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Wiese Article in Quirk’s on North Liberty Mail Survey

Friends,

Throughout my career, I have campaigned with my mantra that connecting audiences and companies is much simpler IF we fully understand those who concern, and affect, our futures.

Professionally conducted marketing research is the tool that can:
*identify and fine-tune appropriate strategic growth initiatives,
*weed through appropriate advertising and positioning messages or
*clarify the prioritization of issues to address. Such is the case with a recent client I serviced.

In fact, the results of that research were so impressive, I was asked to publish an article describing the entire effort. I have attached a link above to that article as it appeared in Quirk’s Marketing Research Review. I think it’s a great case history illustrating how clients and I work together, illuminating a bit on how I think and certainly revealing some of my attitudes on how I approach client needs. All of this fits nicely into my tagline: Finding the Practical Truth For My clients That Adds to Their Success.

I thank you for your interest and your past business. If you have strategic or creative issues to identify to help you light up your future, please feel free to contact me.

Permission to Forward My Stuff?

My latest email blast on the conjoint study for the Iowa Equestrian Center seems to have tripped some triggers. I’ve gotten some people asking if it’d be OK to forward it to clients or other people. The answer to that is Heck Yes!

If anything I ever say in these emails seems worthwhile, feel free to forward. In fact I encourage it. As a really small company I rely heavily on referrals to spread the word, since advertising to the many markets I serve is out of the question financially. Thanks in advance if you are kind enough to do so.

What the Heck Should I Be Charging?

Friends,

How to figure out what price to set is always a poser. Can marketing research help with this? Yes, it can, but not in a straightforward fashion. One of the tools I’ve used is called Conjoint Analysis, also called Trade-off Analysis. It’s called that because it forces people to make choices they may not otherwise make. If you ask people which of several possible prices they are willing to pay, they’ll naturally lean toward choosing prices at the lower end. Simple questions, simple answers.

Conjoint is deceptively simple, too. The first step is to list the factors at issue…the things you’re not sure how to position. These are things like price, level of quality, service level, amenities provided and so forth. The second step is to determine what levels of each factor you need to decide between, such as what levels of price should you charge. The next step is to develop cards, each of which includes all of the factors with one of the levels of each factor. Probably the best way to describe the method is to use a case history.

About ten years ago I did feasibility research on the Iowa Equestrian Center at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. After doing a telephone survey of horse associations who stage horse shows and determining that the demand for a new equestrian center would be extremely strong, we followed up with a conjoint study to determine the best set of ingredients for the center. I can share this because as Kirkwood is a public institution, the study information is public also. There were a number of things at issue. These were the factors we listed:

Rental price for the facility
Price for a camper hookup
Horse stall rental price
How many wash racks to install
Where trailer parking should be
Whether the practice ring should be enclosed or open-air
Whether barn ventilation should be normal or high capacity

Levels of each factor were then determined to be:

Facility Rental – $300 a day or $500 for the weekend.
$400 a day or $700 for the weekend.

Camper Hookup – $30 a day.
$15 a day.

Horse Stall Rental – $20 a day
$10 a day

Horse Wash Rack – No horse wash racks at all.
A 10 foot by 20 foot horse wash rack in one of the barns.
A 10 foot by 20 foot horse wash rack in each of the three barns (three racks in total).

Trailer Parking – Trailer parking next to the horse barns
Trailer parking within a 5 minute walk of the barns.

Practice Ring – Open air practice ring
Enclosed practice ring

Barn Ventilation – Normal
High capacity

The factors and levels are then printed on a deck of cards. Each card has a different combination of levels and factors. Here is a sample of the cards used for the Equestrian Center.

Rental Price of $300 a day or $500 for the weekend.
Camper hookup rental of $30 a day.
Horse stall rental of $20 a day.
No horse wash rack.
Trailer parking next to horse barn.
Enclosed practice ring.
High capacity barn ventilation.
A

Rental Price of $300 a day or $500 for the weekend.
Camper hookup rental of $15 a day.
Horse stall rental of $10 a day.
10’ X 20’ horse wash rack in each of 3 barns.
Trailer parking next to horse barn.
Open air practice ring.
Normal barn ventilation.
B

Rental Price of $400 a day or $700 for the weekend.
Camper hookup rental of $15 a day.
Horse stall rental of $10 a day.
No horse wash rack.
Trailer parking next to horse barn.
Open air practice ring.
Normal barn ventilation.
C

Rental Price of $300 a day or $500 for the weekend.
Camper hookup rental of $15 a day.
Horse stall rental of $20 a day.
10’ X 20’ horse wash rack in each of 3 barns.
Trailer parking within a 5 minute walk.
Open air practice ring.
High capacity barn ventilation.

