The software I can't live without.... Fireworks!

This post is for anyone who has found themselves needing to create some graphic pieces for their website, but don't have the experience with the tools.  Over the past year things have changed up and now I need to create artwork for emails, the website and social media. So, I got Adobe Creative Suite and without any training just dived right in.

I first started with Photoshop, but ran into many challenges. The most frustrating was having to click on the layer I wanted to work on. I always forgot that piece, then I would mess up a different layer and need to back track a bit. Then I was turned onto Fireworks.

Compared to Photoshop, Fireworks is a dream. It is pretty easy to learn the tricks on this program and- no more going to the navigation bar of your piece to change layers!

Can't Live without.. My Music!

My job has me primarily working on the computer and like most entry level employees I am in a cube. I am very close to customer service so there is chatter constantly. Most of the time I don't mind, but sometimes it can drive me crazy. So I block it all out with music so I can focus on my work.

I usually use my iPad to play my music so that I don't drain the battery on my phone, and my iPad can usually last days before I have to charge it again. I have realized that my music tastes change almost weekly. One week I will be more into country, the next week top 40 music and next week it will be entirely different.

Not only do I use music at work, but I listen to it in the car (obviously, need a distraction from traffic) and while working out. If I have music to listen to, then I have a much more successful workout!

Life a year after College

After graduating over a year ago (I know time flies!) I am now in the business world putting everything I learned in school to practice. I work in ecommerce and focus on running the consumer websites (the company as a whole is more B2B focused). I love that I have my hand in everything, from email design and implementation to content management and campaign management.

I have realized that I can be pretty ADD when it comes to the work I do. I can never really start and finish a project without doing other things. So, this job is perfect because I don't have to. I can take little breaks and do other projects (or put out fires). Now that I have this amazing job, I will be sharing some of the experiences I have had as well as the software and technologies we use everyday.

Email Marketing for B2B companies

Over the summer I interned with Jones Lang LaSalle, one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the world. I got to work with their email marketing campaign. The first daunting task was to manage the distribution list. Let me tell you this was not the most fun, however it was highly important to the metrics of the campaign as well as it sparked my interest for email marketing.


My next task was to research metrics and what was considered successful and what was not. The first website I found was by Mail Chimp on the industry averages for open rates on emails. OPEN RATES. This surprised me at first on how low open rates are for these emails, however thinking about my own behaviors, I rarely read most of the newsletters I subscribe to. Note to self: SUBJECT LINE IS KEY!


As for research, the most interesting thing about this was the only thing I used for research was Google. I didn't look to find any books, nor did I talk to people I know in the industry. This is definitely more evidence on how times are changing and technology allows us to have any information possible at our finger tips. With the information I learned from reading hundreds of articles and blog posts, I was able to make recommendations with powerful evidence to support my claims and ideas.

Blogging in Review

As my school years winds to the end, it is time to review how my personal branding project went. At first I was not into the whole blogging thing, but after jumping in and writing about something I love, I have seen the huge benefits of blogging. 

 Since this is a blog about market research, of course I had Google Analytics on my blog to see how effective my blog was. Below are some screen shots of my analytics. 

This is a shot that shows the general information- it shows I have had 167 visits to my website between January and April. Of those, 122 were unique visitors. The average time on the blog was 2 min and 33 seconds. I was really pleased to read this statistic because it showed that people were at the very least reading one post I had on my blog. 

In the image above it shows the bounce rate at 72.46%. For not having many pages for my viewers to go to, I think this is a great rate. 


While all these stats look fantastics, once I looked more in depth, I saw that there were lots of visitors who didn't spend anytime on the blog and left just as soon as they go there. This fact makes the first statistics seem like more people are going to my blog than actually are. Knowing this kept my head in the game and determined to try and make better posts that were more appealing to the viewers. Hopefully time will show that this tactic has worked. 


I have loved this experience and will continue to work on this blog as well as use twitter (@MegCril) to make connections with other market researchers to learn more about this evolving industry. I have learned about the newer tools that market researchers are using to gain data about consumers online. 


So stay posted for even more tools that are being used as well as my thoughts on different types of industry news!

Proof that Sex and Money go hand in hand

      FlowingData recently did a study of people who are looking for casual sex and how much income they make. They wanted to see if there was any correlation between the two factors.

  OkCupid, who ran the research stated, "money seems to be a more powerful influence on sex drive than culture or even religion". While this report doesn't prove that money will get you sex, it just shows that it is a motivator of wanting/ looking for sex.

Some food for thought!

Students and Market Research

 

Cvent recently did an article about how business school kids are becoming huge fans of online market research tools. Their reasons as to why are the fact that online surveys can reach much more people, are cost effective compared to the old school way of paper and pen surveys as well as there is a higher response rate.

