The MSR Group takes APECS 2.08 to the banks
The MSR Group, an Omaha, Neb., market research company, has released version 2.08 of the APECS Performance Monitor, its proprietary customer advocacy measurement tool designed to measure customer satisfaction and advocacy. The new version offers enhanced functionality for retail banking clients who need a program that can provide actionable information to individual branch managers.
Features new to version 2.08 include: the dashboard and overall score monitor, which are designed to provide an instant view of overall net advocacy rating and positive or negative trending and also indicate trends for each branch’s overall score compared to the previous year; the key driver analysis, which uses a key symbol to indicate specific items on each client’s survey that have the greatest impact on overall satisfaction for customers in each region; and color-coded key symbols, which show how individual branches scores compare to the average for the region.
Improvements to version 2.08 include: an action alert status, which displays the percentage of alerts within each status category in a pie chart at the top of the action alert status page; a coding summary report feature, which displays the percentage of action alerts within nine pre-coded categories; detailed responses within each category that are provided through a “show details” function; and a “switch to” function, which allows users to immediately shift between current and historical scores within the same branch.
APECS will continue to offer advocacy charting, net advocacy rating and APECS national banking norms. For more information visit www.themsrgroup.com.
DSS announces Medicare market research program for 2009
DSS Research, Fort Worth, Texas, has announced the last revision of its Medicare Product Design Research program for 2009 MA and PDP planning. Focusing on the senior population and carriers of Medicare insurance products, the program is intended to quantify potential buyer preferences and attitudes; tell clients how much value consumers place on different product features; identify natural segments that exist in the market; identify over- and under-valued product features using actuarial data and “value to customer” estimates from the research; and tie the information to data from KnowledgeBase Marketing or Experian to make the results actionable in marketing programs. For more information visit www.dssresearch.com.
Invoke introduces the Engage Family of Research Solutions
Waltham, Mass., research firm Invoke Solutions has introduced the Engage Family of Research Solutions, a Web-based feedback and interaction technology, and has added it to a series of new applications designed to get real-time quantitative and qualitative insights from key constituencies. Invoke Engage was created to maintain data quality in online and mobile research applications and maintain participant focus during surveying. For more information visit www.invoke.com.
Itracks launches new Socrates integration
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based market research company Itracks has launched a new integration with Socrates, an automated probing tool designed for use in qualitative and quantitative market research. Itracks has partnered with Quester, a West Des Moines, Iowa-based linguistic research and technology company, to feature Socrates in the Itracks OLFG and bulletin board offerings, with the goal of helping moderators uncover insights in an online setting. Socrates is designed to probe quantitative open-ends programmed and hosted by Itracks; be programmed at various levels; probe on one or two open-ends or to carry on a full conversational exploratory interview lasting 15 minutes or more; and assist the researcher in time-sensitive projects where many repetitious one-on-one interviews must be completed. For more information visit www.itracks.com/socrates.
Harris Interactive receives patent; debuts two new products
Rochester, N.Y., research company Harris Interactive has been awarded a business method patent for its Rapid Exposure system. Rapid Exposure controls the length of time survey respondents can view an image online. While images are viewed for a quarter of a second or longer, depending upon the specific application, this new technique enables the exposure length to be calibrated to within 1/100th of a second regardless of Internet connection speed and browser type.
Rapid Exposure flashes images to survey respondents for a brief period of time in order to determine “package impact” (which packages cut through the clutter and are memorable) and “package findability” (which packages are most easily located). While both types of exercises are normally conducted within the framework of a competitive-shelf context, Rapid Exposure can also be used to create a rapid exposure simulation to help identify whether consumers notice subtle changes in a product or package in standalone situations. Rapid Exposure can also be employed for ad copy testing to assess what elements in print, outdoor or online ads are mentally processed during varying time intervals.
Separately, Harris Interactive has unveiled the Harris Interactive commitment model in Singapore, the first research framework that is designed to allow businesses to understand and measure the drivers of customer loyalty to retail and bank customers. The model implements loyalty simulators that allow businesses to see how changes in service delivery, facilities or any other aspect of business will affect their bottom line. Unlike earlier loyalty models, the commitment model is not built on satisfaction metrics alone. Instead, the model looks at the rational and emotional dimensions of commitment.
