Longitudinal Reporting for Brand Awareness 

The key to doing brand awareness surveys is to create a standard report that you can run repeatedly and then compare the results over time. The results are shown in what is called Longitudinal (over time) Reporting. For this kind of study, you will need a Professional or Full Access account.  

For brand awareness studies, you will want to reach a random sample of people in your target markets in order to get truly useful information. Many companies turn to the Alchemer Panels Team to help them find the right groups of targeted respondents. 

The Advantages of Longitudinal Studies 

Brand awareness studies are best conducted with a standard survey that you run repeatedly and measure over time. By regularly asking the same questions – every month or quarter – you can see the effects of your marketing campaigns over time. Your Longitudinal Reports will show you how your audiences’ perceptions of your brand change and allow you to compare the results to programs and events.  

This approach allows you to understand and explain the impact of marketing programs, news reports, and other events that can raise or lower your scores.  

Types of Questions 

You can create a longitudinal report with a number of standard questions. The key is to restrict answers to a specific pre-determined set to directly compare March with October, for example.  

The types of questions that can be used in longitudinal reporting include: 

• Radio Buttons 
• Dropdown Menu 
• Checkboxes 
• Net Promoter Score 
• Likert Scale Rating 
• Image Select (single and multiple) 
• Cascading Drop Down Menu 

You can set the intervals for reporting to Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Annual. Then you can choose from one of eight different report styles.  

Metrics You Can Chart 

The metrics you can measure include: 

• Option Count (this is the default) which plots a data point for each answer option 
• NPS® Score, which plots the score calculated 
• Sum, which is calculated by multiplying the number of responses for each option by its numeric value 
• Average, which calculates the Sum divided by the Total Responses (great for Likert scales) 
• Min, which plots the minimum value across all responses 
• Max, which shows the maximum value across all responses 
• Standard Deviation, which plots the extent of deviation for the group 
• Variance, which plots how far a set of numbers are spread out from the mean 
• Total, which plots the total responses to a question 
• Hidden, which indicates the total responses that did not answer the question because it was hidden 
• Skipped, which shows the total responses that did not answer the question despite seeing it 

Other Applications of Longitudinal Studies 

In addition to brand awareness studies, longitudinal reports are great for: 

• Market trends 
• Product feedback 
• Customer satisfaction (including NPS) 
• Employee engagement 
• Customer usage 
• Medical studies 
• Population trends 

To learn more about Longitudinal studies, visit read this blog, “What is a Longitudinal Study?” Or you can jump straight to our documentation on Longitudinal Reporting.  

The post Running Brand Awareness Studies appeared first on Alchemer.

Fortune 500 C-Suite: Yes, we’d all like to know what these people are thinking, but how many executives are willing to take a survey? The average CEO salary for a Fortune 500 company is $11.5 million per year, which means they make, on average, $5,529 an hour. They’re also responsible for more than 60,600 workers each. Yes, they make the big budget decisions, but finding the influencers below the C-suite is going to give you better insights into the decision-making process. 

For the record, trying to get 1000 respondents from Fortune 500 CIOs is technically impossible (it’s a math thing, 500 divided by 1000 is still 1/2, even with new math). 

Different Industries: You might want decision makers in a specific part of the company – HR, IT, Sales, Engineering – but you want them from different industries. The secret here is to ask the right question about where they work. Many people whose careers span different industries tend to believe they’re in the HR, IT, or Sales industry, and less so the airline, retail, or manufacturing industry. Many of your colleagues probably believe that they’re in the market research industry, even though they might work for a healthcare company. 

How you ask your question becomes very important here. What answers you accept is just as important. 

Non-Tech Audiences: It’s much easier and faster to find panelists who use a computer or smartphone all day at work. Targeting people who don’t takes more time. If you want to target people who don’t have a smartphone, you have to target respondents who only complete surveys on computers. If they’re answering on a smartphone, they already have one. 

