As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, I want to share with you the measures we have implemented to ensure that your data, research and insights needs are fully supported without disruption.
First and foremost, we have executed policies that guard the health and safety of our teams, as well as business continuity plans to deliver the service you expect. We believe it’s critical to do our part to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 while limiting the disruption to valuable data collection and consumer research. Below are some of the steps we are taking to protect everyone in this constantly changing situation.
Protect Our Employees, Clients, and Partners
People are our most valuable resource. We are working tirelessly to ensure the health and safety of our employees, stakeholders and the environments in which they work while ensuring that the data and research you need is available to you, in real-time. We have taken the following actions, but will continue to monitor the situation and adjust as necessary:
Safeguard Our Business
Technology is at our core. By leveraging our technology, we are able to ensure business continuity and access to the data you need, anytime. Our staff can connect with partners and clients virtually without any interruption. In addition:
The environment around us remains uncertain, but we take comfort in the fact that we have a world-class team dedicated to the safety and well-being of our community while maintaining service levels our customers and partners require. We are here to support your data and research needs.
Please keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Thank you for your support, together we can make a difference. We are more motivated than ever to support your business.
International Women’s Month in March recognizes and celebrates women’s roles in society. We wanted to do the same and explore the experiences of women in the insights industry in a series of short interviews.
The women we spoke with said that insights is a great place for women to work and excel. As in most industries, full parity has not yet reached. But there are reasons for optimism.
Debbie Senior, VP Global Products & Automation
Debbie Senior says the insights industry is a supportive place to work. “No one has ever told me you are a woman, you can’t do this. I’ve never felt there has been a restriction to achieving anything. You are an individual here,” she says.
The sector also creates opportunities, she says. Applying automation to market research makes things more efficient. “You get the technology to do the boring stuff for you, so insights has become more human oriented. We need people from psychology, statistics, behavioral sciences and technology. You have to work across those disciplines to have an impact,” she says.
Debbie loves the industry and encourages young women (and men) to pursue careers in insights. “There are so many innovations and those create big opportunities,” she adds. “It’s given women confidence to step forward and have a bigger voice.”
Recently Debbie was presenting at a major technology conference and following her talk, several young women came up to tell her how much they enjoyed her presentation and say they had been inspired by her. She has connected with some of the women via LinkedIn and has had follow up calls with them.
Michele Morelli, SVP, Global Marketing Strategy
Michele joined Toluna and its executive board in 2019 after 20 years in marketing where she had always considered insights an important part of the process. “Anyone who knows the importance of brand, knows the importance of insights. Although this is the first time, I’ve worked in the insights industry, I’ve always viewed market research and analytics as crucial and have always had insight professionals in my core team,” she says. But it was Toluna as a company that led her to change course in her career.
“I have always been interested in companies that are disruptive, that are using technology to create a revolution within an industry. I’m fascinated by how you use technology to make something better. I love that Toluna operates like a startup – people are always thinking like entrepreneurs,” she says.
Still, being a woman in a field dominated by men, presents opportunities and challenges, she says.
“Being a woman influences everything I do, especially while I’m at work. It’s important to have multiple voices at the table – people with different perspectives and opinions,” Michele says. She also considers herself an advocate for women and makes diversity a topic with the executive team.
“I encourage men to be sponsors, to be advocates and to ensure they see diverse candidates. The role of men is incredibly important in the advancement of women,” she adds.
Mathilde Lelièvre, Executive Vice President of Global Operations
Part of what makes the insights industry such a great place to work, according to Mathilde Lelièvre, is that being in industry requires you to be open and inquisitive.
“We look at data and we look at understanding behaviors of consumers, it supports an open mind and more reflection on societal phenomena,” says Lelievre. “However even with equal skill and background, women have a tougher time reaching the top,” she says.
Mathilde says this is societal and cultural and as such will require a lot of work to change. The truth is there is bias in culture, she says. It’s generally acknowledged that increasing diversity in management will strengthen the company and everyone is working hard to do so. “At the end of the day, the insights industry should really make it a point to favor diversity. We are providing the data to be able to show that diversity improves performance. We should be better at utilizing it for our benefit,” she adds.
