Customer Listening Blog

Creativity 24/7: interviews of three internet market research entrepreneurs

Diane Hessan of Communispace, Fiona Blades of Mesh Planning & Laurent Flores from Crmmetrix share insights on how the Internet and technology provide access to consumer voice around the clock.

To read the full Téléchargement Research World Creativity 24_7 p 40-43

Crowdsourcing getting traction for NPD

In line with my recent post about the trend of consumer driven advertising, consumer insight lead new product development initiatives get more and more traction. Indeed, marketers now view crowdsourcing as a more effective way of creating new products and services than consulting or internal R&D, according to a survey by the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG).

The percentage of respondents who saw crowdsourcing as effective or highly effective for new product and service development shot up from 62% a year ago to 75%, overtaking R&D which fell slightly from 73% to 72%.

The percentage who rated traditional consulting and professional services firms as effective or highly effective fell from 54% to 49%.

In the same period, familiarity with the term ‘crowdsourcing’ – which describes organisations using web 2.0 tools to tap the knowledge of stakeholders and experts through open invitations for help and ideas – rose from 30% to 72%.

Richard Guha, chairman of MENG, said: “Tapping the wisdom of crowds over the internet can be enlightening for an organisation in many ways, providing marketers with valuable insight to expand their brand mind share and market share. However, like any good customer insight, interactive ideation or predictive analysis effort, it’s important to frame the issue, manage the process and carefully assess the value of the collective data.”

The survey was conducted last month in association with online social network Crowd Forum.

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Happy New Year... for Web Analytics...

Web Analytics Market Set to Defy Recession

January 9 2009

In the US, a survey conducted by the Web Analytics Association (WAA) has found that more than 96% of respondents plan to increase or maintain current spending on web analytics during the year. While the survey of more than 650 marketing and analytics professionals highlighted that more than 40% of respondents see funding as their biggest challenge, WAA says that the investment outlook is positive. Around 8 in 10 (81%) plan to invest in consulting and staffing to help make the most out of their existing analytics tools, and take action on the data they provide to improve web site performance. Also, 41% say they will be investing in add-on tools, such as those for behavioral targeting and paid search. Results also reveal a demand to have business decisions driven by analytics, with 65% of respondents claiming this as their top web analytics initiative in 2009. Other top priorities identified include best practices implementation, KPI development, process development and getting executive management awareness and support on web analytics. Both WAA members and non-members took part in the survey, and respondents represented a wide range of job functions from the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific. The full results are available at: www.webanalyticsassociation.org .

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Présentation au Club du Marketing Client

Ce soir, mecredi 19 Novembre 2008, et suite à l'invitation de Yann Claessen d'ETO et fondateur du "Club du Marketing Client" (dont le dernier billet sur son blog est en plein avec le sujet du jour, coincidence ?), j'aurai l'occasion d'intervenir sur un thème qui m'est cher... :

Le site Internet de marque : point d'écoute capital pour engager vos meilleurs clients.

Nul doute que les experts clients de ce club tout à la fois sympathique et dynamique pourront largement contribuer et débattre sur le thème.

Si vous êtes interessés par la présentation et le white paper, demandez les ICI.

(sélectionnez le white paper: Site de Marque: Un Hub Marketing)

NB. Merci à Nathalie Lemonnier pour l'organisation de dernière minute et à Marie Estelle Carasco pour l'acceuil dans les locaux de Microsoft.

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Wepc.com: crowdsoucring the Asus & Dell way...

An other "crowdsourcing" initiative this time from Asus & Dell..."it starts with one simple Idea: Yours" says the site... Again Co-Creation..but in my mind, Communication rather than Co-Creation to start with really... Co-Creation may be coming in later but the initiative serves first of all a purpose of Communication both on the media scene and among end users: Word of Mouth.

Will be interesting to see where things go from there, and for sure how strongly creating user driven machines will be delivered...key to harvest word of mouth benefits at its best, or to overclaim co-creation without really the means to deliver it...

