It’s our job to deliver bad news as well as good news, right? To tell clients what they’re doing wrong so they can fix their problems and leap to the next level of profitability, right? Why would they spend money collecting data if they just wanted to hear how much customers love them? In fact, why would they want to hear how much customers love them, if the research says otherwise?
A recent study published in the Journal of Consumer Research suggests some answers that may surprise you. (more…)
Infographic: Ten Ways to Improve Employee Engagement
Versta Research recently partnered with a consulting firm to complete an eight-month study about when and how employers have the strongest impact on worker satisfaction. The research found several critical moments in the life cycle of an employee—from the moment they begin considering employment to moment they leave for new opportunities—that dramatically shape how engaged, excited, and loyal they are to their employers.
What can employers do to gin up employee satisfaction and worker engagement? Here are ten key takeaways identified by Brilliant Ink, the consulting firm that commissioned the research:
1. Recognize that employee engagement starts before the first day.
2. Create accurate first impressions.
3. Make the first day meaningful.
4. Acclimate employees to the company AND the job.
If you ever feel like strangling the next research consultant who promises to deliver “actionable insights” then you can join me and the Dilbert team in making fun of it instead. Not only is it a horrid phrase, but it is unfortunately meaningless now that every research firm claims to be different from others by virtue of their actionable insights, magically produced by actionable insight dashboards, actionable insight survey tools, or special actionable insight “methodologies.”
With so much actionable insight around, why is so much research ignored? (more…)
Most people who take surveys want to share their opinions, which is important for researchers hoping to get a few nuggets of data from willing respondents. The trouble is, if a survey it not written carefully, a respondent’s urgent desire to share their feelings may bias their answers to other questions.
Two marketing professors at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management recently published a paper in the AMA’s Journal of Marketing Research identifying and documenting this unique kind of bias. They call it “response substitution.” (more…)
How big of a sample size do you really need? A recent article in the New York Times cited the following statistics:
These numbers are believable. I get a pop-up survey from ForeSee at least two or three times a week.
And it is absurd. Granted, these companies (and hundreds of other similar firms) are collecting surveys for multiple clients. But almost certainly, nobody needs to collect that much survey data from that many survey respondents. Why not? (more…)
I received this e-mail invitation because I subscribe to Bon Appétit:
Important survey from Bon Appétit – We need your help to get 100% participation.
At Bon Appétit, we really care what you think. That’s why, as Vice President & Publisher of Bon Appétit, I’m personally asking for your help with this online survey. As a thank-you for your valuable time, you will be entered into a sweepstakes giveaway for a chance to win $50,000.*
I know you may receive countless emails each day, but frankly this is one of the most important surveys we conduct all year, so please take a moment to fill this one out.
Clever headline, an ambitious goal, a well-written letter about the value and importance of readers’ opinions, and Bon Appétit is going to give $50,000 to one of its readers to make it happen, right? (more…)
Friends often solicit from me quick advice about conducting do-it-yourself customer satisfaction surveys. What questions should they ask? How many questions should they ask? What measures and scales should they use? And, of course, shouldn’t they be using NPS (Net Promoter Score) like everyone else?
I tell them that, by far, the most useful question they can ask is an open ended question that would be something like this: (more…)
It's pretty, but it's chartjunk
Turning data into stories involves not just words, but pictures as well. In the world of quantitative market research, that usually means charts, graphs, and tables. Moreover, just like poorly written sentences that often complicate rather than clarify data, charts and graphs in market research too often suffer from “chartjunk,” as Edward Tufte calls it. Any superfluous details, design elements, or decorations that do not tell the viewer something new about the data are chartjunk.
At Versta Research we write a lot of reports. We also revise others’ reports to help our clients find and more clearly present research stories to their management teams. Here are three of the more common chart design mistakes we see and help our clients avoid: (more…)
Executives who lead entrepreneurial firms have dramatically different attitudes about market research from their counterparts at larger established firms, according to a recent study from Saras Sarasvathy, an associate professor of business administration at the University of Virginia.
The study suggests that entrepreneurs are more focused on immediate and practical questions that will help them get their products into the hands of customers, and that traditional market research may not be the best way to get the right data and answers. That makes sense.
But according to an article in the February issue of Inc. magazine, “when asked what kind of market research they would conduct for [a] hypothetical start-up, most of Sarasvathy’s subjects responded with variations on the following: (more…)
We have always been big fans of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) metric because it has convinced many firms to begin using customer satisfaction measurement scales that work better and that are tied to what people do rather than what people think. Eleven point scales (with points zero to ten) allow for optimal variation. They are intuitive and appealing: people quickly grasp the idea of rating something on a zero to ten scale, and are familiar with the idea from grade school. They also have a neutral mid-point, which is important for many customer satisfaction and loyalty studies.
But NPS questions do not make sense in many situations. Here’s one we saw last week—it’s a survey sent by Amazon to sellers who call regarding complicated issues with how their products are being displayed on the website or how payments are being transferred:
A Poor Use of the Net Promoter Question