Marketing, customer satisfaction and loyalty
Satisfied customers will follow you everywhere
behavioral economics : how beliefs influence consumers’ behaviors
Nov06

behavioral economics : how beliefs influence consumers’ behaviors

As you all know the purpose of behavioral economics has been to show how irrational consumers’ behaviors can be as opposed to the assumption of rationality from the economics field. This has resulted for instance in nudges as a sub-discipline (see an example of nudge here and another there). In today’s article we’d like to explain the results of an amazing academic study by Dan Kahan (read the whole paper here) which was cited in George...

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A nudge at Brussels airport : WWF Panda wins charity competition
Oct13

A nudge at Brussels airport : WWF Panda wins charity competition

We talked about nudges this week on this blog (see our article on the Icelandic nudge to promote public safety). Today I’d like to give you another insight into behavioral economics and show you how human behavior can be influenced by a picture.   The story of an unexpected nudge Last month I was at Brussels airport and tweeted about something strange I had observed in the arrivals hall : 4 charity boxed one of which...

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An interesting example of nudge applied to public safety in Ísafjörður, Iceland
Oct09

An interesting example of nudge applied to public safety in Ísafjörður, Iceland

I’ve developed an interest for the study of nudges after reading the book by Dan Ariely. Nudges can be considered a sub-discipline of behavioral economics (founded by George Lowenstein) and already wrote about it on this blog (see one example here). To define a “nudge” using my own words, I’d say it’s a design that leads a person towards a particular action. That action should be beneficial for the society if we want nudges to be...

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Customer satisfaction is all about expectations : a real example
Sep18

Customer satisfaction is all about expectations : a real example

My good friend (and former customer) Patrick Mascart is in the photo/video business and has also become an expert in aerial photo and video services. Through his agency he has worked for prestigious clients like the European Commission and many other large organizations. The other day he posted on Facebook the transcript of a phone call he just received. You’ll learn a lot about customer satisfaction. Read further. The story Here’s the story Patrick posted on...

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Consumer behavior : why do we leave online reviews?
Sep14

Consumer behavior : why do we leave online reviews?

On the occasion of the RecSys 2017 conference I was fortunate to attend Prof. Lowenstein‘s inaugural talk that offered an inspiring overview of behavioral economics applied to recommendation systems. In particular Prof. Lowenstein explored the psychology of information sharing which is crucial in data science because it relies so heavily on users’ ratings (explicit feedback) to produce predictions.   The talk by Lowenstein was fascinating. It started with the picture of a toaster as an illustration...

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The right to failure doesn’t exist with artificial intelligence. This is terrible.
Jun26

The right to failure doesn’t exist with artificial intelligence. This is terrible.

Artificial intelligence, algorithms based on machine learning, have turned our lives into one of efficiency where failure doesn’t exist anymore. For algorithms an error doesn’t exist ; it’s just a prediction that hasn’t worked because of missing data points. This statistical “accident” will be taken into account to improve predictions a step further. In the field of algorithmic governance failure is not an option anymore. This is very dangerous. Actually I think it’s one of the...

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Big Data and Ethics : first sucessful meetup at DigitYser in Brussels
Jun21

Big Data and Ethics : first sucessful meetup at DigitYser in Brussels

On 15 June 2017 my friend Philippe Van Impe gave me the opportunity to organize the first meetup in his newly opened Big Data temple in Brussels : DigitYser. And what a success ! The topic of this first Meetup at DigitYser was “Big Data and ethics“, an important topic in data science yet insufficiently covered. The idea for this meetup popped up during my talk at the Data Innovation Summit where people started tweeting about...

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Ugly vegetables look more natural and give stores a better image
Jun12

Ugly vegetables look more natural and give stores a better image

Consumers perceive “ugly”, misshappen vegetables, as more natural. Moreover communication campaigns promoting these “abnormal” products benefit also the stores , such campaign convey indeed a positive image in the minds of the customers. Those are the results of a study by Mia Birau and Corine Faure (University of Grenoble) which was presented at the latest EMAC 2017 conference in Groningen (The Netherlands). Market research on ugly products It all started with “ugly” vegetables, vegetables that were...