To visit the site: www.wepc.com 

Impressions from Australia

As you know, I was invited by the AMSRS to give a keynote speech at their annual conference in Melbourne 15th-16th of , as well as run a workshop on 'word of mouth measurement and beyond'.

To say the least the experience was outstanding, all of it, the country, the conference itself and most of all the PEOPLE. Friendly, helpful, curious to learn and interested in others, I really enjoyed my short time in both Melbourne and Sydney and even got the chance to see an AFL match Australian Football match as well as meet and speak with one of the most famous AFL coaches: Kevin Sheddy.

When I came in I really though that Australia was more advanced in terms of rolling new methods and approaches in market research. This impression came from the fact that internet penetration is high in Australia, and the anglo saxon experience and background from the UK and the US. In fact, it seems that from the feedback I got my speech about LISTENING, (From Asking to Listening: Leveraging insights from a connected world) was really appreciated by the audience and inspirational for some. What a great feedback!

So my only advice is indeed Australia can really get involved in the Listening game and has a great chance to play to further influence and join the Asian region opportunities of growth. It seems clearly that the Australian government is going this way, I believe that the country has most to gain out of it and for sure will be not as far away at it seems (it is still 20 hours from Europe, 8 hours from Singapore). My only hope is really to comeback, it seems that opportunities are present after the initial contacts I had after the conference, so who knows may be in 2009 or 2010 even before for projects and consulting hopefully!

By the way, the ARF in the US is running a one day forum on LISTENING in late October (you see you got the message about Listening before America! :), so really, guys you are not really late in the game, the US is really going full speed in this direction, you have everything in place to join the crowd... so jump! Don't you have Kangoros in your country?

So to everyone I met, the AMSRS staff and members: THANK YOU.

and specifically to John (Marinopoulos & Dimopoulos), Andy (conferece chair), Elissa, Peter (president) Leslea, Francesca, Leanne, everyone really (sorry for the ones that I forgot here) you made this trip really special and full of learning, thank you very much! and feel free to ask again, I am actively listening!

Are Retailers just really discovering CRM and brand building?

I came across an interesting article title in Ad Age yestreday "The Newest Brands? Open for Business" by Jim Lucas. In this short article Jim argues that "Retailers have switiched gears, Marketing their stores and labels and strengthening bonds with shoppers".  Of course they have, I fully agree with Jim, but my though this has been really going on for a long time specifically in Europe as Jim points out,  Tesco in the UK for example is usually perceived as a CRM king to develop and maintain profitable relationship with its customers. Some Retailers, and in fact all of them now, finally realized that the biggest asset they have is that they are "touching consumers" and have an opportunity to know them more, engage them at least once a week (as Jim says in the US, the average U.S. household is making 150 to 200 store visits a year) what an opportunity to sell more than products!

A lot more can be done to offer real experiences in stores and supermarkets, the kid that will forster people relationship with store brands rather than only relying on deals, promos, coupons, etc. I am not saying they are not important, I simply think there is room for building true experiences, the ones that drive loyatly and word of mouth... However, I really think that the biggest challenge is for brands and manufacturers, it is tougher than ever to market brands (at leats in the old fashion way). In the past, pushing messages on TV and having a good product available on store will do the trick, nowadays, it is not enough any more.... What costs more is people attention. As consumers, we have less time for everything and although economic slow down is pushing people to be cost consicious, they probably also want their shopping trip to be as simple and rewarding as possible, relying more and more on other consumers' feedback and conversations (online and offline!) to shape their opinions and choices. So brands you'd better hurry to partner with retailers to shape the right experiences for end users and use every opportunity to think about your brand loyalty with a specific approach tailored to partnering with retailers beyond price...of course, retailers need to talk the same language says retailers are getting there, and eventually it is for the benefits of both brands and retailers. As Jim says in his article, they need to work toegther "It is also important for retailers and manufacturers to align business goals, including driving traffic to the store or a specific destination in the store; creating larger sales receipts, better conversion rates, solution selling and cross-selling; and improving the total shopping experience -- for example, making it easier or more engaging, entertaining, educational or inspirational to shop."

