ASW and CyberGoid debut research services for Internet advertisers
Audits & Surveys Worldwide (ASW), New York, has entered into a strateic alliance with CyberGold, Inc., to provide Internet advertisers with marketing research services. Internet advertisers can now learn whether their target audience responds to their message and develop a profile of those who do and do not respond. Using CyberGold’s Web marketing system, ASW will be able to sample consumers with specific characteristics which more precisely target an Internet advertiser’s audience. ASW expects to enhance Internet survey participation rates through the use of CyberGold online incentives. ASW will also provide CyberGold advertisers with independent verification of Internet ad image, message retention, audience demographics and purchase intentions. CyberGold has developed a "pay for performance" system that enables marketers to attract and reward consumers who respond to surveys, advertisements, purchase/rebate offers, loyalty programs, registration drives and other marketing campaigns on any Web site. CyberGold’s software handles reward fulfillment and tracking, charging marketers only when consumers complete the requirements for each offer.
E-QUEST tells why people visit a Web site
Elrick & Lavidge, Atlanta, has introduced E-QUEST, a new line of Internet research services designed to tell marketers why people visit their site. Results can be posted almost instantaneously and made available via E-mail or posted on secure pages that only clients can use. E-QUEST can act as a stand-alone service or can be combined in any number of ways with the company’s traditional marketing research services. The E-QUEST services comprise Web surveys, E-mail surveys, on-line focus groups and proprietary client marketing research resource Web sites.
Site features links to 3,000 magazines
Direct Contact Publishing, publisher of The U.S. All Media E-Mail Directory, has a new Web site featuring links to over 3,000 on-line magazine sites. The site’s address is http://www.owt.com/dircon.
Packaging report from The Consumer Network
The 1997 Package Performance and Consumer Expectations Report is now available from The Consumer Network, Philadelphia. The report includes: findings about how consumers see and judge packaging; performance ratings on 16 food and 24 non-food categories; packaging suggestions; information on how improvements impact product satisfaction and the role of package performance in value perceptions. The report is based on two rounds of package research with 730 supermarket shoppers; best package nominations from 2,500 supermarket shoppers; the development of a Package Performance Index; and analysis and recommendations informed by packaging focus groups and workshops.
Saja updates Survey Select
Survey Select 1.5 survey development software is now available from Saja Software, Inc., Longmont, Colo. New features allow for the export of survey answers to a variety of spreadsheet and database programs, including Microsoft Excel and Access, and Lotus 1-2-3. Survey Select is a Windows-based product that allows users to administer surveys on hard copy, via stand-alone or networked PC or on diskette. The progam features three modules: Survey Designer, Survey Administration and Survey Analysis. Users can create a survey from scratch or select from a question database. They can choose from a variety of rating scale types, including agree/ disagee, openended, yes/no, multiple choice, true/false and others. Dual scales are also available. The Survey Designer module gives users a head start on survey design with eight pre-configured survey templates and more than 500 archived questions that are categorized by topic. After the survey is created and administered, the Survey Analysis module allows the user to compile and analyze the data in a variety of formats. Standard statistical information, graphics, open-ended question analysis (through a key-word search engine) and gap analysis are all available.
Software generates probability sample for Web research
Researchers looking to conduct a probability sample for Web research can now use Pop-Up Survey (for example, every 100th visitor). When the Nth visitor browses the site, a small Java window pops into view asking the user if they would complete a short on-line survey after they finish browsing the site. The visitor can then complete the survey or decline to participate with a mouse click.
New qualitative service goes where consumers are
Doyle Research Associates, Inc., Chicago, has introduced ShopTalk, a custom research service that conducts qualitative research wherever a client’s product or service is used or sold, be it at home, an entertainment venue or in a retail environment. ShopTalk provides clients an opportunity to observe the unconscious behavior of consumers’ routines, patterns and habits, rather than relying exclusively on self-reported behavior.
Smart Viewer gives SPSS users viewing flexibility
SPSS Inc., Chicago, now offers SPSS Smart Viewer, a product that allows users to distribute reports "live" for further pivoting, viewing, formatting and printing. All vital information can now be electronically distributed in one file. Multiple reports can be condensed into a single table which can be reformatted and pivoted to suit the receiver’s needs. Smart Viewer enables users to electronically publish SPSS for Windows output to their customers and colleagues. It provides instantaneous delivery of information via the World Wide Web, E-mail or diskette. For example, a company can distribute sales reports or employee satisfaction surveys to all department managers, allowing them to cut and shape reports to their own specifications. In addition to SPSS Smart Viewer, SPSS is also releasing SPSS Viewer, a view-only product which is downloadable from the SPSS Web site (http://www.spss.com). The SPSS Viewer is an easy, no-cost way for anyone to print or view SPSS results files on their desktop without owning or operating SPSS for Windows.
On-line focus groups, surveys from RCI
Research Connections, Inc. (RCI), Westfield, N.J., has introduced two new on-line research services, Focus Connect and Quest Connect. Focus Connect is a virtual focus goup facility located at RCI’s Web site. Using customized software, Focus Connect goups are conducted on a secure Web server so that participants can meet in cyberspace for virtually any research purpose. The on-line groups are password-protected so that only recruited respondents can participate in their assigned group. Participant comments are seen by the entire goup while private messages can be sent to the moderator by individuals and client observers. In addition, managers at the client company who might not normally be able to attend location-dependent focus goups can log in from their offices to follow the goups.
With Quest Connect, RCI can deploy an on-line questionnaire, collect results and report them to clients within 24 hours. The surveys can be created to pose virtually any type of question with logic included for skip patterns, conditional branching, random question and answer rotations, ranking and multiple answers. Responses can also be checked for valid data such as whole vs. decimal numbers, constant sum calculations, numeric ranges and blank entries. Respondents are recruited on-line, by phone or E-mail as well as from RCI’s respondent panel. The Quest Connect survey engine is based on standard Web page scripting language so surveys can be mounted on any Web server, either RCI’s or the client’s. Participants can take as much time as they like to complete the survey, but the survey engine ensures that each respondent answers every question. The results are collected automatically at the Web site and, in most cases, each day’s results can be tabulated and transmitted to the client the day after they are collected.