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Personalized car insurance has unexpected effects on customers behaviors
May24

Personalized car insurance has unexpected effects on customers behaviors

A recent article in a French magazine sheds light on progresses made by insurance company Allianz in the field of personalized car insurance. Like many other firms in the field, Allianz believes in the usefulness of telematic units (black boxes) to monitor drivers’ behaviors and better evaluate risks. 20000 customers of Allianz have already opted in France; a rather small number that reflects the risks perceived by customers (as for instance on the Norwegian market) Is...

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Why Facebook emoji are an incredibly smart move
Mar29

Why Facebook emoji are an incredibly smart move

What is a “Like” worth ? What does it really mean ? The “like” mechanism was a great innovation when it was launched. It was a simplistic, yet powerful, way for a consumer to mark his (dis)interest. It was a binary version of the 5-star scale that had been used on other platforms before (Group Lens, Movie Lens) and that enabled the first recommendation algorithms to be developed in the 1990’s. The “thumb up” / “thumb...

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Recommendation algorithms : the myth of filter bubbles at stake
Mar24

Recommendation algorithms : the myth of filter bubbles at stake

We’ve already discussed filter bubbles on this blog, a rather technical term that describes the negative effet of algorithms on our digital life. For more information read this thorough article. Whether or not filter bubbles really exist is still debated and I wanted to compile all scientific results on the subject. There are actually very few of them/ Although Pariser (2011) has claimed the obvious existence of filter bubbles, contradictory results have been obtained. Interestingly Anderson...

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Emotions detection in advertising: consumers still reluctant to give their data
Feb13

Emotions detection in advertising: consumers still reluctant to give their data

Advertisers have always been among the most creative professionals; not only on the content part but also in their use of the newest technologies to make their advertising messages more efficient. The use of eye-tracking dates back to decades, whereas billboards on streets can nowadays be equipped with technologies (sensors) to interact with pedestrians. M&C Saatchi partnered with Clear Channel and Posterscope to launch an artificial intelligence-powered poster campaign. This campaign is not new (July 2015)...

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Market research : Norwegians don’t want personnalized insurance
Feb08

Market research : Norwegians don’t want personnalized insurance

Insurance companies are getting increasingly personal and thanks to digitization they are proposing new tailor-made products. Two main applications can be found : Personalized health insurance Personalized car insurance We have explored in recent articles the different aspects of such insurances (see for instance our article on black boxes in cars, or this article on the dangers of personalized health insurances) but hadn’t reported yet on market research results regarding consumers’ expectations in this matter. It...

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Digitalization : why I will not use my insurance mobile application
Nov21

Digitalization : why I will not use my insurance mobile application

Digitalization in the banking and insurance sectors has led to massive job cuts. In this article I discussed this trend in the banking sector and I debated on TV of this trend in the insurance sector (see here, in French). In light of the dramatic changes that both sectors are currently undergoing, my health insurance company, DKV, recently sent me an email asking to adopt their new digital tool, a mobile application allowing customers to scan...

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Predicting consumers’ behaviors: the importance of explicit feedback
Oct10

Predicting consumers’ behaviors: the importance of explicit feedback

In today’s article I’d like to present a new perspective on the evolution of consumer behaviors’ modelization in the last 30 years or so. These modelizations are windely used in today’s world of Big Data and recommendation algorithms. Introduction Understanding consumer behavior is not a recent quest. Modelizing behaviors has long been a priority for market researchers, academics and practitioners. In the 70’s (and before) social science was in charge of defining standard profiles to understand...

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Are smart boxes the future of car insurance?
Mar25

Are smart boxes the future of car insurance?

Telematic units, also called black or smart boxes, are devices installed in a car to monitor a driver’s behavior (speed, acceleration, deceleration, …). They are increasingly used by insurance companies to develop a pay-as-you-drive pricing. Such pricing may be especially interesting for young drivers who are hit by high insurance premiums. Young drivers are victims of their youth One metric sums it up all: 25% of accidents are caused by young drivers. This is quite a...

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Volkswagen scandal : will customers really care?
Sep28

Volkswagen scandal : will customers really care?

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 can be expected that Skoda will soon be the next “victim”. After all, why would the problems be limited to one or two brands while the 4-cylinder engines are shared among all brands of the Volkswagen...

