It’s Valentine’s Day and our thoughts turn to romance and those we love.  At Lightspeed Research, there’s nothing we love more than a good survey. So we surveyed our employees around the world about how they plan to celebrate their love on this special day.

First, we asked our employees in the Americas (AMS), Europe/Africa/Middle East (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) Regions to rate how romantic they are on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “Meh” and 5 being “Next to me, Edward Cullen looks like Woody Allen.”

Our survey results showed that by far, the employees of the EMEA Region were the most romantic, with a composite score of 3.7.  APAC employees tied with those in the AMS region for second place, with a score of 3.4.  This result did not surprise Andy Cayton, CEO of the EMEA Region, who commented, “Surely, it was never in question that Europeans are the most romantic people in the world.”

When asked how they plan to celebrate the holiday of love, almost one-fifth of all employees said they would simply enjoy being single. About the same percentage said they would either ignore the holiday altogether or pay it a little, last-minute attention.  But almost one-third were true romantics, planning something special and putting thought and emotion into that perfect gift.

Also, some employees shared with us their favorite memories of Valentine’s Days past.  Their comments ranged from the romantic:  “Someone I was not dating at the time had flowers and a small gift delivered for me.  Needless to say, we dated afterward,” to the decidedly less romantic:  “I was all dressed up and ready to go out for a nice dinner and possibly a movie and where did my boyfriend take me? A CARWASH!  He’s my husband now,” to the slightly bizarre: “Let’s just say it involved some music, some dancing and a bear costume and leave it at that!”

Tell us about your favorite romantic memory. (G-rated version only, please!)

As an industry, we’ve been grappling with this idea for some time. If you’ve read some of the blog posts making 2012 market research predictions, you’ve no doubt seen the term “integrated data” pop up. At Lightspeed Research, we’ve been practicing different approaches to this concept. In one program we combine social media measurement, custom online communities, a custom online research panel and ongoing brand trackers. This integrated research program provides daily access to customers’ lives, the ability to maintain deep, long-term relationships and the ability to pose questions quickly and engage in conversations as the need arises. This approach provides a holistic insight system that can be utilized throughout the organization to address critical business needs.

Another program links panelists’ observed online behaviors through clickstream analysis combined with survey data. By tracking how consumers search for products; for example, how much time they spend on particular web pages, which keywords they search, and which other products they research; and combining this information with survey responses, we provide a comprehensive view of what a marketers’ key consumer segments intend to do and what they actually do.

These are a couple of the programs going on now, and we are always working with our clients on innovative solutions to combine data from multiple sources to get better, deeper, more predictive insights. To me, the availability of so many new data sources – some established, some emerging and some yet to be imagined – is one thing that makes our work so exciting.

The reference interview is key to the library reference process just as the initial client consultation is key to the marketing research process.

In order to efficiently and effectively fill an information request, a librarian must understand the real need of the patron. Rather than trudge through several unpleasant rounds of trial and error, librarians conduct a thorough reference interview to fill in information gaps.

Good communication skills are crucial to a successful reference interview. Librarians are judged not only on the information they convey, but also on their behavior during the transaction. According to training from the Ohio Library Council, there are a number of skills that librarians use to help patrons have a positive experience. As I reviewed the training, it immediately occurred to me that many of these skills can be used in marketing research when consulting with a client on a new project or answering client questions.

• Listening – It is important to listen without interrupting to make sure you understand the question/need.
• Paraphrasing – To reassure a client you were listening repeat back what he/she said to you as a statement (not a question).
• Asking open questions – Asking open questions gives clients the freedom to express their needs in their own words while allowing you to guide the conversation.
• Clarifying – With clarification you are asking for a particular piece of information.
• Verifying – To make sure you have it right restate the question and ask if you have it correct.

In a reference situation, librarians do not assume a question has been answered. Follow-up questions verify that the job was completed successfully. In marketing research, we need to ask our clients:

• Does this completely answer your question?
• Do you have everything you need?
• Is there anything else I can help you with?

