New qualitative software from MDSS
Indianapolis-based MDSS (Marketing Decision Support Systems, Inc.) has released Research Tracker II, a new version of its databasemanagement software for qualitative marketing research. Research Tracker II offers new features designed to streamline data entry and editing, improve the querying and recruiting process, and collect and store more information about respondents. Several time-saving reports are also included in the new package. Also included in Research Tracker IIare features to help facilities manage cheaters, repeaters and other problem respondents.
The new Total Tracking component of Research Tracker II allows each person who comes in contact with respondents - data entry personnel, recruiters, hostesses, and moderators - to view and update information about respondents regarding questionable or suspected activities. For example, one of the Total Tracking reports lets the hostess know when additional identification or signature verification is needed. At job completion, respondents can be flagged as ineligible for future studies based on any number of customer-defined criteria. The Total Tracking component also includes a file import and export option. Client lists can be imported for one-time recruiting, then purged
when the study is complete. Validation files can also be generated automatically. MDSS developed Research Tracker II in Microsoft Access 97. An Access 2000 version will also be available. Research Tracker 97 users are eligible for special upgrade pricing.
Service allows free Web surveys
Sausalito, Calif.-based MarketTools, Inc., a developer of Web-hosted research, has introduced Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com), a free Internet service that allows small businesses and individuals to conduct Internet surveys using templates to create and customize surveys on anything from customer satisfaction to new product testing. The templates can be used as is, or customized to create surveys that can be posed to any list of customers, prospects or other audiences over the Internet. The results are captured and presented graphically in real-time.
E-mail samples from Survey Sampling
Survey Sampling, Fairfield, Conn., is now offering e-mail samples. Over seven million e-mail addresses are available. Markets can be targeted by selecting e-mail addresses from documented lifestyle headings such as computers, communications, electronics, family, finance, Internet, medical, shopping, and travel. E-mail targets are drawn from a variety of reliable sources.
Analysis and reporting software from SPSS
SPSS Inc., Chicago, has introduced Topliner and Quancept Analyzer, new analysis and reporting solutions that enable market researchers to get automatic, real-time reports of analyses or topline tabulations. The automated, Web reporting tools offer features including topline tables and graphics, ad hoc reporting, snapshot!realtime reporting with polling rates as low as one second, and automatic output formatting. The three levels of sophistication available are: Topliner for topline tables and reports on openends; Quancept Analyzer for more complex analyses and charts, including modeling and data mining using SPSS analytical tools; Quancept Analyzer with SmartViewer Web Server (SVWS) for sharing; Quancept Analyzer results with clients or colleagues in an interactive format.
Topliner is a standalone utility that produces topline tables and a report on open-ended questions automatically from a Quancept Web survey. Launched from an active server page, the utility creates a series of HTML tables that are viewed through a stan dard browser. Topliner provides users with immediate access to formatted, real-time results on-line as well as an easy-to-understand account of a survey’s progression. Users can also generate reports on open-ends to examine verbatims while the survey is in progress.
Quancept Analyzer takes data from Quancept Web, CATI, or CAPI surveys and turns them into SPSS data files, which are automatically sent to SPSS server software for analysis. The analysis process is invisible to the user and results are delivered as a set of interactive tables or charts for SPSS SmartViewer or can be viewed in static form onscreen through a Web browser. Quancept Analyzer with SmartViewer Web Server (SVWS) offers the same analyses as Quancept Analyzer, with the added benefit of giving anybody with access to the Web the ability to interact with the report. The results, distributed in interactive OLAP report cubes, can be accessed remotely through a Web browser, enabling others to drill down into the data to discover hidden trends and actionable insights - all with no additional software requirements for individual computers.
ACNielsen, Market Facts team for segmentation service
Schaumburg, Ill.-based ACNielsen U.S., an operating unit of ACNielsen Corporation, and Market Facts, Inc., a subsidiary of AEGIS plc, have launched SEGWAY, a jointly-developed market research service designed to help marketers understand the relationship between consumers’ attitudes and their behavior in the marketplace.
The first step in the SEGWAY process is a commitment-based segmentation of consumers. Commitment is a multi-dimensional measure of the psychological relationship between a consumer and each brand used. The stronger that relationship, the more likely a con sumer is to stay with a brand and resist competitive marketing efforts. Each brand’s non-customers are segmented by their "openness" to the brand. "Open" non-customers are good prospects for acquisition, while "Unavailables" have their minds closed to the brand.
The second step consists of linking the Conversion segments with the ACNielsen Homescan consumer panel. This enables each attitude segment to be viewed in terms of the dollar volume it represents. In the final step, SEGWAY enables marketers to measure their efforts at managing each segment.
Giga partners with DeepCanyon
Seattle-based DeepCanyon and Cambridge, Mass.-based Giga Information Group have announced a strategic on-line content agreement under which select Giga research will be made available for sate through DeepCanyon (www.deepcanyon.com), a Web resource that offers marketers a variety of business resources in a single location. DeepCanyon will serve as a new distribution point for a select number of Giga’s IdeaBytes - discussions of analyst ideas and recommendations on a particular topic. In addition, DeepCanyon will have a number of Giga Planning Assumptions, research that provides more detailed analysis of topics. Giga’s research content, which focuses on the role of technology in e-business, historically has been available only to its subscribers, typically larger corporations with dedicated budgets for market research.
