Hello IWYS readers!

One of the goal’s of marketing research is to better understand what customers want (or don’t want) and develop or adjust products and services accordingly.

We’ve all seen products or services that obviously did their homework, really NAILED IT, and delivered something of real value to their customers.  Unfortunately, all too often we also see companies that obviously didn’t do their homework and MISSED IT.

Today’s challenge is for you to highlight an example of a company that either “Nailed it”  OR  “Missed it” and tell us why.

Please think like a researcher and explain either what they must have learned (via research?) about their customers in order to NAIL IT,

OR

what they didn’t understand about them (maybe due to a lack of research?) that has caused them to MISS IT

The winner of the best example get’s a $100 Amazon card just for sharing.

Good luck!

Marketing researchers tend to travel more than most. We always seem to be traveling to a focus group, conference or client meeting.  This week  I was in Denver for a speaking engagement at Pearson’s Cite 2011 educational conference.

As part of my prep i went out and bought a new wireless remote control PPT clicker, you know, the little devices you can use to control your presentation without being next to your computer the entire time.

The model i bought was made by Targus and REALLY impressed me.  The unit had a hidden area under the battery door to not only hold an EXTRA or SPARE battery but also a special slot to hold the little USB piece that plugs into your computer.  Losing that damn little USB plug for my old remote is what caused me to need a new device in the first place.  Having a spare battery helps relieve some of the anxiety that all presenters have, essentially that IF something can go wrong it will.

All of this reminded me that many companies DO listen to what their customers need and then actually deliver on it.

Maybe Targus did formal marketing research, maybe they didn’t, either way they managed to develop a smarter product that better met the customers needs.

Hats off to all those companies that realize the value of learning what customers like and what they don’t.  Go Targus!

OK -it’s been months in the works and we are excited to say it’s finally here!

What is it? Thought Navigation! (ThoughtNav for short)

An online system for conducting focus groups without the need to travel or eat stale peanuts and it’s called ThoughtNav.com

Today on IWYS Aperio Insights is officially announcing ThoughtNav is available and ready to help companies learn more about their customers without the cost and delay of travel or booking rooms with one-way mirrors.

Today’s IWYS give away will be a $100 Amazon gift card for the person who comes up with the best tag line OR short (1-2 sentence) description for the Aperio Insights ThoughtNav service.

Post your entries on the AperioInsights.com blog and good luck!

Mike

This counter intuitive title was the name of a panel at a recent SXSW Interactive 2011 session I attended.  I wasn’t even sure researchers would be allowed in the door as I initially assumed it was somehow an anti-research discussion. It turned out to be a great session that reminded me of the power of observation. Let me explain.

Many times when we think about marketing research we think about two things: Surveys and focus groups. These are the two most common tools that market researchers use to understand what consumers are thinking.

The SXSW session reminded me of something we often forget – simple observation.  Sometimes we can get ahead of ourselves and focus on topics that aren’t as relevant to the tasks the customer is trying to accomplish.  Simply taking a step back and watching them use your product or service can better set the stage for a later discussion.

The session included examples of research being done by Twitter on how people use their service.  The research setup was simple – a computer for the user, one for the researcher to take notes and a camera to capture it all. The interesting part was that twitter piped the video feed to a projector on the wall of the room where designers and developers worked side by side. They could observe and follow the users progression through a set of tasks and make note of the actions they were trying to accomplish as well as what steps they took to complete each task.  Real world users simply being watched in real time for long enough to identify patterns of behavior that twitter could improve.

Some of what customers do seems normal and appropriate until they are shown a solution that makes that process simpler.  Asking a user what they would change might not elicit any concerns about even obvious steps or processes if they have learned to consider them as normal and routine.

For example, when I was a teenager one of my first cars was a true clunker. I was so happy to have a car that ran (most of the time) that I eventually became oblivious and unaware of the little quirks that didn’t work. Back then if you had asked me what I’d like to improve about that car I’d probably have wished for a better paint job or nicer rims.

I wouldn’t have mentioned that the driver side inside door handle didn’t work – I had to roll down the window and open it from the outside, roll the window back up and shut the door.  I also didn’t have a very accurate/consistent gas gauge – no problem really, all I had to do was bounce on the rear bumper a few times to make sure the float in the gas tank wasn’t jammed and was giving me a proper reading.

