Michaela Mora, discusses with Dan Fleetwood, president of QuestionPro on Live with Dan, the challenges of maintaining genuine human connections and meaningful interactions when conducting market research as technology and AI continue to advance.
Watch the Re: Design/Growth Podcast, episode 20, where Michaela Mora discusses how to connect product experiences to business growth through market research and UX research with Ritvij Gautam, Timothy Rotolo from Trymata.
Knowing the difference between product and positioning concept testing is important to determine whether to test features or benefits. The insights resulting from each type of test are used to support different business decisions related to marketing and product development.
Conjoint analysis is the best research approach available to price research. There are different conjoint analysis approaches. Which method should we use? The one that better reflects how buyers make decisions in the marketplace.
Tune in to the webinar The Rise of UX (user experience) to learn about the past and present relationship between Market Research and UX Research, their differences and similarities and where they are heading.
The Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (PSM) is a popular method to research price due to its simple setup and intuitive appearance but there is no good theory to support it and misses the context in which buyers evaluate prices, providing vague guidance that is hard to validate.
It is time to connect the Xs ( UX, CX, HX, PX) in the experience management field if we want research to add value. The "Future-Proofing the Experience Research Field" panel at the 2023 Insights Association Conference emphasized the importance of collaboration and integration of research roles for securing the future of experience management.
Focus groups have their place in the research toolbox. Like any other research method, they have advantages and disadvantages. They are not a good fit for every research need.
Segmentation research allows companies to find target segments that can propel their growth and profitability. Many variables may be part of the mix of criteria that differentiate between segments. Segmentation studies may have little impact on organizational decision-making unless some conditions needed for insights implementation are in place.
Watch Michaela Mora, founder of Relevant Insights, at the 2022 X Event Conference by the Insights Association, discussing the current state of the relationship between market research and UX research, misconceptions about market research, and introducing integrated research insights framework that helps strengthen the value of research to support business outcomes.
Research budget allocation is about investment decisions to support desired business outcomes. It often reflects how management values the research function and its customers. To get the most value out of the research budget, certain conditions are required.
Watch Michaela Mora, founder of Relevant Insights, at the 2022 Rosenfeld Advancing Research Conference, discuss the concept testing methodology and various approaches available, when to use them, the decisions they can support, and the process to conduct good concept testing with mixed methodologies in mind.
Listen to the UX Research Geeks, episode 8, where Tina Ličková, researcher and strategist, and Michaela Mora discussed the value of integrating market research and UX research, the importance of research problem definition, what personas are, how demographic variables provide context in data interpretation, and much more!
Dichotomous grids seem to be better to encourage more thoughtful answers about items that may be ignored in a long multi-response list. Nonetheless, we should use them with caution and add controls to validate their answers.
Different survey rating scales are bound to yield different results as we are mainly dealing with human perception. We need to be careful in how to use them.
Decision-makers often don't have a clear idea of the real problem that should be researched. A problem audit can help clarify the business problem and translate it into a research problem in order to select a fit-for-purpose approach.
Integration, or at least coordination, of market research and UX research to support business outcomes is needed if we want the research function(s) organizations to value Research in the long-term.
Consider these important issues when writing surveys to ensure data quality.
The market research process requires decisions related to budget, target sample, development of data collection tools, fielding, analysis, and reporting. Here is a check list to make the process easier.
Qualitative research is one type of exploratory market research methodology whose primary outcome is to develop an understanding, not recommend a final course of action. It important to know its strengths and weaknesses to harness its power.
The time for outsourcing research is often connected to opportunity cost, research team's skills, and internal credibility.
Secondary Research should be a prerequisite to the collection of primary data, but it rarely provides all the answers you need. A thorough evaluation of the secondary data is needed to assess its relevance and accuracy.
Segmentation and Personas are part of the segmentation analysis process. Personas creation is an essential step in segmentation analysis, but it is not a technique to create the actual segments. Personas are simply segments' profiles.