Sure, I took the library science class because of my lifelong passion for libraries and reading. But the class also reinforced my belief that there are clear parallels between marketing research and library science. I think the two disciplines truly can learn from each other.

Read part 1 of this article titled, “A Marketing Research Librarian.” To read more articles from Susan, Lightspeed Research’s VP, Research, visit her profile page.

Both are reasonable questions.

Libraries have always been a passion of mine and I love to read. I worked in the school library in middle and high school and my first paid job was at a public library.

Library science has more to do with marketing research than people think. Marketing research focuses on primary research while library science focuses on secondary research. With the huge amounts of data now available and more data mining taking place, the skills associated with secondary research are becoming more important in the marketing research field.

I use secondary sources quite frequently at work. As VP of Research, I get lots of unusual questions. Just this week questions have included best practices for moving from offline to online research, sourcing sample from social media in China, and data differences due to questionnaire wording. When I don’t have primary research, I then shift to secondary research. I actually maintain a large bibliography of secondary marketing research articles that I reference several times a week.

The class I took was on reference and information services. The course covered foundational skills for providing information and reference assistance to library users. Some of the key topics covered included performing basic research, searching techniques, evaluating information sources, and reference interview methods.

The course expanded my repertoire of sources for secondary information. I have already used several of the sources in searches for articles on specific topics.

The other thing the course emphasized was evaluating secondary sources. Some of the key considerations when evaluating a secondary source include:

• Credentials of the author, which may require some investigation outside the article.
• Currency of the information. With online research in particular, technology is always changing and information can quickly become out-of-date.
• Purpose and scope of the article, which helps you understand what questions can be addressed with the information.
• Sample definition and sample source (when data is referenced) since findings among a specific group (e.g., college students) may not apply to a general population.

When I share secondary articles I always make sure to point out any positives and negatives based on these types of evaluation criteria.

This course showed me there are some parallels between marketing research and library science. The two disciplines can learn from each other.

Recently, my clients at Mindshare and GfK MRI demonstrated how mobile research can deliver insights in a way no other medium can.

In August of this year, Jay A. Mattlin and Michal Galin of GfK MRI and Judy Bahary of Mindshare had an interesting challenge.  They needed to find an effective, comprehensive means to measure consumer response to print magazine advertising.  They, along with the many believers in the printed medium, contend that printed magazine ads have unique capabilities of persuasion because of the reader’s “lean-forward,” active engagement in the content. Also, they maintain that print magazine ads, by their nature, draw attention serendipitously to categories in which the consumer is not otherwise interested or brands the consumer does not favor, because consumers engaged in reading have made themselves open to new images, messages and experiences.

The method they used to measure the ads’ impact could not interfere with the respondents’ tactile experience with the hard copy ads in the magazines.   Therefore, they could not use electronic means to deliver the ads to respondents.  On the other hand, in order for the project to be feasible, they needed a way to gather respondents’ feedback quickly and inexpensively, and the best way to do this is through an online panel. 

So they devised an experiment of a new print research concept using members of the Lightspeed Research MySurvey Panel equipped with iPhones. They began by fielding an intake survey to MySurvey panel members aged 18+ who had read or looked into a magazine in the prior 30 days, said they definitely or probably would read or look into a magazine in the following seven days, and owned an iPhone 4 or 3GS.  The questionnaire, which was delivered to respondents’ PCs via the MySurvey portal, asked about their consumption of and preferences for 10 product categories and brands.  At the end of the questionnaire, respondents who agreed to participate further were instructed to download an iPhone app.  Using this app, respondents were asked to photograph magazine ads they “particularly noticed” over the course of one week. The “noticed” ads were later linked to panelists’ proclivities toward the advertised products, as measured by the intake survey.

The response was exciting, as it confirmed that this approach was engaging for the respondents and also was successful in achieving all the project’s objectives. Of the 253 intake survey respondents, 67% of them snapped at least one photo.  Altogether, these 170 participants took a total of 2,006 pictures, an average of almost 12 per person. The study provided evidence that magazine advertising does open consumers’ eyes to messages and images they didn’t expect from products and brands that they don’t regularly consume, and it indicated that consumers were more apt to be struck by ads for products they use than products they don’t use.