And yet, what did I notice and appreciate most in my next car? Yup, working door handles and gas gauges. Talked about them for months.

The point of this is that as a user of that particular car I had become so used to how things worked that I couldn’t see that a better option existed.  Asking me what needed to be improved wouldn’t have yielded as much information as observing me.

Don’t limit yourself to just asking questions. Stop and observe what users are doing long enough to identify patterns of behavior. We become accustomed to things that don’t always make sense.  Opportunity exists when someone realizes that and comes up with a better way.

It’s that time of year when our thoughts turn to evaluating the past and predicting the future. I’ve always been a sucker for “trend” articles that try to explain what might happen and why.  As a researcher I’m often tasked with trying to measure or predict the likely future response to a new product or service which is harder than it sounds. So many variables are involved and even the slightest change can make or break it.  Here is a link to an interesting report on some of the upcoming digital trends for 2011.  Enjoy!

http://trends2011.clickhere.com/

Research on Research

When I was a kid I remember hearing the phrase “the cobbler’s kids have no shoes”.  The premise being that we get so busy with our work that we tend to put off doing for ourselves the very things we do for others.

When you spend your time knee deep in research projects for others it’s easy to forget the need to do research for yourself.  As I sit here on Sunday afternoon trying to figure out how to engage the IWYS readers on Monday this idea came to me.  Let’s do a little “research on research”.

As research experts we know marketing research works.  It can uncover new opportunities and reduce risks. We’ve helped companies go from zero to millions on the basis of good, common sense research.  It gives business advantages that can make the difference between success and failure.

And yet many organizations still don’t use it.  Why?

Seriously, why?

Even if you don’t have the funds to hire a full service research firm like Aperio Insights, there is plenty you can do even when sticking to a tight budget.

• What is it that’s holding you back from doing a little Do It Yourself (DIY) market research?
• What does “market research” even mean to you?
• What would make it better or more useful?
• If research could help you answer ANY business question you could think of, what would you ask?

Give us your feedback on ANY of the above questions and let us help.  We’ll sort through the web site blog comments , facebook posts and tweets  and write up a white paper that answers the top 8 or 10 common issues that would help and encourage you to do your own research.

What’s in it for you?

In addition to the white paper (give us about a week to create something worthwhile that addresses your comments), we’d love to give away some DIY research assistance (and perhaps a little bit more).

How about this, 3 winners will each get:

• A one hour phone consultation to help you define your business issues
• Help writing a short survey to explore your new idea or business issue
• $200 in credits on AskYourTargetMarket.com to launch your survey and collect feedback .  (AskYourTargetMarket.com is an easy to use survey platform with a built-in panel of US consumers who can answer your survey – no more asking your relatives to fill out your questionnaire, etc. They have the list of respondents, and you can even specify what type of consumers you want to respond)
• One hour follow up discussion to go over the results

This is a real offer; you’ll get real research help with no strings.

How will we pick the winners?

We’ll pick ONE winner at random.  As researchers we know a lot about probability and statistics and we take our random picks very seriously.

We’ll pick TWO winners among the posts from people who offer thoughtful questions or comments.

So say something random OR increase your odds of winning and say something thoughtful.

We’ll also be in the chat sessions this afternoon with Jason and Evan and available to answer your research questions (and maybe give away an extra prize or two).

We look forward to your comments!

(Editor’s note: Mike Courtney is the founder of Aperio Insights. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)

Original link to article and venture beat comments is here http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/27/how-to-determine-if-your-idea-is-worth-the-effort/#disqus_thread

Ideas are cheap.

As entrepreneurs, we’ve got a constant flow of ‘em. They’re new. They’re innovative. And any one of them might be the next “big” thing.

We love to brainstorm. It’s in our DNA. But simply having ideas doesn’t make us entrepreneurs. In fact, ideas without action are usually called “dreams”.