MaxDiff has emerged as a popular trade-off analytical technique to understand preferences and what is important to different target markets. MaxDiff has a higher discriminatory power compared to rating and ranking questions.
Companies should do concept testing of their offers' fine print to avoid bad customer experiences.
The way a product is positioned affects its evaluation. Functional and experiential product positioning will elicit different perceptions.
Michaela Mora talks about her research career and issues in the market research industry on the Data Stories: Leaders at Work podcast.
Companies that establish research systems to support consistent product concept testing and choose to follow best practices discussed in this article are more likely to develop successful new products.
Concept testing is a very valid approach to measure the appeal of products and services, but when it is not well designed, this type of research tends to yield general information that is not strong and granular enough to support decision-making.
Although in-house market research and UX research can lead to faster and sometimes cheaper research results, research vendors can support internal research teams by adding extra time, quality, innovation, validation, neutrality, and credibility to the research teams.
In this webinar organized by the UX Research & Strategy Group, Michaela Mora, founder of Relevant Insights, discusses what market research is, the similarities and differences between market research and UX research, and how they could be integrated to gain deeper insights to deliver business impact.
Market research is a structured process to identify, gather, and analyze information to support business decisions. Market research can provide insights into the customer journey and guide decisions related to product development, marketing strategy, pricing strategy, and points of sales (online and offline) to create a customer experience that supports customer acquisition and retention.
The use of consumer research to impact product development can be traced back to the origins of marketing research in the CPG industry. Traditional consumer research often combined qualitative and quantitative research, which is still the best approach to support product development decisions.
As more companies are paying attention to diversity and inclusion not only internally but also in their marketing, one area of needed improvement is the way we ask questions about race and gender in many market research surveys. In this webinar, we review provide practical survey design recommendations to create surveys that represent racial and gender diversity in the U.S.
Words Matter is a research initiative launched by the Multicultural Insights Collective to help companies talk about racial justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and representation in their internal and external communications to support business growth and sustainability.
Businesses often develop solutions without checking first if there is a need for them, paving the path to failure. Discovery research can help various internal teams (product, marketing, HR, operations) understand underlying users' needs and problems and start the journey to create relevant solutions.
Qualitative research insights are often doubted in the C-suite due to small samples and lack of validation based on quantitative research. To enhance its value, qualitative researchers should advocate for validation and make it part of the research design.
In this webinar organized by ESOMAR, MRII at The University of Georgia, and CRIC, Michaela Mora, president of Relevant Insights, discusses what is and what is not UX, how research can support UX and the areas of expertise needed to conduct UX research.
Michaela Mora, founder, and president of Relevant Insights discusses UX topics, including, its meaning, history, and role in market research on the MR Realities podcast with Kevin Gray and David McCaughan, two veterans of the market research industry.
New startups are more likely to avoid failure by having a market research plan as outlined in this article. Otherwise, they risk not learning what's needed to move your business forward and marching directly to failure.
Providing too many product features produces choice overload for customers. Check these 12 research techniques to avoid choice overload.
Digital ethnography is observation research enabled by online tools rather than by in-person observation. It is a convenient way for participants to share how they interact with products and services in their natural environment.
Agile product development is about putting users at the center of the product development process as the 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto suggest. Some companies are missing this point in an effort to lower cost and time-to-market.
Companies should adopt different new product development strategies at different times depending on the circumstances they find themselves in. This article outlines nine new-product development strategies companies should consider, based on the book Design & Marketing of New Products by Urban & Hauser.
To get better customer satisfaction metrics, companies need to use the right type of qualitative and quantitative research.
Website navigation can impact a website's user experience. I can be improved with the help of information architecture and usability testing. The learnings and improvements you could make will pay many times over what you invest in testing.
Testing different website design ideas in the initial design stage can help you develop an effective website and save you time and money.
Market research vendors and clients should be partners in the effort to provide quality insights. Research vendors can provide specific expertise and an objective perspective. Research buyers bring knowledge about their business and content in which the insights are needed.
