A recent article in Advertising Age states that the future of consumer surveys may be at risk. Don’t think that this means your voice will no longer be heard, rather, market researchers are turning to new methods to collect data: online interaction. The Advertising Research Foundation said that this change will
signal a shift in paradigms, and most likely budgets, away from surveys and toward mining insights from blogs, social networks, consumer comments to websites and more…
It’s no secret that companies and consumers are interacting online. Companies are learning to not only build their brand and reputation, but listen to their customers and monitor online opinion. Marketing researchers could do benefit from listening as well.
There are some doubts as to "how well bloggers or participants in social networks represent the broader population", but overall this has promise for companies to reach out in a different way.
Instead of the traditional survey questions that aim to determine why you buy a specific product, or what can be done to persuade you to buy a product, the tables will shift and companies will be able to ask more targeted and relevant questions.
For example:
Traditional survey method: Call to customer to follow up after purchase, or request for customer to stay on line after phone call to customer service is made. Customer most likely is annoyed and does not participate in survey.
Using new media to get similar response: Customer makes purchase online, updates Twitter with excitement (or angst) about new purchase. Company monitors Twitter and replies to the customer to offer additional support. Customer blogs about experience and how much they like (or dislike) product and/or company.
Result: Company gets valuable feedback on customer experience, why they purchased their product, and ways to keep them coming back. Customer gets to provide feedback on their terms, in their time.
It will be interesting to see how the proposed decline of traditional consumer surveys will be accepted from market research firms, companies and consumers.
Hello,
I agree with you. Although I don’t think phone or web based survey will become obsolete, I do think that monitoring social media will grow rapidly in the next few years. I work for a company that provides CRM and have recently started to offer that service. We have many inquiries and interest in the product. Companys like the availability to react and respond to anything written about them!
Great blog!
Becky
Ann Michaels & Associates
That’s a great way for companies to offer better customer service. A lot companies are even offering live chat services to help out with any questions a consumer may have. The traditional methods will never completely be gone, but I agree that they will be slowing down.
Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com
You’re describing the difference between conventional directed market research based on questions and observational research based on observing real behavior. Monitoring social media (which is what we do) can be compared to mystery shopping on a much greater and more internal scale- you see right into the thoughts and reactions of consumers who are not aware of your presence. As a result your research doesn’t affect their response, offering a more potentially honest view of behavior.
This is a primary reason why we’re so excited about our business.
Real time monitoring and measuring of the blogosphere and/or social media space is equivalent to a heartrate monitor — it continually takes the pulse of our living, breathing collective intelligence. Easier said than done at this point due to the closed nature of many valuable and big networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.
I, too, have wondered recently exactly what you raise: are bloggers and Twitters representative of general opinion or are they thought leaders with opinions on steroids?
Thanks for writing about this!
This post excites me, for so long companies have sold products and services based on what companies “thought” clients want. With the technology available companies can now connect, its awesome.
As Chief Research Officer at the ARF, I organized the event and article that is being referred to hear. it is extremely gratifying for me to hear the industry’s energized response to new ways of gaining consumer insights via naturally occurring conversations and behaviors. Our next step in the journey is an event on Oct 29th in NY entitled, “Transforming research. ARe you listening?” please go to http://www.thearf.org/assets/forum to learn more about this event and sign up if you’re interested.