   I think a big place that Cvent missed as to reasons why students flock to this medium for research is that these students have grown up with technology. I think it is only natural for us to be most comfortable with technology and use that to gain insight into matters. I would venture that lots of students are more comfortable reaching out online than in person- just because this is what we are used to. Luckily the internet has allowed us to do research, in some ways better research because we are a technological generation. However there are the downsides to online market research still like Cvent discussed- not being able to reach every possible target market (ie people who aren't online and children). It also is minimizing our face to face interaction with the customers. I wonder just how important that face to face interaction is. How does it influence people's behaviors and answers to questions? Will the quality of information decrease because survey takers don't know the person who is "interviewing" them?

Market Research is DEAD!

  Ok, well market research isn't totally dead, but according to Martin Lindstrom market research will be changed forever with neuromarketing. In his latest book Buy-ology Linstrom shares the results of the most extensive neurological study ever done. 
   Instead of asking people what they think or asking them to share the reasons they purchase the way they do, Linstrom and his team watched the brain while asking people questions or showing them images. One of the most shocking revelations was the fact that the anti-smoking campaigns were actually working for the tobacco companies. Linstrom interviewed several smokers and asked them if the warning signs bothered them when they purchased cigarettes. One woman said that it did, however when they did a scan of her brain when she looked at the warning sign, a signal rang in the motivator area of the brain. It was doing the opposite of deterring her, it was motivating her to purchase that cigarette. While it is unknown as to why this happens it is a huge insight into the behaviors of consumers. It also answers the question of why more people aren't quitting smoking when they see those warning signs.
   Because of findings like these, Lindstrom believes current market research techniques will soon die and new ones like these (neuromarketing) will take over. While current market research techniques like focus groups and surveys have their flaws that need to be flushed out still, I think we are still a long way from actually being able to use neuromarketing as a research tool. For one it is incredibly expensive to use the machinery for tests. Second, neuromarketing is a great tool for the aftermath of a marketing campaign. It can show researchers what part of the brain is triggered by certain ads, however it will never be able to tell researchers what the consumer wants in the future. To find this information out, I think focus groups and surveys is the best way to do it!


   Where do you think market research will go? Will tMRIs become cheaper and allow more people access to using them? Will marketing start working on the neurological level- if so, how will they do that? Lots to come in the next few years of marketing and I'm excited to see!!

The pro's and con's to Trump's market research

   While this was research done as a joke there are things to learn from this video. First, face to face interviews can reveal a lot more than an online survey or over the phone interview. Seeing the facial reactions of people to questions can help researchers will analyzing the data. However, the downside to face to face interviews like the Trump was doing here is that people are biased when they are being video tapped or looking straight at the interviewer.
   We want to please others- its simply in our genetics. So, when someone is approached on the street like this they want to answer the questions the way they think the interviewer wants them to answer. They look for facial cues of the interviewer to help guide their questions. 
   So while there are some great things to face to face interviews, there are also some downsides that need to be taken into account when analyzing data!

Disposal of Cigarette Research work

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am doing a research study on how students at my school dispose of their cigarettes. To understand this further I have decided I will do an observational study as well as an online survey.


The survey questions
1.) Do you smoke regularly (yes or no)
2.) Do you smoke on campus? (yes or no)
3.) How do you dispose of your cigarette? (cigarette disposal unit, dropping it on the ground, other)
4.) How often do you use the cigarette disposal unit? (every time, most of the time, occasionally, rarely, never)
5.) How often do you drop your cigarette on the ground? (every time, most of the time, occasionally, rarely, never)
6.) Do you normally smoke with friends or by yourself? (mostly with friends or mostly by myself)
7.) If your friend used the disposal unit would you be more likely to use the disposal unit as well? (yes, no, maybe/ I don't know)


The obersvational study perameters:


Objective: To understand how many people use the cigarette disposal units vs. dropping their cigarettes on the ground in hopes to identify patterns or areas of influence for behaviors.


location: at the college campus in two locations- one right outside the student life center and the second in the courtyard of the school.


Time: 1 hour in each location both on a Wednesday between the hours of 12:30 and 1:30 (peak traffic hours).


Spreadsheet/what I will be looking for-

   I will be looking to see how many people use the disposal units vs. dropping the cigarette on the ground and stomping it out. 


What do you think?! Please give me any suggestions :)

Market Research Project

   As a student at Champlain College, I have decided to put all my learnings to the test and conduct some research. The topic will be around smoking and using the appropriate disposal products that are around campus. I will conduct some observational research as well as an online survey to gage people's thoughts on top of watching their actions. As I make the survey and observational study I will post them here as well as a report at the end with all my findings!
   Stay posted! And if you have any suggestions as I go forward please comment!