What I found so impressive was that not only did the research meet its objectives, but it also demonstrated how mobile, when used the right way, can provide a seamless and unobtrusive way to capture consumers’ emotional reactions in the moment they experience them.

If you wanted to know what UK consumers had in their fridge and what they bought to replenish their stock, what research methodology would you use? You can’t simply track the transactions online. (According a recent mini-poll conducted with our UK panel, almost 90% of people in the UK still go to the local supermarket for their supplies. But hopefully, you already knew most people don’t buy their food online.)

Would you run a traditional quantitative survey asking shoppers to recall what they purchased and why they bought a particular type of product? Would you apply qualitative research? How about a combination of traditional, ethnographic and qualitative research? And maybe utilize advanced data collection techniques?

Researchers have more options to collect insights than ever before. Technology has enabled researchers to push the boundaries of what questions can be asked and what data can be collected. We should encourage consumers to provide insight using media they are comfortable with and use often.

Maybe mobile is the future of market research. How could researchers use mobile to enhance their data collection? Would not taking a picture of the shopping basket be more insightful and accurate than listing purchases from memory? How about location-based tracking, such as utilizing GPS data showing in-store movements? Or using the phone to scan product packaging codes?

BRIC Markets Should Make You Pay Attention to Mobile

As huge economic growth continues in the BRIC markets, there is a need for more data and consumer insight. So is the mobile device the tool to deliver that insight? I think YES! Not only due to the fact that online PC usage will flat-line in these markets due to access and cost, but because the mobile device is becoming more affordable to the masses. Now you can get non-urban sample and data by asking for consumer opinions from villagers via their mobile phones. We know that:

• In China and India, more people have mobile phones than any other type of device – this surpasses even entertainment devices such as TVs and radios.
• Availability of smartphones allows mobile research to become more efficient and engaging.

Only recently, the head of Google Mobile in India stated, “The next 200 million new Indian Internet users will largely be mobile-first users and out of those, 100 million will be mobile-only users.”  Google expects India’s Internet growth to be driven by mobile users, predicting that they will form the majority of new Internet users in the country as low-priced smartphones become widely available. Will mobile phone adoption allow us to provide a mobile market research solution to India’s masses?

Obviously one size does not fit all. You cannot simply apply all offline and online practices to mobile research. We need to think about engagement and user experience. Surveys need to be short and precise with appropriate incentives (e.g., top up on mobile phone credit, free airtime, etc.).

Mobile Research. Is it the next big thing? I think it will be as mobile telephony gets even better, panel companies gain access to more and newer respondents, and through the convergence of mobile and tablet PCs.

The same can be said for leveraging passively collected behavioral data for market research purposes.  It has matured from a novelty with fairly simplistic applications to a tool that, if properly used, can yield valuable insights for clients. Despite this evolution, however, it is important to realize that data doesn’t necessarily speak for itself. When planning a project involving the collection and analysis of behavioral data, researchers should keep a number of thoughts in mind to ensure that clients receive the insights they need to reach their goals.

So what considerations are important for designing and executing successful projects involving the many available flavors of behavioral data?

1. Establish clear, business-driven goals before the study design is developed.  This sounds like an obvious piece of advice, but researchers regularly come to us with requests based on what data are available instead of what the client needs to know to drive revenue, market share, customer satisfaction, etc.  Creating a questionnaire in a traditional research context forces this discipline, but a wealth of preexisting datasets can lead to a lack of focus.
2. Believe in the beauty of simplicity (at least initially).  Joining datasets, honing in on micro-segments and analyzing data longitudinally are valuable tools that behavioral data collection has made increasingly possible.  However, it is easy to get carried away and overcomplicate the study design to the point that feasibility and applicability become constraints. Executing a project in multiple stages, especially with a client who is still developing a comfort with more innovative research methodologies, may be a better approach.
3. Articulate the incremental value of the behavioral data with the client. Skeptical and increasingly price-sensitive clients want to know up-front what incremental value will be driven by the data they are paying for.  It is important to clearly lay out the depth and value of the insights that will be driven by the behavioral data.  Relevant case studies have been the best vehicle, in our experience, for communicating this to clients.