By the way, you will not find gamers or influencers who don’t have smartphones. They just don’t exist. They might have had their phones taken away for misbehaving, but they still own one. 

Smartphones for Success: The percentage of people taking surveys on their mobile device is growing – so much so that about 70% of people are taking surveys on their mobile device now. If you want to reach more people, don’t restrict your survey to laptops or desktops. Especially if you want younger demographics (have you ever seen a student not on their phone?). 

Race is a Sensitive Subject: And it will continue to be for some time. However, it’s important to  remember that diversity is regional as well. You will find more Hispanic communities in the Southwestern U.S. than in the northern central states. Census-balancing nationwide will give you a racial profile that is 12.5% black, 18.7% Hispanic, 5.8% Asian, 2.3% multiple races, and 60.1% white, non-Hispanic. Asian populations increase dramatically in the Pacific Northwest, while black and Hispanic populations decline. You need to be aware of the diversity in the region you want to survey.  

Your Customers Aren’t Always Right: This is particularly true if you’re a niche player. Often companies come to us to sample a 50/50 split of current customers and people who haven’t but are in the market. This kind of research allows them to capture the most representative trends and developments in their market. Continually researching your customers exclusively biases your data and could bias your decision-making. Keep it fresh by reaching out to new people. It’s kind of like changing your socks. 

Very Specific Market with Very Broad Criteria: If you want to survey people who have bought sensible pumps and poodle skirts in the past six months are probably not going to be able to get responses from many middle-aged men in farming communities. At least not that many who will admit to it.  

Similarly, if you want people buy trucks – especially 18-wheelers – you’re probably not going to find a census-balanced respondent pool that includes yoga moms. You might have to open up your description of a truck to include SUVs or accept the people who do respond. Many companies find that their target market (truck drivers in this case, rockabilly fans in the prior instance) provide the best data.  

Also remember that different social standards travel with different generations. You might find that it’s easy to fill a panel with pot-smoking 50 and 60 year-olds, but more difficult when it comes to the 80+ age range.  

What You Can Do:  

1. Be flexible in juggling who you want to answer your survey and how long it might take to get them. We can find the people you want (in most cases); it just might cost more and take more time. Don’t expect to get 1200 responses from hard-to-find people in a couple of hours. It might take time to find them and get them to take the survey. 

2. Be realistic about how specific you get with your audience. Trying to find a book club that buys dinnerware and lives on Whiteheart Lane is going to take some time, if it’s even possible. It might be what your client or executive wants, but they will be easier to find by going door-to-door.  

3. Do a little research before proposing an audience. Out-of-work actors are pretty easy to find. Social-media CEOs are much fewer and harder to reach. Besides, they’re all dealing with who to ban and free-speech issues right now. A quick web search will show you that 10% of the global population is left-handed, but 13.1% of Americans. You’ll find that 6.1% of American children are being treated for ADHD while 4.4% of American adults struggle with it. Knowing a little about your market could help you form your survey and select the right audience. 

The post Fun with Filling Audience Panels appeared first on Alchemer.

As a teaching hospital, much of their research is shared with other surgeons and hospitals around the world. Consequently, for these scientific research projects, it is very important to get an accurate representation of the U.S. population. 

Surveying the Public at Large 

One large project conducted with Alchemer asked the general public questions about: 

• How much they exercise? 
• What conditions they may suffer from? 
• How those conditions impact their ability to get exercise? 
• Have they taken any educational courses to learn about health? 
• What platforms would they prefer to learn about health? 
• What health topics they are interested in increasing their knowledge about? 

For this project it was very important to the researchers that they surveyed a diverse audience of genders, age groups, ethnicities, incomes, and locations. 

The research is still being compiled and analyzed, and the reports should be available later this year. 

Hearing from Health Practitioners 

Another project the researchers at this hospital ran with Alchemer was targeted towards Health Practitioners Education needs. Studies involving highly specialized audiences, especially very busy professionals such as medical doctors, physician assistants, osteopaths, and chiropractors generally cost a great deal more than general population surveys. 

