On-line research service targets physicians
Caduceus Marketing Research (CMR), Mt. Arlington, N.J., is offering PCN Online, an on-line research vehicle which draws participants from its Physicians Consulting Network panel of more than 10,000 members in a range of medical specialties including allergists, pediatricians, neurologists and internists. Questionnaires are programmed on-line on CMR's Web site. Clients are able to view and approve their questionnaires via the Web site. After questionnaire approval, physicians are e-mailed an invitation to participate, along with a link to the questionnaire.
ARF offers integrated marketing book
The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), New York, has published The ABC's of IMC, a compilation of articles on integrated marketing communications (IMC). Although it's one of the most important developments in marketing, IMC has until recently been difficult to define, implement and measure. These articles are geared to helping business practitioners gain a better understanding of the factors necessary for a successful campaign. Articles range from the effect of integrated marketing communications strategy on globalization to addressing return-on-investment issues.
The book features articles from European experts such as professors Christian Gronroos and Patrick Barwise, and case studies from companies like Saturn and I-SOD-Flowers. The book's 36 articles are divided into four categories: So What Exactly is IMC?; Marketing in the 21st Century; Redefining the Marketing Communication Disciplines; and Implementing IMC - Advice and Case Studies.
Survey system designed for intranet or Internet
Manta Corporation announces the latest release of MantaINSIGHT. an enterprise-class survey and data collection software application with design features that allow the rapid creation and deployment of surveys within a corporate intranet or on the Internet.
MantaINSIGHT requires no programming to develop and deliver a complete survey. All elements of survey development are no more complicated than a word processor. Even dropping custom graphics or objects such as a video clip onto the question form is a point-and click procedure. Seven question types can collect the information required. In addition. MantaINSIGHT allows survey authors to create their own question type to improve the respondent experience and the results collected. Other specialized functions include lookups to external data such as Oracle or IBM's DBI2. instructional panels and multilingual surveys.
Respondents can complete a survey through standard browsers, or a Lotus Notes client. Programmable email notification triggers link them to the survey database. The system will also monitor survey status and send reminders. MantaINSIGHT can import respondent lists from external sources in multiple formats, including demographic information used as a basis for subsequent reporting. Survey responses can be exported in a variety of formats as well.
MantaINSIGHT has been tested to support more than 200,000 responses, 130,000 invited respondents and 1.500 questions within a single survey instance. The underlying architecture of the software has been optimized for use on a heavily used system.
Report analyzes effect of deregulation on Georgia's natural gas industry
Atlanta-based Energy Market Solutions has released an analysis of Georgia's natural gas deregulation process, aimed at answering the question "How will the events of Georgia's dynamic and blazingly fast natural gas deregulation change future utility deregulation?"
Georgia's deregulation model is setting a new precedent in utility deregulation and marketers' strategies. Other states are viewing Georgia as a national model to speed their customer conversion process. In California, 1 percent of electric customers switched suppliers after nine months of competition. In Georgia, over 42 percent of natural gas customers switched after only five months of competition.
The Energy Market Solutions study explains why and how deregulation occurred; the Georgia deregulation process; strategies, tactics and pricing schemes of key players; detailed profiles of players, quitters and influencers; and lessons learned.
Highlighted topics explain the effect of "anti cherry-picking" rules (and their effect on "interruptible" gas pricing strategies), the importance of understanding the long-term implications of the "rules of the game," and the impact of non-energy related competitors, such as Amway, entering a traditional utility game (an example of the long talked about "external threat").
The Natural Gas Deregulation Study is phase one of a two-phase project. The second phase, scheduled for fall 1999, will quantitatively survey both residential and commercial natural gas customer's switching characteristics, perceived performance and satisfaction ratings of the gas marketers and Atlanta Gas Light. Phase two will also identify interest in new services/products from gas marketers (bundling), and perception of deregulation as a whole.
Data management service for research firms
DSC Services. a Westlake Village. Calif.. data management outsource company, has introduced its Eclipse Info-Direct Process and Reporting Service. which allows research firms to take on excess work flow, quickly turn around rush jobs, and process reports that are too large to generate internally. The service is backed by the firm's Info-Direct System. which accepts multiple data formats and processes millions of records at a time. DSC customizes each report with charts and data tables.
Search engine accesses hidden Web sites
Linthicum. Md.-based powerize.com has relaunched its Web site (www.powerize.com) and introduced two Internet applications: a free business intelligence and research center, and a helper application for the major Web portals, including Yahoo!. Excite, Lycos, MSN, Netcenter, Go Network, Altavista, HotBot, Snap.com, and AOL.com, designed to determine product differences and evaluate panel performance.
Powerize.com is an aggregation of business content. featuring more than 32 million articles, profiles, reports, analyses. and other documents from more than 8,000 sources worldwide and including information about more than 11 million public and privatelyheld companies in the U.S. and abroad. Free extensive summaries are available for all documents, which are organized in 20 industry segments.
Powerize.com also provides access to scores of "hidden" Web sites which the major Web searcn portals can't access. These database-driven sites can't be indexed by the "spiders" the portals use to catalog the Web, but they can be searched in real-time by powerize.com's proprietary PowerLink technology. Among the hidden Web sites that are searchable through powerize.com are the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission's EDGAR database, and industry-specific sites such as Apparel.Net, Hospitality.Net, the Insurance News Network, and Manufacturing Marketplace.
