• “I can’t remember the last time I bought a fast-food hamburger or a sandwich without seeing a request for a survey on the receipt. I don’t always have that much to say about a purchase.”
• “I resent the assumption that I’m interested in helping this company beyond making a purchase. Giving them your money is enough”
• “When the survey-taker can’t veer from a ‘totally satisfied, somewhat satisfied, not satisfied’-style script, its impossible to see how they could ever be of any use.”
• “I don’t mind being asked for input on such a big-ticket item as a car or a cruise. But ‘my goodness, after an oil change?’”
• “It often makes more sense to comment on (travel) sites than to take surveys. ‘This way, both potential customers and management can benefit.’”

At the heart of the issue is a gap between consumer media habits and data collection trends.  Consumers are reading and posting feedback at their favorite websites or engaging in brand discussions via social media; while researchers continue using traditional survey methods and struggle with social media technology and inaccurate data mining tools.

Here are three ideas on potential new approaches for customer satisfaction feedback:

1. Use the approach Godaddy took on a recent call.   They simply invited me to provide comments via email, website or social media and even provided me a specific person to contact.  Even better if they would have offered an incentive.
2. A new beta-site called suggestionbox.com allows customers to provide feedback in a suggestion box format.  Customers can select a specific retail location to post to.  They can also view comments from others and companies can review and post if/when a suggestion is implemented.
3. For more in-depth information, we’ve found great success recruiting panels customers to participate in a private Facebook group.  Participants find it easy and enjoyable to provide feedback, and a panel can be set up for multiple weeks so consumers can move beyond transactional feedback to competitive comparisons or even co-creation of new and improved product or service solutions.

What do you think companies should do to better approach brand loyalty and customer satisfaction measurement?

What are Secret Facebook Groups?

Secret Facebook Groups are private Facebook groups created by organizations. Participants are Facebook users who signed up for the group over the course of 2 to 6 weeks. Companies can recruit participants from existing customer databases or using outside recruiting databases.  In their white paper, the students outline two case studies on Secret Facebook Groups, one for an appliance company looking to create an innovative brand loyalty program, and one for a CPG company looking to develop new food products.

How are they different from traditional research techniques?

Several key differences were noted in the approach to this research vs. traditional focus groups or ethnography.

• Participants recorded and shared their daily activities through diaries/photos over a period of weeks; a technique typically cost prohibitive with other approaches.
• Participants viewed each other’s posts and photos and provided feedback, ideas, and questions in real time.  Similar to bulletin board groups, this is more collaborative than ethnography and more in-depth and self-directed than a focus group.
• Discussion and observation was able to evolve over time as we reviewed their postings.  This allows companies to engage in co-creation activities where consumer could react and build on the defined problem or product development platform.

What were the key benefits?

Across the two case studies, the following benefits emerged:

1.     SEGMENTATION: You can interact with a larger number of people than in traditional focus groups or ethnography.  You can easily create separate groups based on customer segments, which might be difficult to recruit in a single market.

2.     INCLUSIVENESS: No travel is required; Participants can be located anywhere, and clients can observe the research from anywhere with internet access.  This allows for a more inclusive NPD process.

3.     MORE CONTEXT: You can monitor each participant’s wall to gain context on his or her day-to-day life outside of the Secret Facebook group. More in-depth demographic and personal information on the various segments of the participants can also be obtained via their profile, wall posts, etc.  This gives better grounding of how your product or service fits into the large context of personal interests, activities and social norms.

4.     REAL TIME ACCURACY:  Participants capture real situations as they come up rather than reflecting on the past or forcing a situation at a time you can observe.  Overall, more occasions get captured per household, and less frequent occasion get captured more accurately allowing a more complete picture of consumer needs.

5.     CO-CREATION:  Social aspect of site allowed participants to share thoughts and ideas with each other, reacting ideas or problems that arise.  Companies could also seek feedback on possible solutions or ideas that might be the basis for a new product platform.

6.     MORE FLEXIBILITY: Photos and videos posted to site provided real life uses of product and occasions.  Other tools like an on-line survey were easily conducted by posting it as a task to the Facebook groups.

We also found strengths in pairing secret Facebook groups with traditional focus groups and ethnographic approaches based on differences in consumer targets or information needs.  We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback as we all continue to innovate NPD methods!

To review the student’s complete whitepaper and learn more about the two case studies, the benefits, pitfalls, and recommendations, use the link below:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13369430/Using%20Secret%20Facebook%20Groups.pdf

The idea of electric and hybrid cards certainly isn’t new, although these products appear to have innovative technology like lightweight doors that compensate for battery weight. Particularly interesting is their vision of using the BMW i apps and services to stay relevant to their affluent, savvy target.

But, by the time these cars launch in 2013, will the “i” brand name be as innovative as the product?  I recently read a Betanews article suggesting that the word “Smart” is becoming passé. They argue the word smart joins other prominent but dated buzzwords like “e” from the 90’s and “micro” from the 80’s. So what about “i”? Should BMW rethink it’s use of “i” for its sub-brand name? In fact, should all companies be wary of burnout of the “i” brand acronym?