The practice of making business decisions based on "gut-feeling" is wide-spread. Unfortunately, businesses that use this approach are often unaware of their biases and of how market research and evidence-based insights can support better business decisions.
Developers of online survey tools are trying to improve the user experience of participants taking surveys by making them more interactive and intelligent. However, survey design is still more important than the technology used to implement surveys. Cool survey features will not save a badly designed survey.
Survey respondents go through different phases when answering questions: Comprehension, Retrieval, Judgement, and Response. Writing good survey questions, that consider these phases, is more important than fun and cool question formats.
The goal of brand tracking studies is to monitor brand health. Designing them requires making decisions related to what to track, when to do it, whom to include, and how to interpret the results.
To compare market segments you need enough sample size to find significant differences. To determine the sample size for segments we need to consider a series of factors.
Statistical significance is a term used when we are interested in detecting real differences, not due to chance between two or more groups (people, objects, ads, etc.).
To determine sample size, we need to consider the levels of certainty, precision, tolerance for risk, and budget we can afford. There are always trade-offs we have to make.
The size of a sample is not a guarantee of its ability to accurately represent a target population. Large unrepresentative samples can perform as badly as small unrepresentative samples.
To calculate the sample size for a survey you need to consider several factors including an analytical plan, confidence level, and budget.
To understand cause and effect, we need to conduct experiments. Experiments may include surveys as a data collection method, but surveys in themselves can’t provide the answer.
To align business goals with the right market research approach think of your customer acquisition and retention goals and target market.
Choose your font size and type with care to improve not only usability but also to support and communicate your brand.
Moderated and unmoderated usability testing approaches have different purposes and complement each other. If timing and budget permit, you should use both. If you can only afford one or the other, think hard about the objectives and the type of decision you will make.
Faster, cheaper, and better is the ultimate sales pitch by new technologies and tools entering the market research industry. Don't believe it. There are always trade-offs you will have to make between all three factors.
Some studies find support for excluding the neutral point while others for including it, depending on the subject, audience, and type of question.
CX is becoming an important discussion topic in many organizations and some are even installing teams, who are finding themselves fighting in the CX culture revolution.
Data integration for a good customer experience is not just about integrating technologies. It is about connecting different groups in the organization that are in contact with customers at different points in their journey.
Customer Experience (CX) research can help product managers to understand how to sell the product to customers, but also how to get buy-in from management for this type of research.
This article describes how MoneyGram was able to raise awareness about the importance of investing in creating a customer experience and implement a CX internal practice
Many businesses fail because they launch without first understanding whether there is a need for their products and services.
Designing a good user experience requires a user-centric iterative process that uses UX research methods to fail as soon as possible, learn from mistakes to provide a good user experience.
User experience is created across all the different touchpoints a company interacts with users and potential customers. It goes beyond usability, visual design, or product use.
The quality of survey data depends in great measure on the survey design. In the era of DIY research, survey mistakes are too common. This article describes the top two mistakes and how to remedy them.
The market research objectives and approach should be customized depending on whether customer acquisition or customer retention is the main business goal.
Comparing election polls is nearly impossible without knowing the methodology used in terms of population universe selected, screening criteria, and question formulations.
Michaela Mora, founder, and president of Relevant Insights discusses the topic of concept testings in this webinar, including when concept testing is needed, the main challenges we face during the development of the concept description, and different approaches to concept testing.
B2B websites should be designed with e-commerce guidelines in mind, even when they don’t sell products and services directly online.
To avoid rebranding mistakes you need to test the new branding concepts with your target audience using both qualitative and quantitative research methods.
New technologies have made it possible to improve the speed, objectivity, and convenience of qualitative research.
Hispanics are a very diverse group. Here is the 2015 demographic profile of Hispanics in the U.S. based on research the Pew Research Center.
In 2015, the state of sentiment analysis is disappointing. Companies are looking for better metrics and tools to extract insights from unstructured data.
10 pieces of advice on how to do and use market research.
This infographic data shows that retailers would gain from optimizing their online presence and customizing the shopping experience to bring customers to the stores.