In this very specialized study, the hospital researchers asked:  

• What (if any) board certifications the practitioner had? 
• How many Continuing Medical Education credits they participated in an average year? 
• Why they participated (was it required or not)? 
• What gaps they found in current programs? 
• What medical conditions they encounter most often in their practice? 
• Which education platforms and formats they preferred? 

Requiring Different Panels Expertise 

Both of these surveys required very different expertise from the Alchemer Panels team. The general population survey required careful balancing of income levels and genders because certain audiences are more likely to respond quickly, and without a watchful eye, they can skew the results by answering before other audiences begin to respond.  

With highly specialized audiences, the demands are different. First, such a specialized audience is hard to find in great numbers, as they represent about three percent of the population. They are also less likely to respond to surveys quickly, given that their time is very valuable.  

Consequently, sourcing these audiences in statistically valid numbers typically requires a good deal of work, reaching out to different panel firms to get the right blend. 

How to Work with the Alchemer Panels Team 

While complex and unusual projects make for the most interesting stories, the panels group also helps everybody from consumer-packaged goods (CPG) firms to gaming companies. They have helped companies find audiences all around the world – Asia, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and North America. They can help with surveys to specific zip codes, cities, states, countries, and continents.  

To contact the Alchemer Panels Team, click here or call 1-800-609-6480 today. 

The post A Teaching Hospital Turns to Alchemer to Find Audiences appeared first on Alchemer.

The U.S. food retail industry is a $6.22 trillion market, with grocery stores totaling almost $682 billion in annual sales. Yet the margins are very small, with the average grocery store making about a penny on the dollar. Consequently, insights into buying trends and buyer intention is highly prized. That’s the kind of research 210 Analytics delivers as specialists in quantitative and qualitative research for the grocery and food retail industry. Prior to founding 210 Analytics, Anne-Marie Roerink served as the Director of Research for the Food Marketing Institute and before that as Director of Marketing and Research at the American Society of Travel Agents.

“We use Alchemer to learn about behaviors, motivators, and more,” says Anne-Marie. “Retailers, distributors, and manufacturers are all trying to better understand customers and what motivates them. With margins so tight, knowing who wants organic produce, grass-fed beef, a boost from algae protein or a fiber-rich product can make a huge difference in profitability.”

Finding the Right Panels Mix 

210 Analytics often works with the Panels Team at Alchemer. “We field ten to fifteen surveys a year with a target audience of 1,500-2,000 consumers,” says Anne-Marie. “Typically we test the survey internally and with a few consumers, then we work with Wendy on the Panels Team to set quotas – geographic, age, economic, and other factors using Census balancing. Quotas may differ based on who we are looking for. For instance, a survey on cheese sauce may have a different mix than a survey about premium chocolate.” 

The Panels Team then constantly adjusts the sample they distribute to fill the quotas. “We’ve found that lower income buckets tend to fill up before the higher income buckets,” Anne-Marie adds. “So Wendy rolls out the survey a bit at a time to balance the quotas and avoid having to find the needle in the haystack for the last couple of hundred respondents.” 

Analyzing the Results with SPSS 

“When our clients need to understand consumer behaviors and drivers, we export the results directly into SPSS for segmentation and deeper analysis,” Anne-Marie reports. “This saves us a lot of time compared with exporting to a .CSV file. With the direct SPSS export, Alchemer automatically defines and imports variable names, variable types, titles, and value labels in the .SAV format for SPSS. It’s clean and easy.” 

SPSS is the industry standard for serious, in-depth statistical analysis. “Thinking ahead of the type of analysis required, I define the SPSS variable names while building the survey,” adds Anne-Marie. “That way everything exports cleanly and data coding and cleaning is minimal.” 

