The document discusses the rise of self-service market research tools and their impact on traditional market research. It notes that while self-service options are cheaper and more flexible, traditional market research provides benefits like access to target populations and expertise in study design and analysis. The document suggests that both self-service and traditional approaches each have merits for different situations, and that successful companies will utilize a mix of both strategies going forward.
1. Has Self-Service Research Killed Traditional Market Research? Vivek Bhaskaran, CEO, Survey Analytics Dr. Sanja Licina, Senior Director of Talent Intelligence and Consulting, CareerBuilder.com
Don’t bury the lead Things have changed The short version of the talk is: Market Research has evolved into being a part of integrated marketing. Revenues less than 50 million do not have a standalone MR dept.
[Vivek] Founder of Survey Analytics Software company. In the business of commodotizing Market Research Self-Service Market, SaaS Doubling our reach every year
[Sanja] Talk a little about yourself etc.
People are often quick to think that as soon as something different emerges, it’s the best thing since sliced bread It important to embrace new technologies and advances, but it’s as critical to remember that we shouldn’t ascribe to a “once size fits all” motto and that each initiative should evaluated separately when choosing the best research strategy Not every new strategy and methodology will be able to fit every one of our research needs
I remember 10 years ago, McDonalds commissioned a study 10-15 questions 50K Good times. Built the database from scratch, and custom programmed the survey Can’t keep doing the same thing that made you money, when it simply is not working! If you can repeat that – all I have to say is “Milk that cow baby”
Lets take a look at the average client today Clients are not looking at MR, Strategy and Digital/Creative process discretely – its integrated. The new guy in town is the “head of digital marketing” Responsible for Market Research Customer Segmentation and Research Customer Loyalty Brand awareness and measurement SEO and SEM advertising Conference and events Look at parallels in each of those paces: Customer Loyalty – pretty much Net Promoter has made it a self-service biz SEO and SEM – Talk to AD-Agencies and they will tell you that operational stuff like SEO and digital advertising biz is insanely low margins and almost a loss leader
Are market reseach companues glorified professional services company Ad Agency biz Call up a MR firm – they do Focus groups, telephone and online surveys That is a shrinking pie
The best way to determine whether the strategy is right for you is to look at the benefits and drawbacks.
Garbage in, garbage out, no exceptions There are many factors that can impact the success of a self-service strategy, but some are more critical than others
Lets look at Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty research SatMetrix Vs. ACSI OK – Not overnight but you get the point. Mackenzie, Bain and BCG peddle it from top down No patents – open access to model Un-complicated – simplicity - Apple
Access to respondent populations: At least know where to find them? Find unique ways to reach out to populations
OK- the point being software modeling for cost is undergoing a sea change in itself. SaaS has exponentially lower cost Servers on the cloud – this has forced me to rethink my own operational model Technology forces change in business models I know of competitors who used to Sell installed software (and charges a boatload for it) Its over Entire busiensses are running in the “cloud” Email is hosted by Google, Basecamp for PM, Google Docs and DropBox for file storage, GotoMeeting and GotoWebinar for online meetings, LivePerson for Online Chat support.
For example, at CareerBuilder we use both constantly. I lead a group or I/O psychologists whose primary role is to manage clients’ market research projects. As a part of their role, however, they also partner with different divisions of CareerBuilder and run market research projects for them as well. We do this because we have the talent on staff who is extremely qualified to lead these initiatives. But we don’t do everything in-house. For our large PR projects we outsource some of the research to a separate market research company. There are media outlets that question credibility of studies unless they were run by a third party, so to get the best PR exposure we also leverage external market research companies in addition to our efforts.
Silo’d world Kohler – POS, Omniture data and Survey Data World of specialization – A tool does one thing and one thing really well Even between facebook and twitter –
Look – Social Media Research is a hot button item. I feel I am in circa 2000 when Online Research was debated inside out. Stop debating and see if you can profit from it! Do you know how many social media consultants are out there? A LOT Kids out of college that know how to Facebook and Twitter and link them together Do you need to get on it? – Hell yes – if you can make money! Pick up any trade journal – they are talking about how to use FB and TW to do more sales It does not matter WHAT YOU THINK – most marketers are convinced that social media is the next frontier You should be able to be the expert researcher in that medium! - I’ll go through a quick example of how social media is changing the landscape
Hint – Yes.
[Sanja] Companies don’t want data, most of them don’t know what to do with it Companies want intelligence – interpretation of findings, suggestions for what to implement in their company, and recommendations on what would have the greatest impact the fastest (let’s throw in at the lowest cost for good measure ) [Vivek] Switch to next slide 10 seconds into Sanja talking
[Switch to this slide when Sanja]
Decide who you are If you are a MR agency that services Retail, finacial, healthcare and automotive – you are everywhere You are a bad ass statistician – [Sanja Step in here and Chime in about Personified and CB] Do what my friend Jeff Kottnik does for Ziff Davis Enterprise – he moved to South America – To Rio. I think MR companies should start eating into the Strategy and Advisory business (or else they are going to eat into your business anyways) Another analogy is the Fire Chief and the Police Chief.
Find and pitch new ways to synthesize information. Can mayorship be the next measure of customer loyalty Can FB interactions be yet another measure of engagement and brand affinity and awareness? Can thse ideas be co-related to profitability or revenue growth?
Like facebook for quick discussions – cause you cannot post anonymously and avoid trolling