GDPR : I’ve sent 20 requests on 26 May 2018. Here’s what I’ve learned.
On 26 May 2018 I sent two dozens of requests to various companies to access my data and asked questions on algorithmic treatments, third-party data, … More than 2 months after this first mailshot it’s time to draw the first conclusions. I must say I’m positively surprized by the quality of the answers I got from most companies. Yet it appeared obvious that some companies don’t want to answer your questions and don’t (really) care about...
How to do market research? Phase 7: the transition to the business plan
How to make the transition from your market research to your business plan? This is the last of the 7 steps of our market research methodology. Today we will discuss why market research needs to be seen as an input to your business and financial plans. Read phase 7 of our market research methodology Before we give you an overview of this last step, let us remind you that you can read the previous posts that...
How to do market research? Phase 6: quantitative techniques
How to do market research? The answers to this complex questions can be found in our online guide. After discussing qualitative techniques in our previous episode, we will deal today with the quantitative market research phase (which is the sixth phase of our 7-phase market research methodology). You can find the previous episodes here : Introduction, Phases 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Read step 5 of our market research methodology What is quantitative market research?...
How to do market research? Phase 5: qualitative techniques
How to do market research? Discover today the fifth phase of our 7-step market research methodology. This episode is dedicated to qualitative market research methods. In our previous episodes (read them here: episodes 1, 2, 3, 4) we dealt with the preliminary phases of market research : putting the idea on paper and fixing its flaws with Design Thinking improving the business idea with a prototype choosing the right market research methods understanding market dynamics with...
How to do market research? Phase 4: PESTEL and competition analysis
How to do market research? This is the question we’re helping you to answer with the publication of our online step-by-step guide to market research. Each of the 7 phases of our market research methodology is accompanied by a post on this blog. Today we’ll be dealing with Phase 4: the PESTEL analysis and the competition analysis. READ PHASE 4 OF OUR MARKET RESEARCH METHODOLOGY If you missed the latest episodes you can find them back...
How to do market research? Phase 3: choosing the right market research methods
How to do market research? In our online guide to market research we divided our methodology into 7 phases. After having dealt with phases 1 and 2 in previous articles, the time has come to chose the right market research methods, which is the aim of phase 3. If you believe that market research = online survey, you better make sure you read today’s article because you may be surprised. ACCESS PHASE 3 OF OUR ONLINE...
How to do market research? Phase 2 : improve your idea
How to do market research ? Here comes the second phase of our 7-step methodology that we’ve spent 6 months developing. A white paper is available on our website (click here to access the introduction) that will explain you the whole market research methodology. So today we discuss Phase 2 which focuses on improving your initial idea. In Phase 1 we discussed how to get informal feedback and gather additional insights through design thinking. Now comes...
How to do market research? Phase 1: test your idea
To accompany the publication of our practical guide on “How to do market research” we have prepared a series of blog posts to highlight each of the 7 phases of our market research method. After our latest introductory article we’ll be dealing today with the first phase : testing your idea. Phase 1 of our market research method is divided into 3 sub-steps: Put your idea on paper Test your idea informally Use Design Thinking to...
How to do market research? Here’s our step-by-step guide that anyone can use
How to do market research? To answer that question we have spent some 6 months writing this step-by-step guide. I’d have never believed it could take some much time but finally it’s there. Find out in today’s article why we created it and how it is designed. Why did we create this market research guide? The rationale behind writing this guide was that market research methods are numerous, yet those who actually need to do market...
How to successfuly realize qualitative interviews in market research studies
Conducting good market research often requires to carry our a qualitative study. This is particulary true of customer satisfaction surveys that are often poorly designed and are not based on sound assumptions. In today’s article we reflect on some essential aspects of good qualitative research. We discuss a four-step iterative guide for interview design proposed by J. Arsel (2018) in his article entitled “Asking Questions with Reflexive Focus: A Tutorial on Designing and Conducting Interviews“. Step 1...
Step-by-step market research guide almost ready: first teaser
As I announced earlier this year, one of my goals for 2018 was to write a step-by-step guide to market research. I did this between December 2017 and January 2018 and it took me quite a lot of time to finalize it : we let the market research guide translate in English and Dutch (translating 8000 words can’t be done overnight as you can imagine). This time I didn’t do the English translation myself as I...