Some of that work has to be done by women themselves: “A woman looks at her job and at what she needs to do to improve. A guy would say, let me get that job and I will see how I bridge the gap between my skills and their expectations. I am trying to help women assert themselves and to give them the confidence that the company is investing in them,” she says.
Mathilde says to look for sorority. Find a mentor and a supportive group. Do not be shy. “Be confident in your own ability and aim high. Own your career. Look at what you bring – all your skills and assets – not the gaps you have. Leverage those assets. Be confident that you deserve a promotion,” she says.
Susan Vidler, Managing Director for the UK, Harris Interactive
Susan Vidler feels grateful to work in an industry and a company where diversity is valued. She says the work itself requires a wide range of personality types and disciplines.
“The industry attracts really interesting people. The people who work in insights, although very different and diverse, all genuinely want to use research to solve business challenges and have a great attitude. The fact that brands and companies you work with are listening to consumer feedback and using that to inform decision making is exciting” she says.
“It’s a really good fit for me. I’m generally fascinated by human behavior. The fact that I’m working with companies about how to use that information sits well with my interest in taking action. I’m naturally curious, so it ticks a lot of boxes of things I’m interested in,” she says.
She’s active in Women In Research (WIRe), the industry association that supports and promotes women’s role in the insights industry.
Susan is a big advocate of the industry as a place where young women and men can create a career, especially if they have a big appetite for knowledge and how to apply it practically. “It requires people who are creative, and technical. For someone who likes to develop and learn, it’s great. It’s a mixture of science and art” she says.
Susan says a key factor in diversification of the industry is that people be free to speak up and be heard. That freedom comes from believing your opinion is valued and should start from day one, she advises.
“If you have an idea, don’t assume when starting in a career, that you don’t have valid opinions. It’s important for people to be brave, to speak up, to promote themselves,” she says.
The women of Toluna took different paths to leadership, but one common theme remains. An industry that is focused on understanding consumers and society is well-placed to embrace diversity.
For several decades brand tracking has been an important tool for brand and insight managers to measure the strength of their brands and stay ahead of threats and opportunities. But due to their predominant focus measuring knowledge and equity, brand trackers have not kept up with the changing way we now interact with brands and how that impacts our feelings towards brands as a result.
Social media and other digital-based interaction mean the brands most likely to thrive are those with whom consumers have the fullest two-way conversations. Think of it as a relationship with a friend or family member. When you really care about someone, you can share positive feedback as well as constructive criticism, because you want them to improve. You are invested in their success.
Traditional brand trackers
Having a strong brand is important for market share and overall company value. But brands that don’t remain relevant, innovate, or add value to consumers lives could easily disappear without anyone caring.
Traditional brand models are based on measuring past or current success, rather than momentum moving forward.
Measures like awareness, familiarity, consideration, and usage assume a linear framework which worked perfectly in an age where messages were pushed through mass media and communication was one way, brands set the agenda, and the target audience had little opportunity to influence the brand relationship.
They are no longer enough to measure brands’ successfully in today’s environment. This requires a new model for brand tracking – one that considers the whole relationship between the consumer and the brand. That’s why we developed hi brands. Our model considers the complexities of the way brands engage in consumers lives and how rational and emotional consumer experiences deepen brand knowledge and influence preference and purchase. In other words, the model is future looking; measuring the future relevance and vitality of the brand.
Relevance and Vitality
The successful brands have consumers who are excited about the brand and its products and services. This means they seek out information about the brand and encourage brands to stay in contact. And where they are worried about missing out on the latest products and services or want to be one of the first to try or own a new product or take advantage of services and offers, for instance new phones and games. Consumers care more about brands if they feel there is a reciprocal relationship of listening and being empathetic to their needs, and making improvements that are relevant to those needs, in way that is more co-creational than in the past.
Creating brand excitement: giffgaff
A great example of how a new brand entered the market and quickly built brand vitality and future relevance by having a strong two-way conversation with consumers is that of the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) giff gaff, owned by Telefonica and using the O2 network. It calls its customers “members”.
The MVNO has a community-powered model offering good rates and rewards for members for promoting the business and answering support queries – also enabling it to keep operating costs as low as possible due to minimal staff.
