Brand? Humph... What is it Good For? Absolutely Everything!

Brand is a simple five-letter word that holds the fate of a company in its hand. When shopping, we tend to gravitate towards those brands that have the most recognition and deem them as being worthy of time/money (no matter how much cheaper the generic version may cost). Does the name-brand version have different ingredients that make it better than the generic version? In most cases, it doesn’t. It comes down to being psychological, because as a society, we are engrained with this brand is the best, while the other ones aren’t in the same arena.

The idea for the importance of branding dawned on me while I was conducting phone interviews for a client for a perception survey. About almost half of the stakeholders had little to no knowledge of whom or what the exact purpose/mission of the organization was, and most times got it confused with another organization in the area (with a somewhat similar name). This lack of knowledge can simply be defined as a lack of brand recognition, which only takes a simple fix – creating more awareness!

I asked myself, why does branding impact the fate of a company? If the company has a good product, shouldn’t that make it profitable (even if it isn’t name-brand)? Somehow, it all comes back to the brand… but why?

I found this interesting quote by Scott Goodson in his article, Why Brand Building is Important, and it helped shed some light onto this subject for me:

No branding, no differentiation. No differentiation, no long-term profitability. People don’t have relationships with products, they are loyal to brands. In a movement strategy, brands have a purpose that people can get behind. Brands can inspire millions of people to join a community. Brands can rally people for or against something. Products are one-dimensional in a social media enabled world; brands are Russian dolls, with many layers, tenents, and beliefs that can create great followings of people who find them relevant. Brands can activate a passionate group of people to do something like changing the world. Products can’t really do that.

After reading this quote several times, it all started to make sense. No matter what a brand sells, and no matter how good that product may be, the brand is the ultimate selling factor. Like Scott Goodson said, “brands are Russian dolls, with many layers,” they have “beliefs that can create great followings.” In the news, we saw what happened with Chick-fil-A, A&E, etc., when a person’s beliefs were not what the public-at-large believed. Boycotts were started and “loyalties” were hampered for a couple of weeks. But should a brand’s reputation be on the line for one person’s beliefs? In today’s day in age, a brand’s message is what sells the products, and if their message goes against a group’s message, it creates a conflict of interest. It is how a brand can “activate a passionate group of people to do something,” like national movements.

Even with the national movements I just talked about, we will still always go towards something that is more familiar and we know has a good track record, no matter what the product or message may be. Take for example, Sony. We all know it is a reliable brand, plain and simple, but take another electronics company, let’s say Acer, and we double-think about how the product will be because it’s unfamiliar to us. This occurs in every industry, with people gravitating towards the familiar. It’s all about how you can set yourself apart and become the name-brand in your industry. 

But how can you tell if you’re the name-brand in your industry? For starters, a perception survey could be greatly beneficial to your company because not only do you get strategic feedback (either negative or positive, or both), but you get your name out there and draw awareness to those who may be unfamiliar with your company. With designed-personally-for-you surveys, you get the chance to showcase your company – mission, vision, areas of expertise, etc. It’s the “simple” fix your company just may need.

To find out more about our designed-personally-for-you perception surveys and how they can help you KNOW MORE so you can DO MORE, contact Tweed-Weber, Inc. at toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com, and/or visit us on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber).

 

About the author: Gretchen Koch has been with Tweed-Weber, Inc. since 2012 and serves as Operations Manager. She oversees office processes and provides quality control on all market research reports and strategic planning documents.

Can You Hear Me?

By Sharon Danks, Vice President, Tweed-Weber, Inc.

I recently had a brutally painful customer experience with a telephone service company. The amount of repeated efforts I had to go through to resolve an atypical, yet fairly simple issue was just “ridonculous.” To be more accurate, that would be ridonculous x 100. Suffice it say, they will never get our business again, and I’m just hoping the twitch I get every time I hear their name isn’t obvious and/or permanent. The overall experience left me asking the question, “How did the string of people I talked to throughout the process of trying to get resolution not hear me?” I was extremely clear, both verbally and in writing, about what our issue was and how we needed it to be resolved. However, not one person took the time to understand the details, nor did anyone care about what I was experiencing as a customer. The funny thing is, at every turn, I think each one of them honestly felt like they were doing the best they could to help given the “authorization” constraints placed on them. When each of them passed me off to someone else, I really think they felt good about their efforts to assist.

