Market research news
The blog of the market research agency IntoTheminds lists opinionated articles, examples of alignment with marketing theory, highlights and bad buzz, carefully selected by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, his team and influential experts.
4 retail problems that focus groups cannot solve
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Focus groups are not the magic solution to all your marketing problems. Good market research uses focus group as an additional technique to confirm the results obtained elsewhere; never as an exploratory methodology. In the retail world, focus groups are…
Good resolution #1: be more selective
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
In April 2015 I started a new Big Data assignment in Brussels. I was (and still am) spending most of my time in the eastern part of Brussels. I then realized I was working not far away from a former…
How to handle qualitative market research in different countries / languages
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Because our market research agency is located in Belgium, we often have to deal with qualitative marketing assignments that require to conduct interviews in different languages. As you may know Belgium itself has 3 official languages (Dutch, French and German)…
On the importance of data obsolescence
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Short before Christmas I decided to send a few emails to re-connect with some of my fellow colleagues, acquaintances and clients of the past. I also used that occasion to ask those contacts one particular question for a market research…
Heineken beer pump LeSub spotted in … Madrid
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Last year we reported about the superb popup store Heineken opened in Paris : the Substore. Although we were told the beer pump "Le Sub" were available physically only in the Substore from Nov 20 until Dec 20, 2015, we surprisingly spotted…
How to increase satisfaction of call centers in 3 easy steps
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I got many positive reactions about my latest post on call centers' phone menus. It seems many of you are frustrated by these anti-satisfaction systems. What they achieve to create among customers is everything but satisfaction. I wondered about we…
Clever store window : innovative, interactive and surprising
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Shoppers are desperately in need of new, innovative and refreshing ideas in the retail sphere. Retailers have come up with tons of digital innovations inside the store, all aiming at selling more. But they forgot the enchantment part of the…
Le Substore : Heineken opens its popup store in Paris
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
It's been quite a long time we haven't been reporting about remarkable popup stores. Not that we didn't want but we actually didn't spot anything really exciting. We took the chance to visit the Substore, Heineken's popup store opened in…
High on frustration, low on satisfaction : call centers’ phone menus
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
In the word of service there’s one thing that really drives me crazy : call centers’ phone menus. You know the feeling. You’ve got an issue and have to dial a national number to get assistance. “Press 1 for English,…
Unethical behavior : making money around terrorist attacks
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
At the time of the terrorist attacks in Paris in January 2015 (Charlie Hebdo) I was asked in a radio interview to analyze the merchandising phenomenon that was witnessed. All kinds of objects with the “#JeSuisCharlie” logo suddenly appeared on marketplaces…
Big Data becomes Art at MoMa
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Visualizing and making sense of big data is in itself a difficult exercise. Successful attempts have been reported on this blog. Visualization can sometimes be so stunning that it can become a piece of Art. Columbia researchers Laura Kurgan, Eric…
Can we measure satisfaction in our bodies ?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I’ve been studying customer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, loyalty for more than a decade. Both my academic and business experiences have taught me one thing : there’s no one-size-fits-all magical recipe to satisfy people. There are almost as many ways to satisfy…
Complaint handling in numbers : are customers really satisfied ?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Over the years I’ve collected a series of statistics about complaint handling. I call them “the metrics of dissatisfaction”. These figures reveal that despite 30 years of research in the field, hundreds of papers and books published and tons of recommendations,…
Market research : being customer centric is key
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
One key problem of market research today is that is very much driven by quantitative assessments and KPI’s. Yet, as a market researcher or a business analysts, you should never forget that figures and indicators are not necessarily reflections of…
Big Data: why couldn’t you sell your data?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
This may seem like a silly idea but here it is. Wouldn’t it be better to pay users for their data rather than stealing it from them and discussing issues of data quality afterwards? (see our other articles on Big…
Wrong consumer behavior driven by bad design
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I’ve completed a Design Thinking bootcamp in Amsterdam where participants were challenged by the City of Amsterdam to find solutions around a series of waste-related issues (follow this link to learn more about Design Thinking). On this occasion I had…
What is the future of radio?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The hope we were having a few years ago that younger listeners on the internet would move back to so-called linear consumption, is gone (see our latest article on radio consumption habits). We are currently in a period of transition,…
How radio consumption is changing among younger generations
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
I recently gave a speech on Big Data and Data Mining at the Radio Days of the EBU in Riga (Latvia) and met other fellow marketers and head of European broadcasters from all over Europe. There are two big lessons…
Volkswagen scandal : will customers really care?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
In the Volkswagen cheating scandal, every single day seems to bring new information. From ca. 500k vehicles in the US, figures climbed to more than 1m potentially affected vehicles in Europe. As of today Seat vehicles are also under scrutiny and it…
How to ruin customer satisfaction in one sentence
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Sometimes, satisfying and keeping your customers can depend on very little details. Here's a personal story of a recent interaction with Coolblue, an e-tailer whose excellent customer satisfaction practices have been discussed several times here. What this story will tell…
Customer experience : wine estate “La Grange des Pères” uses sensory marketing
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
How to create bonds with your customers, how to increase their loyalty ? Those questions are essential for firms. Independent winemakers need to have loyal customers to survive. Here’s what one of them did to foster customer satisfaction and loyalty.…
Focus group vs. interview : what is best for your market research ?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
[caption id="attachment_41932" align="alignright" width="470"] Our guide to market research can be downloaded free of charge[/caption] How should you conduct your market research ? A Focus group? Interviews? Which method should you go for ? We often get that question from…
A new way to finance the growth of startups : bonds ! (Part 2)
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
In part 1, Jean Carvajal explained the various types of crowdfunding available to companies seeking financing, including issuing stocks, bonds and taking out conventional loans. In his opinion, bond financing is a great method as it provides funding flexibility and…
A new way to finance the growth of startups : bonds ! (Part 1)
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
The topic of financing startups' growth is a recurrent one on this blog; simply because it's a problem that many entrepreneurs are faced with and that they don't always solve. Today we're interviewing Jean Carvajal, President and Creator of Investbook.…
