Market Strategies International | Market Research and Consulting - Knowledge Center

Papers & Articles

Analytic and Statistical Techniques
Business and Marketing: Brand Building and Monitoring
Business and Marketing: Managing the Research Process
Business and Marketing: Sales and Channel Strategy
Industries: Energy
Industries: Financial Services
Industries: Healthcare
Research Methods: International Research
Research Methods: Qualitative
Research Methods: Surveys and Sampling
Research Methods: Usability and Ethnography

Analytic and Statistical Techniques

NPS White Paper Featured in Marketing Research
The effects of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) on American business have been far-reaching, phenomenal and more than a little contentious. To bring perspective to this battlefield, this article by Market Strategies' Randy Hanson offers commentary and asks questions to reveal what NPS truly is, and what it is not. Through authentic examples and experiences, and more importantly the scientific method, here is a middle path—a synthesis—to help you decide if NPS or some other measure is the best choice for your company. Download PDF

An Empirical Test of Bundling Techniques for Choice Modeling
In this paper presented by Jack Horne, Silvo Lenart, Bob Rayner and Paul Donagher at the Sawtooth Software Conference , two methodologies for product/service bundling research are compared: a CBC approach that uses availability effects to estimate a feature’s underlying intrinsic utility (conditional on prices offered); and the binomial choice-modeling approach developed by Leichty, Ramaswamy and Cohen (2001) for the analysis of build-your-own (BYO) data. Our findings suggest that either may be appropriate methods, but in different circumstances. They also suggest that, to the extent possible, the full market should be available to respondents if you wish to make conclusions relevant to the marketplace. Download PDF

Van Westendorp Price Analysis: An Overview
Peter van Westendorp's method of price sensitivity measurement (PSM) is a simple and effective means of revealing what people consider the appropriate price for a product or service. To the Van Westendorp PSM, Market Strategies adds a method of determining whether or not people would buy at that price. Download PDF

Business and Marketing: Brand Building and Monitoring

Oncology Leadership Important for Pharmaceutical Companies
Image leadership is more important than ever before in the field of oncology, according to an article written by Market Strategies’ Peter Carlin, Ellen Gordon, Ph.D., Ruchika Kapur and Shannon Clancy that appears in the June 2009 issue of Oncology Business Review . The article provides results of the 2009 MSImage study on how physicians and other healthcare stakeholders rate pharmaceutical company performance on over 30 sales, product/R&D and corporate equity metrics. Download PDF

Market Strategies’ E2 Study Highlighted in Electric Perspectives Article
The article acknowledges strategic challenges, but also identifies important opportunities for energy utilities to assume a leadership role in ending the perceived energy crisis and developing realistic solutions that can put the nation on “the right track” toward an independent, secure and sustainable energy future. Read Article

Oncology Clinical Trials: The New Battleground?
In this article written by Market Strategies Healthcare industry group professionals Peter Carlin and Ellen Gordon, Ph.D., the battle over oncology clinical trial share and influence is profiled. Market Strategies surveyed 50 community-based oncologists to better understand how practicing physicians perceive this critical area, and the impact their views may have on how pharmaceutical companies marketing to them. Download PDF

Oncology PAPs: Opportunities for Leadership
This May 2008 Oncology Business Review article reveals, through research conducted by Market Strategies, that the perception a physician has of a pharmaceutical company’s Physician Assistance Program (PAP) has a major impact in how that physician views such a company. The more favorable they view the PAP, the more likely physicians will engage in practices that support that pharmaceutical company and its products, according to Market Strategies Senior Vice President Peter Carlin, the article’s author. Download PDF

Sales Representatives and the Community Oncologist: The Doctor Is In…Sometimes
Increasingly pharmaceutical sales representatives are seeing their access to physicians curtailed within primary care, hospital-based and academic practices. This March 2008 Oncology Business Review article, by Market Strategies Senior Vice President Peter Carlin, reveals the ongoing trends in sales representative access to oncologists based on a January/February 2008 survey of 50-community based oncologists. Download PDF