To add insult to injury, after months of lunacy, when the issue was finally resolved, we received an email sent automatically when your “case number” is closed out, asking, “How was your experience working with us?” Really?

The point of sharing my sad tale is to highlight this as a classic example of a company with a process for surveying customers that’s not connected in any way to the reality of the customer’s experience and/or to the touch points the customer has with the organization. If you’re doing customer surveys for the sake of saying you do them, and are not making your employees who deal with customers accountable for the experience and/or immediate problem resolution, then your process is fatally flawed.

The best way to gather customer feedback is through a proactive process that makes your customers feel valued versus a reactive process that customers easily recognize as an afterthought. All of us know when something is being done half-heartedly, and if your customers believe that is your attitude towards them, it’s only a matter of time before the result of that is lost business. All employees in the organization should be on-board with understanding how a customer’s experience impacts the bottom line, positively or negatively, and their role in providing customers with unrivaled service.

Conducting a customer perception survey on a regular basis should be an engaging, ongoing, exciting, meaningful activity that helps shape your organization’s products, services, and processes. It’s a chance to partner one-on-one with your customers to learn about the state of your organization as viewed from the outside. Bottom line: Is the opinion of anyone else more important than your customers when it comes to identifying ways to improve their experience so you can grow your business?

If you would like to know how effective your current customer survey process is, or if you’d like to be proactive in starting a new customer survey initiative, give us a call. We can help you Know More, so you can Do More. Call us toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com and/or visit us on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber).

One last thing: “Ridonculous.” From the movie Nemo. A must see.

Have You Spotted New Customer Trends?

While reading the February issue of Quirks Magazine, I stumbled upon the article “4 customer experience trends for 2014,” and it got me thinking about how with each New Year, new trends are tracked and researched and the things of 2013 are no longer “cool.” This is true with every industry, especially fashion, which turns around new styles each season (sometimes a couple times a season). But how do these new trends of 2014 affect you?

A customer’s experience is the make-or-break for their loyalty with a company. According to the study from New York customer experience management company, LivePerson, consumers are willing to wait an average of 76 seconds for customer service support when visiting a website. That’s 76 seconds for a customer to see if they like, or don’t like, your company.  

Because you only have 76 seconds for a customer to decide your fate, there are some steps you can take to improve the outcome and maintain customers. 

The first is there is always room for improvement. No matter how good one person is at something, there can always be tweaks to make it spectacular. The same goes with any company. In today’s society, consumers are quick to go somewhere else if a deal, service, or product is better – it’s the name of the game. According to Anurag Wadehra, blogger for LivePerson, 33 percent of consumers struggle to help or locate customer service, whereas 49 percent of consumers find websites to be difficult to navigate. By stepping-up your game, those 76 seconds can be a life-changer.

The second is brand trust and loyalty. People tend to stay with or go with companies that have a good reputation and can provide a good quality service. With that said, 78 percent of consumers agree that they will be loyal to a company that provides real-time, one-on-one support. 

The third is, speed and efficiency, especially with our fast-paced society today. Everyone expects to have everything at lightning speed, no matter what the situation. This is especially true with consumers. About three-quarters stated speed and efficiency were the most important factors in creating a great experience.

The last, but not the least, is high-impact moments. How does this affect you? Consumers are looking for anything to help them during their times of need, especially when navigating a website. If you provide the right support, it will be a “high-impact” moment because of the willingness of your company to help them. According to the Quirk’s article, 35 percent of consumers say the actual moment of purchase is when they need the most help. Does your company have an easy, turn-key check out process?

