We have recently completed a project where we used t-groups (online focus groups) to test a direct mail campaign for a national loyalty scheme. It was very successful in terms of both methodology and output, and represents an excellent case history in support of t-groups as an innovative and highly time/cost effective qualitative market research tool.
If you haven’t heard of t-groups, they are a qualitative market research method based on web-conferencing. People meeting certain criteria in terms of their shopping habits were identified and approached to take part in the t-group session. Everyone dialled in on a conference call number and at the same time linked to the interviewer’s pc screen via the internet. The interviewer loaded the creative layouts for the direct mail materials on to the screen so everyone was able to see them really clearly, and then a conversation took place about the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed marketing ideas.
The big advantage to everyone was that there was no need for anyone to travel anywhere. This included the interviewer, respondents and also clients, who were able to observe the focus groups from wherever they happened to be. As well as the convenience aspect this saved an enormous amount of time and cost and effectively knocked hundreds of pounds off the research project.
The client was satisfied enough to give us another project using t-group online focus groups and it is without doubt a qualitative research method that we’ll be doing a lot more of.
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Saturday, 2 May 2009
Talk up your follow-ups
The seismic change in the state of the economy has generated a flurry of marketing effort from a sector not normally known for its activity in this area – the rural building trade. Following a recent application for planning permission for a conservatory on our farmhouse, we were deluged with over 30 letters from local builders offering their services – whereas previously you couldn’t get a builder for love nor money.
Following their initial approaches however, not one of those companies has followed up with any further enquiry or expression of interest. This is seriously missing a trick, since as a customer I am no further on in my decision about which builder to use because no one has come forward to help me decide.
The issue of how to follow up on initial contacts is always a tricky one – don’t want to seem desperate/pushy, but at the same time don’t want to lose the sniff of an opportunity. Obviously each situation has to be judged on its merits, but I am increasingly sure that repeated follow-ups are valid - even if they are dismissed - because something somewhere will sow a seed in the recipient’s mind.
All too often in the research industry we are invited to pitch for a job and having put 3 or more full days’ work into a proposal, hear absolutely nothing up to several weeks later. However nicely put, I always think an airy ‘just by the way, any news?’ email can sound a bit naggy or petulant and risks making the original enquirer feel annoyed or guilty and therefore reluctant to reply.
So the trick is to make the followup look like something that they can benefit from. It can take various forms, but the objective should always be to make the recipient feel they have learned a bit more about you and have something to base their opinion on - and haven’t been made to feel under pressure.
It’s about sounding constructive and upbeat and demonstrating you’re going the extra mile to take an interest. A credible and effective way to prompt awareness of your existence/skills/offer is in the form of news about what you’ve been doing, in order to create a link in the reader’s mind. It needn’t be anything dramatic, but enough to create a reference point (eg if builders told us that they’d recently completed a project in the local area, the next time we drove past it we’d register it was them).
Or, pass on a random snippet of information relating to their project (eg a relevant website/article reference - ‘I thought you might be interested to see this ….); or an industry observation which lets them know you’re up to speed and professionally aware of the broader market. It’s not re-selling yourself but offering something for nothing, and thereby giving them a reason to log you.
Certainly it’s often quite difficult to think of something relevant or sparky to push forward, but the internet is a huge ally here. A scan of the news pages, industry forums or a quick google on your topic will virtually always yield something you can pick up and pass on as a couple of sentences just to ‘keep in touch’. I’m amazed at how often I notice something relevant on emails that come in from Brand Republic or Purple Penguin’s Marketing Blog that can be noted and forwarded to clients who will find it of genuine interest, and allows me to take the credit for bringing it to their attention. Even if it turns out not to be new news to them, the main point is that you will be seen to have made an effort on the customer’s behalf - and that’s not going to go unnoticed.
Following their initial approaches however, not one of those companies has followed up with any further enquiry or expression of interest. This is seriously missing a trick, since as a customer I am no further on in my decision about which builder to use because no one has come forward to help me decide.
The issue of how to follow up on initial contacts is always a tricky one – don’t want to seem desperate/pushy, but at the same time don’t want to lose the sniff of an opportunity. Obviously each situation has to be judged on its merits, but I am increasingly sure that repeated follow-ups are valid - even if they are dismissed - because something somewhere will sow a seed in the recipient’s mind.
