Refreshing Research

World Cup Research

Great marketing has a strong foundation in research.  World Cup-worthy research revolves around those with whom you speak.  That's why, when conducting any research project, you need to think long and hard about not only who you need to speak to, but how you go about identifying the right people to take your survey in the first place.

That's where screening questions come in handy.  They are an essential part of every single research engagement.  Quite simply put, screeners are questions that determine whether an individual qualifies for a certain study.  More often than not, the screener ensures that the respondent matches the profile of your target audience.

Sometimes screening questions are simple and straightforward - e.g. matching the demographics of your customers.  Sometimes they require a little extra thought.

For example, say if you're Best Buy and you want to talk to customers about their satisfaction with the Geek Squad Black Tie technical support program, you obviously only want to talk to customers who subscribe to that support service.  "Can I just confirm, you have Geek Squad's Black Tie technical support?" is a logical question but in reality many customers may not know the name of the serivce.  Therefore, they will say no or don't know and eject themselves from the research.

So, a bit of creative thinking is needed.  While a customer may not remember black tie, they are more likely to remember the cost of the subscription and/or what it generally covers.  So, including a price point and a short description of the product is more likely to ensure that not only are you speaking to qualified customers, but also not causing customers to unwittingly dismiss themselves from the research study.

To help you build the perfect screening questions, consider the following:

• Will respondents know exactly what your qualifying terminology means?  If not - spell it out.
• Don't assume respondents can remember everything - you may have to jog their memory.
• If you are recruiting from any kind of list, do not assume that the list is 100% up to date - confirm things you think you already know.
• Are you having a really hard time getting hold of the right people?  Perhaps your screening criteria are too tight...can you loosen them?
• Is it really easy to qualify people to particiapate in your research?  Perhaps you don't have enough screening criteria in place - tighten them up.

Ultimately, spend time really thinking hard about your screening questions.  And I mean really hard.  After all, making the right decision is 100% based upon talking to the right people. 

Twitter Usage In America: 2010

Microsoft KIN: Totally Serious About Research

 

Yesterday Microsoft announced a new range of devices aimed at the teen/20-something market.

The KIN range consists of two phones and is based on Windows Phone 7 operating system and is meant to make social media integration with sites like Facebook and Twitter and absolute breeze.  The 4 gb and 8gb phones are also fully functional Zune media players.  Both phones come with cameras and flash.  The KIN ONE features and 5 megapixel camera, but the KIN TWO has an 8 megapixel version - and it can shoot HD video. Cool.

The really cool thing that jumped out at us is Microsoft chose to do a ton of consumer research.   Before a single line of code was written, Microsoft embarked on a customer outreach program and interviewed 50,000 people.  You read that right.  Now that's a sample size.

Curiously, there will be no downloadable apps for the KIN.  Since the project was governed by research we can only assume the data showed that the target demographic didn't care for extras.  Phone, SMS, social media and a Zune player is all they need.  We'd love to see the report that came out of Microsoft's study.  Even better, we'd love to compare it to any consumer research Apple has done to see the differences.  Wouldn't that make a market researchers day?

Is this an iPhone killer?  Certainly not, but it was never intended to be.  It's a device with a very specific purpose, according to Microsoft "it's the Windows phone born to handle your social life."

The phone will be released on the Verizon network in the US, although no date has been specified.   

 

Browser Wars: Firefox, IE, Chrome & Safari

The Internet is a great thing, but we wouldn't be able to consume our favorite websites if it wasn't for a web interface - the Internet browser.

But which browser is best?  Well, the answer is subjective.  Does ease of use make the best browser?  What about speed or availability of useful extensions and plug-ins?  And then there's the nerd stuff - what about the handling of CSS, HTML4 or HTML5?

While we can't answer which browser is the definitive web interface, we can tell you which are the most popular. 

 Any surprises there?  Firefox seems to be peaking, but will the upcoming years see them losing ground to Google Chrome?  Let us know what you think.

Data sourced from w3.schools.com

Smarter Incentives = Better Ideas

Stuck in an idea-generation rut these days? Why don't you ask your target audience for their ideas? Better yet, why don't you pay them for their ideas?

Incentives are a necessity and the norm for research respondents, but what are you paying for? You're usually paying a flat amount to each respondent to simply complete the survey, focus group, IDI, etc. Complete being the key word here. You're not paying them to give you their best and brightest ideas. But what if you paid more for the best ideas?

A group called TRC in Pennsylvania ran a test with two groups of online respondents. Each group was presented the same two questions asking for new ideas for two different clients. One group was entered into a lottery to win several $20 gift cards, while the other group was entered into a lottery and promised $200 if their idea was chosen as the winner. The winning ideas were chosen by an online panel in a separate survey.

I'm sure you can just imagine the dramatic increase in completion and better quality of answers from the group that was competing for the $200 prize. According to TRC smart incentives work best in quantitative research, but I think it can also work in qualitative studies, albeit a little differently.

