Marketing

Online Research: Temptations and Limitations

~ K. Quesenberry ~ 3 Comments

Internet research is quickly gaining popularity as a marketing research method. In fact, growth of research via the web has increased six times the rate of total market research. The advantages of Internet research include real-time reporting, reduced costs, personalization, higher response rates, and the ability to contact hard-to-reach targets. But what are the disadvantages?

A recent American Psychology article detailed several disadvantages of online surveys. We must be careful of sample bias that effects the generalizability of your data. Unlike random dialing of telephone numbers, nothing exists to give you a random sample of Internet users. And people who can participate in online studies tend to skew towards certain demographic profiles other than the general population. In addition, response rates for online surveys versus paper are generally lower. Online participants may drop out before completing a study and there is often difficulty in getting a hold of them at a later time. This is because email addresses change more frequently than phone numbers and mailing addresses. Online also runs the risks of multiple submissions or flooding a site and people may act differently online than they do in real-life social interactions. Also are participants who they say they are? With an in-person study, you can see that someone is who he or she says they are.

Another fact to consider is that the vast majority of online research is quantitative with companies using applications like SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang. There are limitations in conducting qualitative research online – how do you get someone to taste your product or what if you need to observe their behavior? Internet research is gaining ground and may be attractive because of its immediacy and lower cost, but it is good for us all to also keep in mind its limitations.

Blah, Blah, Blog: Why Companies Should Listen

~ K. Quesenberry ~ Leave a comment

A company sponsored blog can be very useful as part of a complete integrated marketing effort. Blogs offer more direct communications with current and prospective customers and allow the company to have a more human, back and forth, interaction. But another way to use blogs is to listen to unofficial company blogs as part of consumer or employee research. CNET described this saying that online discussions are a modern replacement for customer satisfaction surveys or focus group reports, which take months to compile and analyze. I wouldn’t write off formal research just yet, but listening to the Internet does give you information in real time. One way to see the value in listening to blogs is take a look at a real example like Starbucks.

Long before Starbucks started their own blog there already existed many unofficial Starbucks’ blogs. Some are fan sites while others are “anti-Starbucks.” One of these unofficial Starbucks blogs is “Starbucks Gossip: Monitoring America’s Favorite Drug Dealer.” The sentiment of its posts and comments are not always positive and the host and participants see themselves as watchdogs for this powerful corporation. Post are frequent – almost one a day – and comments average around 50 to 100 per post. Banner ads appear by national brands including Craftsman and Febreze.  According to Alexa the blog ranks 93,463 in the U.S. as far as all websites and has 544 websites linking in. Why should Starbuck be listening to this blog? Below is a sample discussion:

Post: “Despite the company’s claims that it has a sustainability plan in force, that plan does not include any efforts to streamline packaging or introduce recycled content in its plastic Ethos water bottles or its glass Frappucino bottles,” writes Cameron Scott. He says kindergarten classes do a better job with recycling than Starbucks.”

Comment 1: “Good. They should be criticized for talking the talk and not walking the walk. The big wigs make it a lot harder than it has to be. (not to minimize the struggles that come with getting a ton of stores to start recycling, but it’s definitely something that is possible.”

Comment 2:“We actually get grief from our district and store manager for wanting to recycle. They do everything they can to make it difficult for us to do so. It is shameful that Starbucks only does “Green” initiatives that are going to be noticed by the customers (like replacing the water basins). But that is just the way it is.”

Starbucks’ managers, employees and former employees are active on this blog. Starbucks can learn a lot about internal and external sentiment and opinion of products, policies and promotions. Some issues could be addressed leading to happier managers, employees and customers. Many in this sample post complained about a lack of landlord or local government recycling options. In concentrated markets perhaps corporate Starbucks could help figure out a company program that would pick up recycling and take it to the local centers – a lesson to be learned from listening.