Usually, customers are not really against product bundling, they just want a bundle that is relevant to their needs. There are research methods that can be used to unravel the bundling conundrum.
Too many companies rely on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) to guide business decisions without realizing the limitations of this metric discussed in this article.
To identify loyal customers, companies need to triangulate the result from attitudinal metrics, its drivers, and their actual purchase behavior.
Running focus groups at a company’s headquarters is convenient and cheap for the client. However, this puts a lot of pressure on participants who are likely to give socially desirable answers.
Conjoint analysis is a powerful technique to support new product development and pricing strategies, but it is important to understand its limitations.
Experience, customer service, and empathy from the vendor are key attributes in a market research vendor that can benefit clients the most and help corporate insights groups to do a great job
Alchemer, formerly known as SurveyGizmo, SurveyMonkey, and Qualtrics are three popular online survey tools. This article compares features offered in their paid plans.
Many online survey tools offer free trials and even free versions of the tools with limited capabilities. Here is a comparison of the free versions offered by Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo), SurveyGizmo, and QuestionPro.
SurveyMonkey is one of the most popular online survey tools. However, it has many limitations. This article discusses five of them.
Conjoint analysis have many useful applications. Nonetheless, it should be used with caution and full knowledge of its limitations.
GameStop’s CMO discusses how GameStop has used consumer insights to drive growth.
Different types of memory are at work depending on how we ask questions in surveys, but there are ways to minimize memory errors in surveys.
Bad surveys are an epidemic. They can turn-respondents off leading to high abandonment rates and in the worse cases, they can yield bad quality data.
We should try to avoid social media research bias that can lead to generalizations about consumers in a particular category.
The market research budget often dictates the approach. However, we need to first think of the business decisions we need to make to avoid wasting money.
Infographic about the digital lives of teenagers.
Infographic with key demographics of households going wireless as of 2012.
Infographic on the media's influence on purchase behavior.
We should base the high-order benefits of a brand on the actual relationship (if any) consumers have with the brand based on iterative testing.
Cognitive biases show up everywhere, including our professional lives. These are 10 cognitive biases that are relevant to market research.
Ask first what critical information is needed to make decisions and how the insights will be implemented when you are trying to prioritiza what to research.
Profitable new product ideas should be tested with qualitative and quantitative research, particularly with techniques like conjoint analysis.
Comparison of three online survey tools: Alchemer (formerly SurveyGizmo), Qualtrics and Decipher (formerly Beacon).
Visual appeal plays an important role in website usability. You only have milliseconds to grab the attention and create a first impression.
Menu-based conjoint analysis helps determine the right combination of features of products and services when a certain degree of customization is needed.
Measuring customer satisfaction is not enough. When it comes to customer retention, use more than one metric, and focus on key drivers.
The use of social media in market research brings issues about data accuracy and representativeness of opinions and users, but it has its applications.
Efficient and effective brand building requires market research to understand the buying decision process which often starts before brand awareness.
Awareness, attitude, and usage metrics should be tracked by any business from the beginning in addition to sales data to support business growth.
Netflix implemented a price increase without doing proper price research and paid with customer protests and a lower stock price.
A profitable website needs to meet certain criteria in order to create a good user experience, represent your brand, and inspire trust.
Mixed-mode research is gaining steam in the research industry but researchers need to be aware of the limitations and potential measurement error involved. Questions must be presented so that the meaning conveyed is the same across multiple modes to yield comparable results
This article discusses how ESPN implements and value market research by putting insights at the center, looking forward, and using hybrid approaches.
The market research industry is trying to find ways to use social media as a research venue. This article discusses the pros and cons of social media that are being considered.
Mixed data collection modes are being used to reach low incidence consumer groups. However, combining data collection modes introduces measurement errors.
Text analytics, if improved, can help extra insights from open-ended questions from customer satisfaction surveys conducted with large samples.
Attitudinal questions are often used to understand how customers perceive brands and products. Here are key guidelines about how to write them.