These principles are just a few among many and are not vastly different from the principles involved in more traditional studies.  However, they tend to be more important with passively collected behavioral data since there are more available options with less structure.  Keeping these principles in mind when developing your research approach will help ensure project success and build a solid foundation for future business.

To learn more about what behavioral data can do for you, contact us.

Lightspeed Radius derives powerful insights through the integration of consumer survey data with observed online behaviors.  Learn more about Lightspeed Radius.

Yes, panels are here to stay, but the way that we manage them is changing.  The days of a statistically valid sample that is selected and balanced to represent a certain universe for a specific study are limited.  To enable lower incidence studies to be conducted online, as has been the trend, panel suppliers are increasingly relying on routers that direct people to a study or several studies in one sitting.  The way that panels are used is increasingly mimicking the way that river sample is used with a clear emphasis on operational efficiency over research quality.

To me, the sourcing of respondents is not the important issue.  The statistical validity of the sampling method — the way routed sample is manipulated and the way that panel sample and river sample are blended — is the key driver for research quality.  Many companies that have a potential supply of river respondents simply do not have the necessary understanding of research principles required to do quality fieldwork.

I see river respondents as a suitable source only if blended with panel respondents.  Too little is known about river respondents to provide the stability and quality that we have come to expect from panel respondents.

Want to read more about our take on routing?  Read Lightspeed Research COO Efrain Ribeiro’s Lightspeed Ahead Newsletter article New Routing Techniques Can Help Deliver Targeted Sample.

Frank Kelly leads client and panel operations in Lightspeed Research’s Americas region.  He joined the company in January 2010 as Senior Vice President, Global Panels, and was instrumental in the integration of the TNS 6^th dimension and Lightspeed Research online panel businesses, which began with the merger announced in mid-2009.  

In his current role, Frank aligns the functions of client operations and panel operations to leverage efficiencies and strengthen the company’s offer to clients.  Client operations is the largest team in the Americas, comprising project management, sampling, survey programming, and data processing.  Panel operations is responsible for panel recruiting, retention, and quality, and the overall panelist experience.  

Frank is a veteran of more than 20 years in the market research industry.  Over the past decade, he has worked to build and operate the industry’s leading global panels across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific.  He held senior management positions with TNS, Greenfield Online and The Nielsen Company after beginning his research career with Colgate Palmolive Company and Sherwin Williams. 

Frank is a graduate of Northeastern University, where he earned an M.B.A. degree, and Babson College, from which he holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration.

Unlike the marketers they serve, market researchers have been relatively slow to adopt and develop channel optimization strategies. This is predominantly driven by researchers’ focus on data consistency instead of consumer communication styles and preferences.

Marketing and customer care strategies that are focused on steering consumers to the next best action through multiple touch points have consistently employed channel optimization at their core. These business strategies have also assisted companies to meet their goals centered on enhanced data collection and increased consumer engagement.

Because consumers are constantly on the move and are accessing the internet through multiple devices, they may not have the willingness or ability to thoughtfully complete a 45-minute brand tracker survey in one sitting on their laptop computer. Market researchers should grab a page out of their marketing customers’ playbook and take the time to understand how respondents want to communicate with them and begin to incorporate this consumer centric view into their data collection and respondent engagement strategies.

While the benefits of a customer centric channel optimization strategy are clear, it is important to note that there are real development and implementation costs associated with properly integrating this approach into our mainstream processes. Also, much research on research is needed to properly align channel optimization with research quality and research goals. We fully believe that this consumer centric view is an investment worth making, and is central to the evolution of our business planning at Lightspeed Research.

Read more from Seth Ruoss.