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There has been a lot of discussion in the industry about whether Market Research Online Communities (MROCs) are the future of the industry or simply a fad that will pass.
Communities and community-like research is here to stay. The past couple of years have been an inflection point in our industry. "Standard" qualitative is changing dramatically. Therefore, expectations are changing and communities are a reflection of that.
Last week, I received my 2010 prediction issue of Research Business Review. There were 12 pages of predictions from all corners of the research industry. It was overwhelming. I wondered what would happen if I created a word cloud of the entire predictions issue to easily assess the common themes? I scanned the entire issue and loaded the text into Wordle to create a typical word frequency word cloud (below).
Then I began to consider the business implications of this compilation. My mind instinctively began to combine words in an attempt to decipher meaning from this jumble of words. Suddenly new concepts began to form around those word combinations. I quickly realized that I was brainstorming trends and opportunities for 2010 from this jumbled mass of relevant words. The word cloud and the resulting word combinations became an unexpected tool that stimulated brainstorming.
Look at this word cloud and allow combinations of words to form. What are their implications? How do those combinations lead you to insights? Here are some combinations that pop at me:
- New Media Companies
- Media Insights Communities
- New Social Consumers
- Consumer Insights Communities
- Marketing Less Media
- Continue Technology Promises
- Understand Traditional Listening
- See New Consumers
The beauty of using word clouds in this way is that the word cloud prioritizes the concepts (at least the words) that the experts are using but presents them in such a way that the brain has to work to make some sense of it. That is the process that leads to brainstorming.
As a qual researcher, my mind is spinning on two levels. First, how can I tactically use Word Clouds in my qualitative research brainstorming? Second, how can I use Word Cloud Brainstorming in my business planning to tap the wisdom of the crowds of experts to better plan and strategize?
For several months I have been threatening to disconnect our home land line. All 6 members of the Bryson household have a cell phone and I found myself answering the "home phone" on a regular basis when the call was not for me. Finally, in December, the Bryson's became a wireless-only family. Now we save the monthly cost of our telephone bill and I don't have to answer the phone unless someone wants to reach me personally. Apparently, the Brysons are part of a massive trend that will change the face of the research industry. The National Center for Health Statistics reported that another 2.5% of American households are now without land lines making 22.7% of all American households wireless only. At this rate, in 11 years less than 50% of American households will have a "home phone" land line. My guess is that this trend will accelerate and we are more like 5 years away from that reality.
As we enter this next decade, the research industry must resolve this problem. Will we depend on mobile phone panels to fulfill our research needs? Will we migrate all research to online or in-person and abandon the concept of telephone interviews altogether? Before you say "no way" consider the plight of door-to-door interviewing which was a research staple in the 1950s and 1960s. Or, will we find a "third way?"
The telephone we know as a research tool is becoming extinct. Individuals now carry personal communications and information devices with them 24/7. No longer do we simply call a publicly-listed household and ask for the decision marker. We must have an individual's personal number, have permission to use it and have a relationship with that individual that leads to engagement.
In 2010, you can no longer reach the "Bryson household." You may call any of us...but you have to find our number first and give us a reason to talk to you. For telephone researchers, the "Bryson Household" ceased to exist in 2009.
As primarily a fieldwork firm heavily engaged in both traditional qualitative fieldwork and online qualitative fieldwork, we have a broad vista of the qual industry. Our clients are researchers who hail from literally all over the world.
Around the office, we have been noticing a dicotomy that has created a lot of discussion and diverse opinions about the direction of the industry. We are noticing two opposing trends that appear to both be driven by the need to lower costs.
- Marketing Research Departments are shedding personnel and outsourcing more.
- Marketing Research Departments (MRD) are doing more DIY qual in-house and cutting out the outside research supplier.
Personally, I think MRDs are using online qualitative services to do more DIY to cut qual costs but continue to outsource face-to-face qual. If this is the case, then the future will look quite differently for MRDs and research firms as online qual continues to gain traction and evolve.
Thoughts?
There was an interesting conversation on Ray Poynter's blog (http://thefutureplace.typepad.com). Ray raised the question of why online qualitative has not "taken off" to the same extent that online quantitative has. Here is the response that I made to that question.
Catherine has a very good point in that we have not yet cracked what online qual can actually do.
When we started doing online qual in 2000-2001, uptake was very slow by traditional qual researchers. Frankly, qualies had a system (focus groups) that worked, was well accepted and was very profitable and they were extremely bothered that online qual was almost wholly text based. They missed (and still do for the most part) the visual cues and "feel" that one gets when sitting down with an individual(s).
Online qual has been growing significantly not because these problems have been overcome. As a rule, they have not. Online qual has begun to grow because (1) travel is expensive and a hassle, (2) researchers have discovered the diversity of a range of qual techniques to solve various problems (its not just focus groups anymore) and (3) social media has shown everyone that effective communication online is possible and, for some, preferable.
Online qual will continue to grow though it may not reach the 60%+ market share of online quant for a long time. Online qual has significant hurdles to overcome, chief among them (1) making the online experience as close to "being there" as possible and/or (2) finding new and better ways of connecting with people.
