GS MKT 436 CH 7 Online Marketing Research—The Growth of Mobile and Social Media Research

Learning Objectives 1. Examine the online world as it applies to marketing research. 2. Use the Internet to gather secondary data for marketing research. 3. Understand the nature of online focus groups, online individual depth interviews, and marketing research online communities.

4. Appreciate online survey research and ways to conduct it. 5. Learn the importance of online panel management in maintaining data quality. 6. Appraise the growing use of surveys on smart devices and the importance of social media marketing research.

Disadvantages of Online Surveys In most countries where the Internet penetration rate exceeds 20 percent, online surveys tend to yield results similar to those found in traditional methods such as telephone or paper-and-pencil survey research 1. The most common complaint about the use of online surveys traditionally • not representative of the population as a whole 2. Unrestricted Internet sample • fully self-selecting and probably representative of no one except web surfers • worse if the same Internet user can access the questionnaire over and over 3. Sample frame needed may not be available on the Internet 4. lack of callback procedures to clarify open-end responses, potential for questionnaire programming errors, and 5. a lack of bandwidth

6. Quality of Sample As a result, all research suppliers for Procter & Gamble must do the following: ▪ Use objective quality criteria that are predetermined, replicable and standardized. ▪ Rely on automated processes to meet quality requirements. ▪ Ensure that potentially fraudulent respondents cannot easily identify or circumvent the quality measures in place. ▪ Uniformly apply quality requirements to all projects when requested, regardless of sample source, survey technology, and geography. ▪ Deliver reports demonstrating the impact of applying the quality requirements. ▪ Protect and secure all personally identifiable and confidential information collected from respondents, suppliers and/or clients

Newsgroups • bulletin boards for a particular topic or interest Post messages to a news server, which then sends them to participating servers. • other users can access the newsgroup and read the postings • groups can be moderated, where a person decides which postings will be part of the discussion, or • unmoderated, where everything is posted

A primary means of communicating with other professionals and special-interest groups Nearly all newsgroups are found on Usenet, which is a collection of servers around the world. These newsgroup readers function much like e-mail programs • look like e-mail messages • messages are threaded discussions Images, sound files, and video clips can be attached to messages for anyone to download and examine.

How important are incentives in online research? And does the cosmetic appearance of the questionnaire have an impact on completion rates?

Appearance • The appearance of the survey had no measurable impact on the completion rate (in both instances, about 77 percent completed the survey). ○ Nor did the type of incentive affect completion rates. Incentive • However, either incentive boosted completion rates about 10 percent. For all four cells, dropouts occurred primarily over the first 90 seconds after a respondent entered the survey. Persons offered an incentive were significantly less likely to drop out during this period

sugging/frugging

Claiming that a survey is for research purposes and then asking for a sale or donation selling under the guise of research

Conduction of a Facebook Focus Group After qualifying and agreeing to take part in the study, participants were asked to visit a Facebook page the researchers set up for the group, become its friend, and then return to the survey and answer some additional questions to verify that they had indeed visited the site. Security Once the group was fully recruited, the researchers simply changed the settings of the page to the highest level of privacy (by invite only).

Engaged in discussion for six weeks ▪ A new topic was posted about two to three times per week. ○ reduced the need for the participants to come to the group every day ▪ The moderator of the discussion was a millennial himself ○ knew how to engage the group in a fun and unintimidating way. ▪ The moderator validated the opinions of the participants ○ knew they were being listened to because the discussion was built around what they had said previously ▪ Random prize drawings were held throughout the six weeks of the discussion

Sites of Interest to Marketing Researchers • a lot of information is free, some, • such as that offered by Nielsen Site Reports, must be purchased

Exhibit 7.1 details a number of different sites where researchers can go to obtain secondary information, including competitive intelligence. To learn about the demographics and psychographics of your zip code, go to http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp# Then select "zip code look-up" and type in your zip code.

Using Channel M2 to Conduct Online Focus Groups Channel M2 focus groups begin by the participants logging onto a web page where everyone sees and hears each other, and communicates in a group setting.

