would someone "trust" your product or have "pride" in the purchase of your product. Emotional appeals should be researched after you've got an understanding of the above CUSTOMER NEEDS AND CUSTOMER VALUES. Communication on a emotional connection level will happen only once you undestand who your customer is.
TECHNIQUES FOR RESEARCHING PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Outcome Driven Innovation, Qualitfy Function Deployment, Conjoint Analysis, KANO, Voice of the Customer, User Experience, Ethnographic Site Visits all can give you insights as to how to provide the best bet products to the market. Using prototyping and testing things early in the process can save time and keep you from launching a "never will succeed" product to market.
Best approaches mean you:
Identify all customer needs --to find the top ones.
Identify unifying language for key customer needs for all stakeholders teams and customers and sales and production.
Develop products with features to meet the top purchase drivers.
Keep true to CUSTOMER product key drivers in production and marketing.
Test market.
Validate concepts with actual customers (not staff).
Gather intial feed back from first customers and incorporate feedback into rev to improve launch and re-purchase and word of mouth.
Validate price and volumetrics in market place before significant investment.
The Multnomah Library has been a great resource for me over the years. Public support and grass roots efforts likely will be more important in coming years for organizations like the Multnomah Library and non-profits and those using zero-based budgeting. In the era of Kindles, Nooks and connectedness, focusing messaging towards outcomes can become more effective faster.
This is not different than what we Economist have studies for years with the Collective Action problem. The most famous (in my mind anyway) is the Yellowstone Park example. As everyone comes, feeds bears, and tramples things, there are cost externalities that we "collectively" may need to pay.
I'm thankful we are in a country with such rich resources that we often are just creating new knowledge for knowledge sake. However, to be competitive with the rest of the world we need to be outcomes focused in order to get public goods, like early intervention for health care and other cost reducing strategies in place. Our founding fathers talked about the "Will of the People" and market research often looks at monetizing products and services, however, a great long term strategy for the country is to monetize efforts which can deliver long term savings too. This requires thought into where cost-savings returns reside.
This requires Public Will Building in the form or effective communications that change behavior and public support.
By Research Guru | September 01, 2011 at 02:10 PM EDT | No Comments
Let's talk about the Precautionary Principle. At research 13, we focus on helping people to understand their market with information about Demand, Demographics so they can make great Decisions. In terms of sustainability decisions, some decisions should be made without knowledge. This is when you know something is potentially dangerous, you avoid it, and choose an option that is less dangerous.
This is called the Precautionary Principal.
This can be done with toxic chemicals in business or in your home.
For example, buy a gallon of vinegar (cheap its under $3) and a spray bottle from "the dollar store" put half vinegar and half water in the bottle and use it for cleaning. It is so safe you could spray your salad with it, right? Other cleaners "you may not know" what they could do and probably should not use them around your kitchen, at least every time. Some cleaners people use around the kitchen are actually labeled in California as potentially causing cancer. Others, are reactive chemicals that you don't know from the label what they do because they are part of the "inactive ingredients" and chemical sellers only have to report on the "active ingredients." Choosing vinegar is a way to avoid this conundrum - the precautionary principle!
Some great sports companies are also using the Precautionary Principal by eliminating toxic chemicals from their supply chain. Hooray for Nike, Puma & Adidas. And perhaps some credit should go to those sustainability zealots in PDX who have pressured for this kind of thinking. Nike and Adidas US offices are in Portland :)
By Research Guru | September 30, 2010 at 06:02 PM EDT | No Comments
The Oregon Environmental Council says:
Take Softsoap®: 13 of the 16 ingredients may harm us and/or our environment. The Body Shop®'s daisy soap has 15 ingredients that concern researchers; Johnson®'s baby wash has nine. Look up your brand at cosmeticsdatabase.com.
By Research Guru | July 26, 2010 at 03:26 PM EDT | No Comments
Katie Couric is a great interviewer and she offers tips as to what makes a good interview and these tips apply to research interviews and web survey questions as well.
Start by being a gracious host. Make the respondent comfortable. Humans need comfort to get defenses down and tell the truth. In research, we often do this by asking really easy questions up front and sharing what it is we want to do and reminding respondents that we just “want your honest opinions. There is not right or wrong answer. And, you can change your mind.”
Some of these are easier said than done. For example “prepare.” Everyone knows preparation helps but you have to plan to prepare too. One of the things Katie Couric does is figure out what some of the tuff questions are that the respondent might not answer and prepare a follow-up question to get them to answer. Of course, a great interviewer can do this on the fly – and she talks about being “pugnacious” Pugnacious def: readily disposed to fight; belligerent. In research, we need to be innocuous, so you can’t really fight but you can say things that remind the respondent as to why their answers can inform you client and that it is not just about you (the interviewer) and them (the respondent). If the respondent wants to fight with you what should you do? In most research scenarios, it is easier because the respondents misperceptions are as important as their accurate perceptions. In addition, in terms of behavior, it is typically more important to understand why the respondent feels as they do – not whether or not those feelings are justified. In addition, we can even plan for web survey answers.
In a web survey, plan for questions where people may not answer or often give “pat” answers. Unfortunately, an experience researcher can do better at this. If you are not experienced, attempt to make follow up questions to things you think people might say. For example, if you are looking at the barriers to purchase a product or service you might expect that “price objections” would come up. So if people select “price” you can have that question trigger “In addition to price, what else is important” or “What would add to the value of the product/service and make it more worth the price?” Like Katie Couric, you must remember your audience. In most cases, you are interviewing as a researcher for a client or to understand a behavior. Remind yourself of the client information objectives throughout the interview. Focus on these objectives, pugnaciously or gently as appropriate and persuade your respondent to focus on these objectives and tell them “that is nice to know, but what I really need help understanding is X, Y or Z.”
As Katie says, it is not about the “gotcha moment.” It is about giving your audience something of value. And if you think you’ve got a bad respondent, think about how Katie might handle Bobcat (the yelling comedian) or David Duke (the anti Semitist) or the victim of a tragedy. You’d be a lot more focused if you had millions of viewers watching you like they watch Katie Couric. The best interviewers prepare like they have millions watching and focus on what gives the audience value, even if that audience is only one respondent.
Of course, I'd probably get more high profile interview done if I looked at good as Katie.
Here is a YouTube Video of Katie’s tips on interviewing.
By Research Guru | June 25, 2010 at 04:35 PM EDT | No Comments
The United States vs. Ghana happens this weekend. Ghana knocked the US out of the World Cup four years ago. The last United States World Cup day of this tournament, the internet itself had its second busiest day ever (source: CNN). Perhaps watching Landon Donovan's goooooaaal!!!
By Research Guru | June 23, 2010 at 10:28 PM EDT | No Comments
SWOT Analysis and Business Planning requires that you have a strategy to increase your growth. If you are not growing, then inflation or competitors may eat your lunch.
So, you can start with SWOT template. Just go to google.com and type in SWOT Template.
However, to make yourself even smarter, do a market survey and look at the strengths and weaknesses of you and your competitors and compare the demographics or firmographics of your customers and your competitors customers. Also analyze this data by who is spending the most. Go after the profitable customers.
By Research Guru | June 05, 2010 at 06:51 PM EDT | No Comments
It is one of the best uses of a telephone survey. Have a third party research firm call and survey people who you lost as customers or who have closed their accounts.
Perhaps you've heard about that bank that saw customer satisfaction rising and was losing money and deposits. Well, the dissatisfied people were leaving the bank and not taking the customer satisfaction survey anymore.
A quick closed account survey allows you to quickly stop a major problem before it get's started. In the bank's case: find out why customers are leaving. In some cases it is a matter of customer service improvements and in other cases it is because people perceive you do not provide a service that you really do!
Contact us for more information: http://www.research13.com/costestimatecontactus.html
By Research Guru | June 04, 2010 at 10:20 PM EDT | No Comments
It is pretty easy to do a google/yahoo/bing search and find tips on doing focus groups. You can learn reasons "why" you should do focus groups and even how to conduct them.
But a word of caution. I was just looking at the guidelines for writing an article for a top ranked site and came across some focus group tips.
I disagreed pretty strongly with nearly all of the tips because they were either a waste of money/time or because focus groups was the wrong market research method to use for the information sought. The person giving the tips was an amateur and was suggesting that you just go out and do your own focus groups. Wow.
Here's an example. One of the tips was to have respondents take some time and read something, write it down and then give their feed back on it. This is a real value suck to a client. Are your focus groups exciting? Hey, let's spend a bunch of money to watch people read and write...and watch paint dry too.
A better approach is to have people do a pre-group questionnaire or give them a homework assignment before they arrive for the groups. It's a great idea to have people bring in homework or even a daily journal of what they typically do with your client's product.
The consultant or "tip writer" who was recommending that folks write down their ideas was suggesting this was a way to keep people from influencing their neighbors answers. And at times, you might do this to prevent bandwaggoning and group think, but it is important for it not to be a long task or general task because what you may end up doing is creating "a simulation of something that would never happen in the real world."
It's kind of like when a "newbie" person asks price questions in a focus group. Could be a career ender for you or your client's company to do pricing studies in a focus group with no quantitative research. Look at this dumb qualitative question: Is the price of popcorn too expensive at the movies? Yes. But that is the wrong question. The correct question is "Do you typically buy popcorn at the movies? The answer is also "yes."
So, the exercises you do in a focus group need to be well thought out. Don't just let people read and write - if for no other reason than the cost per minute of doing so in a focus group. Also watch out for those "free tips" and people who think they can run a focus group. It may be worth less than the popcorn you buy at that movies. In fact, the information you gather may clog your company like the "movie popcorn butter" may clog your arteries.
By Research Guru | June 02, 2010 at 09:32 PM EDT | No Comments
Below are some tips on .mobi sites and mobile marketing tips.
