Data Mining: does your insurance spy you on Facebook?
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Have you ever thought that what you post on Facebook may have a direct financial impact on the price you pay for products and services? You may want to read further if you want to find out why. We just…
I tried UberPop: a great customer experience
I have written a lot on Uber (some positive but also some more negative things) but never took the time to try. I eventually did and it was great. On the day of the public services strike in Belgium, I…
Media : Will Le Figaro Premium succeed in selling online news content?
Le Figaro, France’s first newspaper in terms of audience, announced last week it was launching a premium paying edition (Le Figaro Premium). This innovation is a huge challenge, like for all newspapers which have seen offline audience and advertising revenues…
What do buyers of online news content look like?
Are people willing to pay for online news content? This question has been studied by many people, academic and auctioneers alike. The answer which has consistently been brought is that users are indeed willing to pay for content. But results…
Fedex wants to take TNT over: will it happen or not?
In 2010 we predicted already that the market of courier delivery services would consolidate.Our prediction quickly turned true as UPS tried to take over TNT. This takeover was later rejected by the European commission, arguing that this would have restricted…
Brand image : Hublot store bets on new technologies
By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab •
Innovation is the nexus of retail marketing, especially when it comes to the differentiation of points of sales (POS). Innovation often comes first from the top, i.e. from premium brands which have the money to invest in new technologies. Today…
This store window is interactional … but not digital
The Converse store in Berlin has a very nice and creative idea to make sure people and prospective customers are attracted in the store. Let's have a look at what they did. The problem with most store windows is that…
Marketing strategy: should banks charge customers more?
The boss of the National Bank of Belgium suggested that banks change their tariffs and charge customers for services like cash withdrawal, payments made by bank cards, yearly fees charged to have a bank account, … Is it a good…
5 Questions you should answer when doing your market research
When you carry out market research, there is one thing that you need to study very carefully : what are the factors influencing the market that you have no influence upon. Those factors are of different nature and it’s very…
Our new blog : +25% audience, +50% page views
Just before Christmas we launched the revamping of our blog(s). With a few weeks perspectives we draw the first conclusions and see what works and what doesn’t. Increase in audience, increase in page views The first striking improvement is…
Alain Milliat: interview of a successful entrepreneur
Today we inaugurate a new article format. We wanted to give a voice to people that we hear too little in our opinion: successful entrepreneurs who have managed to master the difficulties of entrepreneurship and have grown their businesses. Besides…
How to prepare a questionnaire for qualitative research
[caption id="attachment_41932" align="alignright" width="470"] Our guide to market research can be downloaded free of charge[/caption] Qualitative research is what we consider the first real technical step of market research. The qualitative questionnaire(also called interview guide) is instrumental for the success…
Naked Wines: great service and amazing customer experience
We are always looking for the greatest customer experience on earth, service quality that will move you to the highest levels of loyalty. We found a new amazing example in the UK in the e-commerce industry : Naked Wines. Read…
France and Belgium : two countries lacking a culture for customer orientation
In a very inspiring article (in French) Frederic Klotz, former community manager of Rue du Commerce, describes all the problems an e-customer can face in France (don't hesitate to read the interview Frederic gave us last year). He describes the lack…
If you want your mobile app to be a success, don’t follow this example
Digital marketing and in particular the role played my mobile apps is crucial. Who would dare saying that it’s not. Yet many firms don’t know how to articulate their digital strategies and in particular how to design successful mobile applications.…
3D printed photo figurines: a winner-takes-all market ?
3d printing is hot. New applications pop up every day and we even saw last week a 3D printer that was 3D printed. One thing is sure. With each day that passes, the appearance of 3D printed objects will come…
Make your ads more effective with this very simple tip
I’m more and more interested in media and advertising and have recently read a lot to better understand consumer behavior when faced with advertisements. Today I’d like to offer you a lesson taught by researchers using eye-tracking to understand consumers’…
How news consumption is influenced by the introduction of mobile apps
As everyone knows the rise of digital technology has changed completely media consumption. Traditional media have lost market share and news consumption has shifted to mobile content. The very business model of traditional media is at stake and the need…
Belgian railways CEO attacks bad results of satisfaction survey
Trains’ punctuality is a strong indicator of customer (dis)satisfaction whatever the country. In countries where trains are still operated by public organizations (France, Germany, Belgium, …) operational objectives are usually set by the State to guarantee that efforts are put…
Vuitton creates once again attractive store windows
Louis Vuitton is an example for all retailers in terms of store windows design. You may remember what we called the most beautiful store windows in the world, displaying golden dinosaurs on the Champs-Elysees. The LVMH teams work not only…
How will advertising look like in the future ?
