Market research, and by association survey research in general, was not designed to be a random fishing trip. This is not to say that randomness isn’t important to our cause, but is not the key driver if you will. Yet, it seems as if so many projects occur at the whim of a CMO who may or may not...read more

In the voice of the customer world it is our role as market researchers to listen and follow through on what the customers are saying. Quite often this puts us in the position of ‘middle men’ between the customers and internal groups (e.g. sales, marketing, finance, customer service, etc.)...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

The concept of significance is central to generating consumer insights. As market researchers we are tasked with providing data to decision makers that is both useful and meaningful. How we measure statistical significance depends upon the types of questions we ask and the associated data structure...read more

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

There once was a time when marketers were firmly in control of the brand and all messaging associated with the brand. Those days are gone my friend. They have been replaced by an uneasy truce between marketers and the masses that are empowered with blogs, social media, online reviews and so forth....read more

In a recent post we examined the nature of the data types available to consumer or B2B market researchers including; nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. The latter two categories allow the user to generate mean or average scores as part of their survey data analysis. Working with means gives the...read more

For many larger companies, non-profits and governmental organizations the need for market research is thoroughly understood, valued and budgeted for. Marketers and strategists within these entities realize that market-driven consumer insights are essential to maintaining or expanding their position...read more

The joy of the Internet, amongst many, is that it has made the job of being a market researcher just a bit easier. It has also complicated many aspects of our daily lives - but that is a tale for another day. Here’s an example: I have been tasked with creating a survey to measure attitudes of...read more

Exceptional customer service can make or break a company. I do not believe these words to be too harsh a statement. As market researchers, and consumers ourselves, we have all had customer experiences that went above and beyond the norm. Then again there have been those times when it felt as if the...read more