Focus group recruiting at M2 uses • blend of e-mail recruitment (from a global panel with access to over 15 million online consumers) and • telephone verification and • confirmation Recently, Channel M2 has introduced real-time voice analysis. Details the respondent's: • emotional mindset ○ excitement, stress, fear, embarrassment; • cognitive processes ○ rejection, confusion, uncertainty • veracity ○ truth, deceit, conflict • moderator can probe more deeply to clarify the situation

Conducting Surveys via Social Media Persons who "like" a product or service or members of web communities, can be sent an email with a link to an external site where the person can take the web survey. • many apps available for administering social media surveys ○ Survey Monkey's app is used to embed a survey on Facebook ○ Facebook also offers tools for conducting surveys (polls) ○ TwitPolls lets Twitter users ask questions of their followers

For researchers wanting to conduct traditional survey research, social media can be used as a respondent recruiting tool. All social media have apps for survey research. The researcher must decide which social media will provide the survey population of interest and which app offers the tools needed to best extract the type of decision-making information needed.

Methods of Conducting Online Surveys There are several basic methods for conducting online surveys: web survey software, survey design websites, and web hosting. Web Survey Software • specifically designed for web questionnaire construction and delivery • web server distributes the questionnaire and • files responses in a database Several popular online survey research software packages are IBM SPSS Quanquest, Sawtooth CiW, Infopoll, and SurveyGold.

Gaining Survey Completions ▪ use language that is less "research-ese" and more conversational. ▪ Be honest and upfront about the time required to complete a study. ▪ Provide opportunities for participants to provide open- ended answers and express themselves. ▪ Ensure that all possible answer choices are given; avoid overuse of "other." ▪ Keep survey to less than 20 minutes, provide participants with progress information ▪ Consider using graphics when possible or appropriate to make the experience more visually engaging. ▪ Explore new ways to facilitate interaction between respondents and a researcher. ▪ Make studies more informative —participants are particularly motivated by acquiring new knowledge and information about a product or topic. ▪ Offer participants the opportunity to be contacted again to receive updates on projects of products being tested

Commercial Online Panels • created for the use of multiple projects by many different companies • have invested in the pre-recruitment of people who opt to participate • Some online panels are for use by a specific industry, such as construction, medical When people join they answer an • extensive profiling questionnaire that records demographic, lifestyle, and psychographic information, typically with hundreds of dimensions

Group of individuals who have agreed to receive invitations to do online surveys from a particular panel company such as eRewards or SSI. The panel company charges organizations doing surveys for access to the panel. Charges are usually so much per survey depending on survey length and the type of people being sought for the survey. The panel company controls all access to the members of its panel. Although online panels are quite effective at reducing costs and field time, the quality of the data is dependent on how well the panel is managed. • recruitment methods, • respondent participation, • panel management practices, and • types of incentives offered

The Online World • Internet population will total almost 3 billion • In the US and Canada, over 80% is online Today, online survey research has replaced computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) as the most popular mode of data collection. Internet data collection is also rated as having the greatest potential for further growth.

Highest Internet penetration • United States • Oceania/Australia (68%); • Europe (61%); • Latin America/Caribbean (40%); • Middle East (36%), • Asia (26%), and • Africa (14%).

6 Advantages of Online Surveys : Simplified and enhanced panel management A sophisticated database tracks • panelist profile data and • survey responses, Facilitating longitudinal studies and data mining to yield insights into attitudes and behaviors over time and across segments

Internet panels can be built and maintained at less cost and time required for traditional panels. Response rates are high, typically 20 to 60 percent, because respondents have agreed in advance to participate in the survey. • provide more detailed and thoughtful answers ○ they don't have to give demographic and lifestyle information (it's already been captured) and • because they become engaged in the panel over time.

5 Advantages of Online Surveys : Ability to contact the hard-to-reach Certain groups are among the most difficult to reach (doctors, high-income professionals, CIOs in Global 2000 firms). Most of these groups are well represented online.

Internet surveys provide convenient anytime/anywhere access that makes it easy for busy professionals to participate.

Improving Virtual Focus Groups with Telepresence Cisco and Tata Communications set up a network of public telepresence rooms located in 30 cities around the world. • three HD video screens in a semicircle (to create an identical room on the "other side"); • reflective lighting for a more three-dimensional feel; • full-duplex audio; • directional, voice-activated video and audio; • simultaneous sharing of laptop screen; and • the ability to conference multiple locations at once.