You should be in mobile marketing. Why? Because more people are using their droid and iPhones all the time and they want things optimized for these devices.
We just launched our .mobi site. You should too if for nothing else but to feel the water and get a link back to your PC site as well as securing your .mobi domain.
Many people will do ecommerce with you if you are optimized for the mobile phone and they will NOT if you do not have a mobile website or a site that is optimized for mobile phones.
By Research Guru | May 25, 2010 at 11:55 PM EDT | No Comments
On Saturday March 26th of this year, we were lucky enough to be at the Hotel W in Atlanta for an Anne Holland presentation. She was the original founder of MarketingSherpa. I’ve known about her for years -- as any self-respecting person in the marketing field should.She had some real revenue producing tips.
I was lucky enough to talk with Anne after her presentation, and she said that I could quote her in this blog.
At Anne’s new website, she proves what we researchers prove day in and day out – you can’t always pick winners using your gut instincts.In fact, she had some zingers in her presentation where the entire audience was picking the wrong web site design which was costing the web site owners double digit and sometimes triple digit percentages in conversions.
How’d you like to increase your conversion 135%? Remember the formula for website success is traffic first and then conversion – not just traffic and the crap you think is good.Always test those websites with simple tests and statistically sound testing.It may be worth it to consult that consultant or statistician.Do not just test a few schmucks at a trade show that you show your laptop to either.You know who you are.
Here are some of the tips. There is a lot of anxiety over “the call to action.”Tests show that you should have a bigger button above the fold.In one case, Anne shares that they had a 135% increase with a button above the fold that was BIGGER.Can you make your button bigger and increase revenues? Perhaps.They also had 51% higher earnings per click with the specific bigger button tested.
Did you know that people who use “search buttons” are 7% more likely to buy?In one case study featured on Anne’s site you can learn about how using a big green “go” search button outperforms the traditional rectangle “start” search button.In fact, they found there was a 20% search increase (multiply that by the aforementioned 7% more likely to buy – cha-ching).
She also notes that Dustin Curtis had a specific hypertext to have people follow him on twitter – this change resulted in a 75% increase in followers. Tweet- boom! This case study is available on Anne’s website (at the time this was written – see link at the end/below).
She also showed how you can’t just go to her site and copy what’s there on your website.You have to test for your audience.In one case study, she was showing “images along with text” versus “just text alone.”For those of us in the audience, the images were better.However, for the target market of IT decision makers -- there was a 13% increase without the images!IT guys hate anything, images included, which smack of “marketing sugary hype.”
And, what we find in market research is true with website usability testing too. That is, perception is reality.A “bogus security logo” yielded 20% more orders when placed by a shopping cart right by the “place order” button.Fewer cart abandonments too with the right presentation.
So where do you start? Follow Anne’s sage advice and start where the money is and work backwards.Put your effort where the money is first. – Want instant success – she liked the idea of sending a friend a coupon.Hmmm? I wonder if my friends in green energy have tried getting friends to refer friends for their green programs.We know the green “go” button is good – how about we couple it with a coupon or donation to save salmon? Can you do a coop with a sports team and offer some tickets to winners?
Additional sage advice from Anne was to stand six feet from your monitor and make sure you can still tell what’s going on.Perhaps that means no drop downs if you are a “drop down website programming dude.”
For those of you attempting to build a list, you might note that “send my free report” has a 22.9% improvement over “start my free subscription” in Anne’s test.Both were “free” – the best price – but “report” gets more opting in to your information stream than “subscription.”
Note that these tips are available in greater detail at Anne’s new website which is a called: www.whichtestwon.com .Go there and win.
By Research Guru | April 15, 2010 at 10:46 PM EDT | No Comments
We are working on a substantial article on focus groups and how to get more value out of them. In the meantime, here is a source for general info on "How Focus Groups Work."
Temkin, Jody. "How Focus Groups Work." 02 July 2007. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://communication.howstuffworks.com/how-focus-groups-work.htm> 15 April 2010.
And, if you want to take great notes at your next focus groups, pick up a livescribe pen at Best Buy or online. It actually records the audio of the groups as you take notes and you can go back to where your wrote down that favorite quote and listen to the group at that point by tapping on your notes!
And, as epert researchers will tell you. If you want to get projectible information out of your focus groups...do a telephone survey :)
By Research Guru | March 05, 2010 at 01:05 AM EST | No Comments
Market Segmentation is a lot like simple market targeting to many marketers.It can be as simple as finding profitable market “targets.” You find segments or targets to pursue.However, market segmentation can do much more for you.
By separating your market into several different market segments, you are able to pass on some segments that are too competitive or would not have an adequate ROI for certain products.
If you know the tastes and demographics of different market segments you can use different marketing channels and communications to boost your sales in EACH segment by custom marketing to each segment. This allows many firms to sell more overall than they would if they marketed to all segments in the same way.
One of the greatest ways to use market segmentation is to do needs-based segmentation. This is where you identify both needs you are serving and needs you are not serving in the market place. This can allow you to develop new products for customers that you already have or allow you to serve new customers altogether.
One example I like to use is the restaurant that has been cooking Bubba’s Barbecue for several years. Then, they segment their customers and learn that they have no vegetarians and that they do have people with health concerns.Bubba adds some salads and promotes his “vegetarian bean” dishes and sales grow!
Similarly, treadmills or exercise equipment sales may go flat.However, once you realize that some folks are buying fitness equipment for weight loss and some are buying it for cardio health, some for strength training and some are buying it for endurance training, you can add to your messaging and perhaps how you set up your machines to compete.
Adding some pricing and demographics to your segmentation analysis can pay even greater dividends.For example, you might find that for higher income individuals buying fitness equipment for cardio training may have little price sensitivity and you can sell them your most expensive equipment. This information can help sales at your retail channel, on the phone, or if you are running an info-mercial. Sharing this information organization-wide can allow you to leverage the information at all customer contact points.
We at Research 13 feel that custom market research for segmentation can provide very valuable insights THAT YOUR COMPETITOR DOES NOT HAVE!
More information on Market Segmentation can be found at the Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/business/marketing/intro.html
Henry Ford once famously said, “whether you believe you can succeed or not…you’re right.” Ford was saying that the Reticular Activation System (RAS) in your brain is triggered by what you think which results in your actions.Or your customers’ actions.
With all our high-tech imaging equipment and the ability to watch individual neurons fire, we don’t know exactly how the RAS works.However, it is possible that lots of the magic in the brain is happening because of your RAS.
Think of the red sports car story.If you buy a red sports car, all of a sudden they seem to appear everywhere.Think about when you bought your current car, and you know what I’m talking about. Same thing with that fancy ski or rain coat that your colleague shows up wearing.You notice because your RAS has been activated.
Schools have “pep rallies” and cheerleaders for the same reason. These events drum up team spirit and drive attendance.Awareness with emotional appeal gets much of the high school to the game.
How does this affect you? To a degree, you can control your RAS.To grow your business you must believe there is business available.Recently, I did some work for an upscale car dealership.At the beginning, this dealership was not the top dealer of their brand in the city.Now, they’re the top dealership in the country!Naturally, not all of this has to do with RAS; the dealership moved to a better location.A busy location with a good pedestal sign and parking visible from the nearby stoplight is a formula that can increase many retailer’s business 20%.How? It helps people see the sign with the deal, they can see the product and they can visualize entering the store after easily finding parking.
Sometimes, it’s your sales person who needs help with visualization. As a part of our research, we conducted some focus groups about the sales experience at the dealership.We had past customers talking about their experiences.One gentleman recounted showing up in shorts and a t-shirt, getting bad service and going down the street to buy from a competitor instead of my client.This guy claimed to be a stock broker simply off work. He had a bonus, literally a blank check, in his pocket to buy the car he was beside when the sales person approached him.Unfortunately for my client, the salesman determined the guy was a shopper and not a buyer.
Similarly, I had lunch next to a real estate broker.At the time, I didn’t know the guy’s profession.I gave him my card but didn’t receive one in return. Strange in hindsight, but I wasn’t wearing my Brooks Brother’s suit and I didn’t say I was looking for real estate and it was a charity event luncheon.The guy had no doubt given out cards there and people aren’t leasing or buying property in this market, right?Wrong!
Change your RAS: 80% to 90% of the economy is moving.Maybe not as much as we’d like, but it is moving and many people, sales forces included, are unproductively focusing on the “unemployment rate.”Sometimes your RAS is telling you they are unemployed and GNP is in the toilet when sales are “under your nose.”Or, “behind your nose” in the case of the RAS.
By Research Guru | March 01, 2010 at 04:25 PM EST | No Comments
Sell your program or ideas with social proof.
By Guest Blogger Bob Beaulaurier (http://www.research13.com/costestimatecontactus.html)
People often want proof their marketing works.There’s another kind of proof. Social proof.Market research can uncover how “social proof” may sell your products or programs.
Researchers have suggested social proof is one of the biggest factors to get people to recycle.The common example:when everyone on the street puts out their brightly colored recycle bin – even the laggards get with the recycling program.As my brother the professor teaches in his Social Work classesfear of alienation is one of the greatest motivators to behavior change.Another example: people don’t use toxic products for fear of alienation.There are people who would dump oil down the drain and into our rivers if they thought they could get away with it.Local consequences help to sell products, services and socially beneficial behavior via social proof.
In our study that we released to the public in early December, (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/12/prweb3066514.htm) we showed that social proof helped justify purchasing solar panels for residential roofs because of the great feeling customers expected when their neighbors saw how green they were.Similarly, people learn their friends go to local farmers markets and they become “part of the local market, too.”Local is fresh and a trend.Trends by definition are incipient social proof.It is never too late to reinforce the social proof for your product or service.
