••• shopper insights
Kinesis, Paradigm Sample partner for mobile purchase tracking
Will use Ideashifters app
Kinesis Survey Technologies, Austin, Texas, has formed a technology partnership with mobile panel firm Paradigm Sample which will offer Kinesis Panel clients additional business models for monetizing their panels. Paradigm’s Ideashifters app, which has been in use for more than three years, offers check-in and barcode scanning as well as geolocation capture and triggers, in addition to other functionality. The technology is geared toward tracking impulse purchases and instant consumables, such as beverages, for shorter-term diary projects as well as for building specialty panels based upon purchase patterns.
The two companies will provide custom support, integration and development services around the partnership, which will target retailers and their research partners. Research participants may be asked to scan or upload images of items that they purchase or consume, be invited to survey and community projects and participate in a variety of ways based upon location and other usage.
••• CRM research
Study explores CRM’s present, future
Includes case studies, vendor evals
Hypatia Research Group, Boston, has released its primary research study, Next Generation CRM: All About Business Process Excellence, which is designed to provide an analysis of how and why companies invest in tools for customer relationship management and engagement, along with vendor evaluations and ROI case studies. Hypatia Research surveyed 800 global executives directly involved with enterprise customer engagement initiatives, software usage and selection criteria. Only the 500 respondents who actually utilize, recommend, influence, hold budget or veto power over the purchase of CRM software were utilized in the analysis. Due diligence also included 1) CRM software vendor briefings, 2) product demonstration and 3) customer reference interviews. In certain cases, customer references and product demonstrations were obtained without vendor involvement through the firm’s professional network.
••• online research
OMR Globus launches online platform
CATI, phone-to-Web
Exeter, U.K., research firm OMR Globus has launched an online platform, Q One, aimed at providing hosting, sampling and survey tools for each step of the data collection process. The Q One software is designed for use with online/offline fieldwork, qual and quant research and project management on a full-service or sample-only basis, as well as panel-building and management. It is also geared toward use with CATI and phone-to-Web interviewing.
••• social media
Twitter TV Ratings debuts from Kantar
Who’s reading whose tweets?
Kantar Media has launched its Kantar Twitter TV Ratings tool, designed to include new metrics such as unique Twitter authors, unique audiences (individuals who have viewed tweets about a program) and impressions (number of times a tweet or retweet about a program has been seen). These measures are aimed at expanding the existing metrics, which currently include the number of tweets and retweets about a program, the average number of tweets per minute and the highest volume of tweets per minute regarding a program. In addition to these new metrics, Kantar Media has also developed a dashboard, Instar Social, that broadcasters, media agencies and advertisers can use to view and analyze data alongside their existing TV analysis tools. Instar Social will include a live, real-time leaderboard, providing a snapshot of the top tweeted programs as they happen, with the ability to drill down and view actual content of the tweets in real-time.
••• social media
Hootsuite tool links companies to complaining customers
Social media teams can reach out
Hootsuite, Vancouver, Canada, is adding a tool to its social management platform designed to allow businesses to contact customers complaining on social media with the means to call its customer service personnel directly. The new feature aims to enable the company’s social media team to publicly send a link to the customer, who can then access a page where a local support phone number or Skype ID is provided. The number is designed to link the customer to the company’s customer service center, which has access to the original complaint. At press time, the tool was being tested, with rollout anticipated by the end of the year.
••• media research
AOL launches analytics platform
Extends across all TV media environments
AOL, New York, has launched a targeting and analytics platform, designed to draw on its data management platform ONE and allow marketers to use their own data for targeting, planning, measurement and attribution across all TV media environments. The new platform also includes a viewership measurement, tRatio, which identifies how well each targeted network, time of day and program matches the marketer’s target audience. The linear TV platform creates privacy-compliant anonymized customer profiles from advertisers’ first-party data and then automatically compares those profiles to audience profiles of over 400,000 distinct TV program airings across the entire media landscape.
••• customer research
App helps map customer journey
Looks at things done and not done
EthOS Labs, London, has launched a new smartphone app, Journey HQ, designed to record participants’ behavior by enabling them to log notes on their decision-making process with photos, videos, audio and typed entries, along with recording the things they didn’t do. The app is also designed to allow them to record their emotions at various stages. The Journey HQ software then feeds the data into a Web site, which records it in a customer journey timeline which can be further analyzed.