Web site usability tools from NetRaker
NetRaker Corporation, Sunnyvale, Calif., has introduced an integrated suite of patent-pending Web site usability and market research tools. Designed to measure Web site impact from the customer’s perspective, NetRaker offers companies doing business on the Web intelligence tools to track Web site marketing, usability and performance, providing both free and paid tools, the entire NetRaker Suite of tools is available via free trial at www.netraker.com.
The NetRaker Suite includes customizable usability and market research templates that allow companies to collect user interface and demographic information. Usability research templates enable site managers to test task completion, browsing, searching and step-by-step purchasing performance with real users. Marketing research templates include brand value, message content, customer conversion and customer retention data gathering.
Also included in the NetRaker Suite is the SiteRaker Performance Tool, which tracks download times and network connections on a continual basis. NetRaker technology tools also include the NetRaker Index, which tracks sites from the customer perspective, including measurements of overall site rating, content, ease of use and site satisfaction. Each NetRaker measurement is developed from a battery of proprietary research designed to give users the ability to perform detailed analysis into the ratings and comparisons. NetRaker Index is a free tool that provides up-to-the-second tracking and analysis.
Available on a subscription basis, the NetRaker Suite is currently being offered on a free, introductory trial basis.
Restaurant tracking service delivers data via the Net
The NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y., is now tracking Americans’ eating habits via the Web. Working with a prerecruited panel of individuals who have agreed to provide this information to NPD, the firm has begun continuous, daily collection of information from more than 3,000 consumers including a subset of teens each day. Data will be used to develop next-generation industry tracking products for the firm’s Foodservice Information Group, including CREST, which restaurant operators and suppliers use to track consumers’ away-from-home eating patterns. The new methodology will allow NPD to deliver information in significantly less time than previously required. Beginning this spring, the CREST database will be updated monthly, with information available within days of the close of the reporting period.
On-line data collection will also allow NPD to improve quality of data and to add new predictive measures to the service. CREST subscribers will be able to supplement core reports with additional data on customer satisfaction and future intent.
All information will be delivered via a secure Web portal, NPDfoodworld.com, slated for launch this summer. The site will provide 24-hour access to integrated data from CREST and other NPD Foodservice Information Group databases, customized to each client’s specifications. Other accessibles will include account information, tech support, and industry news.
Concurrent with the development of CREST’s on-line tracking service, NPD also announced it will develop a suite of new products for food-service professionals. Syndicated surveys will be supplemented to incorporate proprietary tracking elements or ad hoc survey questions for individual clients. Additional capabilities will include advertising tracking, promotions tracking, concept testing and focus groups.
NPD has also introduced NPD DeckBuilder, proprietary software that helps restaurant chain operators and suppliers to retrieve data generated by the CREST service. With NPD DeckBuilder, subscribers can access information from the CREST database with charts to help assess competitive position and identify chain strengths and weaknesses. The software provides access to CREST data on eatings and eaters, reach and frequency of eatings components, incidence, meal periods, service sectors and demographic characteristics of eaters. DeckBuilder users can determine which chains and independent restaurants are most important to specific foods. NPD DeckBuilder also identifies key demographics and regional preferences.
New West Africa omnibus studies
Lagos, Nigeria-based RMS Media Services has introduced a West Africa omnibus study. The first of the omnibus surveys was conducted in Cameroon in July 1999. The firm is also now offering an omnibus survey in Ghana. The objective is to provide subscribers with accurate market information, e.g., market size, brand shares, advertising awareness, etc. Each subscriber will determine the content of their section and the results will be exclusive. Results will be made available in computergenerated tables with the following variables serving as standard banners: sex, age, social class, urban/rural abode and country. The raw data can be provided in whatever format may be required, e.g., SPSS, ASCII, etc.
New suite of Web analysis tools
Vividence Corporation, a San Mateo, Calif.-based Web evaluation firm, has introduced a suite of customer-driven market intelligence solutions. For Internet-based businesses seeking an understanding of a customer’s experience of their Web site, Vividence’s Web-based services offer assessment by using live, scenario-based detailed feedback from their target customers. Vividence technology can be deployed against both a client’s own site as well as competitors’ sites. It enables Web businesses to track user intent, observe and record user behavior, measure performance versus goals and measure the impact of the whole Web site experience on a user’s overall satisfaction, brand loyalty, propensity to buy, and likelihood to return. Testers are recruited to the Vividence Tester Community; which is comprised of more than 85,000 members representative of the general on-line population. When testers sign up at www.vividence.com, they are asked for demographic and psychographic information. This enables Vividence to offer its customers the ability to run Web experience evaluations using their specific target customers. Customers can view detailed information such as aggregated results and user data by accessing Vividence’s CustomerScope products via an extranet. They include a patent-pending set of Web-based reporting, query, and analysis tools to view and analyze the data and the Vividence ClickStreams tool, which shows the exact navigation path of testers in light of their intent.