Invented by Cisco to simplify virtual business meetings This isn't a remote viewing technology. This is a remote participating technology • moderator is often in a telepresence room with other participants • screens display a live feed • screens appear to "complete" the room. Audio is designed to be directional, so the voice of the person speaking feeds only from behind the screen on which the respondent appears

1 Commercial Online Panels : Panel Recruitment Panel member recruitment methodology is a key distinction among online panels. There are essentially two methods for recruiting for an online panel: • open source and by • invitation only Open Source • Intercepting people as they surf the Internet through ads is known as open recruitment. • provides the benefit of building a panel quickly with ○ people who are Internet-savvy ○ responsive to online advertising ○ A key drawback is the lack of control over who is recruited. ○ leads to an overabundance of panel members, "professional survey takers"—people who sign up to take hundreds of surveys in order to enter into sweepstakes drawings or other types of incentives Concerns with professional survey takers (1) they can give false or misleading information in an attempt to get through a survey quickly without regard to providing well-considered responses; (2) they tend to go through surveys in a perfunctory manner, which shows up in the time they take to complete the survey; and (3) they can make up a disproportionate amount of survey responders, leading to biased and unrepresentative research data.

Invitation Only • Closed online panel recruitment ○ prevalidated individuals, or ○ individuals who share known characteristics ○ accomplished by inviting customers from large, highly trusted leading brands Greater Control • enables a panel researcher to recruit people with specific demographics to meet a client's needs for a representative sample • panel composition is dependent on the people who are invited ○ may be biased by customers of a specific recruitment source ○ a "by-invitation-only" panel have a large number of diverse recruitment sources by working with companies in many different areas

Online Qualitative Research A popular form of online qualitative research is focus groups. • goal is to get 8 to 10 participants online at the same time • moderator to send questions to the participants • participants to provide their comments.

Online bulletin board focus groups had a number of disadvantages • all nonverbal communication was lost • sub-optimal interview flow • moderators are challenged to read a burst of responses • limits the ability to probe, thereby eliminating one key characteristic of qualitative research

3 Commercial Online Panels : Panel Management Panel providers are continually recruiting new members to keep up with the growth in demand for online samples, as well as replace any panel members who may drop out. • members will become less active in responding to surveys. • recruit new members to assist in growing certain hard-to-reach segments and/or • balancing the panel to have maximum representation of the overall population • ensuring panel freshness ○ Updating profiles ensures that panel providers are able to consistently target qualified people for surveys

Panels must continually see that that their participants have positive experiences with every research project. • frequency controls to see that panel members are not surveyed too little or too much. • providing respondent privacy, • safeguarding personal information, • and protecting members from bogus research that attempts to use online surveys as a sales channel

2 Commercial Online Panels : Respondent Participation • minimizes nonresponse bias Ensuring participation is a function of several factors, including • what extent panel members are engaged in the research process, • their experience with surveys and the panel in general, and • the topic of the research. • the incentive program. The choice of incentive model is not trivial. A sound incentive model influences not only survey response rates but also retention rates for panel members. • Panel members who do not feel adequately compensated for their time and effort are much less likely to participate

Response rates for online surveys can • vary dramatically • some populations having average response rates less than 5 percent, • others with response rates closer to 30 percent, and sometimes well • over 60 percent for prescreened individuals Generally, online panels use two incentive models: • the sweepstakes model and the • pay-all model Sweepstakes Model • a chance to be entered into a drawing for a prize, • extremely low odds of winning Pay-all incentive • pay each respondent • a small incentive for their time and participation

A Few Bumps at the Beginning - Disadvantages of Mobile Internet Research • taking a survey designed for a Mac or PC and converting it to a text-messaging (SMS) format was a recipe for disaster • Responding to a complex, 40-minute, slow-loading survey by typing out the responses led to high incompletion rates. Researchers are even using tablet PCs to evolve qualitative research into hybrid quant/qual techniques • Afterward, a focus group discussion of preference or other drivers can take place, incorporating the initial quantitative survey data into the qualitative group discussion

Some research firms moved to mobile surveys without a well-thought-out game plan. • focus has shifted to surveys conducted via WAP or via a survey application designed for a specific phone operating system WAP surveys allow for • cross-platform text and • multimedia surveys • device compatibility is over 70% • developed on and integrated into preexisting apps The downside is that mobile browser speed can vary considerably based on the wireless connection

Designing a Mobile Survey • mobile surveys need to be short (<10 questions) • minimize the number of pages • questions should be kept simple (due to screen) ○ Single-dimension radio, ○ checkbox, ○ or "select" ○ limit the use of open-ended questions, as they require typing • all nonessential content should be minimized ○ Even a progress bar increases the load time and the need for vertical scrolling

Survey designers must be proactive in the design of both the questionnaire and user—interface in order to give mobile respondents an excellent survey experience.