••• shopper research
Ipsos offers biometric kiosks
Can measure heart rate, blood pressure
Paris researcher Ipsos has begun offering biometric kiosks in retail locations as part of its customers’ advertising campaigns. The kiosks are designed to provide a quick and easy measurement of the emotional response of members of a consumer sample group to the client’s advertising and marketing content. Chest belts and finger sensors measure heart rate and blood pressure while technical measurements are taken of facial expressions.
http://ipsos.com.au/ipsos-asi/
biometrics-eye-tracking
••• social media
Social semiotics looks for the what and the how
Helps brands filter online conversations
Waggle Dance Marketing Research, Phoenix, has launched a social media listening product, called social semiotics, designed to be an extension of the company’s psychometics-based consumer segmentation and brand strategy service. The new methodology is aimed at filtering online conversations to find topics of conversation relevant to the brand and discussions of how consumers perceive the brand, category or topic. The goal of social semiotics is to provide marketers with a clear and deep understanding of what consumers are saying about their brands and how to integrate the learning into brand strategy and tactics.
http://waggledance-marketing.com
••• disabilities research
App translates conversations for hearing-impaired
Uses color to indicate each speaker
Berkeley, Calif., technology company Transcense has developed an app of the same name designed to translate conversations in real time so the deaf and hard-of-hearing can better follow group conversations with several people speaking at once. The platform aims to capture conversations from different voices and assigns them a color bubble, indicating who said what and allowing the deaf and hard-of-hearing person to read the conversations as they happen.
••• shopper insights
Kinesis facilitates beaconing
Can link to other MR applications
Kinesis Survey Technologies, Austin, Texas, has added a set of research options to augment in-store beaconing via smartphones. Beacons typically deliver discounts or product information within a store or can request feedback from shoppers as they exit the store. Kinesis is enabling retailer apps or third-party apps that interact with beacons to be integrated with Kinesis software, aiming to allow partners to gain feedback via surveys, communities and other market research applications. Kinesis can be integrated to existing retailer apps, or to third-party apps that use beaconing to dispense coupons, provide shopper incentives or provide enhanced product information. Additionally, Kinesis’ panel management solution can be used to marry in-store activity with traditional research methodologies.
••• shopper insights
Google expands Consumer Barometer tool
Analyze influence of video, devices
Google, San Francisco, has expanded its Consumer Barometer interactive tool, aiming to provide additional insights into the online behavior and digital media consumption of shoppers. The update is designed to allow selection of data from one or multiple countries, with vertical analysis providing statistics on the likelihood of consumers researching and purchasing online. Marketers will also be able to segment the data to analyze how online video influences purchase decisions, determine differences between generations of shoppers and review how often consumers are using multiple devices.
••• Briefly
Validateit, a market research company in Boca Raton, Fla., has launched its Validateit software, designed to provide businesses with guidance in product development and pricing by using surveys designed by market researchers and responses from 250 Google consumer surveys participants. Each survey is designed to incorporate 10 questions. The total cost is $1,499 and includes a full analytical report delivered to your inbox.
Chicago technology firm Quest Innovation has launched QuickQuest, an online project management portal that provides research firms one tool to manage all of their qualitative projects, regardless of where the project takes place or the number of recruiting agencies. The portal is geared toward handling incidence reports, respondent profiles, project documents and updates in real time.
Waltham, Mass., research firm Invoke has launched its research platform, Large-Scale Focus Groups, which allows clients to conduct live 30-minute group sessions with up to 100 people for a standard cost of $10,000.
The NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y., has launched a new wearables advisory service, designed to offer consumer panel-based reporting, U.S. point-of-sale data with analysis from NPD staff and qualitative reports. The research will be complemented by Canadian consumer-based reports.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), New York, has released What Works & Why: IAB Global Insights Report, which highlights selected award-winning digital campaigns from around the world. The report includes commentary from digital creatives, brand leaders and publishers in campaign case studies aimed at brand-building, audiences, mobile, video and new technologies.
www.iab.net/globalinsightsreport.com
San Francisco software firm Zendesk Inc. has launched its built-in Net Promoter Score (NPS) platform, which allows companies to measure and analyze customer loyalty and feedback while using the same customer service platform used to support and interact with customers. The customers’ NPS ratings and comments are displayed on their user profiles in Zendesk, alerting the customer service team if the customers are Promoters or Detractors and allowing them to tailor their conversation accordingly.
Qualtrics, a Provo, Utah, software firm, has integrated Qualtrics Panel Management into its Research Suite. The product is designed to help with panel recruitment, management and incentive administration. It also lets market researchers control contact frequency, enforce opt-outs and build respondent profiles.
www.qualtrics.com/panel-management
In Palo Alto, Calif., SurveyMonkey has partnered with fellow Internet company Salesforce, San Francisco, to release a new app, SurveyMonkey for Salesforce, designed to allow users to send and analyze surveys from within the Salesforce platform. It is currently available on the Salesforce Web site.
www.surveymonkey.com/mp/salesforce-integration
Researchers at Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, have developed an artificial tongue with nanosensors which can evaluate wine by examining how the wine tannins would hit a person’s flavor sensors. The researchers say that the technique is not new but the sensor, which is based on based on surface plasmon resonance, is new. They point out that the nanosensor is free from the personal preferences of a human critic and see the science behind the artificial tongue being used to develop targeted medicine or for diagnostic uses.
Navigant, a Chicago management company, has opened the Navigant Center for Healthcare Research and Policy Analysis, to serve as a non-partisan resource center providing insights on how changing health policy and markets are affecting the U.S. health care system.
