Extending the Brand Through Research

Brands are living entities. They rise and fall according to consumer interest in them, which is driven in part by marketing’s efforts to extend the life of the brand. This is where market research comes into play. Whether you are a brand manager for a multi-million dollar consumer brand or the owner...read more

Attitudes Drive Behaviors or is it the Reverse?

In a previous post we examined the fundamentals of Likert scale development. In case you missed it, Likert survey questions are designed to measure attitudes using a five or seven-point scale agreement scale (e.g. strongly disagree to strongly agree). These scales and their derivatives continue to...read more

Course Correcting the Direction for MR

There comes a time when all professions begin to question their purpose. Consider it therapy for the profession. Market research is no different. Since the new millennium started, the MR profession has seen the rise of data mining, social media, online survey platforms, big data, gamification, The...read more

5 Benefits of Online Employee Surveys to Improve Your Small Business

Not long ago, I learned some startling statistics: The loyalty of employees who work for small businesses has dropped by almost 20% since 2008, and currently stands at a paltry 50%. Although I have never experienced any serious turnover in my own venture, I decided to take preemptive action by...read more

Timely Response is Critical

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

Do We Agree?

Ok so just what is a Likert scale anyway? If you have been in market research, or any form of survey research, for any length of time you have no doubt come across the ubiquitous Likert scale and its strongly agree to strongly disagree framework. In the years I have been involved in constructing...read more

Getting Back to the Trenches: Getting too Far Removed from the Customer Experience

Some days as a B2B market researcher, and in my previous lives in consumer research, I find myself becoming more intimate with SPSS files and questionnaires than with our customers. Ah, you might say, such is the life of a quant junkie. Well that may be true, as I do love working with the data that...read more

Quota Design

Not all surveys will be applicable to all potential respondents. Targeting our survey efforts to those most likely to respond will increase our engagement levels and in theory provide a more interesting experience. How do we know who is most likely to respond? This is a question for the ages, but in...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
The Rise of the Smart Phone: Are you Leverging Mobile? 10 Tips for Mobile-Friendly Survey Creation