Save Time and Resources

The first reason to hire a market research firm is to save your company valuable time and resources. Quality market research can be very complex and time-consuming. Most companies don’t have the staff or expertise to complete this work comprehensively, and costly mistakes may be made in the process. An expert market research firm will save you countless hours and complete the project efficiently.

Get to Know Your Customer in a Whole New Way

When it comes to market research, it is beneficial to get an objective, fresh perspective. A market research company is completely neutral when conducting research and takes into consideration bias, flow, timing, and many other factors when building surveys and facilitating studies. Also, asking customers directly about their experience, for example, may not result in constructive feedback that is beneficial to your business. With anonymity, respondents are more likely to be open and honest with a third-party company.

Proven Methods That Result in Impactful Insights

Do you know the right sample size for the best results? Or how to ask a question so that it’s interpreted the same way and yields consistently accurate answers? Should you conduct quantitative or qualitative research? These are just a few considerations market research firms take into account. A market research firm has time-tested methodologies, analytical tools, and best practices to reveal impactful market insights that answer your most important business questions.

Ensure Reliable Results

Completing the market research data collection is only half of the project. The data needs to be accurately analyzed so that meaningful findings can be gleaned for your organization. This requires knowing how to edit, clean, and synthesize the data to produce reliable results. This information is converted into actionable insights to make smart, informed, and profitable business decisions

A Credible Source to Support Claims

Another reason to engage a market research firm is that your findings are viewed as more credible and trustworthy to your target audience. Claiming that your research conveniently proves your point might come across as self-serving or biased. But stating that “this research was conducted by XYZ, a market research company” bolsters the findings.

Ready to Hire a Market Research Firm? Ethos MR Is Here for You

At Ethos MR, we pride ourselves on our passion, commitment, and the highest standard of excellence. We approach every client individually to provide new solutions to their unique challenges and goals. Our clients agree – we work collaboratively with you to bring insightful knowledge to increase your level of success. Do you want to learn more about how Ethos MR can help accomplish your business goals?

Regardless of its often relentless and overbearing presence across the globe, information is easily and quickly obtained, enabling all of us to make meaningful decisions in every area of our lives. For businesses, this means better products and services can be envisioned and delivered to consumers who are more satisfied with more of their needs met. One of the most exciting tools in this volley of data exchange is the online market research panel, a dedicated group of experts who remain available online to discuss their ideas and experiences with a company and who review and provide feedback on the company’s (current and prospective) offerings. Such panels have become a staple in the overall market research process, supplying information — in near real time — so that companies are better informed and better equipped to make profitable and timely business decisions. For some industries, the use of online market research panels is particularly ubiquitous, having seemingly become synonymous with survival. Here are three of them:

Retail Sales

Consumers are fickle. Online market research panels can help remove some of the retail market’s inherent uncertainty by providing easy and constant access to a targeted audience. With honest and relevant feedback from panel members, companies can keep their fingers on the pulse of current retail market needs and trends, permitting them the ability to pivot course when panel sentiments indicate the need for it. In the retail world, time is often money and having a ready-made sample with whom ideas can be tossed around means a company is able to more quickly meet and even exceed market demand. With a few strokes of a keyboard, companies can connect with panel members and start discussing the topic at hand; there is no time needed to recruit research participants or to develop and deliver a research instrument every time a legitimate research objective arises because all the research legwork (the selection and recruitment of a sample) has already been done!

Agriculture

Of course, some industries, such as agriculture, rely on a variety of partners in order to succeed. For these types of markets, online market research panels can be particularly beneficial since they can be structured to incorporate participants with a wide range of interests and expertise. Instead of showcasing viewpoints from one similar type of audience — consumers, for instance — online market research panels can also be used to aggregate industry experts across multiple venues. In the case of the ag industry, an online market research panel could bring together crop growers, livestock producers, distributors, feed suppliers and more so that its sponsor has a more well-balanced view of the market as a whole.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry is another industry where online market research panels offer great advantage. Healthcare is a diverse industry, incorporating retail, manufacturing, wholesale and service functions that make knowing how to satisfy the needs of any one audience particularly hard. Not only must many healthcare companies solicit information from patients, they must also seek ways to remain abreast of provider, partner and other stakeholder views, so that the decisions they make fulfill the needs of them all. Online market panels allow healthcare companies to remain committed to testing across the entire breadth of their constituents so that no one group’s interests are left behind.

Want to Learn More?

