Tag Archives: Market research

26 Practical Marketing Ideas That Require Research

Posted on November 9, 2011 by | Leave a comment

It’s not always the economy, and you’re not stupid.  The marketing process is a lot like the laws of physics, for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction.  The trouble with sales is that there are so many variables, that it’s hard to pinpoint where the problem is so that you can fix it.

The following is a list of 25 DIY Marketing strategies that you can try to build your sales back up to where they need to be.  I originally published this article on AMEX Open Forum.  But when I looked at it again, I realized that it’s not enough to grab any of these strategies and just run with it.  You’ll want to do some research to support your plan.

  1. Customer research.  Although it’s tempting to jump in and try to do anything, take the time to ask your customers what’s important to them and what other alternatives they are considering to solve their problems.  Check out online survey tools like QuestionPro and SurveyMonkey.
  2. Offer different sizes at different prices.  Pricing expert and author of 1% Windfall, Rafi Mohamed says that people will buy at price points that are appealing to them (assuming they have a need or interest in your product).  Give your customers the opportunity to try and buy.
  3. Add new products.  Consider the possibility your customers want something else. Do your research and check your profit margins before you expand your product lines.
  4. Drop Unprofitable products.  Profitability is more important than sales.  Evaluate your product lines and drop products that aren’t passing profit muster.  Another option is to raise prices on products that are unprofitable.
  5. Bundle products.  McDonald’s is king of the bundle.  Create a value offer that moves product at good margins and gives customers great value.
  6. Find new markets.  This is a favorite strategy.  Look for emerging markets that have a need for your product or capability.  Open your mind and ask “what if” or “in what ways” questions to see how to penetrate more profitable markets.
  7. Provide home delivery or offer monthly delivery.  Combine a distribution strategy with a subscription model to create repeat sales.
  8. Develop new, more varied uses for your product.  We wouldn’t know that there were millions of uses for baking soda if Arm and Hammer didn’t pull them together and advertise them.
  9. Change the name to reflect new market. If you’re launching into a new market, change the name of your product to better reflect the benefits your product provides.
  10. Test higher and lower prices in different markets. You don’t have to charge the same price in the same market. Different markets have different needs, charge accordingly .
  11. Try different distribution channels.  Distribution means being within arm’s reach of your customer and their wallet.  Think of the different ways you can do that; email, direct marketing, catalog, direct sales, kiosk, manufacturers rep.  The possibilities are endless.
  12. Try new sales incentives and commission structures.  Sales people spend effort where they will make the most money.  Take a close look at your commission structure and make sure that you are rewarding sales people for profitable sales.
  13. Change how you sell.  Don’t just assume your current sales strategy is optimal. Consider using affiliates, partners, home parties, catalogs, internet, etc.
  14. Change or adjust your sales process or system.  Your sales process might be out-dated.  Take the time to explore new strategies such as Craig Elias’, Trigger Events or Jill Konrath’s  SNAP Selling.
  15. Develop or focus on lead generation program.  Where are your leads coming from and are they good leads.  Take a good hard look at your conversions from trade shows, web sites, etc and start optimizing all of them to attract your ideal customer.  For help, check out HubSpot – they are masters of inbound marketing.
  16. Develop a personal follow-up program.  Most sales are lost because our follow-up systems stink.  Map out your sales process and develop a follow-up system that touches your customer at least 7 – 10 times.  For help, visit Constant Contact, aWeber and InfusionSoft  and the new Nimble.
  17. Provide free troubleshooting. Don’t sell and run, help your customers over buyer’s remorse by providing them help in using and loving your product or service.
  18. Build a customer/user community.  Don’t forget the power of social media.  Create a customer community using a Facebook page or Twitter, these tools aren’t just for big companies or consumer groups.  If social media isn’t your thing – create a customer community using the SurveySwipe mobile survey platform and ask your community questions.
  19. Institute a referral program. Word of mouth is powerful, so create a referral system that rewards fans of your company or product.
  20. Use QR codes to drive customers to coupons.  Research shows that customers love grabbing coupons from their mobile devices.  Use QR codes to reward them for buying.
  21. Create a video couponing page. Groupon has gotten mixed reviews for small business – but Video Coupons are a whole new ball game.  Customers love video and remember twice as much as ads they see on TV and Video coupons are inexpensive and easy to do.
  22. Offer financing or multiple payment plan.   QVC already knows that customers will buy more and spend more if you offer a payment plan.  Remember customers love to buy in increments of $20. So make your monthly prices $19.99, $39.99, etc.
  23. Volume discounts or bundle discounts.  Reward your customers for buying more items more frequently.
  24. Establish a customer club.  Even restaurants can have a customer club.  Charge a monthly fee to receive coupons, free gifts and invites to special events.
  25. Develop a contest to build leads, communities and excitement.  Contests build community and customers.  Use powerful social media tools to manage yours.  There’s even an online app to help you create and manage contests – Wildfire.
  26. Direct marketing to target customers.  Three-dimensional, snail mail marketing is still extremely effective.  Select a target group of customers and send them special offers.