Read more about the results in this article written by Rajan Sambandam of TRC.

 

Hey Kids, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament...

 

The British like to do things backwards.  

The rest of Europe uses the Euro, the Brits use Pounds Sterling.  The first floor in the UK is actually the second floor in the US.  The British drive on the left whereas we in the States, and most other places in the world, stick to the right.  

However, there are some things that aren't backwards - in fact, there are some very logical, practical and usable things that I love about England.

Just like a usable website provides clear visual clues as to what the user should do next, the streets of London do too.  

 

 

Look at this picture of my friend, an American tourist in the heart of Piccadilly Circus.  Despite his confused where-on-Earth-am-I face, Jamison knows exactly which way to look when crossing the streets on either side of him.

The placement is logical, the lettering is clearly visible and the functionality is needed.  

The streets of London may not be paved with gold, but they certainly are usable. 

 

 

Old Spice: Ladies, You're The Target

We've been laughing for a few weeks now at the Old Spice TV commercial.  I bet you have been too.   

While this commercial is universally funny, the true target audience is the laaaydies. Ladies in relationships with guys, to be precise.

As revealed by the creative agency, Wieden + Kennedy, market research indicates that when it comes to buying guys' toiletries it's the girls who drive the purchase decision.  

In fact, household decision makers and bill payers in general tend to be the fairer sex (which explains why so many commercials are aimed at women.)

Now back at me.  Leo Laporte from TWiT TV was fortunate enough to run an interview with the creative talent behind The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.  It's worth watching.

What do you think? Do you think this ad will get attention from a female audience?  Jules votes yes.

Website Usability - Getting Dirty With Dyads

Last week we conducted three days of usability labs with a different sort of twist. Instead of conducting the labs with one person at a time, we did them with two (that's a dyad in research nerd speak).

The labs were conducted by two moderators in separate rooms. After the labs were completed, the two users were brought together and invited to discuss their experiences with each other.

I was blown away with the quality of the conversation. I would simply instigate the conversation with something like, "Julius, I noticed you were having problems in the online bill pay exercise, why don't you tell Karen about that."

The conversational tone encouraged the respondents to talk openly and candidly about their experiences. Since the usability labs were fresh in their minds the respondents did a great job at not deviating from the subject at hand (which is sometimes a problem in qualitative research).

We're going to recommend this technique to more of our clients, but there are certainly some things to consider before you try this exercise yourself:

• Dyads require a lot of recruitment coordination. We used a great recruitment firm and allowed more time than usual for recruiting.
• The moderators need to be hard task masters. We agreed beforehand that each lab would take 30 minutes and we did everything in our power to stick to that. The last thing we wanted was a respondent to be waiting 20 minutes for the interview session while the other tried to complete the lab portion.
• The dyad interview needs to be conducted by an experienced qualitative interviewer. The questions need to be well-designed in order to encourage conversation and the moderator needs to be able to get all respondents to provide productive feedback. Although the results may seem like a natural conversation between two people, a lot of hard work is required to achieve this.

 

 

Hyundai’s Assurance Program Born out of Focus Groups

Recently the president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America, John Krafkic, was interviewed on the NPR program "All Things Considered" about their popular Hyundai Assurance program. The program, which began in January 2009, allows anyone who purchases a new Hyundai and loses their source of income within 12 months to return the vehicle with no penalty. It has been a huge success, with less than 100 cars returned out of over 400,000 sold.

When asked how they came up with the idea for this program, Mr. Krafkic said it came straight from their marketing research. Hyundai had noticed that new car sales were slumping, so they conducted a series of focus groups in October 2008 among potential car buyers. The goal was to simply understand why consumers weren't buying new cars. They discovered that potential car buyers knew that there were some excellent deals they could take advantage of, but at the same time they were worried about the economy. With unemployment on the rise, people were simply too nervous about buying a new car when they didn't know if they would have a job in a few months.

Hyundai proved that in a year when the automotive industry was hurting, they could come out ahead by listening to their customers. By investing in marketing research, they came up with an innovative idea that brought customers back into their showrooms and purchasing vehicles once again.

NPR Interview Transcript

Know Your Customers

Customers are the lifeblood of every organization. They spend their hard-earned money on the products and services that best fit their needs and desires. Unfortunately, in these economic times they have less money to spend. This presents a challenge to most organizations because they must work harder to obtain new customers and retain existing ones.

The best defense is a good offense

The best way to retain customers (and gain new ones) is to understand them. Why do they choose to patronize your business? How satisfied are they with your current offerings? What do they think of your new product? How loyal are they to your brand? These questions and more can be answered through marketing research.

Actively seeking the views and opinions of your customers offers valuable insight that will help you make informed decisions and give you a leg up on your competition. Organizations that listen to their customers tend to create loyalists and evangelists; customers who make a conscious effort to purchase from you and tell their family and friends about it. Achieving this kind of brand loyalty will take some time and effort, but knowing your customers is the first step towards achieving that lofty goal.