Market Research Archives - Page 12 of 12

The Power of Qualitative Research: Part 3

DWG Admin on April 7, 2015

In our latest eBook, Applying Qualitative Research to Marketing Challenges: Better Insight, More Success!, we explored how qualitative research addresses common marketing and business challenges, such as developing new products or better understanding your brand. For each of those challenges, we included a case study to illustrate how qualitative research provided important insights to marketers.

Because case studies can bring a fresh perspective that generates new ideas, we are happy to bring you:

A case study demonstrating how to use qualitative techniques to mine for new product ideas with employees.
And a case study illustrating a B2B sales improvement effort using in-depth interviews with decision makers.

We hope you find them useful!

EXISTING PRODUCTS TO NEW MARKETS

An international flooring manufacturer was interested in identifying new product ideas to take their business to the next level. A comprehensive program of customer research was developed. However, as it happened, all of their sales people were going to be together for a sales meeting, so as a first step, management wanted to learn what they could tell them about customer needs. The products and services identified by the salespeople would then be further evaluated in the customer research.

During the course of the meeting, the sales teams were split into several smaller groups to brainstorm new product ideas. Management identified three types of customers that had particularly high potential for the company, and developed large drawings of a “typical” facility for each of those target customers. Each group was given three fresh drawings, one for each type of customer, and asked to write their new product suggestions on the drawings. After the sessions were complete, and all groups had a chance to give input, the team generating the most ideas was given $100 gift cards. The company generated over 100 new product ideas in this process, took ten of them successfully to market, eventually generating an additional 17% of revenue annually.

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

Don’t overlook employee knowledge when developing ideas for new products/services.
Qualitative research techniques do not have to be limited to the typical qualitative research settings. Be creative in where and how you conduct qualitative research for optimal results.

LOST SALES ANALYSIS

An international construction management company had recently purchased a regional U.S. company to gain entry into the vibrant Southeastern U.S. market. However, after the acquisition, the company was not winning as many construction contracts as it expected. Management was uncertain about the cause and what should be done to address the issue. Was the brand not known well enough? (They had changed from the local brand to their international brand upon acquisition.) Was their proposal the problem? Were they overpriced? Or did the new sales team simply not have the necessary relationships in the new market? In order to determine what issues to address, the company commissioned qualitative research in the form of in-depth interviews with decision-makers for business they had recently lost. These construction decision-makers were asked about the bidding process, where the company had missed the mark and what the winning bidder had done better. While the company had a strong brand and a global reputation, key weaknesses were:

Lack of important local relationships due to high turnover
Uninspired proposals that did not stand out from competitors
Inability to identify and address the clients’ hot buttons (e.g., specific construction experience, concerns about the environment, etc.)

After the results were in, the company decided to refresh their proposals to bring them into alignment with what decision-makers expected and needed from bidders. Additionally, they adjusted their sales process to rebuild relationships and trained sales staff to better identify the key issues for each project. The situation turned around quickly, and the company’s win-rate improved far beyond expectations.

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

Ask the people who have the information you need. While lost customer research may not be comfortable, the information is invaluable.
Choose the right qualitative technique: the decision makers would likely not have been as forthcoming about how they make decisions if they had been in a focus group with their peers.

SUMMARY

Qualitative research helps businesses make better decisions about brands and new products and services. Whether you’re working with consumers, customers or employees, qualitative research gives businesses the freedom to creatively explore new ideas. From idea generation to product launch, to success tracking and additional development, qualitative research techniques can be applied to a wide array of business challenges.

The Power of Qualitative Research: Part 2

DWG Admin on April 2, 2015

Case studies are a great way to expand our thinking about qualitative research and how it can be applied to different business decision making challenges. To follow-up our new eBook, Applying Qualitative Research to Marketing Challenges: Better Insight, More Success!, we present two additional case studies that demonstrate how qualitative research addresses common marketing and business challenges.

The first case study shows how bringing the customer into the boardroom (often through qualitative research) sets the tone for customer-focused decision making. The second case study is actually several case studies that demonstrate how usability testing can save time and money.