Deciding which ideas to pull from the pile and dedicate resources toward is tough. As Eric Ries’ Lean Startup movement has spread, “ferocious customer-centric rapid iteration” has become the mantra of the majority of this year’s web startups.  But, how do you start testing and validating an idea?  Do you have to build a minimum viable product (MVP) or prototype?  What’s the cost of creating and testing an MVP for your idea?

Market research has been around a long time (even before web 1.0) and is still the gold standard tool for big business.  The problem is most startups and small businesses have traditionally been unable to afford the formal processes larger companies use. And even if they could, the process often takes weeks or months to develop, execute and analyze.

That doesn’t mean they should abandon the idea, though.

Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint.com, validated his early ideas before he built them by hanging out at the train station in Mountain View, “We tried different feature sets, before we built most of this stuff, just on paper. We went to the train station and asked normal people what they thought.”

The point is: Feedback can come from anywhere. And it can be a time- and money-saver to get a sense for what potential customers want before committing resources to an idea.

Additionally, there are many DIY online survey tools – such as Zoomerang or Survey Monkey – that let you craft and launch detailed surveys on your own. The trick to these is figuring out how to get enough responses from the right respondents.

Optimally, you’ll have a good customer or contact list. Barring that, your social community on Facebook, your blog or some other circle can be helpful – but it’s critical that they represent your target market. In other words, don’t send the survey about new women’s yoga classes to your uncle Fred, he might not be the target segment (or he might try to help by responding more than once – also not good).

For more formal surveying, you can buy access to a research panel to answer your survey.  Traditional online panel companies like e-Rewards or Survey Sampling Inc. can supply almost any consumer segment for prices that can range as low as $5-10 per respondent depending on your target market and other details.

And the crowdsourcing movement has been a boon for idea validation. New Web companies allow people to input a survey, determine which segment of the site’s U.S. panel is best suited to answer the survey, then launch it. It’s an easy way to conduct market research at any time for any of your ideas, even if it’s a crazy, late night thought.

Market research, at its core, is all about mitigating risk. Whether you build an MVP or create a prototype version of your product (even on paper), you can get feedback that will save you time and money.

Let me start off  by saying I’m jealous of  IWYS (iwearyourshirt.com).  I wish I had thought of this idea. Not that I haven’t had good ideas of my own, but I do envy some of the stuff people like Jason and Evan come up with these days.

Everyone has ideas.  Some are great, and some really suck.  It’s easy to envy ideas that others have.

It’s also easy to tell people that their ideas are cool or “appealing”.

Many cultures make it almost impossible to react honestly to even obviously bad ideas.  The urge to be polite often overcomes our true feelings even when we are dealing with complete strangers.  Go to any networking event and people you have never met will listen to your ideas and give you feedback. Often they will try to “help” out by telling you that your idea is really fantastic.  Maybe they are hoping you’ll buy all of your idea admirers a drink but sometimes, well, you can’t take everything at face value.

It’s not that they are trying to be dishonest; it’s that we don’t always ask the right questions. It’s easy to get comments, retweets and generic feedback on new ideas and concepts. What’s harder is getting feedback that goes beyond asking others if they “like it” to begin the process of validating the market potential of an idea.   Validating market potential can mean the difference between an idea that’s “cool” and an idea that could make you the next Bill Gates or Mark Cuban (or Jason Sadler).

As you read this post, you’ve probably already thought up a least one new idea. What’s it worth? Does it have true market potential? Want to find out?

To celebrate Aperio’s day on IWYS, comment on this blog post and one lucky person (chosen at random) will win the following:

An all-expenses paid, full scale market validation study crafted just for your idea.  You bring the concept, and Aperio Insights will:

• Craft an expertly written survey designed to validate market potential
• Launch the survey among a national panel of U.S. consumers
• Analyze the data and run some fancy statistics
• Create high-level charts/graphs
• Discuss the results with you (Skype/WebEx or you are welcome to come to Dallas)

We’ve also created a white paper called Validating Market Potential. You can find it on our site here

As I mentioned earlier, I’m a bit jealous of Jason and Evan. Not because I really want to wear your shirt but because I’ll bet that IWYS allows them to have the kind of experiences that generate LOTS of new ideas worth exploring. I’m willing to bet they have an idea or two that could use some research.