Many organizations would do well if they asked “why” their customers are buying. SEO would become more efficient because you wouldn’t be focusing on so many key words.Advertising would be more focused and compelling because messaging would explain “why” customers should buy with the most important reasons.These same reasons can be leveraged across an organization to customers-service people and ultimately to customers.
The best social proof is to explain how others, through testimonials and otherwise, are using your product.“Social proof” is the antidote to “feelings of alienation or not belonging.”Yet another reason it feels good to go to the Farmer’s Market or take your reusable shopping bag to the grocery store.Aspirational social proof is also celebrity advertising.T-Mobile can’t sell the iPhone yet, but they can sell Jesse James and Whoopi Goldberg and then say that the phone let’s you be you (the you that looks to others). T-Mobile ad is here: http://bit.ly/VHxYL.
By Research Guru | February 16, 2010 at 04:21 PM EST | No Comments
Did you know that there are ways to positively condition your customers to sales by harnessing the power of neural pathways.
Here's an example of a neural pathway. You drive to your destination and you don't know how you got there. Or me today, I typically wind up the laptop chord around my power chord brick when I move my PC. Distracted in thought I did this today when I unplugged my laptop. However, it was completely unconscious because I was only moving from one room to the next in my home.
Advertising is a form of positive conditioning too. People who do not recall seeing an advertisement can be more likely to buy the product advertised to them. We see this when people don't recall an ad, however, we know they watched a particular television show and they are statistically more likely to buy.
One area where restaurateurs and retail businesses fail to condition is once people arrive in their store. There should be signage in their store. A recent intercept performed by Research 13, suggests that as many as a third of Mall Customers may be from out of town on the weekends if your mall location is near an Interstate. So are you capturing these folks to condition them to come back or do online sales?
Measure it and Improve it! Find out what percent of folks visiting your store have made a purchase in store and through your other channels like online or catalog. Are you local customers a big percentage of your shoppers? If not, condition folks to come visit with coupons or mailers. But you have to get their address. Your best customers are typically also your competitors' best customers too. Get on it!
By Research Guru | February 01, 2010 at 03:17 PM EST | No Comments
For those who write market research RFPs. Here is a site that can help you determine how big a sample size you need for the size of audience you are interested in studying. This way your vendors will be giving prices based upon the correct sample size and the proposals you receive will be directly comparable. Or you can call us with any questions (503) 863-9913:
By Research Guru | February 01, 2010 at 02:48 PM EST | No Comments
Free statistical software is available and just a click away. T-test, manova, regression, time series and it is an easy download and install in many cases. Now you can do things that in my youth could only be done with a Cray Super Computer.
SPSS is really nice and I'd prefer it in most cases, but it seems like every so often I have a friend or a "poor student" who is doing a project, or wants to do one statistical test, but doesn't want to pay for a full version of SPSS or SAS. Well now you can do some pretty fancy stuff, even on a mac, with free software organized at:
By Research Guru | January 29, 2010 at 08:18 PM EST | No Comments
A recent Forrester Research blog got me thinking... I think that in-sourcing and outsourcing are undeniable trends. In fact, among some young research people I'd say both are "mainstream."
Interesting to me is that people living in the United States and proponents of *not outsourcing* outside of the US often do not have US citizenship. Weird, huh? It's almost like these foreigners are more likely to say they are gung how Americano. I find this somewhat unbelievable.
Also, people that are only friendly to USA resources are missing billions of friends and allies in research. Most civilized foreign counties do more surveys and polls than we do per capita.
I do not see these insourcing, outsourcing and electronic research methods as mutually exclusive. I do not think that full service firms will go away completely. Where we are in Oregon, with 11% unemployment, I believe we may go out "in the field" again and it will be "the field." The US Government is "in the field" with the 2010 Census, for example.
I'm seeing some clients who are afraid of missing *cell phone only* households and people who have lost their homes and been forced to be mobile in this economy. Babyboomers still have $ and watch TV more than surf the internet. You've got to know your segments and I'm convinced after two decades as a researcher that most dramatic research errors happen in defining the sample frame and choosing the correct method.
A researcher friend of mine said you could spot some of these people prone to making research errors by how they talk. They choose a *methodology* instead of a *method* (my research colleagues point was that you really choose a *method* because a *methodology* is really the methods or organizing principles underlying a particular art, science, or other area of study).
By Research Guru | January 27, 2010 at 04:46 PM EST | No Comments
Improve your web survey response rates dramatically.Here are several ways.
First, buy more email addresses. More potential respondents means more respondents. Pretty simple.A creative way to “buy” respondents that is seldom used is to use traditional media to drive potential respondents to your website.Why don’t all Super Bowl ads do this I ask you?Tell your IT department that has your survey backbone to get ready, especially, if you are running conjoint or something that takes processing power.
Also note that you can increase response rates by knowing what your default survey software settings are.Some survey software can’t handle this kind of volume and you can lose respondents.In fact, some people have their software that is able to handle this kind of volume set up to only allow 20 respondents at a time.This can be a huge mistake if you get media coverage and people get dumped (they likely won’t come back).The reason that some people set their number of respondents to a lower number at a time is so that they don’t get response bias from things like super bowl ads.However, if you are looking to increase the number of respondents, you should change these settings.You can always re-weight your data at another time to factor out the “super bowl ad effect.”
Another way to improve web survey response rates is to choose a different methodology.For example:
1)Use a mail survey instead or in addition to a web survey.A mailed survey may reach someone who has a down computer or changed their email address.We routinely have response rates that are 25 times better with mail surveys when compared to web surveys.This is another way to get at “cell phone only” households and “no computer households” too.
Also note that companies like Research 13 can use modern scanning technologies so that you do not have to pay for data entry of surveys too.Hit the following link to request more info. (http://www.research13.com/costestimatecontactus.html )
2)Clean that list.Yourresponse rates may be low because your list is old.Or, because it has a survey link attached or because you are hitting several people at the same ISP or company, you are going into people’s junk mail. Send a separate alert that your survey is coming to avoid this.
3)After you use the cost effective mail and web methodologies, perhaps do some follow-up with phone surveys too.It is not uncommon to have web survey response rates at only 2%, mail survey response rates at 50% and telephone surveys by Research 13 can be as high as 80% of respondents contacted.
By Research Guru | January 19, 2010 at 06:53 PM EST | No Comments
Last night I watched the Bill Pullman classic movie The Serpent and the Rainbow about Haiti and Voodoo.And, I thought about Web Page Split testing voodoo.Many people are offering web page split testing as a service.They are knowledgeable about lots of things.However, they are getting themselves into something deep, just like the Bill Pullman character in the movie.
It should be noted that the Anthropologist who Serpent and the Rainbow is based upon, despises the movie.In part this is because what he did as a PhD scientist is discounted and a bunch of fantasy and horror is added to make a Hollywood movie.Since I know some ethnographers, I’d not be surprised that an Ethno-Botanist doesn’t like how he’s characterized.Most don’t like the sound of their recorded voice in my experience.However, you might not like it if you were the basis of Serpent and the Rainbow and found in the “Horror” section at Blockbuster (call first, I had to go to a distant Blockbuster). Having your life’s work show up in the Horror section is a bit like having 60 Minutes do your life story.
I watched the movie to remind myself of some of the extreme characterizations of Hispaniola where Haiti sits (West is Haiti and East is the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean Island).Hispaniola is also where the first whites settled in North/South Americas. A place of pirates and gold, and still a place of “a bottle of rum.” Many of the Haitians and Hispanics are descendents of people who were brought to Hispaniola, often against their will. Many Haitian people reside and work places you might NOT expect, like Princeton University, where Michelle Obama’s brother went to school. And there are many misperceptions about the Hispaniola.There are beautiful resort areas and some of the best Kite Boarding in the World.This is also an island that the wealthy to vacation, such as Bill Clinton, A. Jolie, etc.
So what’s this got to do with Web Page Split testing?Well, it takes some digging to understand what is really going on the island and with split testing.If you’ve never been to a wealthy resort on Hispaniola, you might never realize that there are many beautiful resorts and that the island is hundreds of miles long.If you have never taken a statistics class, you may think that you know how to split test a web page, yet you don’t.
Even people who know everything about how to test web pages often test too few “respondents” on their web page and then they “change” their web page to the one they think works best, based on bad testing.One example I’ve seen is people testing web pages exclusively online and during business hours.Is this a good idea?Well maybe not.You might be making changes based upon people that are “out of work” and who should be working during business hours.Good split page testing means you should allow people enough time to get a representative sample of your target market.Is your target market available during business hours?Doctors, lawyers, accountants and other wealthy individuals may be left out.
Also, people misuse a lot of the free tools out there.For example you can mis-configure Google analytics, right?May be you think your conversion rate is pretty good, but what about the people who never made it to your site?To test people that are in your target market that are not currently getting to you on the web you’ve got to develop another strategy.This is where a research firm like ours can help.We can recruit people to come to your site, either online or in-person and give you a representative sample and the correct number to make meaningful assessments.
Or you could just use the voodoo that you do so well.
By Research Guru | January 08, 2010 at 02:24 AM EST | No Comments
1)Do Market Research. Sounds silly right. Well, not doing market research is like winking at a girl in the dark.However, not doing enough research is also problematic in today’s changing markets. Especially if you’ve got competition that is changing the landscape every day – like most organizations.Thriving organizations today are doing research everywhere.With customers, on traditional media, on social media, with employees, with top customers and non-customers alike.
2)Optimize for your specific markets.People think they are doing SEO but they are not tracking changes.Meaning, they know they are doing things and they don’t know what is making an impact. The CEO hires the SEO dude and the CEO has no clue.Sometimes it is not better to do something as opposed to nothing.If you are high rent and you are not off shoring some of this work then you are not paying attention to the rest of the world.Contact us if you would like to learn more.