Long surveys are pretty common but have a negative effect on response rate, abandonment rate, impacting sample representativeness, and data quality.
Here are a few focus group mistakes you should avoid during the planning of focus groups and the analysis of its results.
More clients are asking for the data behind recommended marketing strategies when it is time for the advertising agency pitch.
Multiple-choice questions are common in online surveys, but there might be a better way to ask the same questions. Learn what the research says.
The irrational consumer refers to situations in which consumers' actual behaviors don’t match the rational approach to decision making. We should consider various approaches to uncover the drivers of such behaviors.
2011 trends in the market research industry: Democratization, commoditization, segmentation, brand research, and online qualitative research.
Perceptual maps are useful tools to infer underlying dimensions from perceived similarity or preference for brands.
Respondents are likely to over- or underestimate their willingness to pay for products and services so we need research designs that reflect their reality.
Validity is about measurement accuracy. Reliability is about the measurement of internal consistency. To achieve both, good survey design is a must.
Research results showing the topics of interests and challenges buyers of market research faced in 2011.
The increase of cell phone-only households has been forcing research based on phone surveys need to include cell phone samples to be representative.
Connecting marketing research to business results is not easy, but it is feasible with a systematic approach is adopted in order to get key stakeholders involved in the research process, share research insights and track their impact on the business.
To establish a customer satisfaction program, companies need a measurement system that monitors key performance indicators (KPIs) that are relevant to the customer experience and the products and services offered by the company.
Branding research quality can be gauged by asking a set of questions to determine what it reveals about the audience, its category drivers, and value.
Market segmentation studies can be of great value as long as they reveal segments that are actionable, sizable, stable, and unique to allow businesses to be more effective and efficient in their marketing efforts.
Michaela Mora, Relevant Insights' founder, discusses how to design brand tracking studies and what to consider to make them effective in this webinar organized by Surveyanalytics.com.
Identifying optimal prices for products or services requires consideration of willingness to pay, costs, competitors' pricing, and market trends.
There are different methods to approach price research. To get unbiased results we need to design the right questions to reflect how people consider pricing in their buying decisions.
Measuring brand equity sources requires that marketers have an in-depth understanding of how customers shop for and use the products, what they think about the brand and its competitors, and the aspects of awareness and brand image that have an impact on customer response.
Customers CAN tell you what they want; you just have to know how to ask and what to ask. Not asking them is simply bad research advice.
Market research should not be used to harvest prospects lists or to sell directly to research participants. That's a job for telemarketers.
Technology has led to the development of new online qualitative research techniques, which can make qualitative research better, faster, and cheaper (not always).
Response rates are based on the number of respondents who attempt to participate in a survey, even if they are disqualified after screening questions.
Convenience samples are a form of non-probability sampling in which the ease with which potential participants can be located or recruited is the primary consideration. This includes online panels, mall intercepts, river samples, snowballing samples, and observational studies.
Market research doesn’t have to be expensive to be well done. Consider these points and find a research partner that is willing to invest in your success. This will allow you to do market research on the smallest budgets.
The selection of the most appropriate type of market research should be based on the particular business issue that is being considered: awareness, targeting, acquisition, or retention.
To connect with their customers, businesses should use customer insights from market research to understand customers' behaviors, experiences, knowledge, and emotions and have a clear idea of how to position their products and services.
Packaging research had shown that it is easier to damage a brand than grow it via packaging, so getting it right is not a trivial matter.
When it is time for a brand makeover or new packaging re-design, branding research is a must. It allows measuring the overall impact of the changes in brand recognition and sales. The best approach to branding research combines both qualitative and quantitative techniques.
New packaging often fails to motivate buyers. Packaging research can help design new packaging that is anchored in brand identity, attracts buyers' attention, and motivates them to buy.
Not all new product ideas are good business ideas. Before deciding whether to launch a new enterprise, business owners need to find out whether there is a market for their product or service.
Subscribe and don’t miss anything!
Subscribe
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