Online market research panels are a must for many industries, especially those that rely on multiple stakeholders and/or anticipate constant and fluctuating demand. To learn more about online market research panels and how they could help you gain valuable business insights, please contact our team at Ethos MR.

Members of Gen Z are just starting to develop banking/financial institution relationships and are most likely to only use a single financial institution at this stage in their lives. Car purchases and home purchases are two life events that can lead to new banking relationships, but fewer young adults are purchasing cars than in the past, and the median age of first-time home buyers hit a record high of 33 in 2019.

The features and services from financial institutions desired more by Gen Z than older generations are mainly focused on convenience and security. The most important banking features for Gen Z include the ability to quickly access and manage their finances through online bill pay and to secure their accounts by turning on/off card access. They place significantly higher importance than older generations on these two features, along with mobile banking apps for smart phones, personal financial management tools, and branches with loan officers. While they want the flexibility to access their accounts at their convenience, more than three-quarters (77%) of Gen Z also recognize the value of being able to talk face to face with bank officers for more complex financial issues like home ownership as they plan for the future.

Gen Z is also more willing to have these conversations in non-traditional locations, compared to older generations. These consumers are more open to banks operating in unique locations such as coffee shops, big-box retailers, gyms, grocery stores, and department stores. It will be important for financial institutions to employ creativity in establishing and deepening face to face relationships with customers, especially since this younger generation is most likely to use mobile banking (54% of Gen Z use mobile payment compared to 39% of older generations) and fintech—digital wallets and peer to peer payment services—instead of going to branches.

Growing up in a historically long economic expansion and technological revolution, Gen Z is willing to adopt a wider variety of products, tools, and services to manage their finances compared to previous generations. It will be crucial for banks to pay attention to their preferences, behaviors, and financial literacy to make connections with them and secure their loyalty as customers.

If you ask most researchers about online surveys I think most would agree they’ve become a principle practice and perhaps the first choice of clients and practitioners for commercial and a steadily increasing amount of public sector work around the globe.

There have been many advancements in the evolutionary process of online survey technology and online sampling. As a research industry management consultant, it’s a personal joy and yet constant vigil to remain on top of both short-term and long-term trends.

The following are 3 observations I firmly believe to be contributing to the shift in overall improvement of the respondent experience and the quality-value of the data ultimately delivered to the client:

“Our culture runs on coffee and gasoline, the first often tasting like the second.”

– Edward Abbey

1. Technology Democratization – Let the Specialization Begin

In the past few years, technology has done 2 important things:

• It has allowed us to reach or surpass critical mass connectivity across the globe.
• Systems that attract and engage people in research have become commercially affordable to businesses unwilling to invest millions in proprietary systems.

As the title of this post alludes to, the days of mass optimization of the panelist experience and the client experience are being replaced with the “Experience Economy Age”. We are seeing the resurgence of many smaller firms with specialty experience in Healthcare, B2B or specifically Tech.

There are certainly firms that have great vertical skills such as programming and hosting as well as platforms that can deliver data in portals and dashboards providing you the ability to do your own online analysis and charting. Or, they can do it for you.

2. Mobile – Just Not a Thing

I participated in several marketing and industry shows this year (including technology-focused events) and I noticed that no one was passionately clamoring on about mobile and how we must solve the “Mobile Imperative”. At IIEX North America Patrick Comer of Lucid stated that of the 1 million respondents passing through Fulcrum® Exchange (the largest sample exchange in the world) daily, 30% of respondents are now on a mobile device, up significantly from the year before. This means that as an industry we have done the work to optimize our surveys and engaged respondents. Mobile is now mainstream, normal, and expected. We are taking advantage of the broad access and the deep insight experience mobile affords us.

3. API – Abundant Persons to Interview 

Seriously though, when we first started to build online panels we thought recruiting people that matched the census and paying them well to keep doing surveys would work. Well, it did for a while, but all we really did was take an old model and replicate it on new technology. We never achieved operational efficiency even after continuing to apply well-intentioned optimization paradigms like survey routers, etc.

 Then we decided to let the Internet be the Internet

Thinking beyond the traditional market research panel… respondents live in many vibrant engaged communities throughout the WWW. They Opt-In for surveys they qualify for generally, or, for some people, just occasionally.

With each of these communities being open to each other, Application Program Interfaces (API) resource sharing is not only possible it’s fast and efficient. More people have the opportunity to take a survey now than have ever before. We know who respondents are and we can build very representative and/or targeted samples based on profile and prescreening data very rapidly and cost effectively.