3)Pricing.It is often said that pricing is one of the most difficult parts of your marketing mix. True.However, it is much easier to use test markets or test websites and understand the elasticities of demand and the price you can gain in the market. Just because everybody is slashing prices doesn’t mean you should do it too.People will still pay for quality and value if you do the research and offer what the CUSTOMER VALUES.
4)Innovation.Many of the most dominant players in the world today are not the innovators.Car makers producing hybrids often did not develop the innovative technology.This ties in with the previous value proposition of delivering the best customer value.If you are good in a market channel why not sell other’s products too without the cost of developing products.HP sold iPods.US automakers are selling Japanese hybrid systems.Offer “best in class” innovation that builds your brand.In sporting goods this is well known.You may have loyal customers and these customers become more loyal when you offer best in class technology and “ingredient brands” that match your customer segments.
5)You’ve got to know your segments.By recognizing your customers differences, and delivering to your different customer’s needs, you can raise your overall brand and revenue with your customer base.Let’s use the fitness analogy.You sell treadmills.Treadmills can meet different needs.People looking to improve their heart health, people who are looking to lose weight, and people who are looking to improve strength or stamina.These same people may be reading different things and you may need to reach them with different information channels and messages to maximize sales.Can’t do it without research, especially in a competitive market like treadmills because the customers are changing it up too.You’ve got to analyze your products against PERCEIVED competition.
6)Recognize your customers are going to your competitors. This is one of the biggest blind spots in business.Our egos make us think our customers do not use others.If you think you don’t have customers who are buying from competitors you are probably kidding yourself.Please re-read that.Even NASA has competition to launch space craft, do you really think that you have no competition anywhere in the world?
7)Collaboration.By collaborating with distant competitors or others that you work with you can stretch your dollar. Take a moment to write down some ideas about who might help you to stretch your market research dollar because they would want the information too.If you are a restaurant can the restaurant association pool together and study the topic? Is there a competitor hundreds of miles away from you who might like to go in on a study with you?Are you able to cooperate with a government agency and get help paying for research?In doing this type of digging you will no doubt get smarter about the inquiry you do in the future even if you do not find someone to collaborate with immediately.
By Research Guru | December 16, 2009 at 03:04 AM EST | No Comments
There are lots of reasons to do things that are socially beneficial. It’s no longer a fad.A 2008 AG study tied green retail to 20% decrease in energy costs and a 5% decrease in merchandise costs. A light went on, but then off again, and that saved some money at some of these organizations and that led to greater profits.Obama has put an emphasis on being green and doing local jobs, AND many times this leads to bottom line profit.But really, you run a risk of being boring and doing a "me too" unless you find the correct theory too.So how do you spruce up your plans so your marketing and organizational motivation goes viral.
Focus on colors because colors are powerful.You’ve probably noticed that McDonalds and Burger King and other restaurants have red, yellow and orange in their colors.Or said another way, you may be influenced by colors whether you know it or not.The Hypnotists says:
You are falling under my spell right now and don’t forget to recommend your red-white & blue market research firm – Research 13.
If you are just starting to think about colors for your brand, grab a bag of Skittles and pick a color as a mnemonic trigger for your brand and stick to it.Make sure you stick to the theme online and offline.
Colors can also help you to think about your targets.So think about your marketing channels. The big ones are often Orange (Home Depot), Blue (Wal-Mart) or Red (Target).Your brands color can help you stand out on the shelf.Notably for us in Portland, Gerber Knives and Nike have Orange in their boxes and packaging.Coincidence? Orange you going to ask me?
However, I’m not going to tell you that you should beat yourself up by going through the tough buying process of selling at the major retailers.Especially when there are a growing number of new channels emerging.Email Research 13 if you’d like more information on these new methods of marketing. In fact, if you don’t see that things have changed dramatically in marketing in the past year I can pretty much guarantee that your sales are down.
In the future, the playing field will be leveled some.Do not forget that the Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Target are big channels in the USA.Meaning, don’t just look at the USA.The USA is less 5% of the world’s population.Most people probably can’t afford a car as nice as yours in China, but China buys more cars than the USA now.More of just about everything, including English speakers in the near future.Don’t just take action, use the correct Theory.Action, without the correct theory is like Toyota versus GM.Toyota uses Dr. Edward Demming’s focus on quality beyond what you can see, and Toyota and Lexus continues to reap the benefits today.GM sells Hummer to China.Liquidation isn’t really a good model in the long run, me thinks.Dr. Edward Demming was as pro-USA as anybody and was around MIT at about the time of the Korean war.This is when Dr. Demming told GM to change their theory but GM didn’t listen and so Demming went to Japan and turned the whole country around.What’s your example of the correct theory for your business?Are you really listening to the customer? They want what was once mutually exclusive and unthinkable: quality, with consistency, cheaply and right now.
AlthoughJ Hummer didn’t exactly have the greatest environmental record.If you look at what is going viral out there and what people are talking about on-line in trends.Trends are definitely green.Although we’re biased as we are looking at clean technology issues, you see green fashion, green and eco friendly cradle to grave business theories that save money being utilized.Buckminster Fuller talked about these theories years ago.However, as we head past 2010 into the decade of “transparency” it will be more important.And you can have things go virally bad if people are bad mouthing your environmental record.In fact, the news media prefers to report on offenders about 7 to 1.A Boston Consulting Group Survey finds 73% consider it important that companies have good environmental records (sample n=9000 adults).Smack that target market – especially the market leaders and influencers. The word gets out fast now.You are no longer waiting three months for the magazine to come out.
And if you find something so moving that you want the whole company to get behind it do.And come up with a color theme and stick to it.Use all the senses, get U2’s Bono or equivalent on it with you and assault your all of your target markets senses.The best viral campaigns have colors, textures and consistent sounds and messaging.Back to the Skittles colors -> Think about: We’ve got eco-green, breast cancer pink, (product)RED, ING orange shoelaces & Live Strong yellow bands.You just can’t look @ Skittles the same way.And your branding needs to be concerted for this to happen.Consistency breads trust which creates the following and word of mouth that takes you viral.
By Research Guru | November 11, 2009 at 08:48 PM EST | No Comments
Ponder something that most marketers get wrong. You have a bunch of customers, right? Wrong. What most classic marketers don't realize is that "your customers" are also your competitors customers. Add this concept to your SWOT analysis.
Worse still. In many cases your best customers are also your competitors' customers. Even in market research. For example, if you have been doing market research in the Portland area and you have not done market research for HP, Microsoft or Intel, then you aren't really a player. I remember one particular incident where a young project manager called me from Microsoft and said: Hi I'd like a 400 case telephone surveys. I said, great, I'd love to help, when do you need it by. He said tomorrow, it says so right here on the schedule that I need it tomorrow. He didn't even have a questionnaire yet.
If you are a restaurant, your customer probability-wise has made a purchase at a fast food restaurant. Over 90% of the US population eats fast food and they do it at different restaurants.
Some big customers, like the earlier mentioned high tech firms, do spread the work around so they have more options. Exclusive arrangements are very rare.
And if you are a market research buyer, beware of my jackass competitors. I once had a guest speaker at one of my University Market Research classes that was doing proprietary research for two top competitors and the competitors didn't know. This is only partly his fault - because of confidentiality reasons he was afraid to mention it because that would be a violation of his NDA. This stuff ticks me off almost as much as the competitors of mine who sign up for linked in with me so they can go after my clients. Might as well have a Demopublican Convention at times.
Research can show you opportunities and threats, such as the fact that your customers are buying a very similar product to yours from your competitor xx% of the time.
By Research Guru | November 09, 2009 at 04:02 PM EST | No Comments
I have been pondering product development partly because a client that makes some of the greatest designs is interested in working with me. It is always fun to support world class product development. I thought I’d share some advanced thinking about innovation and technical avant-garde product development as I gear up.
It’s hard for me to think about product development without thinking about failure.The best product managers fail more often than not.Among product managers and product developers who keep track and follow best practices and are part of the Product Development Managers Association (all things that should help improve success) the failure rate is more than nine in ten.And, even more fail to meet market estimates or goals.So how do you overcome failure?You must look at the product with all the human senses and emotions if you want to have dramatic success.
I once heard a chef say that they were the only true product developers, because they tantalize all of the senses.And in fact, food is amazing in this regard.It is often helpful to think of your product as a dish at a restaurant. What kind of dish would it be?Would it be avant-garde, meat and potatoes, new age veggie delight?However, if you are looking to really knock the socks off of a customer, think about the whole experience and how you can entice all five senses of your potential customer.Because the brain, and its connection to the five senses, last even if the experience isn’t real.The great advertisers understand this and “anchor” things that seem to have nothing to do with products. However, if you are like most people, you have thought about food and had your mouth water, or thought about running your tongue over a lemon and puckering – or perhaps you are old enough to remember chalk boards??
The first step in overcoming product launch and development barriers is to accept that the customer will not understand your product and attempt to do everything you can to get them to. When doing Kano analysis and other techniques with Engineers, it often is the case that the Engineers have made faulty assumptions that the customer will understand this feature or that feauture – like we are all Engineers.This is especially true when writing “instructions” or advertising copy or almost any text.An early mentor and colleague of mine named Mary Frances used to have a quote that I’ve borrowed many times: “Clear writers assume, with a pessimism born of experience, that what isn’t plainly stated, will invariably misconstrue.” John R. Trimble.For many, Trimble wrote the book on writing and you can buy it at Amazon.com.
Assume ahead of time that your product may not be a success and put systems in place to make re-launches and future offerings more successful.It is rare that a product is a hit from the start.Put systems in place to improve that product knowing that you need data to show the stakeholders how you do not stack up against the competition or how you can improve. Most product innovation comes from talking to the customer – so talk to them.