This startup may have needed a market research before going live
A Belgian startup, OneHouseStand, has launched an online platform to help businesses and individuals alike rent private places to organize their events. At first it may look like a good idea to enable private owners to make their property available for rent. But is this business idea really worthwhile? A market research may have been useful. What’s the market? In an interview (in French) with national newspaper Le Soir, one of the founders explains that 50% of...
New in 2018: step-by-step market research guide for all
Happy new year everybody ! What an amazing year 2017 has been for us. We feel blessed to have carried out so many market research and Big Data projects last year : banking, retail, media, FMCG, luxury, IT, indusrail goods, … you name it. We have done dozens of projects in many different industries. We have welcomed one more consultant in the team who has proved to be very talented from the very beginning. We are...
market research : how do Europeans pay ?
My mother-in-law is Italian. She hardly make two payments a year with her credit card. On my way to the University of Mainz a few weeks ago, I met a 64-year old taxi driver of Turkish origin who prouded himself not to have any bank card. I find it fascinating to observe how consumers’ behaviors can vary and have always been fascinated by how cultural aspects affected the way people paid in he European Union. I had the...
Tips and tricks : using observation as a market research tool
In our latest article we dealt with an experiment carried out by the Virginia Tech University that used innovative observation techniques to study human behaviors when faced with self-driving cars. Today we want to dig a little bit more on observations as a market research tool and highlight settings where such a technique can be useful. At the end of the article we will also give you 3 useful tips. Contact us for your market research...
How Delhaize Urban Farm fits into their marketing strategy
Supermarkets Delhaize are known for a marketing strategy based on differentiation : premium products and a broader assortiment are part of Delhaize DNA. Delhaize has also invested for several years in its branding and has started positioning itself as a respectful brand. The opening of its urban farm on top of Delhaize Boondael (Brussels) roof is a cornerstone of this strategy. I had the pleasure to be invited by Delhaize to visit the Urban Farm and I really...
How to write a blog like a pro : my blog routine
People ask me regularly how I manage to publish 3 articles per week in 3 languages. A large part of this is due to my writing routine. Here’s how I manage to get it done quickly Limit your topics and make them categories of your blog I don’t write about anything. My blog is on marketing and within this discipline I handle topics like market research, customer satisfaction, market research techniques, complaint handling and branding issues....
Combining ethnography and Big Data in market research : a real example
Qualitative research techniques have inherently an ethnographic background that many market research firms tend to ignore. Qualitative techniques are there to help researchers discover what’s going on and build their assumptions. This is exactly what we tried to do when we visited the N5 winebar last month too prepare the launch of the franchise. Observation as a qualitative market research technique The first step we undertook was to spend 3 full days in Toulouse to understand...
Make big data and algorithms part of the public service media eduction plan
On 6 October 2017 I was invited by the Eurovision Academy to give a speech at their General Assembly in Vilnius (Lithuania). The Eurovision Academy is the department, within the European Broadcasting Union, that is responsible for training employees from membres (public service media) and making sure all of them have the opportunity to keep up to date with the latest techniques in terms of employee development. They do a terrific job and have helped introduced some very...
Market research : hot technological trends for future TV experience
The IBC fair in Amsterdam drives a lot of smart minds together. A lot of market research firms are present to discuss market trends and evolution. This year a debate (“Hot or not: What are the hottest new TV technologies and devices and how will they transform the TV market?“) was specifically dedicated to technological trends that are likely to change the customer experience. Voice recognition was voted the most underrated technology and VT the most overrated...
Market research : how to set up the price of new products and services
In a recent post I told you the story of my friend Patrick who faced the request of a customer not aware of the price oh his high-end services. This turned into a very frustrating experience for both. In today’s post I’d like to come back on this story and digs a little bit deeper into one of the most difficult market research problems : pricing. Pricing has always been a challenge (at least to me)...
Market research : evolution of food purchasing behaviors on the French market
What are the significant trends in the food market? What is consumed, and how? In this article, we return to the evolutions of this market. Discover also the prospective study that we carried out on the future of the retail sector at the time of Covid-19 and our study on the market of organic products. As we detail in our white paper on market research, you will have to rely on many complementary aspects for a...
Airlines loyalty programs : different countries, different benefits
Loyalty cards have been an important innovation when it comes to increase customer loyalty. It ll started with American Airlines and the least we can say is that the airline industry is the one which has probably pushed the concept the farest. The concept of “miles” has become synonym of loyalty. Collecting miles was once limited to airlines tickets but has in the meantime extended to other purchases too. For instance, airlines members of Star Alliance...
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...