The point is this: You can pick a boutique or a big house and know that they have the same level playing field to access the same quality respondents. You can work with a trusted firm with specialized skills and know that you will get a custom solution and a good value. And maybe best of all – your coffee can taste like anything you want. 

Human beings are social by nature. No matter our background, we all crave connection. We build community around the things we hold in common, and we spend our lives surrounded by others whose company we enjoy and trust.

But what your own community looks like depends on many factors. Do you seek out community with your neighbors? Or with those who share your faith? Or your cultural heritage? Or is it something else, entirely, which makes you feel connected with others?

Getting these questions right is essential for marketers trying to authentically represent and resonate with multicultural consumer segments. Collage research confirms that community matters to pretty much everyone, but our data also reveals how community is experienced and expressed differently across cultural backgrounds.

In our 2020 Roundtable Study, we learned that multicultural Americans, especially Black and Hispanic consumers, want to see communities that look like their own represented in advertising.

Moreover, it is within their communities that these segments discuss and evaluate marketing executions.

In other words, people do indeed share and discuss what they like and don’t like about advertising within their community.  The importance of this insight cannot be overstated, especially for Black and Hispanic consumers.  These segments are far more likely to talk about your ads, even if their respective racial/ethnic background isn’t the focus of the advertisement at hand!

To activate on the shared value of community connection, brands must therefore understand the power of authentically representing community across multicultural and other segments.

For most brands, the authentic representation of community and family offers pure upside: not only does it result in increased activation of the target group, it also resonates with other segments, who are drawn to the authentic representation of segments, even if not their own .

Read on for high-level takeaways and download the deck for more, including community profiles by race/ethnicity.

1. Black and Hispanic Americans Feel Most Connected to Their Racial/Ethnic Communities.

Hispanic consumers – especially within the Unacculturated Hispanic segment – have the strongest connection, with 76 percent feeling either “very” or “somewhat” connected to the broader Hispanic community. Asian consumers, on the other hand, feel a weaker connection to a broader Asian community, with only 58 percent feeling either “very” or “somewhat” connected. Given the important distinctions within the Asian segment based on country of origin, it makes sense that these consumers feel weaker affiliation with a sense of generalized Asian American identity.

2. Hispanic and Black Americans Lean More Heavily on Religion as Part of their Daily Lives.

While most Americans do ascribe to a religious tradition – with Christianity holding a plurality across racial/ethnic segments – only 1 in 5 adult consumers say they participate in a church group or other religious organization. The Hispanic segment, though, sees a higher rate of religious participation, at 25 percent. Black consumers are also more likely to have strong connections with their religious and spiritual communities, being most likely (19%) to turn to them for emotional support.

3. All Multicultural Segments Feel a Stronger Connection to their Neighborhoods and Cities.

Most Americans – including white consumers – identify strongly with the places they live. But Hispanic, Black, and Asian consumers all feel stronger connections to their neighborhoods or towns/cities. It is therefore essential to emphasize the role local communities play in daily life when trying to reach and resonate with multicultural America.

Across these three insights, and the others presented in the attached slides, there is a clear pattern: multicultural segments tend to be more connected with their communities.

White consumers are simply less engaged with community networks, whether geographic, online, spiritual, or cultural. To reach and resonate with multicultural America, brands and marketers must see these consumers not only as individuals, but also as members of vital and vibrant communities.

The research covers Hispanic, Black, Asian and White consumers as part of our Multicultural program, and expands into generation, sexuality and gender in the Generations and LGBTQ+ & Gender Programs.

Passion Points help brands:

• Build authentic creative to ensure messaging campaigns speak to consumer’s lived experiences.

• Evaluate cross-segment opportunities to extend reach through shared passion points.

• Identify opportunities to seamlessly engage consumer passion points, and find a logical fit to connect more deeply with specific consumer segments.

Diving deeper into Black consumer passion points, we identify three of the eight areas (overall) that are uniquely of interest to this segment: music, fashion and religion. 

Movies

Black consumers have distinct tastes for R&B, hip-hop and gospel music when compared to consumers of other races/ethnicities. In particular, seven in ten Black consumers listen to R&B, which marks a truly statistically significant difference when it comes to multicultural consumer music preferences.

Further, Black American consumers enjoy talking about their favorite music the most, with nearly seven out of ten respondents expressing a passion in this area.

Fashion

Clothing that is unique and comfortable is the preference for Black American consumers. Further, all multicultural consumers want clothing that makes them feel confident.