All too often in the research industry we are invited to pitch for a job and having put 3 or more full days’ work into a proposal, hear absolutely nothing up to several weeks later. However nicely put, I always think an airy ‘just by the way, any news?’ email can sound a bit naggy or petulant and risks making the original enquirer feel annoyed or guilty and therefore reluctant to reply.
So the trick is to make the followup look like something that they can benefit from. It can take various forms, but the objective should always be to make the recipient feel they have learned a bit more about you and have something to base their opinion on - and haven’t been made to feel under pressure.
It’s about sounding constructive and upbeat and demonstrating you’re going the extra mile to take an interest. A credible and effective way to prompt awareness of your existence/skills/offer is in the form of news about what you’ve been doing, in order to create a link in the reader’s mind. It needn’t be anything dramatic, but enough to create a reference point (eg if builders told us that they’d recently completed a project in the local area, the next time we drove past it we’d register it was them).
Or, pass on a random snippet of information relating to their project (eg a relevant website/article reference - ‘I thought you might be interested to see this ….); or an industry observation which lets them know you’re up to speed and professionally aware of the broader market. It’s not re-selling yourself but offering something for nothing, and thereby giving them a reason to log you.
Certainly it’s often quite difficult to think of something relevant or sparky to push forward, but the internet is a huge ally here. A scan of the news pages, industry forums or a quick google on your topic will virtually always yield something you can pick up and pass on as a couple of sentences just to ‘keep in touch’. I’m amazed at how often I notice something relevant on emails that come in from Brand Republic or Purple Penguin’s Marketing Blog that can be noted and forwarded to clients who will find it of genuine interest, and allows me to take the credit for bringing it to their attention. Even if it turns out not to be new news to them, the main point is that you will be seen to have made an effort on the customer’s behalf - and that’s not going to go unnoticed.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Don't avoid customer feedback
In her article 'Don't tell me what I'm thinking', Heather Lloyd-Martin refers to a couple of case histories - fictional and fact - which involve marketing teams ignoring the views of customers and making assumptions about their target audience.
And she observes, absolutely rightly, that rather than guessing or hoping something will work, the bright thing to do is to take time out to ask the customers themselves what they think - ie, conduct some qualitative research. This doesn't have to be limited to just talking to the customers; it extends to staff, suppliers, opinion formers, industry bodies - really anyone who 's going to have an opinion which is going to be of value in some respect.
All too often consumer research can be seen as a cost rather than an investment, but even a small amount of spend here can make a significant difference to the effectiveness of a marketing campaign (whatever the budget). Business owners or marketers who are very close to their products can inevitably get to the cloth-ears stage and it's very unusual that a bit of objective external input in the form of a few focus groups doesn't shake up the thinking a bit and tweak the direction along tighter lines.
I remember being taught early on that when you start to work on a new product/brand, immediately write down and file your spontaneous thoughts about it. Then ask 2 or 3 more people to do the same, and forget what everyone said for a while. Then when you're completely immersed in the whole thing, go back and look at those first impressions as a form of baseline - ie remind yourself that not everyone has the depth of knowledge and detailed perception that you have, and that that's probably where they'll be coming from when they see your message.
The exciting thing about qualitative research is that it doesn't just tell you what people think, but why they think it and therefore how this might affect their behaviour. A good researcher should guide you to that nugget of understanding, and it's this information that enables a campaign to develop into something that is really going to hit the mark.
And she observes, absolutely rightly, that rather than guessing or hoping something will work, the bright thing to do is to take time out to ask the customers themselves what they think - ie, conduct some qualitative research. This doesn't have to be limited to just talking to the customers; it extends to staff, suppliers, opinion formers, industry bodies - really anyone who 's going to have an opinion which is going to be of value in some respect.
All too often consumer research can be seen as a cost rather than an investment, but even a small amount of spend here can make a significant difference to the effectiveness of a marketing campaign (whatever the budget). Business owners or marketers who are very close to their products can inevitably get to the cloth-ears stage and it's very unusual that a bit of objective external input in the form of a few focus groups doesn't shake up the thinking a bit and tweak the direction along tighter lines.
I remember being taught early on that when you start to work on a new product/brand, immediately write down and file your spontaneous thoughts about it. Then ask 2 or 3 more people to do the same, and forget what everyone said for a while. Then when you're completely immersed in the whole thing, go back and look at those first impressions as a form of baseline - ie remind yourself that not everyone has the depth of knowledge and detailed perception that you have, and that that's probably where they'll be coming from when they see your message.