Why Black Friday is So Huge

   Black Friday is the retail industry's favorite day. It is the day people line up at the wee hours in the morning and buy products they wouldn't normally buy. Arie Kruglanski a psychology researcher believes that a major factor in the phenomenon that is Black Friday, is the theory of need for closure. Some people take a long time to make a decision then take an action based on the decision, while others are quick to make a decision and then quickly make an action. Someone's need for closure can certainly motivate them to act.
   In the case of Black Friday, it motivates people who don't think about a decision as much to take action quickly. They don't consider all the factors in that moment. They simply want the product and know they can "afford" (sometimes they have to give up things to afford the product) it, so they buy it. Retailers have noticed this is the main factor behind the success of Black Friday. Which is why they make deals that any quick decision maker would go for!
    Being a big fan of Black Friday I realize now that I am very much an impulsive buyer. Also, I can easily justify a purchase to myself. Knowing that I am a quick decision maker, maybe now I will try to take my time before making a decision on Black Friday. We will see how that goes..
    What about you?! Are you a quick buyer or do you think things out before making a decision? 

Not on Social Media? Reconsider NOW

For those companies who don't know whether or not to be active on social media sites here is the market research study to PROVE you need to be there interacting with your customers!


The Retail Consumer Report surveyed 4,512 social media users as well as monitored multiple social media sites and review sites. The following are the key statistics that every company should know!


1.) 68% of people who complained online (whether it was on FaceBook/Twitter or a review website) had a response from the company
2.) Of those, 18% turned into LOYAL customers of the company they had a complaint about and bought more items from that company


This shows how powerful it is for a company to see a complaint and respond to that complaint. It could change a "hater" into a lover of your product. This is also an element of surprise for the customer.


3.) 61% of customers would be shocked if a company replied to their complaints on the web.


Do we need any more proof on why companies should be online?! 

The Challenges of Web Analytics

Location of visitors to megcril.blogspot.com

   Currently I have web analytics running on my blog. I figure the best way to fully understand a tool like this is to simply use it! As I look at all the information, some of it can be very deceiving. A difficult measurement is number of visitors. My favorite thing to look at is where all my visitors come from. There are a few from Russia, the United Kingdom, India, Canada and of course the US. However upon closer inspection of the reports, I notice that some visitors don't spend even a second on the blog. 

Av time on site for megcril.blogspot.com

    This is an important factor in understanding how well my website is doing. On the surface it looks like its a highly successful blog that people around the world are reading. However, upon closer inspection I can see that this is true for some of the countries, but it is not true for all. Which means I have some work to do on my blog to keep people on the site as well as I have to be critical of any of the information I receive via my analytics!
    This tid bit goes for market research in general. Don't just accept something at face value. Dig deeper and find out what they numbers are really telling you! More to come on this topic in future blog posts!

Are we Still Angry at Groupon?

Today I found a very interesting study about people's feelings towards Groupon now that about two months has past since their infamous commercial on the Super Bowl. Like any huge controversy the public upset has subsided, however Groupon has gotten lucky. Their like-ability wasn't severely damaged. Conversition did a study using text analytics with social media tools and found the following results:


   Picture from conversition.com


This first graph shows how much Groupon came up in tweets or Facebook statuses or other social media tools. The spike is at the Super Bowl. Then gradually people stopped talking about Groupon. The interesting stuff is in the next graph-


  Picture from conversition.com

    In this graph the top line is measuring the positive talk about Groupon and the bottom line is measuring the negative talk about Groupon. So, clearly the social media world was upset with Groupon, voiced it but it seems as if the public has forgotten about the commercial and have moved on. 


   Maybe this is because of recent events in Africa and the Middle East or Groupon simply has a good idea as its business that people love. In any case, Groupon took a huge risk that could have potentially ruined their brand image and reputation, but luckily they were able to surpass it very easily and with little harm done to their company. 
  SO, do you think Groupon got lucky or did they know people would get over it so quickly?! What does that tell us about society today?

Ethical Dilemmas

In my marketing capstone class today we talked about ethical dilemmas people and companies may face everyday. The debate came down to are ethics relative or situational? Or is their a standard of ethics that should be used in any situation? 


The market research industry has ethical dilemmas they face all the time. From how to conduct a research study to issues with clients and respondents. A major problem that market researchers face is when a client wants to get the name of the respondents and their answers to the survey or interview questions. Market researchers have an obligation to keep confidentiality with the respondents, however they also have been hired by the client. In the client's eyes they own the results as well as the individual answers to the survey questions. The researcher must make tough decisions knowing they could potentially "harm" someone. 