And there you have it.  This list is long but not even a sliver of the possibilities that are available to you.  Look at declining sales as a signal that it’s time to change it up and use this list to get you started.

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Is There a Place For Creativity, Fun and Games in Market Research?

Posted on September 1, 2011 by | Leave a comment

When you think of creativity, fun and games, I’m willing to bet that “market research” isn’t the first phrase that comes to mind.  But not if you’re Betty Adamou, the editor of  Survey Analytics newest blog, GameAccess.

Betty is the CEO of Research Through Gaming.  When she’s not speaking or writing on the topic of gamification, she’s developing game mechanics that help respondents have a better experience taking surveys.

I don’t know much about Gamification besides what I’d read in the book Reality is Broken, so I was eager to see what I could learn from Betty on the topic.  I’d read some of her posts and found them really interesting and informative and I wanted to see what else I could learn from her.

Gamification was new to Betty too.  Well, it’s new to most people, but after Betty did some research on the topic for a research paper that she later presented at the CASRO conference, she knew that she had found a deep connection between two disparate interests in her life; artistic design and research.

In what ways do you see gameification or research games for industrial applications of research?

50% of CEOs play games on their devices – CEOs take time to stop and play a game and games are a top genre from the app store – it’s 30% of all downloads are games.  They like having little breaks to engage in something else.  If you put those two together you should have a winning formula.

What do you see as the future of gamification?

It (gamification) will supercede TV advertising – it’s two way.  No one is making you play these games, and that it’s free and you have to pay for it – it’s all voluntary.  It shows that your consumers are engaged with you.  And you don’t have to target demographics, they are doing all this for you. 

Consumers want to talk and have interactions – brands that don’t take on gameification, their businesses are going to suffer.  The smaller your business is, the more you have to do this stuff.  If you’re small business, you’re competing with the big guys and if they have all the money sitting there and they aren’t doing it – the companies that are doing it will look like they understand their business more.

So, if you talk to Betty, you’ll see that there is definitely a place for fun and games in the world of market research.  In fact, there is not only room for it, but a requirement to engage respondents on their own terms.

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Food for Thought: This Week’s Hot Market Research Discussions and Trends

Posted on August 22, 2011 by | Leave a comment

To get your week humming and excite the coffee break conversation, here are some of the hottest trends and topics being discussed in market research.

Panel are HOT.  Panel management is becoming increasingly important AND a lot easier to do.  Join the Survey Analytics team and learn how to set up a research panel in 30 minutes or less.  REGISTER HERE

Data and privacy.  Look for more conversations about data and privacy in the months to come.  To whet your appetite, Brian Terran from Research gets the ball rolling with a terrific intro and summary to data privacy conversations that will be held Monday, August 22, 2011.  Head over to the Greenbook Blog to register.

Zuberance, the new software that allows companies to manage their customer advocates.   introduces Zuberance as a way for companies to enhance their customer satisfaction and customer engagement.  If you or your organization have been looking for ways to light a fire under those customers who are your biggest fants, this is an article worth checking out.

Gamification.  You’re going to see this word more and more.  It isn’t a fad, it’s the future of market research and customer engagement.  Betty Amadou from Game Access does a fantastic job of introducing you to a new word in this new territory — gamotion.  It’s the combination of games and promotions and she’s reviewing several apps that will introduce you to this latest trend.

The bond between research and technology.  It seems that there is an interesting relationship between people on the research side of the table and the people on the technology side of the table.  As a marketing strategist, I’m not as involved in that conversation, but I understand it can get rather HAIRY.  For some guidelines on how research and technology can get along, check out this interesting article by Greg Heist from Go Innovate called “Why Can’t We Be Friends” where he outlines what each group can learn from the other.

Blogs you should be reading.  New Market Research has a list out of the top Market Research Blogs — and Research Access and QuestionPro blog are listed.  If you want to know what you should be reading – follow this list.

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5 Steps to Making Market Research Part of Your Product Offering

Posted on August 18, 2011 by | 1 Comment

I recently ran into a terrific article by Christine Brown from Branding Marketing about Marketing your Market Research.  Her main observation is that companies cut market research budgets because they see it as a luxury.  But if they were able to use that research in a variety of ways —  call it recycling or re-purposing — they might be able to justify those projects.

