In a previous post I discussed the basics for conducting online advertising testing. With the advent of online survey platforms the ability to test various advertising messages and formats is easier than ever. Gone are the days of renting large rooms and embedding ads in mock programs. The current...read more

What makes a community? Well certainly it is a collection of unique individuals who call a single place home. It is also a place where businesses hang their shingle. Collectively the residents and businesses work together and if all goes well the community can thrive. However, there is something...read more

A study recently conducted by the CMO Council and SAS brought up an interesting question…Who owns the customer? The overall thrust of the study was to highlight the gaps and opportunities for CMOs to partner with their colleague in arms the CIO. In this day of ever increasing data it is critical for...read more

Survey research can be used to assess the attitudes and opinions of virtually any group or sub-group. Most of my work has been in the areas of consumer and B2B market research, but from time to time my focus has shifted toward surveying employees. This makes perfect sense as our employees are the...read more

Incentives are de rigueur in survey research. For some reason respondents are just not willing to take all of the surveys they are invited to. I cannot understand why. Sarcasm aside, the amount of time available to respondents is becoming increasingly scarce. In order to compensate for this trend,...read more

There was a day not long ago that advertising testing involved sitting large numbers of people in a room and showing them ads embedded in pilot television shows with a pre-exposure survey and a post-test assessment following the programming and ad exposure. My how things have changed! With the...read more

I read a great article by Donna Fluss in CRM Magazine recently, Surveys Alone Are Not the Answer. What really hooked me was this statement: After years of analyzing exceptional service organizations, it's clear to me that the organizations that deliver great service do something that others...read more

There is a new C-level position taking shape. According to work published in the Harvard Business Review blog the next generation of C-level executive is likely to be the Chief Customer Officer (CCO). This is a good thing for those of us in marketing research and consumer insight positions as it...read more

One the primary purposes of marketing research (both for consumer and B2B market research) is to mitigate risk. Often I am asked what I do for a living and invariably my response is I quantify executives gut feelings. This is exactly where market research as a function needs to be. When we bring our...read more

Are products services and vice versa? There is a bit of confusion in the marketing waters nowadays about this issue. Essentially, from my humble perspective, there is little difference between a product and a service. Yes, it is difficult to load a service into your car and install it in your...read more