When the research doesn’t demand in-depth analysis, 210 Analytics uses the Alchemer reports. “The Alchemer reports are great for higher level analysis, such as conference satisfaction surveys or quick feedback,” says Anne-Marie. “The cross-tabs and filters tools are quite intuitive and useful as well.” 

Looking for an Edge 

“It’s all about finding an edge and looking around the corner,” says Anne-Marie. Food trends change fast and often and staying on trend means greater relevance. This is especially true in claims like organic, low carb or gluten-free. “Grocers like to know who has an interest in organic in their areas and is willing to pay a little more. The organic shopper is currently a small slice of the population, but those foods are more profitable. However, nobody wants to throw out premium foods because their shoppers wouldn’t pay the premium price.” 

“Our research helps our customers decide if they want to be in front of a trend, watching it, or letting it pass based on their customer demographics. We turn the research findings into in-depth multi-year tracking studies that are used all over the world. Typically, we launch studies at conferences to take the audience through the top-level results after which they can use the study to understand the benchmarks for their specific organizations. Over time, we started to see trends cut across departments, which helps to develop early base lines. For instance, behaviors that first popped up in frozen foods or produce will make their entrance in areas like meat, seafood or even candy months or years later.”  

Most food-industry surveys are fielded away from food-based holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Halloween. “The holidays skew people’s answers,” says Anne-Marie. “For instance, think about how many more people eat turkey in November and December versus in the summer. However, during the pandemic, many long-standing food trends, from where to shop to what to buy changed, with an explosion in grocery e-commerce and activities like baking and scratch-cooking.” 

About 210 Analytics 

210 Analytics has extensive experience in quantitative and qualitative research, from questionnaire design, field control and execution, analysis, reporting, and presentation of actionable findings, with a specialization in grocery retailing. Projects cover both primary and secondary research, and vary from multi-month to single-day engagements on a wide range of topics. 210 Analytics helps clients make operational, financial and tactical decisions with greater confidence through research and data-centric marketing strategies. 

To learn more about the Alchemer SPSS Integration, click here.  

To learn more about the Alchemer Panels Team, click here. 

The post Gaining an Insight Edge with Alchemer Panels and SPSS appeared first on Alchemer.

“I was working as an organizational development consultant, helping people in large companies learn how to talk to each other because people didn’t know how to connect,” said Peter. “I attended a baby shower, and I noticed that we were all at the same event having radically different experiences. They all brought a different perspective and different conversation styles.” 

Peter started working on Mindful Conversation about two-and-a-half years ago. As he developed his premise and hypothesis, he began teaching it and testing it. Participants would take the survey to see where they fit in the quadrants that Peter developed.  

Using Survey Audiences 

Peter’s upcoming book includes the survey that he developed using Alchemer and proved with Alchemer Survey Audiences. Survey Audiences is an add-on capability that allows survey builders to test a survey or conduct some quick research with a relatively low sample size and low cost. For larger or international audiences, the Alchemer Panels Services team can help you find the respondents you need. 

“The survey provides a great starting point for discussing a person’s conversation, as well as learning where the majority of people fit,” added Peter. He found that talking about the feedback results individually and collectively gave people a sense of where they fit and what they could expect.  

“After I built the survey with Alchemer, I wanted to test it with people who didn’t know me,” said Peter. “So I selected a census-balanced random group with the Alchemer Survey Audience feature. I got 50 people very fast, with lots of great comments. I was delighted. And it gave me the confidence that my survey would produce the data I was hoping to get.” 

Having Mindful Conversations 

“The Mindful Conversation approach is unlike active listening, where people learn to repeat what they’ve heard for confirmation,” said Peter. “It’s much more about not thinking about everything else that’s going on when you’re talking to somebody. If you’re thinking about dinner or work or what you’re doing after this, you’re not adding to the conversation, you’re subtracting from it.” 

“In any conversation, you’re either speaking or listening. So it was natural that there would be people who primarily talk and those who primarily listen,” he said. “And then most people fit somewhere in between. Once you figure out where you fit, then you can begin to be more mindful about how you participate in conversations.” 