She goes on to give several examples that inlcude:

 Other Ways to Use Market Research as Part of Your Offering
Christine’s article got me thinking that many businesses see market research as an expense rather than a revenue generator,  There is an opportunity to “spin” your research projects or design them in such a way that they provide industry insights and information that your customers may want to gain access to.
If you participate in industrial markets that include highly engineered technical products or instruments, you will find profound gaps in information about what customers value.
  1. Create a separate brand and URL for the information and research service that you will provide — literally treat it as a separate product line.
  2. Start a subscription section of your web site.  You can use WordPress  and their Wishlist membership plugin to create a subscription function that allows you to take payments and distribute information based on membership or subscription level.
  3. Run YOUR research and use some of your data for your own decision making and the other data for re-sale to the industry.
  4. Offer to run surveys for customers or competitors in your industry. This might freak out your management, but it’s simply called “contract manufacturing”  it happens in manufacturing all the time — companies who have tools and capabilities built into their infrastructure will make another company’s product just to keep the equipment running — it’s selling unused time and space.
  5. Run regular tracking surveys and sell the reports and data.  Simply include general market and industry question in your surveys and run them regularly and then sell the results.  One area of research that is always difficult to get for specific industrial segments is market share information.  By simply asking a few questions, you can generate this valuable data and sell it.
Don’t let budget cuts eat away at the information that your company and industry need.  Try these ways of engaging your management team in the research and creating products and services around research to get it to pay for itself.

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Free Webinar Wed 8/24/11 @ 8AM PST: How To Create Your Own Panel Management Solution in 30 Minutes

Posted on August 10, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Wednesday August 24th, 2011

8:00 AM PST

Click here to sign up now

Panel management solutions are popping up everywhere for companies to explore. The main objectives to getting started is that it’s too difficult to learn, It’s too time consuming, or it requires to much dependent on the software company and slowing down the panel debut. With SurveyAnalytics solution, MicroPanel,  implementing your own panel management solution doesn’t have to be difficult and require 2-3 months of set-up time to get started. The webinar “How To Set Up a Panel Management Solution in 30 Minutes” will help familiarize you with the following:

-Trends & Advantages of creating and managing your own panel solution

-How to get started : 5-point focus to kick off your panel solution

- Customized site behavior: Get Your panel & Panel Portal the way you want it to

- Profiling Surveys: Capturing panel info while you ask questions in your survey

-What Are Knowledge Bank Questions: How to Implement them and connect them to your Panel profiles

- Sampling Portal: Pulling specific data for your surveys

A Question and Answer session will follow prior to the conclusion of the webinar.

A recording and webinar slides will be posted on this blog in the afternoon. Make sure to check back and download your copy to view.

To learn more about http://www.micropanel.com

Click here to sign up now

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How to Use Research to Discover Your Value to Customers

Posted on July 25, 2011 by | 2 Comments

In a recent article over at Marketing Experiments, Daniel Burstein makes the distinction between discovering the value that you give to your customers and dictating that value.  In this particular article, he goes into how to use social media to get at that value.  But I’d like to explore other methods as well.

Use Nimble to focus social media conversations.  A few weeks ago, I was introduced to Nimble; a new social CRM (Customer Relationship Management ) tool developed Jon Ferrara, the creator of Goldmine.  He realized that relationships were starting as social media conversations but were really falling through the cracks as people struggled to manage them via traditional tools.  The concept is simple.  Nimble integrates your email with your social media accounts and then allows you to link those virtual connections with tasks and projects.  In the future, the idea is to run your whole sales and marketing communications from one screen.  Definitely something worth exploring.

I mentioned Nimble because it’s a tool that brings conversations together in a way that will allow you to see patterns and actually have conversations about the value that you bring.  This isn’t an activity that you would outsource to a market research firm, it’s an activity for your sales, marketing or executive groups.  But it’s information that will save you market research money and allow you to focus your research on better quantifying and defining this value.

Drive customers to crowd sourcing.  A couple of years ago, crowd sourcing was a trendy topic.  Everyone was talking about it and trying it.  But now, it doesn’t seem to be as much a part of the research conversation.  Just because some other shiny new object might have taken it’s place in the conversation, doesn’t make it less valuable as a tool.  Tools like IdeaScale are still an excellent resource for companies who don’t have BIG “chatworthy” brands on social media.

Your customers and potential customers aren’t going to magically find your crowd sourcing space, you will have to send them there and remind them that it’s there.  You will have to make it part of your conversation and have that web site listed prominently everywhere.  Crowd sourcing will only help you define value if you use it.

