We know that the start of a new year can bring at least a few changes around the office – you might even be diving headfirst into a list of new to-dos. But before you close the door on 2017, we encourage you to consider a few ideas from our e-newsletter article archive.
We hope by presenting takeaways from 2017 articles you will find an actionable tip or two to take with you as you plan for the new year. This compilation covers business-to-business MR, the perception of MR (internal and public), discussing research with stakeholders, advertising research and customer experience.
B2B
Why mobile ethnography belongs in B2B research by Caroline Stovold
“One of the reasons that traditional ethnography is so infrequently used is because it is difficult, particularly in B2B markets. It requires a lot of time planning and preparing for the day and the researcher needs to spend several hours with each participant. This limits ethnography studies to only being carried out with a handful of respondents. In addition, carrying out ethnography in the workplace has the added complication of needing to gain employer permission. Issues such as those surrounding legality, health and safety (e.g., visiting construction sites or factories) and security (particularly when asking for permission to take video) can hamper access. Mobile ethnography, on the other hand, requires less time from the researcher and puts a business in control of data collection.”
Takeaway: By turning to mobile ethnography, B2B marketing researchers can access otherwise hard-to-reach places. Read the full article.
Needle in a haystack: Tips for recruiting respondents in B2B by Cara Woodland
“Your internal sales team, distributors, suppliers and employees can be excellent resources when recruiting. Internal sales teams can provide you with direct access to your target market. They can point you to purchase decision-makers and potential end-users in your field, as they are likely in contact with those you are looking to gain insight from. This may be as simple as using your customer relationship management database or as complicated as getting buy-in and time from your sales team to provide viable contacts and set up meetings.”
Takeaway: Don’t understimate the power of your internal resources when recruiting respondents for B2B MR. Read the full article.
Research industry
Drive change in your company by becoming a marketer of research by Tyler Kettle
“Just like marketers who strive to continually build relationships with their customers, we as marketers of research must continually build relationships and develop trust within our organizations to ensure that our insights are being used to drive decision-making.”
Takeaway: Client-side marketing researchers should establish and nurture relationships with internal business partners to make more of an impact within their orginaizations. Read the full article.
Changing the public’s perception of marketing research by Melanie Courtright
“Our industry’s reputation can be revived with a push in educating the public of its importance to both business and society. One of the biggest issues the industry faces is that the majority of the public is either not fully educated on (or not at all aware of) the strong code of ethics that researchers adhere to.”
Takeaway: Marketing researchers should work to educate the public on the importance of MR in order to maintain high-quality consumer research studies. Read the full article.
Lost in translation: A guide to discussing research with stakeholders by Matt Newman and Jessica White-Sustaita
“The core of what we (marketing researchers) do is to tackle a pressing business question using the most appropriate methodology and translate data back into actionable insights. Research helps organizations make smarter decisions. But when we talk about our work, the tendency is to tout our expertise in individual methodologies.”
Takeaway: Marketing researchers must translate research tools into the research questions they address to better pitch ideas to stakeholders. Read the full article.
Advertising research
Case study: Using EEG and eye-tracking to test sign language in TV ads by Sili Hacihanefioglu
“We could have used a conventional technique with face-to-face interviews, asking a few questions about the ads, but from our previous experiences we knew that it is very hard to get the answers explicitly. We needed to go deeper and get detailed insights, so we conducted a hybrid research project consisting of eye-tracking and EEG.”
Takeaway: By using two techniques simultaneously, researchers can gather more detailed insights. Read the full article.
Customer experience
How do your customers define a quality customer experience? by Lisa Brink
“Likely driven by the large number of ways customers are engaging with brands today, we found that consumers view their experience as the entire collection of interactions they have with a brand, across all touchpoints. Some are functional, some are emotional and certainly some are more important than others. Customers are building their perspectives about a brand, and ultimately their loyalty, based on everything that happens with that brand.”
Takeaway: Brands must understand the consumers’ views of the customer experience in order to properly invest resources in improving that experience. Read the full article.
Understanding the variety-seeking consumer by Mark Travers
“Variety-seeking plays a prominent role in the consumer decision-making process (all of us are variety seekers in at least some consumer categories) and has long been the focus of academic inquiry. Academics define variety-seeking as the ‘propensity to seek diversity in the choice of goods and services’ and most of their research has been directed at understanding why people seek variety in the first place.”
Takeaway: Researchers should consider the factors that promote variety-seeking behavior in their specific categories to maximize the impact of marketing initiatives. Read the full article.
Key to improving a customer experience program? Your employees by Phil Durand
“It is rare to see customer experience and employee engagement programs aligned into one, despite the known importance of both initiatives. In most circumstances, these programs are separate organizational efforts, implemented to accomplish different goals. However, the success of voice of the customer (VOC) programs in driving enhanced customer experiences depends on the ability to seamlessly integrate the voice of the employee (VOE).”
Takeaway: By marrying VOC and VOE programs, researchers can reveal more opportunities to improve and innovate the customer experience. Read the full article.