Finding Alchemer 

When he began creating the survey, Peter looked at the different survey solutions available. “Alchemer was the only one with the capabilities I needed,” said Peter. “Plus, their customer support is excellent. Elise helped me in so many ways. She helped me use the Survey Audiences feature to get a random sample of people who gave me such rich feedback.” 

To learn more about Peter Gibb and his forthcoming book, Mindful Conversation: How to talk to anybody about just about anything, visit www.petergibb.org 

The post Using Survey Audiences, Author Peter Gibb Tested His Latest Theory appeared first on Alchemer.

Alchemer: The business world has changed dramatically since March. How are companies using panels to find new customers today? 

Wendy Wyss: We deliver the data that companies need to make the business decisions to attract their target audience. Panel members typically prefer to remain anonymous, so panel audiences aren’t used for collecting prospects. Rather, they are used to find out what messaging or positioning attracts a new audience that a company wants to win over, or what will keep their current clientele demographic engaged and coming back.  

There are a few corporate segments that are doing very well right now. Gaming companies are doing market research for their next characters and themes to attract new players and keep existing players’ attention. Start-ups and established companies are testing concepts for home delivery and subscription options of their products. We’ve seen new alcoholic (and a few non-alcoholic) drinks being evaluated. Sanitizing gadgets are another item we’ve tested interest in. We’ve fielded surveys for everyday items like bedding too. Companies are capitalizing on in-home staples like sheets and pillows becoming a luxury indulgence that wasn’t as important a year ago. 

Alchemer: What is the most common or classic reason for buying a panel? 

Wendy: The classic reason to purchase a panel is to conduct market research for a product or service. We see a huge range of reasons here at Alchemer. Lately, we are seeing more companies using panel audiences to help them adjust their business models to our current climate. We’ve fielded quite a few “pulse check” surveys asking if consumers are using curbside grocery pick up or delivery as much as they did in April, for instance. Are consumers willing to go into a store more now than they were? Many of these surveys also include a question along the lines of “when do you think the COVID-19 situation will calm down?” The same client will ask that question every month, it’s very interesting!  

Of course, it’s October in an election year, so we are seeing more and more surveys ask opinions about the election and candidates – even if the survey is not political in nature. Our customers are paying for real honest data, so why not throw in a question that may have relevance even if it’s not entirely apparent right now (or the survey creator is just curious)? 

Alchemer: What is the most unique use of panels that you’ve seen recently? 

Wendy: Recently we fielded a survey to gather data on how best to serve patients. We know people are avoiding doctors and delaying regular/urgent care, which can put them at risk of preventable complications. The survey asked opinions on what would make someone more willing to visit their caregiver (video conference, phone consult, specific cleaning measures in the office, etc.). This data is being used to help healthcare settings accommodate patients’ needs while addressing their concerns about safety. 

Alchemer: What departments and types of companies use panels? 

Wendy: We are seeing increased numbers of surveys originating from HR departments, with questions like, “When will you feel comfortable coming back to work?” IT departments are asking questions such as, “What do you need to be successful working from home?” Of course, the traditional marketing team research is ongoing. 

The companies who use panel audiences really run the gamut from jury consulting companies who are not able to gather in-person focus groups right now to tech companies who are pivoting from researching the reasons for purchasing their products to discovering what online students and teachers need to be effective. 

Alchemer: What is the most mission-critical research that you’ve helped with? 

Wendy: It seems like much of the data we deliver is mission-critical these days. The “new normal” is constantly evolving and everyone needs to adapt in one way or another. I feel like we’re providing a great service to operations like museums who are surveying people to find out what, if anything, might engage people to visit online since they may not be able to visit in person. Nonprofit organizations are struggling with donations these days, so they are researching what may bring new donors to the table. All of those are essential to keep these businesses and valuable resources open and available. 

The post One-on-One with Panels appeared first on Alchemer.