And, nearly 50 percent of Black consumers consider themselves to be stylish or fashionable, with a focus in hair/beard, shoes, jewelry, eyeglasses and makeup.

Religion

Black Americans are most likely to routinely practice religion, and religious and spiritual beliefs influence music choices for more than one in four Black consumers.

Further, nearly half of Black and Hispanic Americans are actively involved in a religious community, ranking higher than Asian (46%) and White (37%) consumers.

Beyond these top-line findings, Collage Group members have access to insights on why Black Americans, and other segments, over- or under-index on Passion Points, and the nuances brands should be aware of as they activate on these trends.

The same goes for market research, considering our industry has a wide history. In order to understand people’s opinions and behaviors it has followed certain techniques. 

To innovate or renew something it all starts, worth the redundancy, from the beginning. If we experience new things we can get an idea of whether we like them or not, or if they are processes or tools that fit our needs.

Today we will talk about something new: online focus groups. A focus group is an interaction between individuals. A gathering of people in which a specific topic is debated or discussed. In a previous blog, we covered more details about this methodology.

On this occasion, we share an evaluation with the pros and cons of online focus groups. With this approach, you can evaluate for yourself if you want to start this new adventure.

Pros

• Doing the focus group online is a faster alternative compared to the face-to-face focus group. Also, you don’t need to have a physical space or venue to do one. 
• In a face-to-face meeting, social norms are understood and always in effect. The digital ecosystem encourages people to feel comfortable. Therefore, their opinions are much more honest.  
• They are much more flexible. This flexibility helps making groups of people more diverse. Because location or time barriers are overcome. People can connect wherever they are, as long as they have wifi. 
• Technology to make research easier. Online focus groups help to increase efficiency and even get more interesting insights than the ones you could obtain in person. 
• Facilitates participation. The online environment encourages the dialogue with many people.

Cons

• Capturing facial expressions and observing body language is more difficult.
• The interaction among people, many times, is not so easily achieved. Which is why the moderator needs to try harder to generate it.
• It is more difficult to know when people do not understand a question or if they are confused. Unless they say it explicitly.
• Participants attention can be lost more easily. Our suggestion is to use an attractive platform which also promotes interactivity.

How do we do it at Ethos MR? 

Ethos MR takes care of recruiting the participants you are looking for. We do this through our online access panel. From there, we select the panelists who meet the profile you need.

We have a commitment to our panelists and this is a priority for us. For this reason, we also manage the incentives to be delivered to the people who finally attend the session. 

We want to give you all the facilities so you can do online focus groups. We use Webex technology, a platform that allows you to connect up to 100 participants. Still, our suggestion is to hold groups of a maximum of six participants. If you need the group moderation service, we can help you outsource a moderator.

Finally, in terms of length, we recommend the session or sessions you organize are not longer than one hour.

Use a Variety of Platforms

Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Y, Gen X, Baby Boomers – each demographic is characterized by certain communication preferences. Older people, for example, may faithfully complete a mail-in survey which will rarely see high response rates from the younger generations.

Today, most of us have the ability to fill in an online survey on our smartphones, no matter where we are. However, an online survey will receive far fewer responses from lower-income individuals whose only access to the internet is at the public library. In the same way, Millennials and Gen Z are notoriously unresponsive to emails.

Once you understand these preferences, you can formulate a survey outreach strategy that covers each group’s preferred method of communication.

Factor in Time

This refers to both the average duration of the survey and the response window for receiving completed forms. The most common reason for respondents abandoning a survey is the length of the questionnaire. Design your form and the questions in such a way to minimize the time required to complete it. Consider breaking it up into two surveys, with a follow-up coming a week or so after the first. This strategy may also help you add or modify questions based on the responses to the first survey, improving the accuracy of your results.

A company that produces food for infants learned that factoring in time when designing a survey is critical to receiving accurate feedback. After making significant revisions to their products based on survey responses, the changes were met with overwhelmingly negative feedback, and they discovered that busy moms – who constituted the majority of their clientele – simply did not have time to complete the survey properly.

Avoid Excessive Specialization

It can often seem that one particular subsection of your target demographic is the most important. Without adequate data, though, targeting that section alone may lead to failure instead of success.

The recent layoffs at some of the most popular media sites like Buzzfeed and Vox allude to this idea. The general consensus after the fallout is that they focused disproportionately on subsections of the community that simply were not large enough to lead to increased views (which translates to increased revenue). If you can avoid an overly narrow spectrum, the responses will be more in line with your overall brand message and targets.