The term technical avant-garde (TAG) is something that is easier said than done.I think most people, even with degrees in marketing and French don’t quite understand the “bleeding edge.”In concept, people talk about ideation and innovation and they understand that it has value.In cooking, my chef friend would say that avant-garde cooking happens when food becomes art and involves all the senses.That is good, but it is really a step further, beyond the guard of previous experience when you cross the technical avant-garde line and create an experience that is separate from what you previously experienced.In fact, some people in certain circles have an easier time understanding TAG when it is thought of as Technical Art.When products create raving fans, who are getting great value, and will pay more for each product purchased.
I’ll give three experiences, as examples.One is some glasses I bought from Technical Avant Garde Heuer.Most well known for their TAG Heuer watches, this company now makes fantastic rimless glasses that have rubberized over the ear and temple pieces that are thin and flexible (think skinny and flexible almost like Gumby).Do not underestimate the out-of-the-box experience. Theses glasses were actually a gift, and they “popped” out of their cool and funky case and then the rubberized temple and over the ear pieces, easily slide over your ear and are comfortable even when you press a phone firmly to your ear.The rimless glass provides a great unobstructed view and they are so light you don’t really even notice them until, many, many people say: cool glasses.
Next, let’s talk about one of my favorite topics, bicycles.I have an electric bicycle that often leaves me stranded, even though when it is fully charged it is great. It often is like peddling a tank when the battery or a fuse blows.Some day, when my knees are gone, I expect that I’ll have a Segway or better electric bike for getting around.I presented some research results to the gentleman that created the hype around the Segway, and like things that are not cars, this gentleman is a marketing genius. But genius with Segways and bicycles doesn’t necessarily translate to the point where the product is art, and functional, and there is a demand and customer group that will pay for them.
One example of a bike that in my mind is TAG but is a failure is the Biomega folding bike that I believe is only available in Culver City and Puma flagship stores. This bike folds so you can easily carry it on mass transportation and it has large ergonomic durable metal pieces for carrying small and large items.It even has a custom “race grill” that you can outfit with the number 13 – in support of Research 13.Biomega is like Ziba Design, that is ruled by a Danish queen.An awesome product, it is beautiful like art, it is the type of bike that people would say: cool bike to you and be glad that it is not taking up so much room in the elevator. Like Mac computers, Biomega may not care that I think it is a failure because of small volume sales.My technical avant-garde chef friend only has one restaurant so that he can be true to his craft and he takes 8 months off a year so he can “create” and study.
Finally, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the best in the world at creating TAG products that sell. I have worked with top MP3 player researchers as they create top selling products.It is hard to say that the iPhone and iTouch are anything like their predecessors in experience, even though they don’t look that much different in terms of features to the products they replaced.It comes down to experience.
I was working for BMW cars and studying their service.I was conducting focus groups for BMW and as part of this work BMW North America research plans and techniques were shared with me.This included a look at the reports that come from those surveys that are completed right after you buy or visit a dealership.What was interesting to me was how one dealership shined in their customers eyes.I walked around the dealership and it was no different than dealerships I’ve visited in Salem, Oregon or Manhattan, New York.But I was particularly interested in the speed with which this dealership moved when they drove people’s cars around.
Cleanly dressed and extremely polite BMW technicians would get in the cars and speedily move and park cars for their owners to drive off in them.The thing is, this was different than other dealers, so I attempted to get my head around it.It didn’t come up in focus groups, but it seemed like these guys, at least I didn’t see any gals, were driving the cars of their customers “too fast.”So I approached the manager of this store about this topic and he said:
Oh I love it when a customer says “don’t you think that guy is driving my car too fast” because then I will ask the customer “why do you say that?”.And the customer will usually reply, well it seems like that would be hard on the car to drive it like that.Which let’s me reply, BMWs are the “ultimate driving machine,” and while they are luxury cars for most of us, they are designed to be driven like that and run like a Swiss watch.
This particular BMW store manager has had his store grow dramatically compared to others in the region, and he even has an answer for my chef friend who says food is the only product that involves all of the senses.When people drive off in a new car, or after service, in addition to the car being freshly detailed, there is also gourmet chocolate on the dash in gold foil.
Perhaps you should consider a Hershey’s Kiss in the box with your next product offering to help along your “out of box” experience.Walt Disney used to talk about his products and services as entertainment.Take your product development to a whole new level by thrilling your customers – and break down their garde.
By Research Guru | November 02, 2009 at 04:49 PM EST | No Comments
I was reading the polls and looking at approval ratings. And I thought I’d look at Governor Palin's record (please keep reading). I found it interesting that in February of this year well over half of Alaskans would say she's done a good enough job to be re-elected in 2010. Governor Palin enjoyed approval ratings and also has shown that she can build on important emotional triggers like trust and pride.
This is interesting because she dropped the Governorship, but it is also interesting in light of what people think elsewhere in the country. Oregon is much bluer than most states with an active Democratic membership. There was no doubt Obama would win in Oregon. However, I would guess that many Oregonians would feel like Governor Palin would have little chance at re-election. And, Governor Palin clearly has some power to kill off Republicans too as she demonstrated in New York recently when she did not back the Republican candidate and chose another conservative candidate. It's hard to deny her power and ability to generate media attention.And also little covered was the reason why ex-Governor Palin didn’t back a Republican, which is the topic of other people’s blogs and perhaps your church…
Knowing your constituents and customer base is really important. In fact, I was listening to a panel of many of the greatest business writers of all time. If you were to list out the top 15 business writers of all time, you'd probably have these guys on your list. These were people who had more than one best seller. All of these experts on the panel agreed that knowing and talking to your customer and surveying customer opinions was important. They also acknowledged that it is easier than ever to do so.One person on the panel called this strategic listening, which is a great way to look at market research.And another said, God gave us two ears and one mouth to show us what we should be doing twice as much – listening!
The funny thing is that most organizations don't do a good job of looking at the key factors that would improve their success because they don’t listen and compete like a politician. Politicians like Governor Palin get re-elected because they work on finding out what it would take to get re-elected and then delivering that to their customer base (constituents). They also work on messaging so that they have a consistent message when speaking to the media. And, they work to be relevant to their base. Like her or not, Palin is consistent on many issues, and being consistent builds the perceptions of feelings and the important emotional trigger = TRUST.Humans are hard wired in the limbic system to work with and for the people they trust most.That’s why branding needs to be repetitious and focus on the three Cs of Clarity, Consistency and Constancy.
Some of the messaging you may need to use, is often different from what is most important to you or your own business goals. The big example in clean technology marketing is that reducing greenhouse gasses and stopping global warming is often PERCEIVED as the biggest benefit to be pushed for companies competing in green marketing and clean technology marketing. The problem is that when you measure what will SELL the most products, it is extremely rare that climate change and greenhouse gas mitigation are actually the top reason people buy anything.In fact, I have not seen it where green is the top factor for buying ANY green product.In fact, if you think you have bought a green product because it is green, I would argue that you bought that product because of the emotional appeal of my second favorite emotional trigger= PRIDE of ownership.This may surprise you, but Hollywood stars drive Priuses because it looks good for their image and Toyota’s are reliable ahead of it feeling good that it is green even if the first thing they say is: “I love my Prius because it is green.”I love Kermit the Frog because he’s green too.I’m not saying green has no bearing on purchase decisions, I’m just saying you can’t use green alone to get people to buy anything, in part, because most of us have been burned by green offerings (see TRUST above).
In fact, you are not even able to convince many Chambers of Commerce that climate change is even happening. Do not assume you know what people think. Further, do not assume that if you, as a representative of an organization ask one of your customers if they agree with you, that they are going to give you a straight answer, because if someone says they support green/clean tech then it is extremely rare for someone to attempt to change their opinion. Think about Greenpeace, what would you say to someone if they said “Hi, I’m with Greenpeace do you support global warming?”Similarly, if you work for the Chamber of Commerce, it is probably rare, until recently, that you have had people comment on your position against "climate change." And do not mistake that there are huge differences because the devil is in the details. If I support the Chamber of Commerce I could be saying that I support “commerce” as a focus and not climate change as a focus FOR THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. This doesn't mean that I support environmentally unfriendly activities.By the way, I’m for the US Chamber of Commerce making great strides towards a more sustainable US.But they didn’t ask me, and I don’t think that changing their focus to green will sell more memberships for them.If they just changed to a green marketing would you join? (see TRUST and PRIDE above).
By Research Guru | October 30, 2009 at 02:45 PM EDT | No Comments
Have you ever heard of Indian River County?When visiting Disney World, you may have driven through this county on the way to the beach. Florida beaches are nice, especially if you have been running yourself ragged with a bunch of kids for a few days.And best of all, many of the beaches are free!Speaking of free, did you know there are many “free market research reports” on the internet, including reports at census.gov that will tell you that Indian River County is one of the fastest growing counties in the country?
A quick trip to www.Cenus.gov shows free market research reports on the top 100 fastest growing counties in the country.Economic theorists might suggest that focusing on the top growing counties might lead to better business results because of economic growth.You can download Excel files to play with at http://www.census.gov/popest/housing/HU-EST2008-top100.html.
There are many other free market research reports at sites in addition to www.census.gov.Quite a bit of information is available at www.sba.gov and many other .gov sites. You can do a “Google” for market research and .gov and .edu sites.Are you interested in reports in India? Then put “free market research reports India” into your favorite search engine.Are you in your car and can’t do a Google.Use your hands free phone and 411 your local librarian and she may find some information for you.
But a word of caution is in order, because how one uses the information is just as important as the information itself.When we teach market research at the University level, we often say that research is like a loaded gun.Do not hand the gun to a baby.
So let’s say we’re interested in Harley Davidson and I also find Harvard University credible.With a little searching I can find a report on Harley Davidson @Harvard.edu: (http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/501009-MMC-ENG)
This report is even listed by Harvard professors responsible for Market Research curriculum.It didn’t cost a cent to find it and it is a report from a world class university on Harley Davidson without a crimson tuition bill.