A film producer came to my office the other day and wanted to interview me on the evolution of advertising. At first sight it seemed pretty odd to interview a marketer to get insight about advertising, but drew eventually some…
iDTGVMax: What is the hidden agenda of the French railways?
The French railways company (SNCF : Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer) made the news this week when it announced the launch for an unlimited offer with its iDTGV. For 59.99€ per month, travelers would be allowed to take online…
How to get back in touch with dissatisfied mobile app users
In the last 10 years we have been in touch with many companies conducting satisfaction surveys. One thing surprised us. In many cases, these results were used for reporting purposes to the management but were not used to actually improve…
Sharing Economy : a new form of exploitation ?
I got a call last week from the TV : they wanted to know more about the sharing economy for a forthcoming broadcast and discuss in particular what it could change in our Society. After 1 hour of discussion I…
Innovation & Design Thinking: 3 secrets to generate better ideas
You know I’m a big fan of design thinking. I’ve carried out many sessions and ideas have popped up that I’m sure, would never have come to mind with Design Thinking. As you know Design Thinking is a real methodology…
Merchandising effect around Charlie Hebdo threatens brands
The wave of emotion following the attacks of Paris led to a very strange marketing phenomenon : people tried to sell stuffs related to Charlie Hebdo popped up online and offline to profit from the worldwide press coverage the event…
Where is this crazy Society going to?
I started 2015 with a blog post about Love. Only 48 hours after that blog was published the attacks in Paris began. I must admit I felt so desperate when it all started on Jan, 7th that I just had…
Food labels: keep it simple and stupid
In her weekly column in Le Figaro, French most visited online journal, Natacha Polony defended on 5 Dec 2014 the idea that food labels should not be simplified. We disagree. Read further to find out why and more importantly “how”…
Must-read : interview of a customer satisfaction champion
We are publishing today a very special post. You’ll find below the interview of someone I consider to be a customer service hero, a champion of customer satisfaction. Frédéric Klotz had worked for RueDuCommerce (one of the most renown e-commerce…
Competition forces traditional taxis to change : finally !
The traditional press is full of articles regarding the legal procedures against Uber in Europe. In this judiciary fight, traditional taxis and VTC (Vehicule de Tourisme avec Chauffeur) have joined forces to fight Uber’s aggressive strategy to enter the market…
1/3 of hospitality firms could die. So what ?
A press conference was recently organized by the union of independents to denounce the expected negative effects of the black boxes in the so-called Horeca (HOtels – REstaurant – Coffee shops) sector (in other words the sector of hospitality). As…
Idea in brief : rejuvenate your products with a new packaging
To follow up on our post dedicated to innovation in the food & drinks sector, we wanted to give you another example of how you can attract customer’s attention very simply, through a small innovation brought to your product. The…
Complaint management: an example you should NOT follow
As you may know our agency is working a lot on complaint handling and complaint management practices. Handling complaints well proves to be very rewarding in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Make sure you listen to the podcast we…
Food & drinks : just remix to innovate
You may remember this old post we published on innovation : innovation is a remix. Well, it seems that in the food & drink business (we are just back from SIAL) some innovations are just about that : applying old…
My three recipes to increase creativity
After 11 months of an uninterrupted race to secure new contracts, increase our market share and deliver market research, new ideas and concepts to our customers, the time had come to go on vacation and prepare for the next 11…
Internet: no privacy, freedom lost
To start the week I wanted to follow up on my latest post dedicated to the Google Glasses and their use in a business environments. I finished this post by saying that all the information on us was being aggregated,…
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