Though this article is driven by trends in the online sector, I thought it was important to write about it because our society is so focused on technology and the impact of this is huge when it comes to companies. It is important to come into the 21st century and adapt to the changes popularized by Gen-Y, since one day they are going to be your biggest customer. As a Gen-Y myself, I know how important it is to have an easy process from navigating a site to check out. I want it to go smoothly and efficiently, and any hiccup makes me go elsewhere. This is true for mostly everyone of my generation because we are used to having everything at the tips of our fingers. How is your company dealing with the shift in technology? Do you think your company is up-to-speed on all of the latest social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging? Maybe it’s time to analyze the inner-workings of your company and see what your employees are saying about this. 

Let Tweed-Weber, Inc. help your company find its strengths and weaknesses to make your “New Years’” resolutions a reality. Call us toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com and/or visit us on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber). “With every new year, comes a new you.” We have all heard that saying each time another year flies by, but now with the end of the first quarter quickly approaching, it’s time to look to back and see if the new year really did bring a new you.

About the author: Gretchen Koch has been with Tweed-Weber, Inc. since 2012 and serves as Operations Manager. She oversees office processes and provides quality control on all market research reports and strategic planning documents.

The Search for Clarity: Balancing Perceptions with Concepts

A recent article by Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen, reprinted in Quartz, makes the claim that market research can no longer predict what consumers will like. The authors point to a 2007 study in which 10,000 people worldwide were asked about portable digital devices—specifically, the yet-to-be-released iPhone. The study concluded that there was no true need in more developed nations like the United States, Germany, and Japan for one product that would replace existing digital cameras, cellphones, and mp3 players.

When asked to rate their agreement with the statement, “I like the idea of having one portable device to fulfill all my needs,” only 31 percent of those in the United States completely agreed, compared to 79 percent of those in Mexico. In theory, the study’s authors suggested, people in the United States would be much less excited about a phone that is also a camera and a music player.

Thankfully for Apple, this proved to be incorrect.

While the study and subsequent article focus on consumer research, it is possible to draw a parallel with predicting trends in business research. Simonson and Rosen introduce the idea of “O source” information, such as user reviews, expert opinions, and price comparison tools – “other” places one would look for information rather than what consumers have traditionally used – prior perceptions, beliefs, and experiences. It is difficult to conceptualize ideas if we have no concept of what they could be. It sounds like we’re talking in circles with that statement, but think of this: the bewilderment and cries of a young child while playing “peek-a-boo.” The child cannot see you and, therefore, truly believes you are gone. The child, at that stage of development, is incapable of perceiving the existence of something he or she cannot physically behold. This idea of perception versus reality, about which we have previously written, was the stumbling block in that 2007 market research study.

We’ve noted numerous times that market research cannot guarantee results, but that it can guarantee clarity. Asking the right questions—both initially and as follow-ups—is the key to eliciting meaningful information. But it doesn’t stop there. The way an interviewer frames a question is just as important as the question itself.

Imagine answering the following question: “How likely would you be to use one portable device to fulfill all your needs?”

Now imagine answering this question: “If there were a device that could store and play your music, take quality pictures, serve as a web browser, and still provide telephone capabilities, how likely would you be to use it?”

Chances are, you’d be more willing to provide an answer in the affirmative to the second question, likely because of the level of detail, albeit concise, and the theoretical picture it paints. Experienced survey designers and interviewers know how to balance the level of detail needed to accurately paint the conceptual/theoretical picture in the interviewee’s mind with time constraints of a telephone interview.

So while we are inclined to agree in principle with the notion that “market research can no longer predict what consumers will like,” we do so with a proverbial grain of salt: market research that asks incorrect or incomplete questions will certainly prove deficient in predicting trends, while the accurate framing of forward-looking questions will, at the very least, provide a degree of clarity in the otherwise murky waters of assessing a market opportunity.

If you would like to bring clarity to your market research, feel free to call us at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com, and/or visit us online at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber).

Tweed-Weber's Information Assessment Profile

Have you ever wondered about your organization’s current level of awareness and knowledge relative to your market(s)? Tweed-Weber has developed a tool that can help you focus on the three essential areas of market information: Market Characteristics, Market Perception, and Competitive Information.

