The Art of Asking and Connecting with Customers [TED Inspired]

Greg's most recent post, Get Back to the Trenches, reminded me of a session I attended at the recent Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit. Where Ken Chow, CMO at LogiAnalytics, Tom Kohn, Former EVP of Digital at Cygnus Business Media, Bob London, Founder & President of London Ink, and Bob Ragsdale, VP of...read more

Ad Testing 101

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

Tasty Satisfaction Treats: Feedback Tips for Restaurateurs

If there were one industry that could truly benefit from consumer insight research, it is the restaurant industry. Granted there are the giants of the industry, e.g. McDonalds or Chik-fil-A, that have teams dedicated to dissecting every aspect of the customer experience, but the biggest gains can...read more

Hey You! Feeling a Bit Irrelevant?

Is market research becoming irrelevant? If you follow the published works of Forrester Research then you may be tempted to believe that we should scrap our career path and pursue something different. Don’t be tempted! What Forrester brings to light in their article What needs to happen in market...read more

How Social Media + Survey Software = More Customer Endorsements

One of the biggest complaints people have about the net promoter score is that respondents don't need to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak. We ask the, how likely they are to recommend us to a friend, family member or colleague, but do they actually recommend us? It's certainly a...read more

Customer Experience ≠ Customer Satisfaction

There comes a time when those of us in consumer and B2B market research realize that we are not just the messengers, the conduit for the voice of the customer, but we also are the change agents. This realization came to me some time ago, but was reaffirmed while reading the book Outside In by Harley...read more

Make a Survey That Stands Out From the Crowd

According to a recent Business Insider article, “American adults are invited to take surveys 7 billion times each year, with 24% of respondents indicating they were asked to take part in more surveys this year than in previous years.”Customer surveys are an excellent tool to gauge satisfaction and...read more

Customer Profitability Requires a Good First Date

The season of Valentine’s brings out the best in some and the worst in others. Many of us find ourselves reminiscing about first dates and whether or not the date led to a meaningful relationship. The same romantic wonderings can be applied to the customer – company relationship. When cast in this...read more

Checking in on Culturally Sensitive Topics

In the course of survey research several topics have developed a reputation for being ‘sensitive’. In short this means the topical areas are perceived to be just short of off limits by the culture we live in. Examples include cultural diversity, recreational drug use, sexual activity, alcohol use,...read more

Tips for Building a Better Product or Service

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
The Rise of the Smart Phone: Are you Leverging Mobile? 10 Tips for Mobile-Friendly Survey Creation