Personally, I would not give the names of the respondents to the client explaining to them that you have promised those respondents confidentiality. Additionally I would explain how if this confidentiality wasn't promised to the respondents the client would not get the true information/ data they were able to receive


What would you do if you were the market researcher? What if there was no promise of confidentiality given to the respondents? Would that change your answer to this question?

The Power of Asking the Right Questions

In a recent study done by the CMO council, revealed that many companies are not closing on close to 80% of their leads, or potential sales. There are a few reasons as to why this number is so high. The biggest being structural problems within the company. For example many respondents said they do not have the tools to generate and create new business opportunities. Another issue is that many people do not think sales and marketing departments are functioning as efficient as they could be. These different factors are severely affected sales in companies around the country. 


From one study that asked the right questions, they were able to identify these major problems within multiple companies. With this knowledge companies can now focus their efforts into creating stronger, more understandable structures. This study shows the power of asking the right questions and how it can lead to a greater understanding of a problem. While structure is always a challenge for companies, they probably didn't realize how much of an impact it was having on their sales and revenue. 


For the complete analysis of this study go to Marketing Today

Text Analytics Put to Use

  Text Analytics is the newest way of analyzing all digital data and compiling the information based on parameters set by the user. Text analytics works like data mining. The software can be programmed to search out key words, phrases, etc. and compile all the information that comes with each of those tagged words. Experts in this industry can then go in and create reports and recommendations based on the reports to the clients. Text Analytics was very helpful for JetBlue in 2007 when they left thousands of people stranded on JFK runways. They received 15,000 emails the following day (almost quadruple what they normally see). They needed to respond quickly but they had an information overload. Thankfully, they had begun using text analytics before this event and were able to use the technology to understand the main problems and were able to quickly solve the problems. Additionally with text analytics companies are able to combine structured and non structured data together and understand situations even better. For example, JetBlue can combine structured info like flight times, fares, etc with the results of surveys and interviews with their customers to get a better understanding of their consumers and economic influences. Text analytics is a powerful tool that will become a major measurement of success/ need for improvement for all companies. 
To read more about JetBlue's Text Analytics, check out this link


Currently, customers have hired consultants to interpret the data in ways the client can understand. I recently read an interview of Tom Anderson, a consultant and an expert in Text Analytics who says, within the next five years companies that specialize in text analytics consulting will not have an advantage in the field because other market research firms will adapt the softwares and be able to do the same thing as part of their packages to their clients.(read full interview here) I see Text Analytics becoming like Web Analytics; where individuals can set up the software and have the education and information to be able to interpret their own data. When this will happen I do not know, but I think it will end up that way. 

The Bystander Effect

Market Research is closely tied to the studies of psychology. The basis of market research is to understand why consumers make the choices they do, and their thought processes/ influences. A psychology theory that fascinates me is the bystander effect. This is the theory that when someone is in distress and there are lots of people around, nobody helps because they think someone else will. Watch the video below and see how this is true, but also the light of hope there is for society to change this theory.

So, how does this connect to marketers and market research? The major lesson that connects to the business world is the power of influencers. People will not normally do something until they see other people doing that action. Those people who do react first are known in the business world as innovators. They are the first to buy and try the newest products then tell their friends about them. Many companies have identified these innovators in their target market and have given them the product for free in hopes that his/her friends will purchase the product. This has been proven to be pretty successful when the innovator is passionate about the product.
While market research and psychology are two different industries, there are so many lessons to be learned from psychology that can help improve a company’s marketing strategy!

GutCheck!

Here is another example of how powerful the internet is for any company to get valuable information for very little cost. GutCheck is one the latest tools companies are using to hold focus groups over the internet. It allows market researchers to interview people one on one via an instant messenger platform, or do an entire group on the instant messenger platform. One of the largest challenges with focus groups is that there are always one or two people who will dominate the conversation. This tool allows market researchers to talk to everyone individually and get the most out of all of their participants. 

Another huge factor is diversity in geographic locations. Unless marketers are willing to spend the money to do focus groups across the country, the group is not very representative of the country. This could potentially skew the results of the focus group. Lastly there is costs. As the video below mentions it costs on average $700 per participant, whereas GutCheck is $40 per participant.

The only downside to this website is, the participants are actively online and willing to participate. Which means there might be a demographic/ psychographic that may be missing from this area. However, every tool has their downsides, its up to the market researcher to fill in the missing pieces with other tools!

To learn more about GutCheck check out their website at gutcheckit.com