The exciting thing about qualitative research is that it doesn't just tell you what people think, but why they think it and therefore how this might affect their behaviour. A good researcher should guide you to that nugget of understanding, and it's this information that enables a campaign to develop into something that is really going to hit the mark.
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Ethical research methods
At a DMA meeting in Edinburgh today the discussion was around creative and ethical direct marketing. A lot of pressure is potentially likely to bear on the direct mail industry because of the (unecessary) volume of paper it is seen to use, and it's a bit of a soft target for governments set on reduction targets given its inevitable association with, in an environmental context, the dreaded word 'waste'. The DM industry is being exhorted to examine ways in which it can be more environmentally conscious, and to view ethical measures in the way it produces mailers as an investment rather than a cost.
It strikes me that a lot of direct mail ends up being waste because it's rubbish even before it's assigned to the bin, which has to be the fault of the agency or whoever has produced it. An obvious envionmental step therefore is to make more use of research to ensure that the material that is being sent out is appealing and appropriate, by investing in some sensible pretesting ahead of the main production run.
Qualitative research is an excellent way to pre-test, and using Mindspace Online it can be done really easily and cost-effectively. Linking up even a small number of potential recipients and getting them to talk you through their thoughts is so, so valuable, and for a very small percentage of your marketing budget can make the difference between success and failure of a campaign.
And on an ethical note, online qualitative research is definitely the most environmentally friendly way you can do it.
It strikes me that a lot of direct mail ends up being waste because it's rubbish even before it's assigned to the bin, which has to be the fault of the agency or whoever has produced it. An obvious envionmental step therefore is to make more use of research to ensure that the material that is being sent out is appealing and appropriate, by investing in some sensible pretesting ahead of the main production run.
Qualitative research is an excellent way to pre-test, and using Mindspace Online it can be done really easily and cost-effectively. Linking up even a small number of potential recipients and getting them to talk you through their thoughts is so, so valuable, and for a very small percentage of your marketing budget can make the difference between success and failure of a campaign.
And on an ethical note, online qualitative research is definitely the most environmentally friendly way you can do it.
Sunday, 24 August 2008
The qualitative research buzz
One of the things I enjoy about this job is the flexibility it gives you to work on a wide, wide range of topics and markets. Over the years I've been involved in an incredibly varied schedule of research projects for clients ranging from the fairly ubiquitous categories of health/finance/utilities etc through to some really interesting - if sometimes esoteric - npd ideas (organic progesterone cream, a 'cooling kettle' and home delivery of ready meals among them).
It amazes me that no matter how many times you get called back to do some more work on the same subject, in every focus group or depth interview there are always new things to hear and different opinions to take in. There's the frequent thrill of that little nugget of wisdom from the quiet one in the corner which makes so much sense - and you realise just how valuable consumer opinion is and why what we do is so important.
And what also gets me, without fail, is that buzz of excitement you feel when you crack it, and realise you know the answer to the client's issue. That first flash of insight and inspiration is the researcher's reward every time and it's certainly what keeps - and will continue to keep - my interest and passion in qualitative research as lively as ever.
It amazes me that no matter how many times you get called back to do some more work on the same subject, in every focus group or depth interview there are always new things to hear and different opinions to take in. There's the frequent thrill of that little nugget of wisdom from the quiet one in the corner which makes so much sense - and you realise just how valuable consumer opinion is and why what we do is so important.
And what also gets me, without fail, is that buzz of excitement you feel when you crack it, and realise you know the answer to the client's issue. That first flash of insight and inspiration is the researcher's reward every time and it's certainly what keeps - and will continue to keep - my interest and passion in qualitative research as lively as ever.
Thursday, 21 August 2008
new generation qualitative research
'new generation qualitative research' is the title of the mindspace website. While I can't claim myself to be exactly new generation (having notched up some 20+ years in market research), the way we are using online at Mindspace to do focus group research is definitely of now and we're definitely one of the first to be doing it.The market for online focus groups seems to be cautiously gaining momentum, with good reason given the many benefits it offers. I wouldn't say that it replaces face-to-face qualitative research methods, but it definitely gives us another tool in the box and without doubt will soon become an established and sought-after research method.
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