7 Advantages of Online Surveys : External Internet panels simplify life for research suppliers

The availability of huge Internet panels makes the sampling process much easier for research companies that utilize these panels

Survey Design and Web Hosting Sites Many websites allow the researcher to design a survey online without loading design software.

The survey is then administered on the design site's server. Some offer tabulation and analysis packages as well. Popular sites that offer web hosting are • Web Surveyor, • Survey Monkey, • Zoomerang, and • Google Consumer Surveys

Blogs Market researchers have used blogs to • monitor brands, • track trends, • profile customers, and • identify unmet needs Companies are also using blogs to • communicate directly with customers and other businesses

The traditional definition of a blog, or weblog, was a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and web links. Marketing researchers are finding blogs to be an important source • information on just about any topic • recruit respondents for surveys • as a form of individual depth interviews (IDI)

Webcam Online Focus Groups Disadvantages of bulletin board focus groups have been eliminated by the use of webcams and webcam focus group software • Webcams connect participants and a moderator • Voice data often goes over a phone line to reduce demands on bandwidth • video conference experience much more fluid Webcam groups require • more screening ○ valuate a recruit's comfort level participating in a webcam-based interview ○ question about broadband access ○ personal comfort using a computer & internet ○ question about webcam ownership Some research companies will send webcams to hard-to-find qualified respondents. Many companies offer webcam-based software and hosting such as QualMeeting by 20/20 Research.

The video-based online focus group marries the benefits of traditional qualitative research and the promised benefits of online focus groups: ▪ Moderators can see and hear participants, meaning that there is greater context to a participant's responses and probing is not compromised. ▪ Participants can log in from any part of the country (or the world, for that matter), thus eliminating the need for the moderator or clients to travel to a limited number of markets. ▪ Built-in collaboration tools enable the moderator to show multiple forms of stimuli (concepts, advertisements, storyboards) to the group.

open online panel recruitment

any person with internet access can self-select to be in a research panel

Marketing Research Online Communities (MROC) • value emerges from the richer, more complex understanding that researchers get • invitation only • members respond to questions on a regular basis • discussions, are augmented by the ability of community members to talk to one another The popularity and power of web communities initially came from several key benefits. ▪ Engage customers in a space where they are most comfortable ▪ Uncover "exciters" and "eureka moments," resulting in customer-derived innovations ▪ Establish brand advocates who are emotionally invested in a company's success. ▪ Offer real-time results, enabling clients to explore ideas that normal time constraints prohibit. ▪ Create a forum in which natural dialogue allows customers to initiate topics important to them. Unlike Internet surveys, participants • talk to each other as well as to researchers • exchange ideas in their own language and • raise questions and answers that researchers sometimes did not even think to ask Can only be achieved by creating engagement at different levels First there is a need for natural engagement • consumers have to identify with the topic or the brand under investigation A second form of engagement is method engagement • propose questions in a fun and challenging way to increase participation and the quality of input ○ gamification ○ entertaining video clips or ○ having celebrities ask questions

carefully selected group of consumers who agree to participate in an ongoing dialogue with a corporation By adding a research focus to the web community environment, this holistic perspective deepens as the community becomes a way to ▪ Map the psyche of consumer segments. ▪ Brainstorm new ideas. ▪ Co-create and test new products. ▪ Observe natural consumer behavior. ▪ Rally the company around a customer-centered perspective ▪ insights gained can be quickly shifted to the traditional market research space This type of cross-pollination, paradigm offers the potential to: ▪ Increase the efficiency of research by quickly finding the most appropriate forum for exploration of new insights. ▪ Reduce costs by using the community to follow up on questions left unanswered from ad hoc research studies. ▪ Improve the way consumer insights and implications are shared across organizational departments Larger communities (over 100 members) require more participation in building efforts by the moderator. • Lurking—when community members don't actively participate, increases when there are too many members ○ disconnect because they are convinced that their opinion has already been voiced and adds little or no value to the discussion

closed online panel recruitment

inviting only prevalidated individuals or those with shared known characteristics to enroll in a research panel

unrestricted Internet sample

self-selected sample group consisting of anyone who wishes to complete an internet survey