Elevance is an ergonomic bathtub that was cleverly designed to target the growing number of aging Americans renovating their homes.  Here is a link to a video that will give you a sense of how well they tied their design features to aging consumer needs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9XznXZAjo

One impressive aspect of this new product is how well Kohler leverages their brand strength to differentiate themselves.  By using their “Bold” brand positioning and design capabilities, this new product leapfrogs the current industrial looking senior/disability bath products, delivering something the affluent baby boomers might actually want in their home.

What also makes this launch stand out to me is how well the product is integrated into their business strategy.  Kohler features Elevance within a complete product line they call Aging In Place.  By building a dedicated micro-site (kohler.com/bold-independence), they have created a one stop remodeling solution for aging consumers.

Kohler appears to have invested both product and business model innovation, when most companies were retrenching without investing in R&D.   What other examples of innovation are you seeing in the New Year?  Do you think we will see more significant product launches in 2011?

How do we transform our market research processes to get useful consumer information faster and cheaper?   I’m just starting on this journey, but here are a few ideas as thought starters…

1. PREDICT THE FUTURE: Tap into social media statistics to help define key opportunities for your organization.  Don’t wait for them to ask you about a trend, tell them what’s hot, using tools like Google Trends, BlogPulse, Tweet Grid, or Quantcast.

2. STAY CLOSE TO THE CUSTOMER: Utilize your connections in Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-In for early product definition or feedback on marketing ideas.  Tap into everyday conversations using a tool like Tweet Deck.

3. CATER TO YOUR CORE: Build a conversation with your brand fans through survey tools on social media sites.  Your website subscribers or Facebook fans may not represent all consumers, but they often reflect your core buyer.

4. CO-CREATE NEW PRODUCTS: Consider building a secret Facebook page to dive deep into your customer’s lives.  Smaller private groups give you the ability to confidentially learn about consumers and gain reactions to new ideas.

5.  MANAGE YOUR BUDGET ROI: Say no to lower-risk tactical research, and focus your spending on high ROI projects.  Strategic initiatives such consumer segmentation may become even more important as you seek to dissect and interpret a wide variety of social media content.

What are your ideas for evolving your market research for greater speed and efficiency?

AMD touts price-performance ratio with lower-price on new gamer graphic card

AMD’s new graphic card shows re-value engineering as a way to compete by creating incremental value-oriented product updates.  While these products may become short-term price leaders, they shift the company’s new product energy toward initiatives that are likely to be quickly copied by competition.

Microsoft gets NYC software deal, forced to unbundle apps

Microsoft’s move to unbundle applications doesn’t involve product innovation as much as a change in the value proposition. It is likely a short-term remedy for the Google’s Apps platform, which has a business model that inherently provides a lower price point.  The long-term challenge, according to Electronista, is Microsoft’s unbundling approach parallels one that “helped marginalize Corel/Novell WordPerfect.”

Both of these examples suggest that re-value engineering may be trading short-term gains for long-term advantage.  However, rejecting the re-value engineering prediction without considering the implications would be unwise.  This kind of “new economy” thinking could have significant impact on your margins, especially if your competition pushes to commoditize your category.  So, what should you be doing?

Economist and business consultant Kay Plantes argues in her blog, that rather than re-value engineering individual products, companies need to push toward changes in their overall business model…

“They need to decide upon a relevant, hard-to-copy value promise of the parent brand (e.g., Kraft) and/or build new corporation-wide advantages that increase customer value and provide advantage across all the business units and brands of the corporation.”  She suggests that companies should “step into their truly highest value role – innovating their corporation’s business model.  If they can’t, they better set out to dominate the design, manufacturing and distribution of store branded products.”

What do you see as the best way to optimize your brand value in the “new economy”?  Should you invest in Re-value Engineering?

1.     Re-Value Engineering – Companies will embrace the “new normal” by focusing on taking out less important features and lowering the price rather than adding value and cost into products

2.     Speed vs. Perfection – Companies will use social media channels to build less accurate but cheap/lightning fast research approaches that allow more instant decisions

3.     Rebirth of Experimentation – Companies won’t take large financial risks for big new product ideas and will instead trade off confidentiality for real in-market data and smaller scale launches

4.     Research Savings to the Bottom Line – Companies will spend significantly less on market research and expect more from business partnerships

5.     Research is marketing – Entirely new combined research and marketing platforms will be created using “opt-in” programs that link social media, web browsing, and phone apps to monitor and influence our entire purchase cycle.

And with these changes comes a whole new skill-set required by those of us involved in making decisions from research.  It isn’t about one piece of research to answer one question.  Or even about one decision at a time.  To succeed, decision makers need to hone their skills on synthesizing disparate information, telling a cohesive story given less definitive data, and taking a stand to act quickly rather than waiting for perfect information.

Over the next few weeks, I will be exploring several of these topics in greater depth and exploring the “so what” and “now what” of this changing business environment.  Which changes do you see as most important to your business?  Why?