In addition, Harris Interactive has formed the Harris Interactive Complexity Science Practice, which will focus on the development and application of models that capture and represent the dynamics of complex adaptive systems, designed to help uncover interdependencies in business operating environments that drive growth and profitability. Areas of focus for the new practice include calculating the return on investment of marketing and advertising activity, market mix optimization, forecasting new product adoption, and business system dynamics modeling.
Complexity science is the science of complex adaptive systems designed to act independently, adapt to the environment (such as consumers, brands and firms in the marketplace), operate with a high degree of interdependence (often nonlinear) and produce outcomes that are emergent, rather than predetermined or imposed. Systems can consist of many variables that interact in interesting ways including brands, consumers, marketing activity, macroeconomic factors, competitive behaviors, government influence and even weather patterns. For more visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
SPSS offers the fifth Dimensions
Chicago software firm SPSS Inc. unveiled a new version of its suite, Dimensions 5.0. The new features, including question wizard, updated desktop author, a Web-deployed reporter and remote manager, are designed to ensure higher survey response rates, better access to respondents, easy creation of visually-appealing surveys and faster delivery of interactive results to decision-makers. Market research firms and commercial organizations may use Dimensions 5.0 with the goal of capturing survey data, engaging in customer dialogue and interactivity, conducting election polling and capturing census data. Dimensions 5.0 is integrated with Clementine data and text mining technology and the enterprise feedback management process. For more information visit www.spss.com.
New panel management software update from Nebu now available
Netherlands-based market research software company Nebu has released version 3.0 of its panel management software, Dub Knowledge. Dub Knowledge is designed to handle hundreds of samples per day with users located anywhere in the world. New and updated features in this release include grouped sampling facilities, automatic predictive sampling facilities, Demind-Stephan rim balancing algorithm, genetic algorithm-based rim balancing, multiple panel management capabilities, open interfaces to interviewing software systems and fully integrated mailing and returns management. For more information visit www.nebu.com.
BDRC offers research product for Middle East hoteliers
U.K.-based market research company BDRC is set to launch its proprietary Venue Verdict system in the Middle East. Venue Verdict is designed to provide a real-time customer feedback and competitor benchmarking service for hotels and other meetings venue operators, allow hoteliers to receive electronic information from event hosts providing both positive and negative comments and allow hotel management to see which aspects of the customer experience need to be improved in order to drive up customer loyalty for meetings and conventions. The Middle East launch will initially include hotels in Dubai, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. For more information visit www.bdrc.co.uk.
Briefly
Cognicient, a London-based research company, has launched its FusionPoint software system for managing and extracting new insight from existing research data. FusionPoint builds new insight streams and links data with other business information so clients can prove the value and predictability of their research. Through its ability to integrate traditionally disparate sources of information, FusionPoint is designed to allow companies to develop solutions for issues such as segmentation and targeting, advertising effectiveness, customer retention and churn management. For more information visit www.cognicient.com.
Chicago research company National Data Questing (NDQ) has changed its name and is under new ownership. NDQ, purchased by its senior management team, will now operate as Thoroughbred Opinion Research with regional offices in Chicago, Louisville, Ky., and Orem, Utah. Thoroughbred’s services include three newly-equipped telephone interviewing facilities, Spanish-language interviewing capabilities, a permanent mall facility and access to Thoroughbred’s secure Web reporting where clients can observe daily the progress of their research projects for all methodologies. For more information visit www.torinc.net.
Chicago research facility National Qualitative Centers has expanded and added an eighth qualitative suite with a separate entrance, a 700-square-foot conference room, an observation room that seats more than 18 clients and an attached, close-circuited lounge that seats up to 10 more. For more information visit www.nqcchicago.com.
London research firm TNS is set to launch NightLine, a one-day omnibus service in the U.K. to give clients a quick snapshot of consumer opinion and behavior. NightLine will survey a representative sample of 1,000 British adults. For more information visit www.tnsglobal.com.