With around 3 million members at the heart of everything it does, a key goal is to adapt its business to remain relevant to its members. It invites members into its office and they guess star in adverts and they create video and blog content for other members to enjoy. Members have had over 600 of their ideas implemented… and we see all this coming through strongly in its hi brand ratings.
Brand goals
To be a compelling brand that achieves strong market share and mass market success, a brand still needs to score well on equity and knowledge – as measured by traditional brand trackers. But in order to thrive in the future, they will also to secure their relevance and vitality.
And this means brand tracking must adapt to fit today’s world and deliver ROI.
And in keeping with the underlying cause of this revolution in brand tracking, we use online platforms and templated/automated solutions to enable even faster and more cost- efficient insights, including self-serve for those who want to engage with us this way.
After 20 plus years in the consumer insights and new product development business, I never thought that I could deliver consumer insights for new product development in as short a window as we can do today.
Recently, we answered the challenge to find out which of 25 flavors of Chicago-based Jay’s Potato Chips would be best received in the UK market. The Business Challenge was to find out if a popular potato chip maker in the US could launch in the UK market. And if so, which of its portfolio would be best suited to UK tastes? The flavors ranged from more subdued flavors like Original or No Salt to quintessentially American flavors like Buffalo Wing and Open Pit Barbeque.
We completed three research phases in 24 hours. These phases are Early Stage (What are the strongest products to take to the UK market), Claims Testing (which claims enhance our products’ appeal) and Pre-launch Testing (which product (s) will be successful on the market.)
In addition to knowing what flavors appealed, we wanted to know how the claims we could make about the chips would play with our target audience. The combination of the most likeable flavor with the most convincing claim would give us our ideal product (s).
Testing concepts
We started in phase 1 with a base of 100 respondents for each flavor concept, although we increased this number as needed throughout the testing. Our audience was defined by frequency of snack purchases, age, gender, region and main household purchaser.
This phase was done in nine hours. What that means is if you go home tonight and decide to launch a project with us, you will have the data tomorrow.
The five most popular flavors ranked from first to fifth were Open Pit Barbeque, Cheese Wheels, Buffalo Wings, Cheezlets and Original. The least popular was Hot Sauce Pork Skins, followed by regular Pork Skins.
How to sell it
In Phase 2 we used the Max-Diff technique to assess appeal. (Max-Diff assumes respondents evaluate all possible pairs of items within a set and pick the pair with the maximum difference in preference). Our base was 500 respondents. We tested 10 claims including the following:
There was a very clear preference for two claims, “All natural ingredients” and “We use the highest quality potatoes”. In fact, most of the other claims were neutral to negative. The one that ranked the absolute bottom as “America’s favorite”, which is maybe a little surprising considering the number one flavor – Open Pit Barbeque – is closely associated with American food. Phase 2 took three hours from beginning to end.
Ready to Go in 24 hours total
In Phase 3 we combined the most popular concepts and claims with a smaller audience of 150 to determine which product to launch. This phase took a total of 12 hours.
The two finalists were Open Pit Barbeque with the claim “We use the highest quality potatoes” and Cheese Wheels with the claim “All natural ingredients”, which ultimately won based on Purchase Intent, Likeability, Distinctiveness, Believability and Importance
From beginning to end in just one full day, we completed three key phases of product development research and, providing the price point is acceptable to customers, Jays is now ready to launch Cheese Wheels in the UK. The combination of the ease of research with the speed of research is unprecedented in our industry. While today companies routinely take many months to conduct the same quality of research for product development.
The seismic shifts caused by the consolidations, investments and mergers may follow the marketing research industry into 2020. The changes represent and result from the on-demand economy meeting the requirements for insights delivered at the speed of business. While companies demand speed, they also continue to depend on the highest quality insights. These new research prerequisites must merge without impact on quality and while study results become available to more researchers for analysis and use.
Other industry trends to follow include:
The consolidation both data types could power companies to make even better and more nuanced business decisions. This means that first- and third-party data needs to be merged, or at least become seamless.