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Data Mining : a concrete example for SME’s
Jan21

Data Mining : a concrete example for SME’s

In 2015 one of the topics we would like to discuss more often on this blog is data mining. You have all heard about Big Data, data mining, business intelligence ; but what those terms really cover remains mysterious for most of us. I guess there is also a desire to keep these terms opaque and fuzzy so that they actually seem complicated and reserved to specialists. But is it really the case? Everyone can do...

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Food labels: keep it simple and stupid
Dec17

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” labels should be simplified to benefit the customers’ interest. Is Mrs. Polony’s argumentation really worthwhile ? Mrs Polony was arguing that a recent law passed to simplify the labeling of meat was non-sense. This law requires...

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Food & drinks : just remix to innovate
Nov24

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 recipes to a new sector. If you are European chances are high that you consume pistachios in one of those two ways : roasted (in the shell) or nature. For Setton farmers, a California-based company, this...

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Retailing: fighting browsing shoppers is wrong. Here’s what you should do.
Nov21

Retailing: fighting browsing shoppers is wrong. Here’s what you should do.

Browser consumers are not new. Academic papers dating back to the 80’s are mentioning this behavior and called for researching it. posing what retailers consider being a great threat to their business. Today however they actually pose also the question of the survival of the brick-and-mortar retail sector vs. online retailing; browser consumers are visiting stores and then buying online, an option which didn’t obviously exist 30 years ago. Retailers feel threatened by what may appear...

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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, used and that eventually our freedom became restricted. I promised to explain my thoughts … so here they are. Google knows who you are It shouldn’t be surprise for anybody that we are tracked in everything...

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Off topic : a unique story-telling experience with kids
Mar14

Off topic : a unique story-telling experience with kids

Recently something happened to me that I found just amazing. It was one of those Aha moments that my friend Kevin Cottam wrote about in his book. This was a “story-telling” experience, the power of which is well described in this excellent article published in the Harvard Business Review. It was holiday time and the little one went to what is called a “stage” in Belgium (basically instructors are taking care of the kids and keep...

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How to: define your pricing
Dec09

How to: define your pricing

A question that comes always back from our clients is how to set up the prices of their products (this is less relevant for services). What I’m really astonished about is how some entrepreneurs go candidly about defining their sales price. Two opposed ways but only one valid Take the example of this would-be entrepreneur that want to open a store (it’s a true story). He needs money from the bank and I was challenging him...

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Trendspotting: What is nomadism?
Oct28

Trendspotting: What is nomadism?

Market research is partly based on the investigation of past, current and future consumption trends that may support business activity. Trends research can be seen as a component of the PESTEL analysis which aims at studying all aspects of a market that are not under your control : Political, Economic, Sociologic, Technological, Ecological and Legal constraints. Look at the first letter of each of the words and you’ll understand where the name PESTEL is coming from....

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The importance of unplanned buying for retailers’ profitability
Aug21

The importance of unplanned buying for retailers’ profitability

It is difficult to overstate the importance of “unplanned buying” to retailers and branded goods suppliers. As we have explained in an earlier post unplanned in-store buying behavior accounts for a major part of supermarkets profits. Actually Advertising Age has reported that consumers tend to make 70% of their brand decisions in the store! In a recent article the effects of “preshopping” factors—the overall trip goal, store-specific shopping objectives, and prior marketing exposures that the shopper...

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Innovation in the postal industry : the self-service trend
Jun24

Innovation in the postal industry : the self-service trend

We reported that the postal industry, not see by many as one of the most innovative sector, is actually trying new ways to better fit into consumers’ behaviors. Two recent Esmerk press releases confirm that the self-service trend is extending into whole Europe. Self-service terminals in the Czech republic Some 15 self-service parcel terminals have been launched in the Czech Republic in the area of the capital city Prague. The terminals are operated by Kouzelna Almara,...

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How to use customers’ habits to increase customer loyalty
May22

How to use customers’ habits to increase customer loyalty

Customer satisfaction is now subject to controversy as far as its effect on customer loyalty is concerned. As we recalled in a presentation on loyalty strategies that we have given ca. 10 times in Belgium in 2012-2013, customer satisfaction accounts for a maximum of 10% in customer retention. What this means is that 90% of customer loyalty is NOT influenced by customer satisfaction. Although many different antecedents exist, some theorists say that habits are at the...

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