To view Jim full article on AdAge (click here)

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Le Sens du Client selon Thierry Spencer : passion, simplicité, régularité, sérieux, et ouverture.

Il y a quelques temps déjà (début 2006), quelques semaines après la naissance de "Customer Listening" Blog, je croisais le blog de Thierry Spencer "Sens du Client", et depuis son travail, sa passion et sa dédication l'ont fait avancer, je reçois ce week end un très gentil email de l'auteur qui annonce qu'il a passé la barre des 50,000 visiteurs...: Bravo, à Thierry bien sûr, mais j'ai profité de l'occasion pour simplement lui demander à quoi il attribuait ce succès. Thierry le fait très gentillement et nous rappelle les ingrédients gagnants de son blog... Ici, sont livrées les réponses de Thierry :

Je dois le modeste succès de mon blog personnel www.sensduclient.com à un mélange de plusieurs ingrédients :

1) Creuser un sillon. Après avoir trouvé mon thème, je m'y suis tenu dans mes 191 billets. Il n'est pas rare que je ne publie pas tel ou tel commentaire, ou bien que je refuse des liens avec des sites que j'estime trop éloignés de mon thème : le marketing client. Pour un blog comme pour une entreprise, plus le positionnement est clair, plus grand est le succès auprès de la cible.

2) Rester simple sur la forme et dans le fond. Je m'impose la discipline d'un titre, d'une illustration et d'un texte pas trop long. Je m'efforce d'expliquer chaque terme, de mettre des liens pour que tout le monde saisisse les références. Rien de plus agaçant qu'un jargon d'expert ! Cet exercice pédagogique me permet aussi d'apprendre.

3) Etre ouvert et exhaustif. Je ne m'interdis aucune référence à un site, une source, un blog ou à un prestataire. N'étant lié à aucune société de service, et quand bien même je n'ai pas d'affinités avec telle ou telle personne (ça m'arrive), j'essaye de donner accès à tous les points de vue dans mes liens ou mes références.

4) Etre régulier. Chaque semaine depuis 2 ans et demi, j'écris un billet. Je note sur un carnet, je découpe un article, je prends une photo, j'ajoute une page web à mes favoris, jusqu'à trouver un lien et une matière digne d'intérêt. Les lecteurs apprécient la régularité et le rendez-vous hebdomadaire.

5) Etre sérieux mais pas triste. Je m'inspire d'études très sérieuses, de livres, de textes de référence mais aussi d'anecdotes et d'histoires qui me sont arrivées auxquelles j'ajoute une touche d'humour, d'iconoclasme et d'impertinence...

6) Favoriser l'échange. Avec crmmetrix aujourd'hui, avec d'autres personnes demain, d'autres blogs ou d'autres sites; j'adore échanger et faire témoigner des personnes d'horizons différents, d'une caissière de supermarché à un grand universitaire. J'adore l'eclectisme et la confrontation d'idées.

J'ajoute qu'il n'est fait aucune référence à l'entreprise dans laquelle je travaille actuellement en tant que Directeur marketing, ni au secteur d'activité auquel elle appartient. La cloison est complètement étanche ; je m'exprime à titre personnel sur mon blog.

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Laurent Florès, keynote speaker at Australian Annual Market Research Conference, September 2008

I must say I am really thrilled to go to Australia as I will have the honor to be a keynote speaker at the AMSRS National Conference 2008 in Melbourne, Australia, September 14th-16th 2008.

My speech will be about "Listening" of course!

From asking to listening: leveraging insights from a connected world.

To get more information, visit: http://www.mrsa.com.au/

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S'efforcer de Répondre lorsque la Participation est là...

Notre ami blogueur Thierry Maillet nous donne un autre exemple du manque cruel de réponse des annonceurs à l'heure où la participation citoyenne a pris le dessus sur la seule logique de communication verticale des marques...et oui, comme je le dis souvent, il est facile de "parler", mais demeure difficile "d'écouter", et sans écoute difficile de répondre...