Eventually online qual will become a method for a 360 degree type of immersion that we are only guessing at right now. It will be a new world for research as Catherine said. Its very exciting and challenging to imagine and make happen.
This is one ofthe reasons that communities and "netnographies" are big now. Researchers want more than a one dimensional qual aspect. This is the most exciting time in qual since I joined the club 23 years ago. Its a great ride.
To see the entire discussion, go to http://tinyurl.com/yh4ql8f
ESOMAR Online Conference
Earlier this month in Chicago, I had the opportunity to hear Ray Poynter present his paper "It Works for Us, But Does it Work for Them?" This was a study of 1085 research participants. The bottom line was that focus groups remain the #1 most enjoyable form of research for participants. Here are the percent of participants of each method who say they "always" enjoy participating.
- Focus Groups 51%
- Online Research Community 39%
- Online Survey 37%
- IDIs 33%
- Telephone Survey 12%
Findings show that people enjoy focus groups because of the high involvement, face-to-face interaction that allows them to share their opinions and bounce ideas off of each other. They also like the format where people are listening yet there is a specific and limited time commitment. Participants enjoy the opportunity to "get the inside scoop" on new products or ideas. Of course, they also appreciate the generous incentives andfree food and drink.
Interesting, there are some significant fears as well. Some fear judgement by other participants or having to disagree openly with someone else. Others fear of public speaking and knowing that every word and action is being watched and recorded. Interestingly, participants expressed frustration over the limited timeframe. They don't always get to voice their complete opinion and one person might dominate the discussion and use up "their" time.
I'll report more on this paper in another post. If you would like the whole paper, you can get it for EUR 15.00 at http://www.esomar.org/web/publication/paper.php?id=2047
The following article was posted by Jeffrey Henning on the Vovici blog (www.blog.vovici.com). It is an excellent summary of Ned Winsborouogh's presentation at the MRA's First Outlook Conference regarding General Mills' experience with online qualitative and its subsequent "mandate to move as much of our qualitative research online as possible." Especially interesting are General Mills findings and how they are adjusting heir online qualitative based on experience. General Mills is a QualBoard 3.0 user and has found it to be extremely successful for them.
General Mills Moving Qualitative Research Online
Posted by Jeffrey Henning on Fri, Nov 06, 2009
Ned Winsborough, manager of consumer networks at General Mills, presented "Accelerating
Innovation with Social Networks" at the MRA First Outlook Conference. "We have a mandate at
General Mills to move as much of our qualitative research online as possible in the coming months and years. We have been experimenting with this for a year, but we created our consumer networks team this summer and are now scaling it." (Consumer networks is the term that General Mills uses for MROCs.)
General Mills has done 22 community projects since last spring. Why online communities? "Online consumer communities meet the needs of consumers, brand teams and agencies with busy lives. They allow you to innovate with consumers better, faster, and cheaper." With communities, General Mills is able to engage in iterative building of concepts: "We listen, we build; we listen, we tweak. This can be done very quickly, with a lot of flexibility to the method." Community research allows for faster speed to market. For one project, General Mills did six months of work in six weeks. Compared to other qualitative methods, communities are less expensive. "There is a fixed cost for setting up the communities, which can be very significant, but the incremental cost of doing extra weeks, extra moderation, is very low."
Continue reading General Mills has "mandate" to do qualitative research online.
I recently wrote an article for Mobile Marketer about the use of text messaging in qualitative research. The article provides an overview of uses to give those not familiar with the use of text messaging in research a taste of the possibilities. The article was published today. Here is a brief excerpt:
More of these researchers who seek to understand the motivations behind decisions and behavior are using text messaging as a tool and finding it holds exciting promise.
No longer must the research be conducted at a time convenient to the researcher. Now the research query can come to the participants in real-time through their mobile devices to glean more reliable and complete information.
You can find the entire article at http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/4535.html
The first day of the ESOMAR Online Conference this week in Chicago focused on social media and its impact on market research. The Conference opened with the following video that was very thought-provoking.
From: ESOMAR Global Market Research 2009
This research report included an examination of the trends directly affecting the MR industry, and blurring the boundaries between the MR industry and adjacent sectors. Therefore the competitive set is changing for MR firms. Here is a quick summary of 6 identified trends that effect our companies and our future.
- Changing Client Needs: Clients are re-evaluating their spending patterns and experimenting with new sources of information such as free survey sites and web analytics tools rather than traditional research methods and suppliers.
- Changing Skill Sets: Advisory and consulting skills are growing in importance as researchers are increasingly called upon to draw conclusions and provide advice based on their findings. Therefore, research firms now often face new competitors such as management consulting firms.
- Technology Developments: Rapidly advancing technology opens up new sources of information and new research methods enabling researchers to expand their services and creating niches for new companies.
- New Players: Players outside traditional research are using their brand awareness to enter the market with rival research offerings (e.g., Google Ad Planner).
- Consolidation: Consolidation causes some brands to disappear while others morph and change shape to adapt to new opportunities creating a constantly shifting landscape.
- New and Emerging Markets: More global firms are expanding their operations in developing markets. New players in emerging markets are introducing new techniques that are changing the shape of the industry.