Jason and Evan – come up with an idea and we’ll run it through the Aperio Insights gauntlet to see if flies or flops.  The only catch for you guys — agree to share the results with your IWYS readers regardless of the outcome.

We recently attended the Goldman Sachs 2010 Technology and Internet conference in San Francisco.

It was a great event that included speakers and sessions from the likes of Google, Yelp, Netflix, SalesForce.com, Cisco and many others.

Many CFO’s and CEO’s were on hand to defend their strategy and paint glowing pictures of what the future held for their likely growth and profit over the next year.

Contrasting Keynotes

The back to back lunch keynotes on the first day were a great study in contrast and culture.

The first was an EVP from an internet search company I’ll just call “Yippie”.  Her tone was proud but she had few facts to back up her confident demeanor.  Her company has been declining in many measures for quite some time yet she still gloated over relatively minor accomplishments.   Her focus was clearly on the numbers, not on what they were doing for the customer. The more I listened the more I wanted someone to hurry her off the stage.

The 2^nd was the COO from Apple, Tim Cook.  He spoke of their continued efforts to be excellent at the things they did and while he mentioned some VERY impressive numbers he managed to do it almost as a side-note. No gloating, no sense of superiority.  In a word, he came across as LIKEABLE.

There we were eating a very forgettable boxed lunch listening to the person from a dying company gloat and act superior while the executive from the company that is printing money acted humble and very human.

And then Tim Cook from Apple said something that stopped the crowd.

We turn away great ideas every day.

“Our goal isn’t to grow for the sake of being larger or more profitable. Apple’s goal is to be excellent at the things we commit to doing.”

My opinion of Apple really soared after hearing this guy speak.  In the midst of so much focus on growth and profits it was refreshing to hear a company say that what really mattered was taking the steps to make customers happy.  Provide them with an excellent experience and the numbers will take care of themselves.

It’s often tempting to justify opportunistic business decisions that focus more on short term potential than long term value.  I’ve not always been a fan of everything that Apple has done but listening to Tim’s talk reminded me of the benefit of keeping a focus on providing customers with experiences they value.

Christmas snow –

It snowed on Christmas eve in Dallas, TX for the first time in like 80 years.  While this former upstate New Yorker loved seeing the big flakes drift down I’m sure not everyone across the south was as happy about this unprecedented winter weather.

I grew up in a large family (8 kids) in a small and relatively poor working class town.  Personal spending money was limited to the money we made on our own, doing small jobs for neighbors up and down the street.  As a kid, falling snow meant a chance to shovel sidewalks and driveways and rake in a nice pocket of cold (wet) cash.  If we were lucky enough to get a LOT of snow we not only could charge a bit more per job but also had a good chance of having school canceled for a day or two.  Decreased visibility actually meant an increase in earning potential.

The comments and stories I’d hear from my friends after a snow storm would often surprise me.  Some of my classmates would return from a day or two of canceled school and a foot or two of snow with complaints about not having had much to do after an initial burst of assorted snow throwing activities that inevitably would leave them cold and wet and stuck inside watching daytime TV.

No way to get to the mall and no money to spend if they managed to get a ride there anyway was the common complaint.

I’d quietly pat the wad of bills in my pocket as I wondered why they hadn’t taken full advantage of the opportunity the weather disruption had so conveniently dropped right in front of my shovel.

I think about our current business economy in much the same way.  In place of a snowstorm we have an economic storm of epic proportions. It has slowed many businesses to a trickle and threatened to cut off even the large and well known companies from their traditional revenue streams.   Economic crisis often starts out just like a snow storm – a few flurries and bursts of wind leads to a “hunker down and wait for it to blow over” mentality – in other words both tend to prompt more inaction than action.

Disruption creates opportunity. The need for innovation increases with every slashed budget and renewed attempt to squeeze more productivity out of limited labor.  Business needs new ideas and innovations that will help them weather the storm.  As marketers, marketing researchers and above all Entrepreneurs, we have all the opportunity our shovels can handle right in front of us.  Time to suit up and start knocking on doors – there are businesses out there that need help digging out from this unprecedented event.  Bundle up; head out and with any luck there will be so much opportunity that you’ll hardly be able to see 10 ft in front of you…….