Powerfeedback by Scott

New spin on market research

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:47:21 -0400

“Social media and shopper marketing are probably the two hottest areas in the marketing industry.”

While I do not disagree with the importance of social medial and shopper marketing outlined in this Advertising Age piece, where does market research fit in?

If you don’t know what motivates your customers, or turns them away, what good does driving them to your business? In other words, if you don’t vigorously study consumer insights, how can you determine what is working and what isn’t?

We do a ton of work in this space using a wide variety of methodologies, and we well understand that intuition alone if not enough to stake capital on, or risk consumer loyalty over.

Small business poll shows gloomy outlook

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:30:09 -0400

On June 15, 2009 the Small Business Administration unveiled the much anticipated “ARC” (American Recovery Capital Loan Program) to reportedly help small business during the current recession. This program is intended to offer up to a maximum of $35,000 to qualified small businesses facing immediate hardship.

We conducted a nationwide survey of SBA authorized lenders as well as small businesses. Below are some highlights from this research.

81% of the approved SBA lenders advised that they were not currently participating in the ARC program, and had no date as to if, and when they might.
Of the 19% who said that they were taking part in this program, 96% told us that they had little understanding of the program, and/or support from the SBA on how to properly process the requested loans.
100% of the participating ARC lenders advise that there is a major conflict as to whose forms (SBA or bank) should be used for the application.
Of those banks actively participating in the ARC program, 96% admit that they are doing so reluctantly.
89% of reporting small businesses advise that they are confused about the ARC program and have been unable to get intelligible information from the SBA or lenders.
The majority of those responding advise that they were overwhelmed with the paperwork requirements of the ARC loan and that it would cost them money for a CPA or accountant to help them prepare the loan request.
When asked about the state of their business, 68% of small businesses admitted they were “hanging on by a thread.”
82% of participating small businesses advise that they have no confidence that President Obama and/or Congress will deliver meaningful relief to small firms.
Regarding hiring, 78% of small businesses responded that they have cut their plans to hire additional staff and will rely on independent contractors as-needed.
56% of the small companies who responded have laid off employees, and of those, 48% plan to lay-off more staff within the next 30 days.
55% of the polled firms advise that they may be forced to file for bankruptcy within the next 30-60 days.

We had hoped for better results!

P&G says oops over survey blunder

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:08:24 -0400

P&G says oops over survey blunder:

“The UK’s Advertising Standards Association has ordered consumer product manufacturer Procter & Gamble to pull a TV advert for Clairol hair dye, which makes misleading claims about the results of a survey.”

I hope for Procter & Gamble’s sake that they outsourced this survey. If not, and it was done internally, some people will be added to the jobless rolls :-(

Hmm, maybe P&G will start returning our phone calls now ;-)

News women can use

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:27:38 -0400

News women can use:

“Gender discrimination still prevails in organizations around the world, but is now behind closed doors, preventing women from entering executive ranks from the earliest days of their careers, according to new research from Development Dimensions International.”

Though no earthshaking news offered here, this is still a worthy read for women, HR managers, and anyone else who cares about making improvements in the workplace.

Measuring the customer experience

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:27:19 -0400

More and more retailers are abandoning market research initiatives that measure and grade the customer experience.

Simultaneously, retail sales continue to plummet. Is there a correlation? Of course there is.

While it is easy, and in many cases correct to blame the economy, in this situation, retailers have to fight harder and harder to attract and maintain customers.

Sadly, there is a trend among some retailers to use DIY (Do It Yourself) survey tools. As I have written before, the “tool” is not necessarily the problem, it is the survey itself.

Would you ask your brother the real estate mogul to perform your heart bypass surgery? Of course not! Then why would you demand that your marketing department become market research professionals with no formal training or experience. After all, we are talking about your financial bottom line here.

If you do not take the time to properly listen to your customers, why should they purchase goods from you?

In this video Scott talks about the Return on Investment (ROI)...

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:33:31 -0400

In this video Scott talks about the Return on Investment (ROI) from conducting good market research.

Now more than ever, intuition alone is not enough to risk capital (human or financial) on.

Marketing usually misses the mark

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:57:00 -0400

Marketing usually misses the mark:

“Aggressive marketing was the subject of sessions at the recent Fifth Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference held this week at the Westin-Bonaventure in Los Angeles.”

While programs like this are well worthwhile, like most marketing campaigns, they forget an important link —- market research.

Rather than waiting years to see the actual impact of results of reducing childhood obesity, or the target of any other marketing campaign, you must tie in a program to measure success of the actual effort.

As an example, if you run an education program, conduct an ad campaign, change your branding/logo, offer new services and products, or, anything else that involves marketing, if you don’t measure its effectiveness, you are essentially shooting arrows into the air with no target in sight.

In these economic times, gut instinct is not enough to risk large sums of capital (financial or otherwise) on.

Walmart gets religion with market research

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:39:56 -0400

Walmart gets religion with market research:

Have you heard about all the companies cutting marketing and market research budgets? Apparently the fine folks at Walmart are even smarter than we initially thought!

“The company has invested heavily in market research, polling more than a million customers monthly directed to its website from its stores. “I’m proud of the story here, because I think it’s showing how marketing is making a really big difference to a company that maybe didn’t take it as seriously as they do today,” he said. “I think marketing is at the forefront of championing the customer internally and doing something about it.”