4 hints to avoid your customer satisfaction survey from failing
In our latest article we discuss the Goodhart’s law and what it meant for customer satisfaction measurement. In short, if satisfaction scores become a company’s objectives, the likelihood is high that results will be biased. Contact us for your B2B market research A very good article explains the origin of this bias (it’s called reflexivity) and even details other “laws” that point to the same effect : Goodhart’s Law is most succinct: “When a measure becomes...
Which market research method for a new concept, product or service ?
Recently I was approach by a large group in the hospitality industry which wanted to conduct a market research for a new concept they had in mind. This hospitality concept had been broadly sketched. What the client wanted was a market research to understand whether its idea could pick up, whether demand existed on the market for this concept. We were surprized to hear what competitors had proposed. Which market research methodology for a new concept...
When will the IoT market eventually crash ?
I attended the first day of Unconvention in Brussels in January and what I saw and heard made me reflect on the value of innovation. During the first set of presentation, a speaker explained the current state of an IoT project in Porto where sensors had been implemented everywhere to make the city management more efficient and life more livable. For instance sensors measured pollutants (ozone and CO2) and connected to busses’ wifi Hub spots to...
GDPR compliance: are your algorithms ethical?
On your journey to GDPR compliance (General Data Protection Regulation) you will certainly need some help and some guidance to do the right things avoid being fined. We all agree, among specialists, that GDPR implementation may be delayed to let companies adapt. Recent market research discussed at CPDP conference revealed indeed that only 4% of companies were currently getting ready for GDPR. This being said, don’t expect getting a long period of grace. You better start...
How US elections shed light on the filter bubble phenomenon
Just do a Google search on “Filter bubble” and you’ll be surprized of the many results returned. The recent US presidential elections have shed light on this phenomenon first hypothetized by Eli Pariser in 2011, and subject to much debate (see also our upcoming article on 18 Jan 2017). Yet the facts are there. Right after the elections of 08 November 2016, the interest for “filter bubble” increased fourfold (see picture below). Interestingly a second surge...
The role of Big Data on society : EBU conference
With fellow colleagues of EBU, I organized last week a conference entitled “Big Data and Society“at RTBF, the French-speaking public broadcasting organization of Belgium. As I wrote on EBU website, this event aimed at gathering together professionals from the broadcasting industry to reflect on the impact of Big Data, recommendation algorithms and filter bubbles on society in general, and on users’ behaviors in particular. We assembled an amazing panel of 8 speakers from 5 countries who shared...
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...
My summer readings : the outstanding, the good and the worse
Summer is usually the time for me to rejuvenate my creativity and get prepared for the second part of the year to come. I love to chain-read to encourage ideation. This year I packed my beloved Kindle with a few books. Some of them inspired me, others didn’t. Here’s my commented summer reading list. As you’ll see it’s very much Big data oriented. Eli Pariser: “the Filter Bubble” I discovered the book by Eli Pariser only...
Market research: Snapchat 2nd most popular social media
The results of a recent market research on snapchat were made available by the Danish television (see the presentation at the end of the article, courtesy Rasmus Thaarup). Here are the key learning points. Snapchat : market research facts 2nd most used social media in Denmark (but very much behind Facebook) : 15% of the population uses it which is far more than twitter (4%) or Linkedin (3%) 63% of the 12-19-years-old segment use Snapchat everyday...
Data Scientists are NOT the solution
In a recent meeting with Big Data managers in the broadcasting industry, one complaint came over and over again. Data scientists have no feeling for business, and business people even less for statistics and Big Data. How to bridge the gap was the central question. Correlation doesn’t mean causation The lack of business understanding is especially visible when it comes to building predictive models. Too often data scientists will only look for correlations without checking that...
Market research: all our knowledge made available in one place
Market research is often understood as doing a survey. This is not true as many other techniques and tools need to be used to get a comprehensive picture of the market. We have very often published articles on market research in the past 7 years. We did a first effort to compile all this knowledge in a series of 3 articles in January 2013 (see here part 1, part 2 and part 3). We felt the...
How to do a desk research on a market you don’t know yet (PART 2/2)
In the previous part of this article on desk research, we explained how to get a first glimpse into a market you don’t know. Today we continue with the two last steps: structure the information and verify it. Desk research step 3: analyze competitors’ offers Once you’ve gotten an overview of the market, you’re ready to go into a more analytical task : define criteria and compare competitors’ offers. The criteria will obviously depend on the...
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