Business and Marketing: Managing the Research Process

‘Don’t Ignore Quality Amid Downturn,’ Warns CASRO Chair
Market research firms that provide clients with both value and quality will be better positioned to thrive following this current global recession, says Market Strategies Chairman and CEO Andrew Morrison, Ph.D. in this January 2009 Research magazine article. It featured Morrison’s opinion on current challenges for the market research industry and his role as chair of CASRO. Read Article

Without a Net: Making business decisions from online panel data
Despite the controversy and potential problems surrounding the use of online panel research, marketing professionals can use the results of such research to make important strategic decisions. Market Strategies Chief Operating Officer Reg Baker, Ph.D. outlines some steps that should be followed to ensure data quality. Download PDF

Getting the Most Out of Multivendor Projects
How can client companies best ensure successful collaboration with multiple vendors? Expectation-setting and ongoing communication are emphasized in this short paper, which includes detailed examples of how careful management can enable smooth sailing. Download PDF

Business and Marketing: Sales and Channel Strategy

A Sum Greater Than the Parts: Maximizing Research Insights Into Social Transitions
Researchers can derive substantial benefits from combining ethnographic and traditional market research methods. This paper presents a case study in which a blended approach was effectively used to study marital engagements and the process of shopping for, and purchasing a diamond ring. First presented at the EPIC 2006 Conference, the results helped a large online retailer identify and target engagement ring buyers. Download PDF

Industries: Energy

E2 Study Results Featured in Summer Issue of Western Energy
The latest wave of Market Strategies’ E2 (Energy + Environment) research shows that while Americans are slow to learn about advances in Smart Grid and smart meter technology, the potential for public support is great. Read Article

Market Strategies’ E2 Study Highlighted in Western Energy Article
The Spring 2011 issue of Western Energy features results from the latest wave of Market Strategies’ E2 research program, which indicate that renewables and energy efficiency continue to enjoy high levels of public support compared to other energy sources. Electric vehicles also show broad support with 7 in 10 respondents saying the technology is important, however only 13% said they are very likely to be driving one within the next 10 years. Download PDF

Customer Engagement: A New Reality for Energy Utilities and Their Customers
With the advent of “smart-enabled” interfaces with customers in the energy utility industry, a new perspective on customer relationships is emerging. Customers and utilities will need to be active and engaged partners in using information from smart meters to manage energy use and take advantage of new rate designs. Customer opportunities to actively manage their home energy depend on utilities effectively informing and educating customers on the use of new information from smart meters; and customer engagement in taking advantage of those opportunities on a monthly, daily, and even hourly basis through new web-enabled applications. Download PDF

Market Strategies’ E2 Segmentation Framework Explained in EEI’s Electric Perspectives
The article describes a useful segmentation framework based on Market Strategies E2 (Energy + Environment) research. It identifies and profiles five consumer segments that have different and distinctive attitudes and opinions about the full range of E2 issues: the energy industry and trends, environmental views, global warming, Smart Grid/Meters, and future energy sources. Read Article

E2 (Energy + Environment) Update: Understanding the Prospects for Electric Cars and Smart Grid/Smart Meter Technology
Findings from the October 2010 E2 (Energy + Environment) survey. This ongoing, national study reveals consumer attitudes toward the energy industry, its impacts on the environment and the economy, and emerging energy technologies. Topics include: whether consumers will adopt electric vehicles and how this could impact the demand for electricity; what messages are most likely to maximize consumer support for Smart Grid/Smart Meter technology; how the public falls into distinct groups based on their energy and environment beliefs, attitudes, preferences and behaviors; how consumers rate key energy sectors’ economic and environmental performance based on the E2 Index, the number that serves as an industry barometer. Download PDF

