Posts Tagged ‘satisfaction research’

Simple Steps to Actionable Insights

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

A pet-peeve of mine is that many (way too many) market research professionals talk about “actionable insights” and I almost never know what they are talking about.  I suspect most of them don’t either.  The more our clients complain that research reports are sitting on shelves collecting dust, the louder every research firm starts proclaiming that it delivers actionable insights.  Some even claim to have tools that, with the click of a button, deliver actionable insights right to your desktop.

Besides the ugliness of taking a verb (to act) and turning it into a noun (action) and then forcing that into an adjective (actionable), “actionable insight” just doesn’t mean much in our industry.  Now we have clients with reports full of “actionable insights” collecting dust on their shelves.

In our view, the problem is that few research professionals make an explicit link in the design phase of their research between the data that will be generated, and the specific decisions that need to be made.  If that link is not specified, then even if the report is rich, detailed, and full of insight, chances are it will not be used.  And if it is not used, it probably was not “actionable” to begin with. (more…)

Listening to Your Customers through Social Media

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

In July, I moderated a panel of thought leaders in market research to ponder the question: “How Will Social Media Change Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty (CS&L) Research?” The event was sponsored by the American Marketing Association, and included participants from GfK, Maritz, MARC, SAS, Market Tools, and Versta Research.

The Role of Social Media in Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

A partial transcript of our panel’s deliberations was just published in the October 2010 issue of Marketing News, the AMA’s monthly magazine.  Here is a quick summary of key points highlighted in the article: (more…)

Social Media and Customer Satisfaction Research

Friday, July 30th, 2010

This past Monday I moderated a panel of thought leaders in market research to ponder the question: “How Will Social Media Change Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research?” The event was sponsored by the American Marketing Association, and included participants from GfK, Maritz, MARC, SAS, Market Tools, and Versta Research.

One of the fascinating insights to emerge from our discussion was that social media is not only a new channel of information and data, but that it is fundamentally different from previous channels of data. (more…)

Don’t Do Research in Your Sleep

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

A colleague in market research once complained to me that he felt bored and unchallenged by all the client satisfaction and loyalty research he was doing, claiming he had mastered it to the point that he could do satisfaction and loyalty research in his sleep. I was struck because I could not think of any market research that I found boring or unchallenging, and certainly none that I could do in my sleep.  On the contrary, my experience is that doing great research requires intellectual work and waking thoughtfulness no matter how many times it is done and for how many clients. (more…)

Listen to Your Customers

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

It hurts, but when your customers hate you, you should be listening all the more carefully:

Dilbert.com

You need to find out the who, what, where, when, and why they hate you.  Probe deeply with focus groups, in-depth interviews, social media monitoring, and survey research.  Rigorous research done right (our specialty) will give you valuable insight.  And if it is communicated expertly to management (our specialty) you can probably fix the problems.  Then, the next time you listen to your customers, you won’t need to duck and cover.

-Joe Hopper, Ph.D.

A Statistics Puzzle: Do You Really Have Cancer? Probably Not.

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

One of the devilish problems with statistics in market research is that we deal with probabilities rather than simple yes/no answers.  But you, as a business person, need to make clear-cut decisions:  Should you launch the product, yes or no?  Which one name should you choose for your new service?  Which three areas should you focus on to drive customer satisfaction? (more…)

There Are Too Many Surveys

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

You might think that a research firm specializing in surveys would be glad to see a world in which customer feedback surveys are everywhere.  Not so.  I take part in a lot of webinars, and unfortunately I am asked to complete a survey (at least one) every time I attend.  Some websites ask me to evaluate my experience every time I go there.  Some companies ask me to evaluate my customer service call every time I call with a question or complaint.  The companies asking me to complete these surveys are convinced by pitches like this:  “The real power of [our survey tool] can only be unlocked through a commitment to continuous listening.  Listening to your visitors is truly a process, not an event. Continuous surveying can help you to establish benchmarks and trend your performance on key metrics.” (more…)

When to Use Survey Monkey

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Versta Research uses Survey Monkey for its own Versta client satisfaction work.  At the end of an engagement we send clients a link and ask them for an evaluation of our work.

Why would a market research firm use such a primitive tool for its own feedback?  Are we like the cobbler who can’t afford shoes for our own children? (more…)