 

In this assessment, we ask you to decide to what extent 15 specific descriptions are true of your organization today. The following are five to show you as an example:

• We have identified the markets that represent opportunity for us. We have further prioritized these markets to focus our efforts on those that represent the greatest opportunities for us.
• We have a tool to monitor our customers’ needs. We systematically use this tool on a continuous basis. As a result, we know precisely, at any time, the needs of our customers. This tool includes an established method to statistically measure our customers’ level of satisfaction with our products and services. As a result, we are continuously aware of our customers’ level of satisfaction with our performance.
• We conduct a competitive assessment with our customers on a regularly scheduled basis. As a result, we are completely knowledgeable as to how our customers perceive us versus our competitors.
• We have an instrument and systematic method to understand the key steps in our markets’ purchasing and distribution processes. We use this instrument on a regular basis. As a result, we are constantly aware of shifts in our markets’ purchasing and distribution behavior.
• We have a tool and method to monitor our markets’ needs. We use this tool on a regular basis. As a result, we are constantly aware of the needs of our markets and their product and service preferences.

After completing the full assessment, Tweed-Weber will score your answers and provide you with your own personal Information Assessment Status. The result will help you to focus on the areas of most need (Market Characteristics, Market Perception, and/or Competitive Information), so you can enhance and optimize your organization’s overall knowledge about your market(s).

 

If you would like to learn more about Tweed-Weber’s Information Assessment Profile, feel free to contact us. We will help you Know More, so you can Do More. Call us toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com and/or visit on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber).

 

Puritan Products: A Unique Blend of Excellence

The following is a recent edition of our e-newsletter: Know More. Do More. Our e-newsletter highlights the uses and benefits of business-to-business research and brings you timely examples of how companies are using research to achieve a competitive advantage. 

Puritan Products, Inc., located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, specializes in high purity chemicals and custom blended chemical formulations. Compliant in Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and certified to ISO-9001:2008 quality management standards, it serves the global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, microelectronics, and laboratory markets. It’s an exciting time for Puritan Products as the company is currently celebrating 25 years.

Puritan Products’ ability to know what their customers want and to remain competitive in their market is extremely important throughout the entire company. Donna Long, Director of Marketing, explains, “Companies need to know where they stand with their customers. If they don’t, they are not being objective. You always have to ask yourself if you really know how you’re doing. Once you have a baseline for satisfaction, then you know how to make customers happy and how to enhance your capabilities. You can grow your company by utilizing customer data in terms of breadth of products and services, which ultimately impacts revenue.”

A fundamental instrument in Puritan Products’ effort to obtain the voice of the customer is their annual Customer Perception Survey. Puritan Products first contracted with Tweed-Weber in 2009 to help assist them with making a more formalized and repeatable customer feedback effort. Telephone interviews were conducted with customers the first year, followed by an online survey each year after to benchmark results. Erik Nowery, Product Manager, stated, “Surveying customers is an integral part of what we do, and it’s a source of pride throughout our organization. We take it very seriously and talk about the results at every level of the company. It’s one essential way that we measure ourselves. It all starts with our customers and how they feel. You really have nothing without them. They must be a constant priority in order to achieve success.”

Survey questions were developed in the areas of general market information, awareness of services/capabilities, overall perceptions of Puritan Products and its competitors, cGMP, compliance, quality, marketing, relationship management, and future trends and opportunities. These categories helped to obtain well-rounded feedback. According to Donna, “We try to cater to our strategic initiatives and use our customer survey as instructive feedback to measure ourselves, and then to develop new or modified initiatives. The survey has helped with so many growth and improvement efforts we have going on in the company. We’ve also created certain performance measures over the years that allow us to focus those efforts on what’s most important to our customers. We like to know, and need to know, how far we’ve come.”

At Tweed-Weber, we conduct customer surveys for our clients every day, and we see a whole range of satisfaction ratings. Puritan Products is consistently at the top of the heap with their ratings. Every year, customers comment on Puritan Products’ ability to be flexible partners, expedient with orders, and responsive in service in a way that is heads and tails above the competition. Erik explains, “Managing expectations and measuring what the customer is looking for to make their lives easier, instead of what we we’re looking for to make our lives easier, allows us to provide a better service experience. We really value the relationships we have with our customers. If someone has an issue, and we fix it fast, they remember that and trust us to do more.”