To complement the free powerize.com site, powerize.com has also released version 1.0 of Powerize, a freely-downloadable software program that is a helper application for the Web's major search portals. The Powerize software powerizes the major search portals to find the business and investment information people need. With Powerize, users can simultaneously search powerize.com and their favorite search portal, and receive results from both in separate browser windows.
New QDA software from Tragon
The new Windows-based Interactive QDA software from Redwood City, Calif.-based Tragon Corp. features a menu-driven point and click format designed to determine product differences and evaluate panel performance. Most data capture systems produce files compatible with this program. Computer generated calculations simplify panel performance tracking and product decisions. Interactive plots are generated for direct color printing. Analyses include analysis of variance, discriminant analysis, factor analysis, correlations, and various mean separation tests. The new software, based on the S-Plus statistical package, automates the analysis, interpretation, and presentation of Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) research.
Windows-bsaed CBC from Sawtooth Software
Sawtooth Software, Sequim, Wash., has released Choice-Based Conjoint (CBC) version 2 for Windows. All aspects of questionnaire development and analysis are managed through the intuitive, point-and-click interface. Graphics and multimedia elements can be included in the conjoint interview. Capacity has been expanded to accommodate 10 attributes with up to 15 levels each. In addition to the logit module included in the base CBC system, data can be analyzed using CBC's advanced analysis modules: Latent Class and CBC/HB for hierarchical Bayes estimation. A demo version of the software is available from Sawtooth Software.
Hierarchical Bayes software for estimating part worths from choice data called CBC/HB is now also available from Sawtooth Software. Users do not need to own Sawtooth Software's CBC System for ChoiceBased Conjoint to use this tool. The CBC/HB Module reads choice data from and saves results to ASCII files It can analyze Choice-Based Conjoint, attribute-specific DCM, or partial-profile choice designs. A free technical paper describing the software is available for downloading from Sawtooth Software's home page at www.sawtoothsoftware.com.
In2form and In2quest updates from SPSS MR
Chicago-based SPSS MR has enhanced its In2form and In2quest software packages. For the first time, In2form is being offered as a standalone product that can be used as a front end, or interface, for any data collection package. In addition, In2form remains integrated with In2quest, the computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) package that employs a suite of software tools for designing and conducting surveys. With paper surveys being the most popular survey method worldwide, In2form also produces paper questionnaires in Microsoft Word, either through installed templates, or in tandem with a house style. Benefits of the upgrade include: availability of In2form as a stand-alone product; improved paper-assisted personal interviewing (PAPI) functions; enhanced import and export functions.
New version of Perception Analyzer
Columbia Information Systems (CIS), a Portland, Ore. maker of interactive group communication technology, has released WinPA Version 6.0 for the Perception Analyzer (PA), a wireless, dial-based system. The PA is used for focus groups and mixed quantitative/ qualitative sessions in the fields of media and political research, ad testing, and almost all other types of research. The WinPA 6.0 software upgrade offers advanced survey research options, changes and enhancements for the moment-tomoment (MTM) question type, and several additions in the realm of ease of use and operation. One example of an advanced survey research option is the new Seating Chart result screen. It shows results for each respondent in the relative positions he or she occupies around the focus group table. This makes it easy for the moderator, as well as the clients behind the glass, to visualize individual answers and opinions. Another example is the "Not Applicable" (NA) option for both scale and discrete question types, which removes NA respondents from the percentage base. Also new are user defined scale options for scale questions, a multiple response summary screen, and live data weighting.
Study profiles Israeli tech firms
BetaSphere, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., has released results of an in-depth survey of 65 Israeli technoJogy companies attempting to penetrate the U.S. market. Israel, a country less than half the size of Maine, is home to nearly 3,000 high-tech companies. The majority have fewer than 100 employees, and many identify the U.S. as their primary target market. Since little has been written about the role of U.S. customer feedback in Israeli product development and marketing, BetaSphere surveyed Israeli companies to understand how they find prospective customers, beta users, and partners; how U.S. customer feedback influences product development; and how Israeli marketers assess U.S. acceptance of their products and services.
New on-line tool for researching physicians
London-based IMS HEALTH has launched FASTview, a high-speed research tool that enables pharmaceutical and health care companies to perform on-line physician research over the Internet and obtain survey results within 24 hours. In partnership with Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Physicians' Online (POL), an on-line medical information and communication network for physicians, IMS HEALTH's latest technology solution combines its pool of prescriber-level profiling information with POL's Internet access to 200,000 doctors in the United States. IMS HEALTH is a provider of information solutions to the pharmaceutical and health care industries.
FASTview delivers broad physician access and focused targeting of specific sample groups. It provides companies with answers to business questions that require quick market feedback - from introducing a new pharmaceutical product and testing a new promotional message to responding to negative publicity and fending off competitive threats.
In addition to providing rapid responses, the alliance between IMS HEALTH and Physicians' Online provides the opportunity to target specific physician groups for Internet research projects. This new targeting capability allows pharmaceutical companies to create customized samples that focus on the highest-value physician audience for their research needs. Through IMS HEALTH's Xponent Profiler - a source of physicianlevel prescribing activity - clients are able to select the exact physician audience to include in a research project.