Wow! Even though Walmart is profitable, expanding, hiring, and overall doing well, they are still making the investment to better understand what does, and does not, motivate the customers!

“Walmart has worked extensively to retool its marketing effort, Mr. Quinn said, noting a new customer-segmentation model in recent years, a step up in marketing analytics and building up the talent pool in the marketing department.”

Think that your company can’t afford market research? Perhaps the better question is; can you afford not to conduct market research?

What is the current hot trends in market research today? I...

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:23:55 -0400

What is the current hot trends in market research today?

I use this video to talk about employee attitude surveys, and customer perception studies.

In this video, I disucss the 3 critical components (WIIFM,...

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:58:33 -0400

In this video, I disucss the 3 critical components (WIIFM, Business Goals, and Survey Data Outcome) of successful market research, especially as it relates to web surveys.

Useless Market Research

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:40:06 -0400

Useless Market Research:

“LONDON - More than 70% of market research agencies believe that the market research industry is being hit hard in the current economic crisis, according to a survey.”

I don’t mean to be cruel, but very frankly, the aforementioned link, as well as this report prove how much useless information is made public.

Did we learn anything new from this report? No! Is everything mentioned overstated? Yes! Could the reported findings be applied to virtually any industry in the current economic downturn? Yes!

I hope that whomever wrote this story, as well as the person who reportedly conducted this research are “rookies.” This would be the only acceptable excuse for this waste of the written word.

We are providing this insight related to the current state of...

Sun, 31 May 2009 18:43:42 -0400

We are providing this insight related to the current state of the market research field, and most specifically; web-based surveys.

Powerfeedback is also making a very special, and limited time offer to help those considering launching a web-based survey.

Federal Government employee satisfaction

Tue, 26 May 2009 09:36:34 -0400

Federal Government employee satisfaction:

Very interesting survey results. Kudos to the folks who conducted it :-)

“The Partnership for Public Service released its fourth “Best Places to Work” survey last week. The study, started in 2003 and conducted every two years, tracks employees’ satisfaction with their agencies. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission once again is the top-rated large agency — it led the pack in 2007, as well — and the Surface Transportation Board is first among small agencies.”

I applaud President Obama for this initiative-

“The Obama administration plans to use a biennial survey of employee satisfaction and morale to shape the 2011 budget process, according to Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget.”

As we encourage all of our clients, this is a key element of success for employee satisfaction surveys.

Marketing plans needs research

Wed, 20 May 2009 08:55:34 -0400

Marketing plans needs research:

While I salute agencies such as tourism groups who are attempting to counter the recession with aggressive marketing plans to draw visitors to their area, they should proceed cautiously.

Simply stated; without market research to help understand what potential visitors either want, and/or don’t in their experience, the “plan” is lacking.

Put another way, if a tourism agency draws 50,000 people to their area this weekend, and when the people arrive they don’t find what they are looking for, and what they were expecting, there will be much more long-term harm than the short-term benefit afforded to the region.

Do the research and you will have sustained success.

Employee surveys

Mon, 18 May 2009 23:22:00 -0400

Employee surveys:

“In a downturn, employees’ concern about their own performance is greater than ever, even among the star performers, says Lila Booth, a Philadelphia-area management consultant. In the face of silence about performance, she warns, people are apt to think, “I’m next in line for the ax.” Employees need ongoing feedback on performance and on the financial state of the company, she says, to avoid “the fear and fury” such anxiety can cause.”

I could not agree more! We do work in this space every day, and this gives even more credence to what we say; now more than ever, employee feedback and assessment is vital to the short and long term health of a company!

American Express falls into the abyss

Mon, 18 May 2009 23:10:13 -0400

American Express falls into the abyss:

Last week I wrote a blog post regarding American Express.

Today we learned that they are firing 4,000 workers.

Despite receiving $3.4 billion dollars of taxpayer money, American Express is putting workers out into the cold.

I don’t understand it. The Federal Government keeps giving Wall Street, Banks, Detroit, and Trucking Companies money as they are “too big to fail”, yet, they are terminating employees. What exactly is the point of the bailout?

American Express was once a great company. Based my own experiences, they have fallen badly. Mastercard, Visa and Discover are much better options, and they don’t charge for their cards!

"If feedback is the breakfast of champions — then regular feedback is a diet we can live on forever."

Fri, 15 May 2009 10:48:47 -0400

““If feedback is the breakfast of champions — then regular feedback is a diet we can live on forever.””

- — Peter Thomson: U.K. strategist on business and personal growth

—————————-

AMEN BROTHER!

WSJ update on economy

Thu, 14 May 2009 14:19:52 -0400

Economists in the latest Wall Street Journal survey see an end to the recession by August, but say it will take years to eat up the slack created by the downturn. Nearly half of the economists said it will take three to four years to close the output gap, while more than a quarter say it will take five to six years. The economists on average expect the unemployment rate to climb to 9.7% by the end of the year, with two million more jobs lost over the next 12 months.

"Some people see taking action as work and work as a form of pain. These are usually people who have..."

Wed, 13 May 2009 11:44:22 -0400

““Some people see taking action as work and work as a form of pain. These are usually people who have never experienced the pleasure of working on something they value.””

- — Michael Masterson: Entrepreneur and bestselling business author

"I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside."

Tue, 12 May 2009 10:28:58 -0400

““I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.””

- — Dr. Wayne Dyer: Self-development author and speaker