After the past two years, no one in marketing research will pretend to have a crystal ball to predict the future with 100 percent accuracy. As an industry stalwart, I can say that we have learned a few things with 20+ years’ experience. Toluna revolutionized the industry with our technology. Our digital solutions brought speed to an industry that formerly conducted studies in months, not days. Toluna Quick Surveys, our signature product, maintained research quality and achieved scale previous unimaginable: hundreds of thousands of panel members comparing tens of thousands of products and sharing results in real time. We feel confident in our ability to understand and lead as the next decade unfolds.
Personal Security Joins Smart Homes on the Show Floor
As outrageous as this month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 in Las Vegas was – sleep training systems and robots that deliver toilet paper – the real takeaways were very much down to earth. The products and product categories that were pervasive reflected the increasing use of smart technologies for homes and growing concerns over how personal data is being collected, stored and used.
Smart Homes
Before CES, we gathered insights from consumers who said they are comfortable using new technology and many indicated that they use smart home technologies for security and entertainment purposes. The good news for manufacturers – at CES, the connected home was pervasive. It was part of presentations, conversations, and demonstrations.
It was interesting to see that most major consumer product brands outside of the technology space – think consumer packaged goods – also had big presences at CES. As smart home technology advances, we should expect to see greater intersections of everyday consumer products and technology as part of smart homes. For instance, Colgate’s Plaqless Pro, a toothbrush that tells in real-time how clean teeth are and consumer tested by Toluna, won the CES Innovation Award. A less practical application was a robot that put toothpaste on toothbrushes – it seems everyone wants to make our lives more entertaining.
Privacy Takes Center Stage
In our pre-CES research referenced above, we revealed concerns about privacy, although the degree of concern varied by age. In general, people aged 18-34 were more comfortable with their personal data being used to target advertisements for them while people aged 55 and over did not want the intrusion. The influential AARP presented at CES and made the point that people over age 50 are plenty tech-savvy, but they are more cautious – mainly about their privacy and security.
The battle that consistently wages on whether to use power for good or for evil spilled over into connectivity. There are greater opportunities for personal data to be used to make our lives more convenient just as there are great opportunities for our personal data to be used in ways we didn’t intend. Consumers and regulators are forcing the consumer tech industry to address these concerns, with good cause.
The EU enacted sweeping privacy reforms recently and California is set to make similar changes this year. Both sets of laws place limits on how consumer data is stored, shared and protected. All consumer-facing industries are paying attention to be compliant and avoid legal liabilities.
Privacy was a feature of almost every single new product or was a product in and of itself. For instance, Google demonstrated its new function that allows the deletion of personal information it might have recorded with the “Hey Google delete everything I said to you this week” function. Additionally, wearables that record exercise increasingly require firm ‘opt-ins’ to share data.
It will be interesting to watch what these trends mean for actual technology sales in the coming year. If CES is any indication, consumers will continue to want smart home and personal technology products. What’s new is that they will also be looking for privacy and security to be built in and opt-in choices to be honored.
But First, Some Background on Heatmaps…
Heatmaps are defined as data represented in charts or diagrams in which the data values are signified by colors.
In market research, heatmaps paint clear pictures of customer insights and preferences, specifically as they relate to concept images, and text.
Survey respondents are often asked to view a product and identify what they like, don’t like or find confusing. They click on areas of test advertisements or packaging or marketing text that have appeal. More positive clicks intensify the colors to “hot” red or orange. The “cooler” areas, characterized by blues, greens and yellows, are less popular with respondents.
Heatmaps put research results in visually appealing, easily understood formats.
Heatmap Reporting… Easy to Visualize, Easy to Apply Insights
Based on the heatmap image above, survey respondents had positive reactions to the image and/or text featured in the center of the test package. Their connections to the outer edges were not as strong or, more likely, they just noticed less.
Applying Heatmaps to New Product Development and Concept Testing
Here is what happens behind the scenes on a heatmap survey questions:
The uploaded image is divided into a set of predefined areas within a 10×10 grid overlay. Each area represents an answer option and can be clicked by a respondent so 100 cells = 100 answer options.
Respondent clicks are captured as positive answers and become images in the final report.
Heatmaps An Essential Component in your Marketing Research Toolkit
Heatmaps have been used for a long time by engineers and academics. Now, researchers can also benefit from these powerful visualizations. Adding a heatmap to a survey can improve comprehension of the final research report by replacing text with an image. It simplifies analysis as customer preferences are easy to see and understand. Actions for improvement are also highlighted — move or remove an image from a package, increase font size on an ad or reposition packaging text for greater visibility.
