ACNielsen to increase size of Homescan panel in U.S.
ACNielsen U.S. plans to more than double the size of its U.S. Homescan consumer panel, the largest expansion in the history of the service.This expansion from 61,500 to approximately 125,000 households will be completed during 2004 and 2005. The ACNielsen Homescan consumer panel provides insights into what types of households buy specific CPG categories or brands, how often and where they shop, their use of coupons and other promotions, and other attitudinal and usage information.
Publish survey results to blogs
QuesdonPro Inc., a Seattle provider of online survey hosting and market research services, is now offering new publishing tools that enable users of its online survey technology to publish results automatically to Internet Weblogs, commonly known as blogs. A blog is aWeb page that contains frequently updated information arranged chronologically that can be anything from political journals to personal diaries and can focus on a single subject or a broad spectrum of topics.
The QuestionPro Q-Blogger will automatically publish a blog entry to the user’s Weblog containing a link to their electronic survey hosted by QuesdonPro. QuesdonPro’s QBlogger effectively creates a real-time mechanism for gathering opinions and feedback from blog readers. Responses are automatically tabulated and available in real time at QuesdonPro.com.
The blog phenomenon is picking up momentum and working its way to mainstream Internet users. Blogs are now serving as a popular medium for interest groups, project teams and even news sites for sharing ideas and information immediately via the Internet. QuesdonPro online survey technology gives blog owners a tool for research, opinion polls and project collaboration.
SPSS updates Clementine, Verbastat; adds Cleo 2.5
SPSS Inc., Chicago, is now offering Clementine 8.0, the latest version of its data mining workbench.The new features of Clementine 8.0 are based on end-user feedback, introducing new capabilities for increasing producfivity and deploying interactive models online.
As part of the Clemenfine 8.0 launch, SPSS is also introducing Cleo 2.5, a new, XML-based offering for deploying predictive models online. The Cleo deployment environment enables multiple users to simultaneously access Clementine scoring models through a customizable browser-based interface.This allows business users to immediately score single records, multiple records, or an entire database on an ad hoc basis.
The firm has also released a new version of Verbastat, which enables market researchers to code verbatim responses to open-ended survey quesfions. Verbastat 7.0 offers complete coding forWeb, CATI and CAPI surveys. The new version, which is based on the Microsoft .NET platform," offers more import and export options for faster data transfers, an enhanced interface toolbar that provides access to common]y used functions, and simplified code frame creation.
Verbastat 7.0, which is compatible with data collection packages such as Quancept, In2quest or Surveycraft and sound files in CAPI or CATI interviews, adds more import options in the latest version, such as the ability to work from data collected with the Dimensions suite - SPSS’ integrated suite of tools for survey design, data collection, data management, analysis and publishing of results.The new version also enables users to copy not only Code frames but also classification patterns from one study to another.
Verbastat 7.0, which leads coders throhgh the process screen-by-screen and links with MicrosoftWord, simplifies code frame creation by filtering on specific respondent criteria for immediate coding.This new version also features new reporting options, such as response tracking (tracking the history of a response including edits and splits); respondent-level reports (showing individual respondent information and how it has been edited and classified); crosstabs and graphical reports (which can assist in identifying data trends).Verbastat also displays image files.
Panel gives access to network security influencers
Nafick, Mass.-based Sage l:Lesearch, Inc. is now offering access to the Sage Network Security Panel, a group of IT professionals with network security purchasing authority.The Network Security Panel gives providers of security products and services a tool to meet market research needs. Drawn from the Sage Panel, Sage’s Network Security Panel consists of nearly 4,400 IT professionals who have decision-making authority within their organizations for network security products and services. Forty-five percent of the Network Security Panel members are vice presidentlevel and above.
Apian Software releases SurveyPro plug-in
Seattle-based Apian Software has release DirectCollect 3.1, a plug-in to its SurveyPro program which lets the survey author save surveys for electronic distribution in a variety of non-Web environments, including kiosks, LAN, telephone and disk.
Features common to all DirectCollect surveys include skips and branching, open-ended responses, customizable screen colors, backgrounds and fonts, password protection, answer piping, enforced scale patterns (i.e., Social Security numbers), enforced scale rankings and ranges, progress bars, optimization for full or windowed screen sizes, and automatic daily or weekly data archiving.
New kiosk features include large buttons for touch-screen entry, full screen lockdown with no system access (when CPU and keyboard hidden), password access to administrative mode when locked, and timeout for abandoned surveys with optional countdown warning.
Call center surveys are also now supported, with features including random calls pulled from database with priority to callbacks, autodial option, call management (interviewer indicates callbacks in two hours, tomorrow or at scheduled date/time), refused survey or update, invalid number, preload demographics or other data from database, and update outside database.