In response to their customer survey results, Puritan Products hired a tech service rep to better meet customer needs, and they changed how they measure their internal on-time shipping performance. Donna stated, “We like that we do so well, but we want to focus on areas for improvement. For instance, a direct result of our survey was that we developed an initiative to improve our on-time shipping. We’ve always measured our shipping timeliness as a part of our quality and performance metrics, but we learned that our customers were using different measures to define and rate our shipping performance. The minute we knew that, we put a system in place to match what they were using.”

Some of our clients tell us they are wary of hearing what their customers have to say because they are afraid of receiving bad news. Of course, we believe that’s even more of a reason to gather customer input. If there’s an issue lurking out there, you want to be able to address it and manage it to a positive conclusion. And if your fears are unfounded, it’s a shame to miss the opportunity to hear all the good news about your daily performance. Donna added, “Normally, you don’t get to hear about the really good stuff you’re doing. This survey process lets us hear it, and it feels great. When you hear good things about how you’re impacting customers, you tend to want to do even better.” As a perfect example, one customer of Puritan Products stated, “Puritan’s customer service personnel are the best of any I work with. They are all friendly and knowledgeable, and they follow-through with confirmations and special instructions flawlessly, without exception.”

At Tweed-Weber, we are always impressed by organizations that welcome customer feedback, and we believe Puritan Products is a model company for its enthusiastic and proactive efforts to do so. We enjoy quarterly, strategic discussions that can be referred to as “Greatness and Growlers,” where we talk about what’s working well, and what’s not. Those review meetings are always enlightening and help feed future survey initiatives. Tweed-Weber feels extremely fortunate to include Puritan Products as one of our valued clients, and more important, our friends.

We invite you to learn more about the strategic research services provided by Tweed-Weber, Inc. In a world of uncertainty, the ability to clearly focus your organization creates a distinct competitive advantage. No one can guarantee certainty, but Tweed-Weber can guarantee clarity. You will Know More, so you can Do More. Call us toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com and/or visit us on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber).

Research-Based Marketing

Marketing. What is your message? Who is your audience? What does your audience really care about? What grabs the attention of your audience? All of these questions need to be asked prior to rolling out a marketing campaign. Having a significant and purposeful information-gathering activity will help answer those questions. The following is a three-phase process we use when helping management teams develop the appropriate market research to help make their marketing campaigns successful.

PHASE I: Survey Design
The primary objectives of survey design are to identify the essential information to be gathered from your market and identify the appropriate people to contact in order to obtain that information. A brainstorming session is conducted with the management team to define the desired objectives. During this session, a great deal of awareness-building takes place which leads to a heightened sense of anticipation to see the survey results.

PHASE II: Survey Implementation
After Phase I, a survey is developed and implemented using whatever research method is most appropriate (e.g. telephone, online, focus groups, direct mail, intercept, etc.). Much of the information gathered during the implementation stage provides valuable insight into your market's perception about your organization. This information enables the management team to define key opportunities and threats that exist in their competitive arena that will help to properly aim the marketing campaign.

PHASE III: Analysis and Reporting
DATA à INFORMATION à KNOWLEDGE à WISDOM

These are the four levels that form the basis of our model for effective information-gathering. Intelligent and meaningful interpretation is required beyond simply communicating data. The data needs to be interpreted and converted into easily understood information that will help a management team make confident, smart decisions. This is the job of the research firm. When done correctly, the anticipation that exists among management team members is met with answers that fuel strategy development. The research provides the wisdom needed to guide the organization into the future, with a strong marketing campaign leading the way.

If you are looking for research that can provide insights, ideas, and inspiration for your next marketing campaign, we can help. Call us toll-free at 1-800-999-6615, email us at mail@tweedweber.com and/or visit us on the web at www.tweedweber.com. Also, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn (Tweed-Weber, Inc.) and Twitter (@TweedWeber). We will help you Know More so you can Do More.