Industries: Financial Services

Payment Methods: What International Consumers Want, Need and Expect
First Data and Market Strategies International recently conducted the "Multi-Country Consumer Payment Study" to provide financial institutions with important insights into consumers' perceptions, wants, needs and concerns related to available and emerging payment methods. Discover what the study revealed about attitudes toward mobile wallets, contactless payments and mobile payment apps around the world. Download PDF

How Financial Institutions Can Build Customer Relationships for Long-Term Success
Financial institutions have incorporated online and mobile technology into consumers’ banking experiences to meet changing expectations. However, many questions remain: Are financial institutions effectively capturing share of wallet? Why do customers select and defect? What is the appropriate balance of “high touch” and “high tech”? Find out when you read this white paper, the final in a series of four based on the findings of the "New Consumer and Financial Behavior" study jointly conducted by Market Strategies International and First Data. Download PDF

Consumer Adoption and Usage of Banking Technology
How well are financial institutions meeting the needs of consumers when it comes to offering high-tech products and services? Whom do consumers view as the trusted provider of the mobile wallet? And, how does adoption of banking technology vary for different consumer groups? Find out when you read this white paper, the third in a series of four based on findings from the "New Consumer and Financial Behavior" study jointly conducted by Market Strategies International and First Data. Download PDF

The Impact of the Economy on Consumers’ Financial Behaviors and Perspectives
How have the economic recession and sluggish recovery affected consumers' financial activities and attitudes? Read the second paper in a series of four based on the findings of the "New Consumer and Financial Behavior" study jointly conducted by Market Strategies International and First Data. Download PDF

Meeting the Needs of the New Financial Consumer: A Snapshot of Six Customer Segments
How can financial institutions best meet the needs of a diverse and evolving consumer base? To find out, Market Strategies International and First Data jointly conducted a survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers. The "New Consumer and Financial Behavior" study looked at consumers' attitudes, behaviors, desires, and technology adoption. The results revealed six distinct consumer segments, providing financial institutions with valuable insights into opportunities and challenges associated with different types of customers. Download PDF

Banks Top Cards in Trust Survey, American Banker 5/12/2011
In a survey from First Data Corp. and Market Strategies International, just 32% of respondents said they would trust the financial institution that issued their card to keep their data secure in a mobile wallet, compared with 59% who trust their primary bank. While interest in emerging technologies such as mobile wallet is still fairly low, such services provide banks with an opportunity to capitalize on the trust consumers have placed in them. Download PDF

Results From Market Strategies’ Consumer Financial Outlook Study Highlighted in American Banker
Findings reveal that consumers will stop shopping with merchants that try to shift them to payment vehicles that are less expensive for the merchant but less convenient for the customer. Download PDF

Industries: Healthcare

Reputation Rx: Genentech Leads, Others Play Catch Up
Despite its acquisition by Roche AG, Genentech Inc. still has the best image amongst oncologists and hematologists, according to a study by Market Strategies International. BioWorld Insight explores what it takes to be beloved by cancer docs – including how both sales and research efforts factor into the equation – and what oncology companies need to do to compete with Genentech. Download PDF

ASCO '08: The competition for share of voice descends upon Chicago, and the survey says...
Market Strategies surveyed 100 oncologists after they attended the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) ’08 conference to find out which companies most successfully communicated their intended messages to conference attendees. Genentech was found to have the greatest “buzz” overall but other companies and products also were successful in their efforts, as this survey conducted for the July 2008 issue of Oncology Business Review shows. Download PDF

The View from the Office: How Oncologists See 2008
This January 2008 Oncology Business Review article, by Market Strategies Senior Vice President Peter Carlin, reveals what trends and changes are expected to occur in 2008 that will impact the industry. The article details expected trends in oncology-related pharmaceutical products, relevant health policy issues and the perceived impact of the presidential election. Download PDF