Advantages of Mobile Internet Research Smartphones enable researchers to observe consumers' whereabouts through • geolocation, • geofencing, and • mobile analytics and • ask them for real-time feedback Geofencing is the creation of a virtual fence around a location. When a person with a smartphone crosses a geofence, a location-specific survey can be triggered.

• 25% of survey respondents prefer to participate in survey research via their mobile devices Mobile research offers several advantages in addition to intercepting respondents at specific locations: ▪ Increased response rates. ▪ Increased convenience. ▪ Broader reach. ○ developing / remote countries ▪ Richer content. ▪ Broader demographic reach ▪ Immediate feedback ▪ Cost savings ▪ Additional options. Use as a mobile recruiting tool to direct respondents to online surveys, or connect with hard-to-reach groups. It is another way of reaching people on the go.

Online Individual Depth Interviews (IDI)

• Conducted like webcam focus groups but longer and one person at a time • Lacks ability to view nonverbal cues • Can be conducted on-line of off- line • Used to reach people such as physicians and busy executives

Mobile Internet Research—The Future Is Now By the end of 2013, the number of smartphone, cell phones, and tablets on the planet exceeded the world's human population. Mobile has the unparalleled capability to reach a customer anywhere, but it also means that an infinite number of distractions compete for his or her attention.

• Smartphone traffic grew by 81% in 2012 alone • 56% of American adults now own a smartphone, and • 57 % of adults use their phone to go online ○ (the number jumps to 79% of adults in households with incomes over $75,000). • 34% of adults own a tablet.

Using the Web to Find Focus Group Participants The Internet is proving to be an excellent tool to locate group participants that fit a very specific set of requirements.

• Tapping online bulletin boards such as Craigslist ○ useful "when you're trying to find niche users to a small population of users that is hard to find

Social Media Marketing Research Social media research is more interactive, via a few questions and observations over time. Researchers can learn what factors customers use to determine • value, as well as • the way they speak about the product, service, or brand.

• Who are our fans? • What can our fans teach us about our brand? • What factors do customers use to determine value? • How do customers talk about the brand, service, or product? Using tools from Facebook, you can measure • how many times a message is viewed, • how many times it is shared with other Facebook users, and • what fan responses say.

1 Advantages of Online Surveys : rapid deployment, real-time

• can be broadcast to thousands of potential respondents simultaneously • results are tabulated and posted for corporate clients to view as the returns arrive • results can be in the decision maker's hands in significantly less time than traditional survey results

Using the Internet for Secondary Data Can play a key role early in the marketing research process

• clarify the problem, • suggest a methodology for approaching the problem, and, • provide a solution so that the time and cost of primary research are avoided

2 Advantages of Online Surveys : Reduced costs Data collection costs account for a large proportion of any traditional marketing research budget.

• cut costs by 25 to 40 percent and • provide results in half the time • electronic solicitations can grow in volume with less increase in project costs.

3 Advantages of Online Surveys : Ready personalization Respondents appreciate being asked only pertinent questions, being able to pause and then resume the survey as needed, and having the ability to see previous responses and correct inconsistencies.

• highly personalized for greater relevance to each respondent's own situation

Online Survey Research

• majority of all U.S. research firms are now conducting online research In the United States, the online population is now closely tracking the U.S. population in most key demographic areas.

Advantages of Online Surveys

• rapid deployment, real-time reporting • reduced costs • ready personalization • high response rates • ability to contact the hard-to-reach • simplified and enhanced panel management • External Internet panels simplify life for research suppliers

4 Advantages of Online Surveys : High response rates Busy respondents may be growing increasingly intolerant of "snail mail" or telephone-based surveys.

• take less time to complete • accomplished at the respondent's convenience • more stimulating and engaging ○ Graphics, interactivity, links to incentive sites, and real-time summary reports make the interview more enjoyable.