Heatmaps have been made easy in Toluna QuickSurveys. The heatmap widget will be available to all QuickSurvey users at AskToluna, AskTolunaPro and My Own Accounts setup wizard level. Click here to schedule a demo and learn how to get started.
The lines between man and machine are increasingly being blurred with the tremendous growth of technologies that are personal – that we wear, monitor our health, our sleep, our security, and that are very present in our lives – often 24/7. In order for these technologies to take off, we have to feel comfortable with and be willing to purchase them. Are we?
Ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 we wanted to know how consumers feel about these innovations, so we asked more than 1000 consumers (using Toluna QuickSurveys) about the latest technologies coming into their lives.
You might not be surprised to learn that the major differences in how we view and use emerging technologies occur between age groups. On the top level, there’s a clear difference. More than 60% of those in the 18-34 and 35-54 feel very comfortable with technology while 64% of those 55+ feel only somewhat comfortable (only 19.72% of the older group say they are very comfortable.) Similarly, more than half of respondents 18-54 said it was extremely important to stay connected at all times, while only 16% of those aged 55 and older agreed.
Connected Home
The number one area of interest is home security with some 64% of respondents saying they would consider purchasing such products. And this holds steady across all three age groups.
Other popular areas were smart light bulbs and connected home devices (such as Google, Nest etc.) Again, there isn’t a huge difference between age groups. If folks are not likely to purchase these items, price is the number one reason (63% total). The primary reason for purchasing smart devices for 55+ age group is security/safety, while entertainment and security/safety hold similar weights for the 18-34 and 35-54 age groups.
In Home Entertainment
Smart speakers have caught on with more than half of all respondents saying they have used Amazon Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana or similar. Twice as many in the two younger groups have used them as in the 55+ age group. The number one way people use smart speakers is to play music. Although among the older group, three quarters use smart speakers for obtaining information such as weather. One of the striking differences is with targeted advertising. While 58% of those aged 18-34 would be more inclined to use smart speakers with targeted ads, 68% of those 55 and older would be less inclined to use them.
Another area where we see large age differences is in the use of augmented reality: 87% of those in 55+ age group have never used augmented reality, while more than 70% of those in 18-34 age group have.
Health and Fitness
The youngest age group was more enthusiastic than the other two groups about Sports tech (such as Hawk-Eye, FieldWiz) and sleep tech (like Beddit, Recovery Sleepwear) – technologies designed to improve sports performance or sleep quality. Some 97% of those in the 55+ age group have never purchased Sports Tech, or Sleep Tech, while more than 60% of 18-34 and 40% of 35-54 have.
More than half (53%) of the 18-34 age group use smart devices to track and monitor health/fitness activities and 58% of 18-34 age group were interested in connected home fitness. Only 13% of those in 55+ age group were interested in this category.
Future Trends
What we can take away from our survey is that younger people are more interested in technology innovations that are very personal – fitness, targeted advertising and of course for entertainment. Older consumers will continue to use technology in the home to increase security, information and for entertainment. What separates the age groups most is how they use technology and their comfort level with emerging technologies. These insights will give all of us something to think about as we explore the many new innovations sure to debut at CES.
You can view and download our infographic here to see more results from the survey.
Vendas B2B ou Business To Business, em português de “empresa para empresa”, é um modelo de negócio baseado em transações comerciais e vendas entre empresas.
Se você é gestor de vendas, proprietário de uma empresa ou indústria e tem dúvidas se o B2B funciona para o porte da sua empresa, esse artigo foi escrito pensando em você.
Além disso, reunimos algumas dicas e conselhos sobre como implementar um sistema digital de vendas para indústrias, captando clientes e vendendo online de forma simples, organizada e otimizada para obter os melhores resultados em vendas.
Não há uma receita pronta e definitiva que diga quais empresas podem vender para outras, a verdade é que tudo depende do seu produto e serviços, e também dos objetivos do seu negócio.