Customer research panels.  This is probably the shiny new trend of the market research world.  And when you pair this up with mobile market research, you’ve got yourself one of the most popular topics in research today.  This is another way to collect and listen to what your customers value without necessarily using social media tools.

Survey Analytics’ SurveySwipe application takes your customer research panel mobile and this gives companies advantages besides the obvious one of reaching customers where they are.  It gives you the advantage of better quality responses because their the technology of the mobile phone allows for location-based functions that can trigger surveys as close to the customer response as possible.

At a time when doing market research was a proposition far beyond the small business budget, it was understandable why so many of us were simply deciding on the value that we offered and telling our customer about it.

Believe it or not, THAT is the more expensive option today.  Use the new tools that are available to really engage and talk to your customers about the ways in which they experience your product, then promote that value to other customers who match their profile.

This is not only a sound strategy, but one that will pay off in profitability and customer satisfaction.

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SurveySwipe Launches Mobile Research Communities Pilot Program

Posted on July 19, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Survey Analytics Offers Companies Three Months of Free Beta Testing

 

Seattle, July 19 2011 – SurveySwipe, a subsidiary of Survey Analytics is introducing a free three-month demo of the Mobile Research Communities pilot program to companies who sign-up for beta testing on the SurveySwipe website. SurveySwipe Mobile Research Communities allows companies to reach out to specific audiences with questions relevant to their brand and to receive feedback from that audience in real-time – via smart phones.

SurveySwipe serves as both a social and a business application. Users who download the app can earn points for answering questions related to their particular communities and those points can then be redeemed for various kinds of prizes like iPhone applications, gift cards, and other deals. The information obtained from SurveySwipe Mobile Research Communities is highly targeted, hyper-local, and easily obtained from users who are incentivized to respond in a convenient manner.

Like other Survey Analytics solutions, SurveySwipe is accessible and developed to be user-friendly. Companies can easily adapt each survey to their research needs and create a branded survey experience for subjects. SurveySwipe is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices as well as being the only app to support all four major phone platforms.

“SurveySwipe gave our conference the ability to garner immediate feedback in real-time,” says Brian Dowdy, Director of Research, PSAMA. “Through their comprehensive reporting mechanism, we were able to quickly identify the pulse of the conference and adjust resources appropriately. SurveySwipe is the premier choice when building private communities for real-time.”

“As the industry continues to trend more and more towards mobile interaction, it is essential to gather feedback from this source,” said Vivek Bhaskaran, President and CEO of Survey Analytics. “SurveySwipe offers companies unlimited surveys and responses, full control of users and data, customizable points and rewards systems, and 10,000 users from a variety of communities that reflect the needs of diverse target audiences. But because of our commitment to innovation, we will continue to add more features and augment the already-successful program as we move forward.”

Survey Analytics is working on several other new products, including SurveyPocket, developed for the iPad platform. Companies wishing to sign up for the SurveySwipe Mobile Research Communities demo, should visit or click on the SurveySwipe Logo below.

http://surveyswipe.com/application/surveyswipe/mobile-research-communities.html

Link to SurveySwipe Press Release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/surveyswipe-launches-mobile-research-communities-pilot-program-125821118.html

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How to Use Research to Develop an Offer Your Ideal Customers Can’t Resist

Posted on June 20, 2011 by | Leave a comment

One of the terrific benefits of DIY market research is that you can reach out to more of your audience more often and get to know them better.  As you profile your audience and learn more about them, you can use their feedback to develop new product and service offers that will blow the competition away — simply because they didn’t take the time to get to know their customer.

Use your subscription list to begin the profile

Many companies have “subscription” lists that they’ve collected from their blogs.  People subscribe to newsletters or download a free e-Book or white paper and then they often just sit there.  Take the time to get a profile of these folks that starts the process to see if they are your ideal customer.