A TRADITION OF CUSTOMER ORIENTATION

In 2014, Amazon.com topped the 24/7 Wall Street “Customer Service Hall of Fame” list for the fifth consecutive year, an honor that is not surprising given CEO Jeff Bezos’ passion for creating excellent customer service experiences. Even when Amazon was just getting started, Bezos would bring an empty chair with him into meetings. Why? He told associates it was for “the most important person in the room – the customer.” By this example, he instilled customer orientation into the Amazon.com culture and mindset. More recently, he has said, “We’re not competitor obsessed, we’re customer obsessed. We start with what the customer needs, and we work backward.” That statement explains why the Kindle HD Fire was introduced with a “Mayday” button, which connects the user to a customer service person in less than 10 seconds, an unprecedented level of customer responsiveness. Qualitative research can reveal this level of customer need and the resulting innovation delivered a strong competitive advantage. By talking with customers about their product use experience – and challenges – Amazon is able to continually improve their already very popular Kindle e-reader.

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

Understanding the customer is key to successful product and service innovation – and qualitative research can help you gain that understanding.
Use qualitative research to develop impactful stories about your customers so that the customer becomes “real” for employees and management.

SAVE TIME AND MONEY AND PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE

Here are some examples of usability testing that helped businesses save money, time and develop products that will be easier to modify for future enhancement:

In typical large E-commerce web development efforts, about 5% of features available to the customer are used 95% of the time, while some 70% of user-interface design features are never or rarely used. Based on this information, a new online homegoods retailer used qualitative research-based usability testing to identify which features were likely to be high-use, so that development could focus their efforts on those, saving money and time in development.
Research has shown that usability testing earlier in the development process can also save money: a change may cost 1.5 units of project resource during conceptual design, 6 units during early development, 60 units during systems testing and 100 units during post-release maintenance. The earlier qualitative research is brought to bear on the usability problem, the greater the savings in time and money. A residential appliance manufacturer proved this theory by bringing usability testing into the process during conceptual design. The firm estimated it saved $70 million and at least 8 months in development cost and time.
An evaluation of a large E-commerce site revealed the search engine returned a wrong or incomplete results 57% of the time. On average 46% of the site’s customers left without locating the items they wished to purchase, even though such items existed and were available on the site. An investment of $25K in qualitative research usability testing of the site could have improved performance significantly. Instead, the company spent more than $1 million in re-design and programming.

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

Investing up front in qualitative research techniques for usability testing is less expensive and time consuming than fixing a product after it has already launched.
Usability testing reduces the risk of new product introductions.

Qualitative research has been around in one form or another for decades. Why? Because it works to help businesses make better decisions about brands and new products and services. It helps businesses better understand their customers. And it keeps the customer front-and-center in decision-making, without breaking the bank or slipping the launch date!

The Power of Qualitative Research: Part 1

DWG Admin on February 17, 2015

In our new eBook, Applying Qualitative Research to Marketing Challenges: Better Insight, More Success!, we discuss how qualitative research can be used to address common marketing and business challenges and provide several case studies to illustrate real-world applications of qualitative research. As a follow-up to the eBook, we have identified some additional case studies that further exhibit the power of qualitative research. In this post, we will discuss two of these case studies: The first study demonstrates how qualitative research can be used to develop your brand strategy and the second study illustrates the importance of conducting qualitative research when developing concepts for new products.

SIX COMPANIES = ONE BRAND

A major U.S. homebuilder wanted to determine if the same brand strategy could serve all six divisions, or whether they needed to pursue division level brand positions. The divisions were all related to construction and community development, but were quite different in terms of their target audiences. Some divisions sold to consumers (apartment dwellers, home buyers) and some to businesses (building owners/managers and community developers). A series of in-depth interviews with key business clients and focus groups with consumers (homebuyers and apartment renters) were conducted to identify potential positions and to evaluate the positions for subsequent quantitative research. The qualitative research finding was clear: one umbrella position could serve the target audiences of all six divisions. Additionally, the qualitative research was able to eliminate some of the potential brand positions, allowing the quantitative research to be more focused and efficiently identify the optimal positioning.