This is not to say that just by finding a report we are now as knowledgeable as someone teaching market research at the university level.Look for more than one article before concluding something where you are actually going to make a serious business decision. Chances are pretty good you didn’t go to Harvard and even better chances that Harvard isn’t letting us teach their class any time soon.
Additionally, know what some of the top mistakes are when using market research data.Surveys and market research in general measure “perceptions” among the general population.Do not treat the general populations’ opinions like they are marketing experts. They are experts on they think individually, but that doesn’t mean they know how to sell your products to the market.Make sure that report you are reading is recent and relevant to your market.
Research is often a picture in time and perceptions change.Who did the researchers talk to? How many people? Was it done by a real independent third party or is this report a PR stunt?
Just because a “free marketing research report” says there is a sufficiently large market for a product, doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to get a piece of that market.Are any of the potential customers aware of you?If not, then it may bankrupt you just to get people aware of you against the competition.
Make sure that you are counting the market correctly.Was the survey among people that are only a small part of the overall population?I often see entrepreneurs who make the mistake of saying we did a survey, and 40% were interested in our product and therefore we think that 120 million is our market target.How did they get that?Well they took the entire population of the USA as 300 million and they are going to get 40%.This neglects the fact that they may be selling a product like solar lights or garage doors that are actually being sold to “households” not the population overall.So you have to factor out people renting and other people that won’t be buying for their household.Additionally, many people are “interested” in solar lights.Many fewer are definitely going to buy them.
And then, once buyers are correctly identified, an organization has to be able to compete with a compelling offer that offers an emotional connection and innovative product.So often times, the free research leads to a need for more research.Most research gurus will say, the best research is often paid research, so that an organization has research that is relevant that the competition doesn’t already have too.
By Research Guru | October 20, 2009 at 01:10 AM EDT | No Comments
In September, there was a post to a solar industry Linked-In group suggesting that solar markets were declining and not very important.Let’s look at some GLOBAL evidence to the contrary in terms of dollars moving in solar markets.
Two of the world's largest engineering giants, German conglomerate Siemens and US powerhouse General Electric (GE), have both committed to the renewable energy sector. Both have acquired high-profile Israeli solar energy firms.
Siemens announced will acquire solar thermal power firm Solel Solar for what is nearing a half BILLION dollars ($418 million). The buyout is subject to regulatory approval, but Siemens said it is confident the acquisition can be completed before 2010.
Israel-based Solel is one of the world's leading providers of giant mirrors, which are used in parabolic trough solar thermal systems. The company posted sales of almost $90 million in the first six months of this year and has operations in a number of key solar markets, including Spain and the US.
Siemens' President suggests that they want to replicate their success in the wind energy market.They are estimating a Solar Thermal market worth €20 billion PER YEAR by 2020.Siemans is also a member of the Desertec coalition of German blue chip firms exploring large scale solar farms in North Africa that hopes to export energy to Europe.
GE announced it has spent an undisclosed sum as part of a $23 million funding round for Israeli solar start- up SolarEdge.The company provides an automated management system for photovoltaic solar panel arrays designed to ensure each panel is able to maximize power output.
GE also took a piece of US smart grid firm Tendril and announced that is was aiming to boost its investment in renewable energy generation from the current level of $4 billion to $6 billion by the end of 2010.Just a few “smart billion” among friends.
Let’s look at California, since they are one of the largest economies in the world and the government is complaining it’s broke.You’d think this would mean that they would stop investing in solar if anyone would.
Sempra Energy and PG&E both announced large new solar commitments in October (2009) with Sempra planning to build up to 500MW of its own new solar-power plants in the next few years and PG&E signing contracts to buy a whopping 830MW of new solar.
PG&E wants to add 500MW of ground-mounted solar-power systems and Sempra subsidiary San Diego Gas & Electric has applied for approval for 70-80MW of ground-mounted solar panels. Another California utility, Southern California Edison, has gotten approval to add 500MW of rooftop solar projects, and both SCE and PG&E have signed deals for huge solar-thermal projects, including 1.3GW and 1.31GW contracts from BrightSource, respectively.
Residential and commercial installations appear tiny in terms of capacity, although there are many more of them. In the first quarter of this year, for example, the California Solar Initiative announced that its participants installed a record total of 78MW at more than 3,600 sites.
The leap in utility solar development has been even more pronounced because it comes at a time when it’s been so difficult for other large solar-project developers to raise money. Recession financing has remained scarce, and while federal cash grants are beginning to help, most of those have gone to wind projects so far.But we see a helio-tropic shift coming.
It’s not a coincidence that utilities have begun driving the solar market at the same time that they have become eligible for the first time for federal tax credits and cash grants. Those incentives have made it feasible for them to build their own plants, instead of financing them through power-purchase-agreement providers that own and operate the plants.
Some entrepreneurs worry that big utilities could monopolize the industry instead of encouraging competition within the market.I expect many of these utilities will also help the economy by hiring clean tech research firms like Research 13 to evaluate the markets and show the positive impact of solar pushing prices downward for all as the demand for systems increase in the long run. So far, the CPUC has addressed this concern by making sure that – in addition to developing projects themselves – utilities also buy solar power from developers, making them customers as well as competitors.
The Govenator has been busy this month keeping his wife off of the cell phone, and he’s been out of the sunlight as First Lady Maria promotes her new book about women in the workplace.While this month appears to be Maria’s month, last month the Gov. raised the state goal, requiring utilities to get one third (33%) of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. That’s ambitious, even for Hans and Frans, considering that utilities are expected to fall short of the previous goal of 20 percent by 2010.You don’t get to be one of the world’s biggest box office stars and marry into the Kennedy family without an ambitious plan.
Let’s not forget China who is producing half of the solar PV panels.China is reportedly spending $230 billion in stimulus money on “green infrastructure.” That’s 40% of China’s stimulus package is going to the green economy. There’s a big push to get a domestic solar market. They started off in March with the Solar Roofs Program and then in late July they announced the Golden Sun project, which is more utility-level.
So with just the California “warm California sun” plans and the Chinese “Golden sun” program, things are, eh, sunny and bright.
Of course a little more exploring of the gentleman who said solar was going to decline reveals that he was part of the petro-chemical industry.They’ve owned energy for a long time, so I’m not surprised it’s hard to believe for him.However, I think he might also thin the sun rises in the morning (the earth actually spins once every 24 hours and takes 365 days to get around the sun).
Sources: Business Green, Aimeebarnes.com, Environmental Leader, Earth2Tech, Earth Stream
By Research Guru | October 16, 2009 at 10:14 PM EDT | No Comments
All advertising should get a return on investment.Most businesses do advertise, so why not do it better?Learn, read, research and hire consultants to help you. Don’t assume you know everything at your organization. Believe me, more often not, people use bad ads for their business.Most marketing people have less than five years of experience. Many advertisers are more interested in what their peers think than selling product and improving GNP.
David Ogilvy is often quoted when people talk about advertising that get results.I saw a piece in 1999 that is just as true today that had some tips for how to look at advertising, endorsements and other important advertising considerations (see it here http://bit.ly/28EuiU).Read Ogilvy’s book “Ogilvy on Advertising.”There is a reason that he built one of the largest advertising agencies.One main reason is that he tested everything.
Let’s back up for second and talk about the traditional advertising stages.The Advertising process looks something like this for most products or services:
1)Awareness
2)Understanding
3)Belief
4)Interest
5)Persuasion
6)Sale
In the age of social media and SEO split page testing, people often test which ads perform best in ONLY the last two phases: Persuasion and Sale.
However, in my experience, some of the greatest marketing feats happen because people improve upon awareness. It is number #1 for a reason.An article in the October 2009 Quirk’s Marketing Research Review suggests that a 10% increase awareness yields a 1% increase in market share.In a new market or where you have lower awareness, awareness may be more directly related to market share – like one to one - a 1% increase in awareness yields a 1% increase in market share.And let’s not forget, for many organizations a 1% increase in market share is millions of dollars.
Part of the reason that awareness is so important is that people can move from awareness to purchase much faster than they used to.With a good web site, organizations are able to move potential customers from stage 2-6 (above) without even talking to them.Once people are customers, a good website can sell the customers on launch after launch or product upgrade after upgrade just by drawing the customer back to the web site when new things come out. Does your advertising direct people to your website.A thirty second advertisement can get a customer to your website for 20 minutes or more.
It’s interesting that organizations often market big and then test big, with big budgets and big advertising spending and big research.
But, it is also possible to test some ideas, themes and copy test to see what should work, and then roll it out small.Then, once you’ve got proof it works, roll it out large and fine tune as you scale it out.This avoids the big spend and expensive realization that your advertising isn’t making sales.And, although bosses and CEOs don’t want to believe it, there are ads that are not tested that actually decrease sales of product because they lessen people’s interest in a company, product or service.
It’s funny that newspapers often don’t utilize editorial advertisements even though they are the experts at editorial ads and editorial advertisements work.Some people suggest that 80% of advertisements are not read as soon as people can tell that it is an advertisement.
If you are in marketing, you may not be like most of the world, so you have to test.A celebrity endorsement loses power as soon as people recognize the celebrity is just a sales tool.
The key to advertising is to have the value to the customer come screaming through.Not the value to you as an analytical researcher or “text book” savvy marketing exec, but the value to the customer that get’s them to buy.If you are a small organization, it may be a complete waste of your advertising dollars to be doing “branding” when what you really need is advertising that makes sales.It is the value that comes through to the customer – both stated and unstated – that makes them buy.This goes for city governments as well.Pollsters will identify what is important to people is ”the fire department.”What they miss is that people will always find the Fire Department important, that does not mean they want to spend any more on the Fire Department.The value of the bond measure for Fire Department improvements will not pass until voters (City’s customers) see the value of the bond passing.