Monitor car-buying intentions with AutoVIBES
Rochester, N.Y.-based Harris Interactive and Kelley Blue Book, Irvine, Calif., have formed a strategic alliance to deliver the AutoVIBES report (VIBES:Vehicle Introduction Brand Excitement Scale) a new report for the auto industry revealing consumer awareness levels of new vehicle nameplates as they enter the marketplace as well as other automotive marketing information.AutoVIBES, based on a monthly omnibus po!l, provides auto manufacturers, marketers and advertisers a way to measure and monitor the new nameplate buy intentions of in-market car buyers on an ongoing basis. As new vehicle models are introduced into the marketplace, Harris Interactive and Kelley Blue Book will track and trend which new nameplates are garnering the greatest amount of buzz among the car-buying public. Buzz is defined as awareness, consumer favorability, overall impression and likelihood of purchasing vehicles that have been introduced in 2003 or will be introduced in the 2004 model year. The top new vehicles having the greatest impact on the marketplace will be announced each month.
Additionally, this omnibus study can provide insights about: consumer reliance on incentives; brand loyalty (vehicle brands consumers are giving up versus brands they intend to buy); personal financial confidence rating for buying a new vehicle; and demographic information of in-market car buyers. Automotive manufacturers and other auto-related companies can include proprietary questions in the study for their own marketing and research purposes.
AutoVIBES is a monthly omnibus survey of 1,000 in-market car buyers who plan to purchase or lease a new vehicle within the next 12 months.The survey is conducted on Kelley Blue Book’sWeb site (www.kbb.com). Design and analysis of the study are donejointly by Harris Interactive and Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research.
Package testing product from Ipsos
New York-based Ipsos-Insight haslaunched a new package-testing product in the U.S. called Pack Evolution that enables manufacturers to use the Internet to test package designs using digital shelf displays.
Pack Evolution’s true-to-life testing is designed to reflect real phases of shopping behavior: as part of the online survey, respondents emulate approaching the store shelf(i.e., digital shelf) and then move in for a closer look at the packages on the shelf. Clients obtain insight into a product’s on-shelf visibility, brand recognition and persuasion. Pack Evolution’s sample sizes a~ow for quantitative, rather than qualitative, analysis. Plus, its assessment 0fthe link between package design and brand name is designed to go beyond traditional eye-tracking T-scope measures. And, for clients who need to conduct global research, Pack Evolution has been designed as a standardized, multi-country tool.
Hispanic omnibus from Greenfield
Greenfield Online,Wilton, Conn., has launched a new Hispanic omnibus.The shared-cost study is fielded to 250 Hispanics age 18+. Both in-language and English options are available.The launch of the Greenfield Online Hispanic Omnibus coincides with plans to expand Hispanic recruitment efforts and create an In-Language Hispanic panel of 25,000 members by December 2003. In addition to the In-Language Hispanic Panel, more than 45,000 Hispanic pre-existing members of the Greenfield Online panel are being re-screened and provided with the opportunity to deride whether they prefer to partidpate in English or in-language surveys.
New brand audit tool
The Total Customer Experience (TCE) BrandAudit determines how well brands are delivering on their promise to satisfy customers and provides data to help companies develop strategies and tactics to increase customer satisfaction and long-term brand loyalty.TheTCE BrandAudit uses a four-phase approach:
- Identify the full range of brand market competition and touchpoint variables that affect the customers’ experience.
- Benchmark the market’s ekisting competitive brand ex’pectafions and provide a starting point for understanding what is important to customers.
- Measure the brand gaps between what customers want and expect versus what the brand is providing, identify the strategica]]y important brand gaps, and recommend action steps.
- Monitor the effectiveness of corrective actions, help prioritize future actions, and identify emerging threats. The TCE Brand Audit was developed by Socratic Technologies, a San Francisco research firm, in association with Nelson & Company, a Puerto Vallarta, Mexico-based brand marketing consultancy.
FGI expands online panel to additional countries
FGI Research, Chapel Hill, N.C., has expanded its online research panel to include access to over 14 million additional consumers in 28 countries throughout South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.The global online panel, marketed under the SmartPanel Global brand, builds on the four million North American consumers that are accessible in FGI Research’s existing onfine panel. SmartPanel Global provides real-time access to consumer opinions in 15 European countries, as well as Japan, China, Hang Kong, Taiwan,Thailand, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Korea, Australia, Brazil and Argentina. In addition to the global online panelists, FGI Research provides a suite of in-country panel management, questionnaire design and translation solutions.
Briefly...
Nichols Research, Inc. has moved its Fresno, Calif., office to 600 W. Shaw, Suite 350, Fresno, Calif., 93704.The new office features a large focus group facility and is located in a demographically diverse and fastgrowing area.
Chicago-based Bacon’s Information has relaunched its Express Media Monitoring Service, which delivers coverage to clients the day it appears in the media.The Ea’press service covers 175 U.S. daily newspapers, business weeklies, major magazines, and international English-language dailies.
Facts ’n Figures/Health Care Testing has opened a new qualitative research facility in Los Angeles. Located in Sherman Oaks, the fadlity features four focus suites with observation room, client lounge and private office. Other amenities include T1 lines, DVD, video, CD, audio, ActiveGroup, simultaneous translation, and a cornmerdal test kitchen.
New York-based research firm Ipsos- Vantis has rehunched itsWeb site www.ipsos-vantis.com, adding new content, a new look, case studies, articles, and product and service development solutions in a question-and-answer format.