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

Qualitative research provides insight into your brand as it is perceived by customers. This makes qualitative research your starting point and foundation for major brand decisions.
Qualitative research can increase the efficiency and quality of quantitative research by delivering an understanding of how consumers talk about your product/service, as well as eliminating low performing concepts.

AVOID TARGET MARKET LIMBO

New Product consultancy Schneider Associates tells this story of Coca Cola’s C2 product launch: “For its biggest launch since Diet Coke, Coca-Cola identified a new market: 20- to 40-year-old men who liked the taste of Coke (but not its calories and carbs) and liked the no-calorie aspect of Diet Coke (but not its taste or feminine image). C2, which had half the calories and carbs and all the taste of original Coke, was introduced in 2004 with a $50 million advertising campaign. However, C2’s benefits weren’t distinctive enough. Men rejected the hybrid drink; they wanted full flavor with no calories or carbs, not half the calories and carbs. Moreover, the low-carb trend turned out to be short-lived. (Positioning a product to leverage a fad is a common mistake.)” Even though Coca Cola had conducted plenty of marketing research on the new product, they failed to ask the right questions. Qualitative research might have been more effective at getting underneath men’s lukewarm reception of the product. The good news? Apparently Coca Cola learned from their mistake and launched Coke Zero, a full flavor, zero-calorie product that can be found in stores—and men’s hands—today.

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

Even the most successful companies can benefit from a little qualitative marketing research!
Qualitative research could have identified the flaws in this concept earlier, allowing the company to change the product and avoid an embarrassing failure.

L&E Research Celebrates 30 Years of Serving Clients

DWG Admin on December 30, 2014

1984 was an important year, with many new products, brands and marketing campaigns introduced. To name just a few:

Apple introduced the Macintosh computer with an iconic TV ad that aired during the Super Bowl.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were introduced as pizza-eating crime-fighters in their own comic book.
Alex Trebek began hosting Jeopardy!
Wendy’s famous tagline (“Where’s the beef?!”) went viral – or would have had social media been available in 1984!

So it is fitting that L&E Research was also founded in 1984. Taking its place among these other blockbuster business events, L&E has grown to be a regional staple in the qualitative research industry.

Current CEO Brett Watkins bought L&E Research in 2004 from the original founders. As the son of a marketing research consultant, Brett had quite literally grown-up in the industry. Brett understood where the industry under-performed and his plan for L&E was to create growth and profitability by applying technology to the qualitative research industry. “My wife and I had worked in the business enough to know that technology could bring greater efficiency and really create an engine that could grow the business. Originally, we thought we would be selling the technology to other qualitative research companies, but the degree of customization necessary made that infeasible. We have had much greater success in applying the technology to our business, and then buying existing qualitative research facilities and improving operations and financials by introducing our technology into these under-performing businesses.” Watkins identifies three ways technology has contributed to L&E’s business success:

Using Technology to Create Better Business Metrics. “Every business has certain data points that you have to keep your eye on. So we created a scorecard of the critical metrics.” Running the business by monitoring performance on these key metrics keeps everyone focused on what it will take to remain successful.
Using Technology for Better Recruiting. L&E’s reputation for quality recruiting is enviable, and technology is the key to making the process more efficient. “Finding the right respondents is essential for successful marketing research. And finding the right respondents is like filtering material through a funnel. The closer we can get to the right respondent at the top of the funnel, the faster we can get the right respondent out the bottom of the funnel, and seated around the focus group table.” L&E has improved their recruiting processes, their panel databases, and their search options to bring more qualified respondents to the party. “And, because we have the right metrics, I can tell you that more first-time respondents joined our panel in 2014 than in any of the previous four years.”
Hire great people, and then get out of their way. “I firmly believe that my team knows what they need to do. As in the Ritz Carlton’s motto – “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen” – L&E staff knows how to make our clients successful.” L&E has customized customer relationship management software that ensures that each client is treated well, as well as the guest in a Ritz Carlton! “When we learn something about a client, it gets added to the CRM, and then we rely on that information the next time. My team knows how to ask the questions, spend the money, and then make a record of the experience so we can do it better the next time.”