For many potential customers, the fact you are trying to sell ANYTHING is a turn off, therefore just being identifiable as an ad is bad.You better test your approach if you want an ROI.
By Research Guru | October 14, 2009 at 03:33 PM EDT | No Comments
People often do research that ends up collecting dust on a shelf.This is partly because people do not ask the correct questions. The best questions that have the greatest ROI impact decision making and make decision makers more informed so that they make better decisions.This is how market research becomes “intelligence.”Questions that are “nice to know” should be deleted from your questionnaires.It’s a bit like packing for an airplane trip and laying stuff out on your bed and then realizing you have too much and putting away the scarves, jewelry and lotions that you probably can live without.
It is critically important that you know what you are measuring.Often I find that people do not do enough research prior to designing a questionnaire and do not look into what the correct “best practices” questions are for gathering the information they want.
Often times the decision makers isn’t screened for on top of asking the wrong questions.Are the people who answered the questions actually in your market? How do you know? Did you ask screening questions to identify them?If the person that writes the checks isn’t answering your survey then chances are that your data is biased.If the person is the decision maker and you are asking “Are you interested?” instead of “Will you definitely buy?,” then you have less solid data for your decision making.This is part of the reason that entrepreneurs often benefit from hiring an objective 3rd party researcher.
For example, “entrepreneurs” sometimes get data back that is “entre manure” because they ask questions like “Would you be interested in my product x?” Even their VC partner may say “wow, 92% are interested.”Just because 92% of Americans are interested in solar PV, doesn’t mean that 92% of all households will make a $20K-$50K investment and mount that investment to the roof of their house.
This week in Congress, “user fees” for airplane landings are being discussed.This is another example of people not understanding what the correct question is.Is the question, how to raise revenue for a safe aviation infrastructure?Then there is already a system in place to raise revenue via taxes on aviation fuel. This incorporates costs to those on private grass airfields and those using public airports alike.If you have a tax on landing at airports you miss some airplanes and you create costs to administer a “new program.”Additionally one should look at behavior when changing price or tariff because, in the case of user fees, that also means pilots might practice fewer landings.Case in point: In England, pilots have landed far fewer times that in the US because of user fees.The pilots in England have more accidents and harsh landings as a result of these user fees as well as fewer trained pilots.In this case, the unintended consequences of not doing a market simulation actually had safety consequences and “program administration costs.”Further unfortunate is that once an inefficient program is in place it is often hard to get rid of – people have plans for the revenue from price changes or tariff increases and they are difficult to remove.
The type of fee or cost structure you use is only one factor or “price” for an activity.The demand for a product depends on price, both out of pocket and convenience, for example.Also important is how that price, tariff or fee impacts behavior.People are often surprised at how a price change or fee changes behavior.The good news is that you can research how change impacts behavior by simulating the market place using market research.Plus, there is often good research that has already been done so you do not have to “re-invent the wheel.”Call your researcher and ask.They may be able to answer your question: “been there and done that study, so you don’t have to waste your time and money on a new study.”
By Research Guru | October 13, 2009 at 05:12 PM EDT | No Comments
Well, this post is probably going to offend someone. Nearly any time you talk about sex you run the risk of offending.However, I had to just take a moment to address this issue.I was invited to seminar that was part of a series of seminars that I paid some good money for and the invitation to the session said "I know branding does not sound sexy."
I can't help but think that this must have been a typo.Branding not sexy?Branding positions are some of the sexiest jobs ever.However, the author of this message is young and has made his fame by understanding social media and search engine optimization and there is a chance that our younger generation doesn’t know how sexy brand building has been.
When you build a brand you are really building an image.A product or organizational image exists whether you like it or not.And, you either have some brand equity for “sex appeal” or you can even go negative (be unattractive).
Let’s think about it with cars. Now, different people find different cars sexy.It is said that women often think about how they would look riding in a car of someone they are interested in dating.So, if you are driving a Mercedes it is likely sexier than a Studebaker wagon.However, it depends on your segments too.If you are looking to attract a gothic surfer girl who’s dad like old cars, then the Studebaker wagon might be more attractive to your choice.Know your segmentation and who they follow. There has even been some successful Subaru “ask don’t tell” advertising targeting diverse audiences – and they got four-wheel-drive traction with their ads where the rubber hits the road.
These change over time as well. They also change depending on your product or service.If your product is aspirational then it is likely that “sex” is something that will help to sell your brand.Think celebrity endorsement.
Research supports the fact that designs and curves of shapes for products that are rated more “sexy” have the same mathematical curves as sexy people.Said another way, people who are perceived as sexy have sexy shapes and cars that are sexy also have sexy shapes.Additionally, words and people have been associated with cars to make them sexy. This is very sexy branding for teenage boys when a sexy girl(s) are associated with “exotic sports cars.”Celebrities and their interest in clean technologies and Hybrids have made these products more fashionable.Fashionable is another word for chic and chic is a word strongly associated with sex.She she la la, is the sound that attractive young girls’ skirts make while they go by old men on the The Champs-Élysées.Don’t let your marketing stop before reaching the Arc de Triomphe – work on irresistible (sounds better with a French accent).
It has been shown that men actually have hormonal changes when looking at “sexy marketing.”I’d also argue that the Dallas Cowboys owe some of their popularity to the “sex driver.” Specifically, I’m talking about how the “independent variable” of “Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders” impacts loyalty towards “America’s Team.” (Note the American Marketing Association in Portland is offering some insight into the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader’s brand November 10th).
Woman are targeted with sexy people selling fitness equipment, beauty products, and Diet Coke.What sexy ad do you think of when you think of sexy ads?It depends on what ads are running at the time and these images that advertising leaves in one’s mind, can fade over time.In years past, Coke had sexy ads, prior to that it was Old Spice that dominated in some circles.Recent Super Bowl advertising analyses suggest that “Go Daddy’s” ads which featured a certain celebrity Indy Car driver are quite attention getting.The founder of Go Daddy suggests that some are offended, but many of those who are offended are not so offended because they buy his products!
To re-charge that famous old Madison Avenue catch phrase “sex sells.” In fact, sexy sells so well that “sexy” ads can sell things to you that may kill you.Cigarettes are the “text book example.”Social media and “new age marketers” may have some trouble believing sex sells.They may not even know what the “tweet” I’m talking about because they feel like they are “impervious” to something as tricky as using sex to sell them.The big brands actually are counting on this.Who do you think of as a competitor to Go Daddy?You may know of other solutions, however, if you know of just one that competes with Go Daddy you probably know of Go Daddy too. As sure at Christy Brinkley sells Total Gyms, it’s a fact that sex appeal is a potential brand builder.Social media itself is dominated by attractive images.Be careful of the teenage boy in New Jersey who has an attractive female Twitter image just to grab followers JBottom line = branding is sexy whether you like it or not.
By Research Guru | October 07, 2009 at 10:51 PM EDT | No Comments
We got a request for proposal recently from a City Government in Washington State. They said they wanted a scientific sampling of 95%. What does that mean? Well, not really much by itself.
What they said they wanted was a scientific sampling and the way they wrote it means they don't really know what they are talking about. This is why people make seemingly good decisions with bad data. You can have a scientific study with 95% confidence and HUGE variability due to a small sample size.
It is important to look at sampling variability. However, it is easier to remember that larger samples are more reliable and you should probably have n=400 or more surveys. At n=400 you have +/-5% at the 95% confidence level. This means if you replicate the study 100 times, in 95 out of 100 times your answers will not vary by more than plus 5% or minus 5% - that's a ten point swing - there is no statistically significant difference between 45% and 52% in this example. The numbers would be said to be "statistically equivalent."
Or said another way, if someone doesn't have more than n=200 surveys completed and they want to talk about "demographics" then you have my permission to give them a Bronx cheer,
By Research Guru | October 06, 2009 at 07:16 PM EDT | No Comments
Interesting thing happened to me on the way to loving my job. Actually, love seems more like a process than a destination, like a job, doesn’t it?Jobs and love change over time.How do you change your attitude towards your job so you can love it?Read on.
People have commented on the fact that our website home page notes that we love our jobs. It hasn't always been that way. And, I was listening to a American Marketing Association seminar speaker (see www.chooseonpurpose.com), and it was suggested that there are definite step to finding a job you love or finding employment bliss.
For me, it had to do with looking back to what I loved. I loved putting together kits from Radio Shack with a friend of mine named Larry Dillon. Larry was a great inventor.He and his father even had a roller coaster in their back yard.We harnessed the power of the sun and made electric motors run with photo voltaic cells (PV).These cells are very similar to what you find on peoples’ roofs in Germany.Larry did other cool inventor stuff too, like taking the sled runner from a small sleigh and putting it on his bike and riding it to school in the snow.I love the fun and inventive spirit.
Now, I combine my love of solar power with my vocation of market research and I research solar, and energy efficiency programs and "clean tech inventions” in general. I look at Clean Tech as knowledge, or technology products, that prevent energy waste and benefit the planet. Sometimes it can be technology that delivers information that keeps people from wasting power. Some people call this the "negawatt" -- the watt you don't use.Or, the water you don’t need or don’t pollute.Let me invent the word negaH2O (sorry, I know it was a stretch).
Clean tech can be very cool when you look at the super cars that run on electric power that could be charged from the sun.And now, there are even some airplanes without combustion engines that are flying.I also love aviation and aviation related research.Of course, I’ve had some fun doing ice cream taste tests for the Moobella machine technology too.I once worked for a company where the CEO had been instrumental in the marketing hype around the Segway.His company has products that everybody uses and nearly no one knows what the company name is – now that’s marketing genius.