Research Methods: International Research

Market Research In China: Considerations
China’s economy continues to expand in scale and sophistication. As its research industry enters a third decade, Market Strategies’ David Ying Hon Ho shares a number of considerations unique to research in China that practitioners should heed to design meaningful, culturally appropriate studies. Download PDF

Live Like Locals
Market Strategies’ COO Reg Baker contributed to Marketing News about the importance of employing local help in order to effectively conduct research and market around the world. In the article, “Live Like Locals,” from the August 30, 2009, issue, Reg talks about how Market Strategies accomplishes this and offers advice on what to look for in a successful partnership. Download PDF

Research Methods: Qualitative

Text Analysis: Man vs. Bot
Increasingly sophisticated software tools are available to analyze the massive amounts of qualitative data confronting today’s market researcher, but can these “bots” take the place of senior moderators? In a guest blog post for Voice of Vovici , Market Strategies' Chief Research Officer, Theo Downes-Le Guin, shares results from an experiment that compared a traditional qualitative analysis process led by senior moderators against a software-driven process led by a junior analyst. Read Blog Post

At My Own Pace, In My Own Place
One of the earliest articles to discuss participant perceptions of bulletin board focus groups, the findings from this study have be used to form “best practices” and when this method is most appropriately used. Download PDF

Beyond the Glass: Market Research in the Wild
What is ethnography and when should it be used? These questions are answered in this introduction to ethnography in the context of industry research. Detailed examples and case studies serve as powerful illustrations of the unique ability of ethnographic research to reveal unarticulated needs. Download PDF

Why Positioning Research Fails
Quality positioning research relies on well-considered positioning statements. Doxus explains how to create focused statements, and realistic exercises in which to test these statements, to achieve the information requirements of any positioning study. Download PDF

Threaded Qualitative Discussions
Although real-time online focus groups can disappoint, threaded discussions (also known as bulletin board focus groups) have proven to be a flexible data collection method for qualitative research. The threaded discussion concept is explained and its advantages over online and in-person focus groups are discussed. Download PDF

Research Methods: Surveys and Sampling

Game Mechanics in Market Research
Will game mechanics impact online market research? Would this be for better or for worse? Erin Leedy and Erica Ruyle of Market Strategies take a closer look at “gamification,” one of the industry’s hottest topics, and examine its potential to improve research participants' experiences. Download PDF

Interactive Voice Response Surveys
In the September 2011 issue of Alert!, Reg Baker, president and COO of Market Strategies, revisits interactive voice response (IVR) surveys, an age-old data collection technology that may be regaining popularity as companies seek inexpensive ways to hear the voice of their customers. Download PDF

Executing Household Telephone Surveys in a Wireless World
Over the past few years the proportion of the US adult population with a cell phone but no landline phone has been steadily increasing. This dramatic migration has significant implications for telephone surveys. This October 2011 white paper is must reading for everyone proposing and executing telephone studies. Download PDF

The Mobile Hype Ends Here
Everyone’s got a mobile phone, right? Doesn’t mean they want to take surveys on them. In a guest post for Research Live , Reg Baker, president and COO of Market Strategies International, tempers some of the hype surrounding the use of cellphones in market research. Read Blog Post

Market Strategies’ Web Navigation Experiment Highlighted in Survey Practice
In most Web surveys, respondents navigate through the questionnaire using Next and Previous/Back buttons. There is considerable variation in practice and discussion among researchers and their clients about where to place these buttons and how best to design them to encourage the desired behavior. In this article, Mick P. Couper of the University of Michigan with Reg Baker and Joanne Mechling of Market Strategies International conducted an experiment on the placement and design of these buttons. Did their findings suggest this is something we should pay attention to, or is this much ado about nothing? Read Article

The New “It” Metric: Practical Guidance About the Usefulness and Limitations of the Customer Effort Score (CES)
Customer Effort Score (CES) has recently received some buzz as a superior metric for predicting customer loyalty. In this January 2011 white paper, Aaron Turner explains why CES might not be well suited towards evaluating the entirety of the customer experience or the myriad other factors that simultaneously influence customer loyalty. Download PDF

AAPOR Task Force Chaired by Reg Baker Releases Report on Online Panels
Avoid nonprobability online panels when one of your research objectives is to accurately estimate population values. This is one of the key findings from a report on online panels recently released by an AAPOR Task Force. The Task Force, chaired by Market Strategies President Reg Baker , spent the past 18 months evaluating the reliability of online panels. Research , one of the industry's most established and respected magazines, features the report in its April 1, 2010 issue. Read the article or download the full report .