Iselin, N.J.-based researcher Schlesinger Associates has launched its Advisors by Schlesinger service, connecting health care knowledge-seekers with vetted experts and facilitating one-on-one consultations. Clinicians, managed care decision makers, payers and administrators are examples of the types of advisors available to clients.
San Francisco-based social network Pinterest will expand its Promoted Pins service to allow advertisers to add a tracking pixel to their Promoted Pins as well as on their own Web site to measure the clicks and conversions of the Pin. The service will also enable advertisers to match Promoted Pins to specific user groups, although Pinterest users can opt out of this targeting by updating their account settings.
http://business.pinterest.com/en/promoted-pins
Zoho, a San Francisco software firm, has released CRM Plus, a platform that provides a holistic customer experience by integrating marketing, sales and support software along with adding Web analytics and social capabilities.
New York business information firm Dun & Bradstreet has partnered with Lattice Engines, a San Mateo, Calif., software firm. Lattice Engines offers applications designed to combine data on buying signals with predictive analytics to help clients increase conversion rates. Plans to merge this platform with Dun & Bradstreet’s commercial database are aimed at giving clients the ability to identify customers most likely to make a purchase.
Malaysia media group Astro has agreed to manage the audience measurement service of Paris researcher Kantar Media. Astro will collect and analyze information from 80,000 IPTV boxes in Malaysian homes and 4,000 homes from Kantar’s Worldpanel of Malaysian households.
Google is adding the ability to post interactive polls on its Google+ profiles and pages. The feature will first roll out for Android devices and the Web, followed by the iOS edition. Once the feature is live, Google+ members will see the option to insert a poll in the post composition window, creating a question with up to five answer options and images if desired.
http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.com
German software firm cluetec has released an updated version of its mobile offline survey software, mQuest 10.0. The new version includes more types of questions and enhanced options for displaying questions.
London marketing firm Dunnhumby has launched its Behavioral Attitudinal Research tool to allow companies and brands to conduct research among their current customers by sending a survey through an online portal. The recipients will be volunteers in dunnhumby’s Shopper Thoughts research panel.
SensoMotoric Instruments, a technology firm in Brandenburg, Germany, has launched a redesigned headgear for its wireless eye tracking glasses. The new Natural Gaze design is geared to providing slimmer glasses that allow greater peripheral and stereoscopic view.
In New York, IBM has opened a Watson Group headquarters for the 600 staff of its self-service analytics division, along with five Watson Client Experience Centers for client support and training in Dublin; London; Melbourne, Australia; Sao Paulo and Singapore.
Tokyo-based Research Panel Asia has launched proprietary panels in Thailand and Malaysia.
Computer Market Research, San Diego, has expanded its MioDatos platform with a referral management feature called MyReferralIndex, designed to allow businesses to send surveys to contacts in their database. Analysis of the survey results provides an overall score, showing which customers responded most positively.
Palo Alto, Calif., software firm Slice has launched an analytics business, Slice Intelligence, which utilizes a panel of more than 2 million online shoppers.
www intelligence.slice.com
Transactis, Liverpool, U.K., technology company, has established TRADE, a fraud and loss prevention coalition, to serve as a clearinghouse for transactional and consumer insight data. The data collection can enable retailers to detect fraud attempts as well as authenticate genuine customers with legitimate claims for lost items and other order problems.
Boston software firm Lexalytics has partnered with eDigitalResearch, Southampton, U.K., to develop a text analytics tool that merges Lexalytics’ Salience program and eDigital’s HUB system.
New York technology company PlaceIQ has partnered with Portland, Ore., researcher Rentrak to create PIQ Primetime, which combines location information with television viewing data. The system has been tested with major league baseball games to target ads to baseball viewers.
www.placeiq.com/products/piq-primetime
London research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech has launched a new consumer panel in Russia, which includes 10,000 participants and covers smartphone sales, usage, loyalty and carriers. The panel is geared for first results being available in January 2015. The company also plans to expand its China panel by 50 percent, reaching 22,000 consumers.
New York software firm Telmar has launched SurveyTime, a tool to enable planners to pull data from multiple sources of any size, including syndicated, proprietary or integrated sources and then convert it into presentations in real time.
Boston software firm Skyhook Wireless has launched its Context Accelerator software, which lets developers use mobile-location more easily and to provide more personalized and context-specific experiences to improve engagement, relevance and app-user retention.
Google has updated its Forms online survey product, adding a menu search box and new customization features for questions, such as randomizing their order or limiting the number of responses. The user can also opt for a short URL.
San Francisco software company Marketo Inc. has launched its Marketo Institute, a research center designed to provide marketers with insights based on aggregate, anonymous data from derived from previous marketing campaigns which used Marketo as a system of record.
www.marketo.com/about/marketo-institute
GfK MRI and modeling and analytics provider Santiago Solutions Group have partnered to launch a health and wellness-based analysis tool, SSG Wellness Spectrum. The tool is designed to calculate a wellness score based on attitude and behavioral factors and will be used to provide a score for each of the 150,000 consumers in the GfK MRI single-source database. The scores can be analyzed by various characteristics and can be integrated with third-party databases and prospect lists.