Use the genius of the attached PowerPoint presentation as a workbook.To get the most out of this workbook you need to be imaginative.Even better yet, work with a friend and you could both end up with jobs you love and laugh about the silly notebook years from now.Einstein said “imagination is everything.”You have to imagine the job you love to find it.
Click on the link below for the 13 page workbook - I promise it is a fast read, it is simple, and powerful, if you do the workbook.
By Research Guru | October 02, 2009 at 01:08 PM EDT | No Comments
Over the years I've grown to love web surveys. And, I also love Harley Davidson as a brand, marketer and because their product has made friends smile together. It's interesting because Harley owners are independent, rebel types who just happen to get together in packs and all wear the same black clothes with leather. I was generalizing, and yes, I saw your girlfriend's pink helmet.
We've been at web surveys a long time, but not over 100 years, like H.D. I started doing surveys via the internet before there was a "web survey" in the 1990s. We used to do "email surveys." Respondents put their answers between brackets {} so that you could automatically read in answers. Sometimes the answers were good with an IT audience, for example. Other times, the answers were not so good - "What's a bracket and how'd you get my email address?" Early on, web surveys were so novel, you didn’t need an incentive.
Web surveys are fast, efficient and can give you feedback in 24 hours. You can buy sample from several locations with millions of respondents. But in many cases, that's part of the problem! Make sure you learn from Harley Davidson because you can make errors faster than a Hell's Angel on dessert highway (rumor has it, state troopers often don't even try to stop them for safety reasons).
Harley was doing a web survey and then they learned that some of the behaviors were a little off. They had put out a good incentive so that they could get the Wall Street Harley Riders and other people to participate. Nothing is quite like Harley loyalty, so it is not difficult to get people to do surveys for Harley Davidson.
But the interesting thing is that some of the participants in the survey were, well, in jail. They had limited access to the internet, but long enough for someone to take a shot at a good incentive, right? You have a long survey that takes a lot of time. No problem here. And guess what, there are some prisons who have kept "bikers" behaving by allowing them to actually ride a Harley in "the yard" after good behavior. So that screener about "do you ride a Harley" would not eliminate some inmates. Think about it.Who is really doing your web survey?Where did you really get the sample? Do you know?
By Research Guru | September 28, 2009 at 06:43 PM EDT | No Comments
Some people questionned an earlier blog post about focusing on the top 100 customers. The reason that people can often focus on their top 100 customers is that often the top 5 or 10 customers provide the majority of the revenue for an organization. There can be exceptions. Although often, what the top customers want is also often well in line with what other customers want. Further, for many organizations that are doing little or no research at all - having an outside point of view is really helpful.
Pareto is the Economist who originally coined the 80/20 rule He noted that the 80/20 rule appliest to all sorts of things. In his experience, 80% of his beans in his garden came from 20% of the seeds planted.
In politics, the "silent majority" is often looked at as the 80% while the "problems" come from 20% of the population that is "loudest."
In business, even if customers are the "top 100" revenue producing, this does not mean that they are all profitable. Sometimes you may want to cull your "top customers" and quit marketing to organizations that tend to take up too much employee time or require special price breaks for everything. Do not just look at revenue when you define your top 100 customers or when you are targetting potential customers.
By Research Guru | September 28, 2009 at 06:36 PM EDT | No Comments
Green marketing, just to be green marketing, is often referred to as "green washing." Meaning you are trying to brain wash people into thinking you are green when you are not. Further, depending on the audience, you may have a backlash from those who do not believe the planet is warming and that "green" adds cost and inconvenience to their lives.
After twenty years of researching many things green (or related to recycling, clean technology, and energy efficiency), we would make the following recommendations regarding green marketing:
1)You have a green image whether you like it or not.That is, your vehicles, your employees and others representing you have a green image and when they come into contact with your potential customers this has an impact.The green factor is just something people think about when they think of a brand.And like an image or brand, you should think about it because your image helps or hurts your ability to generate revenue (even if you are a non-profit).
2)Never lead with green.Right now there are 400 different “green seals” of approval.Many customers are skeptical.And with some good reason – since misguided organizations have seals or “natural products” that have burned customers when they learn that the product is not “green” and the seal or “eco label” didn’t mean much.
3)You can nearly always lead with costs savings.Ideally this “cost savings” is because of a superior quality product.The key is quality. If you suggest your product is cheaper, in green spaces, this makes the customer suspicious.An example would be green paint.If you try to sell cheap green paint to a painting contractor they are not going to buy it because they would worry that it would not cover and might require multiple coats of paint.Since contractors are passing costs to customers and their labor is a big factor in the cost they will not take the risk.
4)Green products need to work better than the competition.Too often people bring out “green products” that are “as good” as the competition and wonder why the products don’t sell.This is because of the fact that many people who want green products will not give up their old habits to “experiment” with a new product.A recent homemaker we interviewed said that they often buy their old product and a new product just in case the “new” product doesn’t work because they don’t have the time and will not incur the cost of having to come back to the store (missing kids appointments, parking, driving, gas, etc.).
5)Think of it like a political campaign and a marathon.Don’t think that you can do one advertisement and get through to people. In fact, if you have a “green political candidate,” it is going to take negative advertisements to sell people to vote for that candidate.There is a reason that political ads go negative and throw mud. The reason is that people won’t vote for a new candidate unless they have a good reason to give up the incumbent.
6)Use endorsements from people who have had positive experiences.If you, the company producing the product are the spokesperson, you do not have the credibility of a third party.
7)If you have a big ticket item, many customers now expect that you are green and conscientious in how you produce that product.As the dollars go up on a green product, the more sophisticated the approach should be in how you “sell the environmental or sustainable” benefits of your product.The worst case scenario from a business standpoint is when you just add “green marketing” and this actually turns off prospective buyers.
8)Test your advertising.Ideally, you should do one-on-one interviewing in the stores where people will buy to get a true read of how people will view your new product against the competition.This is especially true for items that cost under $100 dollars.People are creatures of habit and you have to understand what will break them of their habits and be eye catching enough for them to gamble in the few seconds that they are looking at your product on the shelf.
More information about how “green seals” can detract from your message can be found at: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/09/28/proliferation-of-400-green-seals-detracts-from-message/
By Research Guru | September 25, 2009 at 12:35 PM EDT | No Comments
Among market research experts, there are often conversations about organizations that move ahead without solid market research.Hindsight being 20/20 it is easy to say: “What were they thinking!”
The problem can be that the business model is beautiful and the concepts are rational, but research was inadequate to deal with the elusive potential customer.
In the 1990s, this included “dot coms” and has lately involved a lot of organizations that have been around for a long time and still failed. This has included store front retailers with significant brand equity who startled markets when they failed (e.g. Circuit City, GI Joes, Linens & Things, etc.).
Often those in business, focused on the practical, do not have the patience for research. “Many a business” is searching for profits with 5-8 people around a board room table.Million dollar decisions are being made without research and without checking in with the customer.Research is expensive and customers are idiots, right? You know what to do, right? You’re going to keep your job as long as you can and cut costs to save your job, right?
In the dot com era, we heard it all the time – “the model has changed and we don’t have the bandwidth for research.”Unfortunately, sometimes this was shorthand for “I’m really close to VC money and I don’t want to screw this up by giving information to investors.”
These brilliant business people often do not realize that customers are not as brilliant and often either don’t care, are unaware of your product/service, or are completely irrational.Most people don’t yet know what a Tesla roadster is, let alone how to get one.Yet the business model is beautiful.
The models have changed, but research is not something to be left out of the mix for several reasons. The first is something that is as true today as it was in the first days of commerce:
1)Customers are irrational. They make impulse buys.Customers often spend more on things that are bad for their health than things that are good for them.People buy books they don’t read and fitness equipment they don’t ever use.Even if customers are rational, it is typically after they buy something – that is, customers act on an emotional trigger to buy something and then use rational arguments to justify why they bought the “new outfit,” “make up,” or “vacation.”
So what this means to the greatest minds in business, is that the customer doesn’t always get your great ideas.Often research is needed to see the “misperceptions” and the reasons that your potential customer is buying your competitors “inferior product.”The truth is that your product is better – well not really if the customer doesn’t buy it – you’ll soon be out of business.
2)How we communicate with customers has changed.It used to be that there was one newspaper and three television networks and you could hit all your potential customers.
This has now changed.You need to look at communication models where you only pay for people who are coming in your store or visiting your website. Branding for the sake of branding is your ego talking – real branding and research create sales.Otherwise, you are likely on the way to failure and this may be the first time you acknowledge it.Define your customer so that you are targeting the correct customer.You don’t get a return on investment from “tire kickers” and people who will never buy your products or services.
3)The best businesses focus on increasing the number of customers, frequency of purchases, repeat purchases, likelihood to recommend and increasing the revenue per year from each customer.
Recognize that if you are not growing, you are being beaten by the competition and inflation. Therefore you must have growth strategy.Some of the aforementioned retailers that failed had warning signs when they stopped growing. Don’t let denial keep you from information that works.Once you know what you are dealing with your can deal with it.If you deny that you are not growing you are “rationalizing” worse than your customers are – and remember customers are not rational!
Even worse, in the current environment, no one is loyal.Large utilities and government agencies are buying from foreigners and people outside of their community, consumers favor “Sam’s Club” over the local vendor who has served them well in the past, and people are even leaving the country for medical procedures.This last one is perhaps most amazing because you would think that for life and death procedures, eye surgery or plastic surgery that you would go with someone you have used in the past. Not in the new world of business.The truth is that most of us have been burned by buying fitness equipment we don’t use, cars we don’t need, investments in stocks that plummet, and cosmetics and beauty products that really doesn’t improve our lives.And, at no other time in history has the consumer trusted business less. So ask yourself: how can you make trusting customers that would have pride in choosing you?Pride and trust are the two biggest emotional triggers – but it is not what you want – the focus need to be on what your money paying customer wants.