Editor’s note: Susan Meier Roth is a product manager at Greenfield Online, Inc., a Westport, Conn., full-service marketing research firm.
What do a high-tech company, a gift shop that features items from the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and a giant telecommunications company have in common? Like all successful companies in today’s business world, they want to know what will motivate consumers to buy their products and come back for more. And they want to get this information at a good price and quickly enough to show results in the next business quarter, if possible.
Whether your challenge is to improve marketing strategies for consumer goods, hard goods, financial services, telecommunications or high-tech products and services, the common message in this issue of Quirk’s is that online marketing research will help you get closer to your consumers and stay ahead of the competition.
Last year in this space we wholeheartedly endorsed online research and posited that it would revolutionize how consumer marketing research is conducted. Now, major corporations across the globe have embraced the Internet to conduct traditional quantitative studies and focus groups. In the last six months, we have seen acceptance levels by major corporations skyrocket. They now agree that Internet-based research methods can deliver accurate information needed to underpin solid marketing decisions. In fact, recently we have seen a trend toward "quasitative" solutions in which online surveying is combined with online focus groups to deliver hard and soft data as a package.
But when it comes to Internet technology, there is always something new to consider. A hot approach today is to let the Internet tie you directly to the consumers who can give you the answers you crave. Like pennies from heaven, let the ideas flow directly from users or potential users directly into your corporate headquarters, R&D department, or advertising agency. Our firm calls this capability MindStorm™ - the Online Think Tank™.
We will discuss three examples of companies that successfully used MindStorm to solve a business problem - Spencer Gifts Online, a division of Universal Studios Online; Cross Pen Computing; and Media One - and also provide guidance about when to use on-line brainstorming vs. online focus groups.
How it works
With MindStorm, Greenfield Online assembles a group of online participants meeting the client’s specifications. These participants are asked to log on to a special part of our Web site to view a series of questions that evolve over a period of days. MindStorm uses a threaded response procedure. This means that respondents can react to and build upon each other’s ideas.
It is possible to insert graphics, and audio or video for feedback. Or the client can ask us to have respondents check out other Web sites - such as the client’s competitors - and comment on what they like or dislike about the other company’s products or services.
Sessions are monitored by facilitators experienced in leading interactive online sessions. Generally, the client also is able to monitor, direct and stimulate new questions and directions.
Brainstorming online vs. online focus groups
In choosing between online brainstorming and online focus groups, it’s helpful to know the advantages of each and apply the one that best meets the objectives of your study.
An online focus group is a real-time interaction, which lasts about 90 minutes or so. Focus groups work to your advantage when you are looking for initial reactions to concepts, graphics, Web sites, etc. Respondents can be pretty succinct in online groups because of the nature of the methodology.
If you want in-depth responses and have a weighty agenda, online brainstorming may be a better option because you will be able to spend more time and cover more material. The respondents are able to provide more information because they are logging in at their leisure and spending as much time as they want on each question.
Case study #1 - How Cross Pen Computing Group repositioned its new product, Cross Pad
The Cross Pen Computing Group and its New York advertising agency, Ellenson Group, wanted to improve the customer appeal of a new product, CrossPad. A MindStorm session was conducted to supplement other offline qualitative marketing research.
Launched last April, CrossPad is an electronic notepad that comes in two sizes, letter-size and 6x9 inches. A special digital pen transmits handwriting electronically to the pad, allowing the user to draw or take notes that can be instantly uploaded into a personal computer.
The company and its agency wanted to get feedback about potential new product uses, target opportunities, and reactions to CrossPad’s current advertising. Pricing also was an issue.
The company wanted input from some "creative consumers." We assembled an online group of 20 consumers who were known to be early adopters of high-tech products for the online dialog about CrossPad’s features and benefits.
We arranged for digital copies of The Ellenson Group’s CrossPad ad layouts to be placed into the password-protected MindStorm area of our Web site. Erik Olson, a Greenfield Consulting Group moderator, guided the week-long online brainstorming session. The session elicited a wealth of product concept and benefit ideas. The key finding was that marketing messages should emphasize the product’s usefulness to consumers who were active note-takers.
The original advertising campaign had targeted heavy computer users, using computer usage as the logical "door in" for any computer peripheral. The research, coupled with some additional online quantitative research and offline qualitative research, helped evolve the CrossPad target to "heavy note-takers," people who take a lot of notes and frequently refer back to them. This was critical learning, which proved very valuable in developing second-phase strategies.
"We were impressed by the fresh perspectives and out-of-the-box thinking from the ‘creative consumers’ and have incorporated some of this new thinking in our work," says Brian Mullins of the Cross Pen Computing Group.
Case study #2 -- How Media One Express launched the Music Zone Web site with consumer feedback
The company had a very tight budget and timeline to get this e-commerce site launched, yet it believed it was crucial to have customer feedback so the site would meet expectations and be successful right away.
Music lovers of the type Media One wanted were identified from the Greenfield Online research panel. The initial MindStorm session probed musical preferences, initial reactions to the Music Zone concept and feedback on some existing music-related Web sites. Later, the company re-recruited the same respondents and had them visit a beta version of the Music Zone site to get feedback.
This feedback, at a critical moment in development, proved invaluable to the final design. Media One was able to compare ideas based on respondent reactions to real Web sites linked into the discussion. The company felt participants were very open and articulate about issues critical to the future success of the site. Just a week prior to launch, the company was able to make adjustments to the site so that it truly met consumer needs and expectations.
Case study #3 -- How Spencer Gifts Online fine-tuned its Web site
Imagine you are trying to develop a Web site that will appeal to a very hip audience. You want not only Generation X (mid-20s+) but also Generation Y (teens to early 20s). Spencer Gifts Online, a division of Universal Studios Online, created a Web site (www.spencergifts.com) that bills itself as "Your Shagadelic Online Shopping Source!" and features the character Austin Powers from the film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
The company ran a double MindStorm session that lasted five days; one session to assess what current customers thought of their approach and the gift items offered and one session to test the site with non-customers who had never visited before. Tracy Wain of Spencer Gifts told us that the transcripts delivered after the sessions were over were very helpful in positioning the site. Our response to the company’s enthusiasm was, to quote Austin Powers, "Smashing, baby!"