Philosophers & Market Researches, One in the Same? Dancing in the Consumer's Shoes

Just who we are is a question that has been asked by philosophers since time immemorial. Market research professionals are no different than those wise men from ancient Greece in this regard. Our task is to create an understanding of the consumer’s mind in which we can shape our brand positioning...read more

Charting a New Direction with Research

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

There is No One Ring: Segmentation Basics

Well the good news is that I am back on the podium instructing another session of Market Research 101. Teaching brings many joys for me, one in particular is that it challenges me to go back over my practices and check to see if they are indeed ‘best practices.’ In a recent class session we began a...read more

20 Most Popular Posts of 2012

While we highlight the most popular posts from a given month in our newsletter, one of my favorite activities is to look back and see what posts were the most popular overall each year. Keeping with tradition, here's a look back across the 20 most popular posts of 2012!   Customer Loyalty Month: 25...read more

Making Customer Retention a Goal

Marketing as we know it is comprised of two primary functions – customer acquisition and customer retention. Much of the effort skews toward acquisition and its numerous strategies for lead generation, nurturing and eventual hand-off of qualified leads to sales. The volume of companies selling CRM...read more

Getting to know your opinion leaders

Getting to know your customers through qualitative and quantitative research methods, and even simple discussions with them, will provide insight capable of driving significant change to your acquisition and retention management programs. The example below uses a matrix-question format designed to...read more

Wondering Where to Spend Your Money?

In order to continue to grow, you need to research and uncover new opportunities. Go above and beyond what you typically do, think outside of the box, and evaluate what’s worked before and what hasn’t. What’s overdue on your to-do list that you have not allocated the time and resources yet to...read more

Best of the Blog: Happy 4th Birthday!

The Survey Blog turned 4 this month! Reflecting back over the last year, we wanted to share some of our favorite posts from the last year. Enjoy! ABC's for Trainers Sarah has tips for every letter of the alphabet from ADDIE to Metrics aren't evil to Perceptions are not always Reality to Zinc. Pick a...read more

Developing Personality Profiles for Messaging Strategy

We all have a unique personality. It is part of what makes us special to those we call family and friends. It is also a trait that can be leveraged by marketers, more so for consumer and to a lesser degree B2B marketing. Even though our own personalities are unique there is enough commonality that...read more

Capturing the First Time

Do you remember your first time? Well if it was your first kiss then I hope you would remember. In this case I am referring to first time you became a customer of (fill in the blank). How you feel about your first experience with a new retailer, vendor or other company plays a large role in...read more
The Rise of the Smart Phone: Are you Leverging Mobile? 10 Tips for Mobile-Friendly Survey Creation