Muitos proprietários de pequenas e médias indústrias têm receio em adotar esse modelo, porque acreditam que não vão conseguir atender satisfatoriamente a demanda, mas a verdade é que um bom produto e bons serviços sempre terão espaço no mercado B2B.
É preciso compreender duas coisas essenciais: primeiro, o processo de vendas para outras empresas é diferente do processo de vender diretamente ao consumidor final, e segundo, é preciso ser dinâmico e criativo para prospectar os clientes certos.
Assim, um sistema de vendas B2B precisa ser projetado e planejado para trabalhar com processos de vendas mais fidelizados e maiores, do que as pequenas e rápidas vendas feitas no dia a dia, de uma empresa que atua diretamente junto ao consumidor final.
Isso pode ser vantajoso, afinal se você vende em quantidades maiores fornecendo produtos a outra empresa, significa também que os valores recebidos serão proporcionais às quantidades vendidas.
Portanto, estar em contato direto com os clientes é um requisito indispensável.
E nesse sentido, é preciso que os seus representantes disponham de um sistema que permita reunir informações, encontrar seus clientes e comunicar-se com eles de forma rápida, sem complicações.
É neste momento que estratégias de venda online e marketing digital entram em cena.
Um sistema de vendas digitais desenvolvido para indústrias com foco em B2B, pode ser o diferencial que faltava para alavancar seu negócio.
Atualmente, em tempos de internet, redes sociais e novas mídias de comunicação, estar presente de forma estratégica no meio online, é essencial.
Um processo de venda entre empresas tem uma linguagem diversificada, fatores como tempo, quantidades vendidas e produtos ofertados estão entre os elementos que mais se alteram nessa forma de negócio, logo, a frequência dos pedidos serão maiores.
Portanto, ao pensar em vender online, um gestor comercial ou proprietário de uma empresa ou indústria precisa dispor de um sistema digital voltado para a especialização, que permita atender de forma sistêmica seus clientes, dentro do seu nicho de atuação.
Contudo, para maximizar suas vendas online é preciso ter alguns cuidados básicos:
Seguir essas dicas iniciais é um excelente começo, mas, além disso, você também precisará contar com uma plataforma digital confiável para suas vendas online.
Se você é gestor comercial ou proprietário de uma indústria que atua no mercado B2B ou tem vontade de atuar, convidamos você a conhecer a Sellentt.
A Sellentt é um sistema de marketing digital e vendas online voltado para empresas e indústrias de pequeno porte.
A plataforma permite que essas empresas coloquem seus produtos e serviços a disposição em contato direto com seus clientes lojistas e revendedores, além de uma comunicação automatizada para lembra-los de usar a plataforma.
E não é só isso. Ao trabalhar com vendas online, seus representantes comerciais podem aumentar sua produção, pois enquanto o sistema vende online para diversos clientes, os representantes poderão atender outros clientes pessoalmente.
Vender online também permite atender com praticidade, clientes de locais distantes geograficamente, especialmente aqueles onde não existam representantes da indústria atuando.
O sistema de vendas online Sellentt foi pensado para otimizar seu tempo, diminuir custos e colocar o seu negócio em contato direto com clientes em potencial.
Com um sistema online vendendo para você 24 horas por dia, sete dias por semana, suas vendas receberão aquele empurrão que faltava.
Ficou em dúvida? Agende uma conversa sem compromisso com um de nossos consultores e veja como alavancar as vendas da sua indústria e reduzir custos.
The billionaire owner of Equinox and SoulCycle strained customer relationships for both companies when his $100K+/plate fundraiser for Donald Trump became public knowledge. Social media protests, including #BoycottEquinox, gained traction while the SoulCycle CEO tried to win back customers by offering free “social justice” rides for causes hand-picked by instructors. Wise marketing executives everywhere could be heard admonishing, “Know your customers.”
On Friday, we explored this very topic with 100+/- marketing executives at Brand Innovators @ Advertising Week NYC. Below are 3 key takeaways from our conversation:
Engage with your customers in as many ways as possible – social media, customer service calls, surveys and digital focus groups. Having that knowledge and turning it into actionable information can be the difference between business success and failure.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this blog is provided for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed by the bloggers are strictly their own and do not necessarily represent those of Prudential Financial.
Next Page »« Previous Page