  • Use the MicroPoll feature to build an advisory panel of people.
  • Send them a profiling survey that includes all the standard demographic info and some psychographic questions.
Find out what they want
If you have an existing panel – you can start sending them short surveys either via email or maybe even using their mobile device and the SurveySwipe app.  If you already have a list of customer wants that you’d like to prioritize, then these apps are a dream – you can literally have an answer to a quick question in less than an hour!
If you aren’t sure if what your customers want – try using IdeaScale to start that discussion.  Get your audience to register and start contributing ideas.  IdeaScale is a great way to use crowd sourcing to collect voice of the customer phrases that you can use in your surveys later.
Sometimes your customers will give you “features” and sometimes they will give you “capabilities” and sometimes they will give you “benefits”, your job will be to scrutinize their answers and be sure to classify them accordingly.  Here is my cheat sheet:
  • Features are actual “objects” such as a button or a software function. 
  • Capabilities are what the feature allow you to do
  • Benefits are the value they offer
Here is an example:
The RX 100 has a 30 second saving function (feature) that saves your work as you write (capability) so that you never lose hours of your creative work (benefit).
Your goal is to separate their “wants” from the “features” and the “benefits” — you will use this in developing a great offer, so you want to make sure that you’ve classified their feedback correctly.
Match the WANTS – FEATURES and BENEFITS
The next step in developing your irresistible offer is to match up your customers’ wants to the features that you offer and the benefits.  I like to use this handy template that you can download here:  Irresistible Offering Template
The “What if…” Column is your secret competitive weapon
The template I’ve provided has one last column called “What if…” .  This is a very powerful component of the offering development worksheet.
Here’s how the “what if” column works.  As you go through each customer want, features, capability and benefit your brain will get very engaged into the customer’s world.  Suddenly you’ll find yourself asking questions like “what if we were able to let our customers  _______”
Here is a real example – a local lawyer had clients that were over 65.  The work they did required these clients to drive downtown to get papers signed as well as drive to various banks and offices to sign documents.  Left to their own devices, they often put this off too long and often their legal work didn’t get done in time.  This was a problem for them and the lawyer.
As a part of this exercise, the lawyer asked himself “What if I hired a limo to drive them downtown and to all the other offices?”  This option was actually cheaper than letting them wait too long and miss out on the legal timelines.
So what will you come up with for an irresistible offer?
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Are Market Research Tools an Alternative for Social Media Haters?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Social Media has been around for well over five years, yet many CEOs just don’t see the point.  Most of them leave the social media activities to the marketing folks in their organization.

In a post on DIYMarketers, we explore the idea the some of today’s newest, coolest market research methods can actually be a great alternative for CEOs who hate all the hassle of social media, but want all the results.

Here is a summary of the alternatives:

  • If you hate the idea of losing control of your message, then create your own customer community.  You can create a customer or user panel with whom you are in regular conversation.  Ask the panel questions, via survey, they will give you answers.
  • Still question the ROI of social media?  Create a crowdsourcing space on your site where your customers can tell you their ideas for improvements and new products and you can respond.  Create a real-live brain trust and conversation that gets your customer involved in creating a product they will love and talk about.
  • Sick of people’s stupid updates?  Run surveys and polls on the SurveySwipe mobile platform.  You can blast out a question to our existing community or upload a list of your own.  You’ll get feedback in less than 2 hours!
I was one of the first people in line to criticize CEOs who weren’t taking advantage of the power of social media.  But as I got to really listening to their complaints — I really GOT IT.
The alternatives I’ve described here use the social media platforms, technologies and elements of fun and then target them toward ROI rich, time saving and customer engaging results.
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How to Use Market Research Techniques to Drive Sales

Posted on May 16, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Traditional market research functions used to live on the more analytical side of most big companies.  The product and marketing managers come to them as technical advisors to ask questions.  They would create and structure scientifically valid focus groups and surveys and weeks or months into the project and much analysis, a marketing campaign would come together and sales would start coming in.  This process didn’t happen EVERY time — but it did happen quite a bit.  Even in the industrial bare bones marketing companies I worked with.

But with the onset of social media and DIYMarketing tools, the time lag between marketing research to sales has shrunk significantly.  I’m struck by how many traditionally “marketing research” functions have migrated to other areas of the business.

Take design testing for web sites.  This used to be a marketing research function, but with Google Analytics and Google Optimizer Landing Page Oprimization and the testing of message effectiveness has earned a new name and a new place in the marketing function.  In my opinion it’s still “research” of sorts, just called by a different name.

Net Promoter Score as also moved into a more active role in business.  Of course companies still ask if you’re “Likely to refer” but in addition to that, they also give you the opportunity to put your money where your mouth is and refer right then and there – by giving you the option to tell a friend.  Another twist on this is to give your site visitors the option to give you feedback on the spot.  I saw this example in the Marketing Technology Blog:

Of course, you can also use tools like IdeaScale and MicroPoll to create other customer engagement opportunities on your web sites and blogs.    Then use the information that customers provide to create an offer that they are more likely to buy more quickly.

The idea isn’t that market research is smaller or less.  The need for customer information hasn’t gone away, in fact, it’s become more important than ever.  What’s missing is the creative applications and strategies that market research provides to help shorten the information to closed sale .

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