••• pharma research
Pesky no more
Pharma sales reps find favor worldwide among physicians 
A whopping 93.8 percent of physicians worldwide find sales representative calls useful and of value to their practice, according to Paris research company Cegedim Strategic Data (CSD). This 93.8 percent includes 33.3 percent who find rep calls very useful and of value and 60.5 percent who find them somewhat useful and of value. The remaining 6.2 percent represents those physicians who find visits from reps not at all useful or of value to their practice.
CSD selected 11 pharmaceutical markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, U.K., Brazil, Russia, India, China, U.S. and Japan) and analyzed their results, focusing on the extreme scores.
Physicians in Russia and Brazil showed a keen interest in rep calls, with the highest “very useful and of value” score at 47.7 percent and 46 percent, respectively. For Russian physicians there seems to be no question of the legitimacy of rep interaction, with only 0.4 percent considering the rep call not at all useful.
Japanese physicians seemed the least convinced, with the lowest “very useful” score of 17.1 percent. Nevertheless, 75.1 percent of Japanese physicians still find rep calls somewhat useful.
Two of the main European markets, France and Italy, showed the highest scores for “not at all useful or of value” at 15.4 and 9.3 percent, respectively. However, overall usefulness (very useful and somewhat useful) in these two countries remains high, with France at 84.6 percent and Italy at 90.7 percent.
Although the general trend in the U.S. is sales force-level reductions, rep calls are still considered influential by U.S. physicians, with 97.9 percent finding them useful. Of that number, 44 percent see them as very useful and only 2.1 percent of U.S. physicians find visits from sales representatives not at all useful.
Overall, the study does not show distinct differences between the more mature and emerging markets, despite the current scaling up of sales force and marketing investments in the emerging pharmaceutical markets. For example China’s results show 31.2 percent “very useful,” 63.4 percent “somewhat useful” and 5.5 percent “not at all useful.”
www.cegedimstrategicdata.com
••• millennials research
Talk to me, not at me
Social media is for communication, not shopping
Millennials may be the tech-savviest generation yet, spending more time surfing the Web and on social media than they do watching TV, listening to radio or reading newspapers but they still use and value traditional media, according to Ypulse, a New York research company. In fact, when students were shopping for back-to-school items, they most preferred to hear about deals or specials via regular mail, e-mail, TV and newspaper ads rather than via Facebook pages or ads, text alerts or Twitter messages.
The primary function of social media is communication, not shopping, which means Millennials aren’t necessarily going on such sites to look for ads to aid in their purchase decisions. Still, they expect brands to be on social media. Two-thirds say a brand being on social media shows it cares about their generation and 56 percent think social media is a great way to find out what’s new with brands they like. That may be why 64 percent have Liked a brand on Facebook, following an average of 10 brands or companies.
“Students clearly use social media to connect with brands but they don’t want to be bombarded by sales and deal information,” says Melanie Shreffler, Ypulse editor-in-chief.
Minor adjustments, such as phrasing an ad as a conversation instead of an announcement, make a big difference in how they are received. But brands can also talk to Millennials too much. The most common reasons Millennials decide to stop following brands online are the brand sends too many messages (59 percent); stopped liking the brand or store (14 percent); wanted their social network to be more personal/for friends (12 percent); and not enough sales or promotion offers (10 percent).
www.ypulse.com
••• social media research
This privacy policy passes
Most Facebook users comfortable with personal information shared online
Security of personal information on the Internet has been an ongoing concern, especially for social networking sites. Atlanta research company Poll Position conducted a telephone study among Facebook users, asking if they are comfortable with the personal information they provide on the site. A full 70 percent said they were comfortable with personal information they give out. Twenty-three percent were not comfortable with the information provided on Facebook and 7 percent had no opinion.
Young people were far more comfortable than older people. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, 81 percent of Facebook users said they were OK with the personal information they provide on Facebook, while 19 percent were not. Of Facebook users in the 65-and-older category, just 50 percent felt comfortable with personal information provided, 27 percent did not and 23 percent had no opinion.
Women felt more comfortable than men, with 74 percent of women saying it was OK, versus 63 percent of men who said they felt comfortable with the personal info they provide on Facebook.
www.pollposition.com
••• auto research
Taking their time
New-vehicle buyers pleased with lengthier, more informative sales process
Satisfaction with the new-vehicle sales process has improved notably from 2010, despite an 11-minutes-longer sales process, according to Westlake Village, Calif., research company J.D. Power and Associates’ 2011 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index Study. Overall sales satisfaction averaged 648 on a 1,000-point scale in 2011, an improvement of 13 points over 2010. This gain suggests that, as market conditions improve, automotive manufacturers and dealers are placing renewed focus on and investment in providing buyers with satisfying retail experiences.
The study is a comprehensive analysis of the new-vehicle purchase experience and measures customer satisfaction with the selling dealer (satisfaction among buyers). It also measures satisfaction with brands and dealerships that were shopped but ultimately rejected in favor of the selling brand and dealership (satisfaction among rejecters).