Just like building a new product, building a research department really requires understanding the benefits that the company will derive from research. Three classes of benefits that research typically provides are:

1. Efficiency – Is the company under performing relative to their potential? Are they targeting the right customers or usage occasions?  How effective are their efforts to gain awareness, convert prospects to customers, or retain customers? Are their current channels effective?  What media and message gets them the most for their money?
2. ROI – Even if a company thinks they can identify growth opportunities, the devil is in the detail. If they want to maximize the return on investment, they need to know which of their great ideas to pursue. Which features and benefits should they build into their products? How much can they charge? How should they go to market?  How much volume/market share could they realistically obtain? What should they invest and what return can they expect?
3. Growth – Growing a business is about not just knowing your current customer, but identifying your future customer. Where is the market going? How are their customers needs changing? What “platforms” should the innovation team pursue? What are the big problems that if they solved, could double their business?

Figure out where there current “pain” is. What is keeping the CEO and leadership team up at night. Also, figure out what they think they know. Often companies are very close to their core customers. And, they have an expertise or strength the feel confident they can tap into. Convincing a company to build a research department means defining your turf and acknowledging your role. Focus on getting them to better informed decisions. Make sure you really explain how you will integrate with the team to build on what they know and who they are. If they think they know how to come up with great ideas, that is great! You can help them identify where to “dig”. Or you can help them optimize those ideas to maximize their ROI.

Also, don’t forget to ask them what experience they have had with research in the past. Most of my clients show me past research that is far from usable. Not because the research wasn’t executed well, but because the research company didn’t understand the clients business and couldn’t get them to “so what?” and “now what?”. Show them case studies that help them see how you can get them to decisions rather than insights. Show them by example that you work cross-functionally to understand the business question in depth and can fill in the knowledge gaps with complete answers that make the right decision clear.

Armed with a mutual vision for what research will accomplish,  help the team better define what their needs are.  From there, build a plan including research objectives, budgets, and how measures successful outcomes.  Ultimately, an effective research department is an internal “brand strategy consultant” with a strong research toolbox.  Whether you build a research department internally or use outside consultants to help build strategy, great research translated into great strategy can mean difference between profitable business growth and the slow deterioration of sales and profit.

An interesting example success at offering simplicity is Red Box.  They offer a selection of 125-200 titles, far fewer than Netflix or even your local blockbuster.  However, this lower selection isn’t a limitation of the kiosks, it is actually a well thought out strategy.  According to a recent article in the NY times, “Redbox actually experimented with different models, offering wider selections, including classic and foreign films (because the kiosks can hold 600 discs).  What they found was “at the end of a long supermarket slog, the consumer doesn’t want to browse for half an hour”

On the side of more choice is airline industry trend toward a-la-cart options.  According to Inc. magazine, “Letting customers personalize their trips is the secret both to improved customer loyalty and to improved airline revenue.” Airlines are investigating a variety of options for customers such as choosing if they want to sit near a power plug, getting guaranteed carry-on storage over their seat, or even a reserving a blanket.  The airline industry sees complexity as the biggest challenge to making a-la-cart choices work.  Recent changes in IT have allowed an airline to deliver a variety of flight amenities in a simple way that was not possible before.

The common appeal of both Red box and airline a-la-cart options is consumers have the option to pay less.  When you are looking for the latest DVD movie, $1 is a great deal.  If you just want to get from point A to point B, a-la-cart options might help you save a buck or two.   Of course, if you don’t want to sacrifice choice or simplicity, you might end up paying a lot more.  The good news for video rental buyers is Netflix is just a click away.  For those of you who don’t want the hassle of a-la-cart flights, there may be no turning back.

Do you think consumer sentiment is moving toward more choice or more simplicity in our products and services?  Or does price trump both in this tough economy?

What are the factors that lead consumers to prefer your product?   Here are a few factors that might explain why consumers enjoy your product or brand…

1.     Craftsmanship: When you see a product being made or are involved in it’s making, you take more pleasure out of owning or using it.

2.     Origin:  Consumers enjoy understanding products history and real nature.  Stories about a products creation or origin allow us to connect to the product and therefore experience it differently.

3.     Essence: People or places that are connected to a product often give it value.  The product experience allows us to connect to the essence of that person or place.

4.     Imagination:  We enjoy films and movies because they mimic real life, but also because they allow us to experience things differently.  Products that tap our imagination often provide pleasure even if the features aren’t practical.

5.     Escape:  Whether it is eating a hot pepper or running a marathon, often the pleasure that comes after a painful experience allows us to feel a strong sense of pleasure.

6.     Authenticity: The pleasure that comes from experiencing the natural world often creates pleasure.  People even get pleasure out of experiencing something scary if it helps mimic a real world threat in a safer environment.

7.     Laughter:  Humor is a uniquely social sort of pleasure. Products that can create tap into humor innately create pleasure.

8.     Culture: While people everywhere like music or food or art, culture determines to some extent, the sort you like.  By taping into culture, we can create clearer definitions of the qualities consumers will prefer.

9.     Value.  Neuro-imaging studies have shown just by telling someone a product is more expensive their brain reacts differently to the experience.  If something has more value, we value the experience more.

How do you evaluate the total consumer experience for your product or brand?  Do you separate sensory and intellectual factors that lead to satisfaction?