Why diversity is so important

Diversity originates from the word diverse, meaning difference. It comes in many forms: gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, culture, socioeconomic background – and all of these things contribute to an individual’s unique experience of the world. In a nutshell, diversity and inclusion are so important because it’s about respecting and appreciating differences. It ensures everyone’s voice is heard, and that their opinions are respected and taken on board, giving brands the ability to communicate with all of their customers, no matter who they are. As such, it’s a huge driver of business success and innovation, and without it, brands can end up in serious hot water – and may even get known for all the wrong reasons.

It’s time to take action

The time to talk about diversity is over. Instead, it’s time to take action – and supermarket giant Sainsbury’s are a fantastic example of a brand leading the way and being proactive about diversity. Sainsbury’s pride themselves on being an inclusive retailer and as a result have a workforce that’s representative of the UK population.  They also have a number of schemes and mentoring programmes that help underrepresented colleagues achieve and progress, as well as internal support networks such as their LGBTA colleague network too.

Other, well-known brands such as H&M and Starbucks have also recently taken steps to show their customers that they are taking diversity and inclusion seriously, albeit in a more reactive manner. H&M recently appointed a Global Diversity Leader after a fashion fiasco that received huge backlash, whilst Starbucks closed more than 8,000 of its US stores to educate its staff on racial bias after a heavily publicised incident in Philadelphia. When it comes to diversity the message is clear: diversity and inclusion should no longer be afterthoughts.

Diversity in market research

That’s exactly why it is so important to ensure you have diversity in research – so you can be completely confident that all ages, genders, sexualities, nationalities and religions are equally represented by your brand. After all, there’s no single image of what a typical customer looks like. The population is so diverse, and in today’s world, it’s more important than ever to make sure your brands’ campaigns resonate with everyone, no matter who they are. When it comes to market research recruitment, it’s important to actively onboard respondents from diverse perspectives and not exclude those who think in another way or ostracise those who might have different opinions.

Whether you are testing marketing campaigns, need feedback for product launches or want to understand product usage, diversity in market research can help to ensure you really get to grips with customer behaviour and understand why your consumers think and act the way they do. It can have an incredibly positive effect: Mars revealed that it grew its Maltesers brand by 8% after launching three adverts focused on disability last year, claiming it was the single most successful campaign for the whole brand in more than a decade.

How Ethos MR can help

At Ethos MR, we take the time to really understand the brands we work with so we can find high-quality participants for their market research. We’ll really get to know the objectives of your study, what you are trying to achieve and why, before carrying out completely bespoke and targeted recruitment campaigns designed to source the best possible participants and deliver real diversity in research. Got a market research study coming up? Get the peace of mind that your fieldwork is being conducted to the highest possible industry standards with Angelfish. Want to find out more? Let’s talk!

While these long-overdue changes may seem superficial, experts believe they will have a lasting impact on consumer culture.

“We’re heading into an era where people have to be discerning. We cannot be what they used to call the ‘passive plebes’ anymore,” said Cheryl Thompson, a creative industries professor at Ryerson University.

At the very least, Thompson says, these changes will encourage consumers to think about what they’re buying and what it represents ⁠— leading people to demand more of companies.

A time for change

Aunt Jemima, owned by PepsiCo Inc., was one of the first brands to get a facelift ⁠— both the name and logo are set to change in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The logo of the more than 130-year-old brand features an African-American woman named after a character from 19th-century minstrel shows. The offensive caricature is rooted in a stereotype of a friendly Black woman working as a servant or a nanny for a white family.

The brand faced social media backlash and calls for a boycott amid protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while in police custody.

“We recognize Aunt Jemima‘s origins are based on a racial stereotype,” said Kristin Kroepfl, vice-president and chief marketing officer of Quaker Foods North America, in a statement.

“As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations.”

PepsiCo simultaneously committed to a set of initiatives worth more than $400 million over five years to support Black communities in north america? and increase Black representation in the company.

The makers of Uncle Ben’s rice and Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup also joined Aunt Jemima in pledging to review their long-standing brand images.

Mars Food, which makes Uncle Ben’s rice, announced on June 17 that it would “evolve” its brand from the current presentation, which features a smiling older Black man on an orange package.

Meanwhile, sports teams like the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos and the NFL’s Washinton Redskins have also placed their brands under review. Advocates for change argue that both are derogatory terms for Indigenous people in Canada and the U.S.