Among buyers, satisfaction is examined across four measures (listed in order of importance): working out the deal (17 percent); salesperson (13 percent); delivery process (11 percent); and dealership facility (10 percent). Among rejecters, satisfaction is examined across five measures: salesperson (20 percent); fairness of price (12 percent); facility (6 percent); inventory (6 percent); and experience negotiating (5 percent).
All measures improved notably over 2010, with the greatest gain in the delivery process, despite the fact that the average length of time to complete the delivery portion of a new-vehicle sale increased by four minutes to an average of 32 minutes in 2011, from an average of 28 minutes in 2010. Overall, the average length of time a buyer spends at the dealership has increased by 11 minutes, to 4.3 hours in 2011 from 4.1 hours in 2010.
A primary reason for the lengthened delivery process is the increasing proportion of buyers who are receiving more in-depth demonstrations of technology in their new vehicle (including audio, entertainment, navigation and communications systems). Approximately 88 percent of buyers in 2011 said they received a technology demonstration at vehicle delivery.
“Although technology demonstrations add time to the delivery process, those explanations substantially improve satisfaction, as well as customer loyalty and advocacy,” says Jim Gaz, director, automotive research, J.D. Power and Associates. “It would intuitively seem that buyers are most satisfied when the sales process is completed in the shortest amount of time possible. However, buyers actually appreciate it when sales staff spends additional time with them, as long as that time provides them with added value.”
Lexus ranked highest among luxury brands in satisfaction with the new-vehicle buying experience, followed by Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz. The luxury brands with the greatest improvement from 2010 are Lincoln (moving from ninth rank position to sixth) and Audi (moving from 11th to ninth).
MINI ranked highest among mass-market brands for a second consecutive year, followed by Buick and GMC. The mass-market brands with the greatest improvement from 2010 were Volkswagen (moving from 13th rank position to fourth), Scion (moving from 11th to fifth) and Nissan (moving from 18th to 12th).
www.jdpower.com
••• restaurant research
Local business? Get the ’Net
Internet leads the pack of info sources on local companies
Consumers looking for information about local restaurants and other businesses say they rely on the Internet, especially search engines, ahead of any other source, according to Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet and American Life Project, Washington, D.C. However, newspapers, both printed copies and the Web sites of newspaper companies, run second behind the Internet as the source that people rely on for news and information about local businesses, including restaurants and bars. Word of mouth, particularly among non-Internet users, is also an important source of information.
Some 55 percent of adults say they seek news and information about local restaurants, bars and clubs. When searching, here are the sources they say they rely on most: 51 percent turn to the Internet, including search engines (38 percent), specialty Web sites (17 percent) and social media (3 percent); 31 percent rely on newspapers, including printed copies (26 percent) and newspaper Web sites (5 percent); 23 percent rely on word-of-mouth; and 8 percent rely on local TV, either broadcasts or Web sites.
Sixty percent of adults say they seek news and information about local businesses other than restaurants and bars. When they do, 47 percent say they rely most on the Internet, including search engines (36 percent), specialty Web sites (16 percent) and social media (1 percent); 30 percent rely most on newspapers, including printed newspapers (29 percent) and newspaper Web sites (2 percent); 22 percent rely on word-of-mouth from family and friends; 8 percent rely on local TV, either broadcasts or the Web sites of local stations; and 5 percent rely on local radio.
The 55 percent of adults who get information about restaurants, bars and clubs are more likely to be women, young adults, urban and technology adopters. The 60 percent of adults who get information about other local businesses are also more likely to be tech users. Those who get information about local businesses that are not tied to eating or socializing are a diverse and somewhat upscale group and are more likely to have college or advanced degrees, live in relatively high-earning households, use the Internet and own cell phones. They are not distinct by gender or race and ethnicity.
Additionally, Pew asked people if they got local news and information on their cell phones and 47 percent of all adults said they did. Those mobile consumers were also more likely than others to get material about local businesses, as 65 percent of mobile local news consumers got information about local businesses, compared with 55 percent of others.
www.pewinternet.com
••• consumer research
Profiles of culinary prowess
Younger homemakers rate their cooking skills higher than do older peers
When U.S. homemakers assess their own cooking skills from fair to excellent, age and years of cooking experience don’t necessarily translate into a higher skill level. Sixty percent of homemakers ages 25-34 and 57 percent of homemakers ages 35-44 rated their cooking skills as very good compared to 50 percent of homemakers ages 45-54 and 65+ who also rated their skills at that level, according to the Kitchen Audit 2011 from Port Washington, N.Y., research company The NPD Group.
Only a small percentage of homemakers, across all age groups, rated their cooking skills as excellent. The highest percentage of homemakers (16 percent) rating their skills as excellent was in the 55-64 age group, and the lowest percentage (10 percent) was in the 25-34 age group.
Additionally, four in 10 homemakers/respondents use a recipe once a week or more to make any kind of dish and a cookbook owned for more than two years is the top recipe source. One percent of respondents use a recipe from a mobile phone app once every two-to-six months.
www.npd.com