The process is working: L&E Research has grown from one facility in Raleigh, NC, to a total of eight facilities throughout the region – with more to come: “We have identified several markets for additional growth, and we are always on the look-out for the right business opportunity.” And those lucky communities will get a great new neighbor: L&E’s on-going commitment to community service will make a difference in their new markets, as it has in their existing markets. L&E calls it the Multiplier Effect and it has resulted in the company making tens of thousands of dollars in donations and in-kind contributions available to nonprofits in their communities. “That’s just the way I was brought up. As a business owner, you have to give back to the community that supports you.” L&E’s strategy is to continue acquiring more facilities in secondary markets, leveraging their strong technology for better recruiting, better client service and increased efficiency. In addition to improving the operation of each individual facility, developing a network or family of facilities introduces more best practices and assets that can be leveraged. So if you find yourself on Jeopardy! and Alex Trebek’s clue reads: “Innovative qualitative research leader applying technology to enhance people processes”, the answer can only be “Who is L&E Research, Alex?”

Saving Money on Focus Groups

DWG Admin on November 1, 2014

Some marketers seem to think that the best reasons for conducting focus groups is that they are fast and cheap. So, is it any wonder that they have sticker shock when they learn how much their project will cost and how long it will take to do it right? Those types of misconceptions can lead to marketers not conducting marketing research at all, which ironically, can have a much bigger cost in terms of poor decisions or lost opportunities. Whether these perceptions are correct or not, marketing researchers still have to address them and find ways to save money when conducting focus groups.

In the next piece in our Getting the Most Out of Qualitative Research series, 10 Tips for Saving Money on Focus Groups, we’ll explore 10 proven ways to help you better manage your focus group budget while ensuring that you still uncover the insights you need from your research.

To download and read the full article, CLICK HERE.

Building a Great Partnership with your Moderator

DWG Admin on October 24, 2014

If you’re doing qualitative research, then you’re working with a moderator. As much as their skill and experience, the way you work with them – before, during and after your project – will determine your project’s success.

Our new eBook, Getting the Most Out of Qualitative Research: 35 Tips for Building a Great Partnership with your Moderator, explores how to most effectively work with your moderator or QRC and ensure you get the most out of your research dollars. To bring the most useful insights to you, we talked with moderators across the country to gather their input for this eBook.

To download your copy of the eBook, Click Here.

5 Things You Need to Know About Hotel Security

DWG Admin on July 20, 2014

Are you safe when you travel? CBS News Travel Reporter, Peter S. Greenberg, shares 5 things every traveler needs to know before checking into a hotel.

1. In-Room Safes Are Not As Safe As You Think.
Per Peter, under Innkeeper Laws in every state of the United States, hotels are not liable for anything that is lost in them… including items kept in your room safe.

2. Don’t Leave Your Receipts in the Trash Cans.
Hacking cases and credit card fraud are often the result of easy access to credit card receipts left in hotel trash cans. Peter warns not to use a debit card since hotels block these charges. Per Peter, “Your entire balance is not available to you until 5 days later.”

3. Be Alert at Check-In.
Often, front desk clerks say your room number out loud when checking you in, and anyone nearby can hear what room you are staying in. This can result in what is known as a “Push-in Robbery” where someone cleverly follows you to your room and just as you place the key card in the door and open it, they push you inside. If you are checking in late, ask for a uniformed staff member to escort you to your room.

4. Key Card Urban Myth.
Rumors of the black magnetic strips on hotel key cards containing all your information are NOT true according to Peter. The only information stored on the card is a couple letters of your last name.

5. Stay Grounded.
Peter warns not to stay above the 8th floor in a US hotel (or above the 4th floor in any hotel around the world). Peter explains “not a single fire department can effectively fight a fire above the 8th floor.”

View a video of this report