Choosing Between Telephone and Online for Survey Data Collection
In his January 2010 white paper, Dr. Reg Baker, chief operating officer of Market Strategies International, offers a framework for evaluating online versus telephone as a data collection method. Dr. Baker examines the pros and cons of these competing methods, including survey goals, accuracy and bias, to help researchers consider the criteria essential to making an informed decision. Download PDF

Cell Phone-Only Households Impact Telephone Research
Market Strategies President Reg Baker discussed the impact that cell phone-only households are having on today's telephone research with Research magazine. The 10-minute audio interview provides guidance on how to collect and measure this data from one of the world's foremost experts on global market research trends. Listen to Interview

Great Results From Ambiguous Sources: Cleaning Internet Panel Data
This paper, originally presented at the ESOMAR Panel Research Conference in 2006, details common forms of data quality problems resulting from the use of panels and how such problems can be addressed in survey design and analysis. Download PDF

Satisficing Behavior In Online Panelists
The term “satisficing” refers to inaccurate responses that result from respondent negligence or intentional misreporting. First presented at the 2005 MRA Symposium, this paper focuses on data quality issues in web panel-based surveys while proposing how such undesirable behaviors can be minimized. Download PDF

Considerations In Quantitative Data Collection In China
Issues and concerns in the choice of data collection modes and sample sources are the focus of this paper. The paper also discusses the impact of face-to-face interviews, web and phone surveys, customer lists, field provider panels and databases, commercial panels and databases and phone directories. Download PDF

A Web of Worries: Online research has been booming but after 12 years of exponential growth, is it losing its lustre?
Market Strategies COO Reg Baker wrote about the challenges that online market research poses to the industry in this cover story featured in the June 2008 issue of Research World magazine. Baker also highlights some solutions to these challenges and discusses how the field of online research likely will evolve over the next few years. Download PDF

False Negatives in Sensitive Employment Screening
A web survey of 31,487 consumers was used to compare the efficacy of two different approaches to sensitive employment screening. Contrary to hypothesis, results show that the proportion of respondents saying that they or a household member works for one of two sensitive industries is equal or higher with a 3-item response list as with a 10-item response list. Published in MRA's Alert! Magazine, this article discusses the methods and results of the study and concludes with recommendations for survey screening. Download PDF

Keeping Stimuli Secure
This paper discusses the security measures that are currently available to protect propriety stimuli in online focus groups and bulletin board threaded discussions. Download PDF

Research Methods: Usability and Ethnography

Embracing the Power of Ethnography
Recently, ethnography has been enjoying a spotlight in the market research community as a resurgent strategy, but it’s being used to describe everything from qualitative interviews to simple observations of store shoppers. In the April issue of Survey Magazine , Erica Ruyle, social media analyst for Market Strategies International, ends the confusion by clarifying ethnography’s role and sharing new innovations that market researchers should embrace to develop a detailed, humanizing and insightful picture of consumer behavior. The article also features a case study by Keri Christensen, vice president of Market Strategies’ Communications Group, who recently completed an ethnography of new smartphone adopters, which identified the disconnect between smartphone users’ aspirations and their ability to fully embrace their new device. Download PDF

Usability Forum Newsletter
In this issue Market Strategies Research Director Sarah Naasko reviews some best practices to adhere to when redesigning a website that will increase visibility while providing a positive return on investment. Download PDF