Marketing in Real Life

As a huge fan of LinkedIn, I am very excited to say that Invoke Solutions is among the first companies to have access to LinkedIn members for research purposes. Using our Engage Open methodology, we'll be able to target business respondents and get their valuable qualitatative and quantitative input for our clients.

If you like this blog I think you'll enjoy an upcoming free webinar from Invoke Solutions, featuring Forrester Research’s Principal Analyst Brad Bortner: Merging Qualitative and Quantitative Research for Better, Faster, Product, Communications, and Positioning Insights December 10, 2008 at Noon ET Register here: https://invoke.webex.com/invoke/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=486505370 Invoke Solutions, a pioneer in online research, will be joined by Forrester Research’s Principal Analyst Brad Bortner, for a webinar about using innovative approaches to deliver better, faster, more cost effective research that supports specific product, communications and positioning decisions. Together, Brad and Invoke’s Peter Mackey will define some of the changes in today’s research environment that have altered the optimal modes for data collection and analysis. They will specifically be focusing on Invoke’s breakthrough solutions that gather qualitative and quantitative data at once, turn projects aroun...

Along the lines of the prior post. Our friends over at Chadwick Martin Bailey have a great article up about the value of Net Promoter Scores and what you can find in verbatims that goes beyond simple quantitative measures. Their VP of Retail and eCommerce, Brant Cruz (the self proclaimed funniest man in research) says simply: "We’ve learned firsthand about how important this is recently with one of our clients: verbatims picked up an important pain point (and improvement opportunities) related to a business change that would have been completely missed in a more traditional tracking instrument." Read the full article here. Traditional quant has its place, but no one can doubt the power and insight that comes from hearing customers' voices through rich verbatims (especially in an easy to use format like Invoke .)

A recent post over on the "Church of the Customer" Blog spoke about how the writer was asked to participate in a survey and obliged but felt that it was sorely lacking and wanted to drop off after the second question because it was boring, repetitive, and he didn't feel like he was giving valuable feedback. He suggests trimming it back to 4 main questions: Would you recommend? Explain why you answered that way. How would you describe the company? What can we do to improve? In general I agree. Surveys are too long and still fail to ask the key questions that people want to answer. he also unknowingly suggests a qual - quant survey design. But even more important, he makes the case for an interactive experience where customers and prospects feel like they are actually communicating with a company not just filling out a survey. That's the whole basis for what we do at Invoke and why after a "non-live" experience with our Engage open methodology, peop...

For the past few years I have been very intrigued by the power of word of mouth, starting from work I was involved in at Chadwick Martin Bailey creating presentations about advocacy and conducting a “marketing” project that attached dollars to word of mouth in the travel and hospitality industry. Soon after I was hoping to work at BzzAgent , a leading WOM marketing agency before joining Invoke. There are many good companies that are focused on measuring word of mouth or at a minimum embed it in their research designs. But without using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research its impossible to really understand what people are doing and why. Download the 13 page report here and let me know what you are doing to drive word of mouth for your business.

While some people still are still hesitant about online qualitative research, our friends at Maritz Research have layed out some of the most viable options, including their qual-quant Dynamic Insights (powered by Invoke) offering. Certainly there are still times when focus groups or one on one interviews serve the need, but don't forget that as the internet and internet usage evolves it is creating more and more opportunities to get great insights from consumers online. Read the article here.

I was just reading an article in this month's AMP Agency Frequency Newsletter that talks about a new automated customer service strategy being used at Ikea (love that store!). From the newsletter:"IKEA Website users are introduced to Anna, an automated online assistant, who not only is helpful but also has a sense of humor. When I asked about warranties, she automatically changed the browser to the correct section of the site. Then, when asked if she preferred cats or dogs, Anna told me 'Thanks for asking, but I’m only here to answer questions about IKEA so I don’t have any outside interests.'” This is one example of an automated process working correctly. In research I have seen a wide array of automated interactions and most fail in my opinion (Like Socrates) because they are following a set of questioning that is supposed to be one on one, leaving little margin for error. That's why Invoke's Engage Open platform simulates a group environment, allowing for qu...