There were 16 cards in all to cover all the possible combinations. The deck of cards was mailed to those from the previous telephone survey who agreed to take part in the follow-up conjoint study. Included was a set of instructions. The instructions were simple as was the task they were asked to perform. First they were asked to simply sort the deck into their preference order using any method or reasoning they chose. Then to simply keep the deck by the phone for a phone call to obtain their results. When called back they were also asked some additional questions. The first question was “how likely is it that your organization would use the Kirkwood Equestrian Center if it were set up the way it is described in the material you received and as shown on your top card in the deck? Using a percentage that could range from 0% sure to 100% sure, what percentage would you say?” Then they were asked to answer the same question for the #8 card and the last card in their deck. The answers to these questions provide the ability to determine the importance of the differences between people’s choices. It’s important to know not just in what order people sort the cards, but whether they will take any action with their choices.

After obtaining all of this data, a statistical analysis was performed by Dr. Gary Mullet of Atlanta, Georgia. It yielded the following information.

First is the relative Importance of the factors measured. Here is how the Equestrian Center conjoint came out:

Importance of Factors

The most important things turned out to be the facility rental price and the number of wash racks. Barn ventilation was of least importance. Now we knew what really mattered to potential users of the Equestrian Center and what not so much. For promotion purposes, this identifies the hot buttons.

The second thing learned was the difference between levels for each factor. Here are graphs displaying that for the top two factors.

 
Price to rent the facility:

Facility Rental Price

There was a big difference in “utility value” between the two price levels. Utility values are relative numbers to enable comparison between all factors.

Here’s how the levels compare on the factor concerning number of horse racks.

Horse Wash Rack

Obviously it was important to have at least one wash rack, but there was a relatively small difference between having a rack in one barn and in all three barns.

Between the feasibility survey and the conjoint follow-up effort, Kirkwood Community College had the information needed to obtain funding and proceed with the project with confidence. The research indicated that prospects for success were very, very strong and that has turned out to be the case. I visited the Equestrian Center a few weeks ago and learned it had operated at capacity for over ten years. It’s very gratifying to do the research on something, predict its success and find that the prediction was on target.

A slick additional benefit of Conjoint Analysis is the ability to develop a mathematical model using the measures that lets you predict sales for various combinations of features and levels. More importantly the model can be expanded to include cost and revenue numbers resulting in the ability to predict profit as well.

So if you’re faced with a situation where you don’t know what pricing strategy to employ and don’t know how to handle other variable choices, remember that Conjoint Analysis may be helpful to you. Let me know if you are interested in learning more or want to give it a shot. Also let me know if you’d like additional detail on the Equestrian Center research. If you have trouble reading or opening the graphs I’ll be glad to send you the PowerPoint presentation with all the graphs.

The Trust Edge

Friends,
I support a lot of causes and organizations, but one of the most important to me is the Better Business Bureau. My A+ Accredited Business status is a huge source of pride. Besides supporting the Bureau with my dues, I also serve on the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City Advisory Council and the Statewide Iowa Better Business Bureau Board. This Spring I attended the Better Business Bureau Integrity Awards Luncheon in Des Moines. The speaker was Dave Horsager from the Minneapolis area. And I was blown away by what he had to say. He spoke on trust, what it is, how you earn it, how you can lose it and why it is so vitally important. As a bonus he did it while doing clever and meaningful sleight of hand tricks to emphasize his message.
We spoke afterward and he is a personable, friendly young man (compared to me) who exudes trustworthiness. As many speakers do, he had copies of his book, The Trust Edge, available for sale and I bought one. I’ve been reading it a little at a time each day and in my mind it is the most meaningful book I’ve read since Positioning, the Battle for Your Mind. I strongly recommend you get a copy and read it. It’s an easy read and extremely important, especially for resolving many of the political, financial and integrity problems we are facing these days. I believe if you follow what Horsager presents you will be successful in life and in business. If you don’t think trust matters, ponder the difference between “I’d trust him with my life” and “I don’t trust her any farther than I can throw her.”
One of the “pillars” of trust he discusses is clarity. It has inspired me to do two things. One is to clarify my vision of my business, which I now say is to “find the practical truth for my client that adds to their success.” Second, I will add a “trustworthiness” question to my usual battery of brand positioning questions.

More on Mail Surveys

Last month I told you about a new mail survey idea I’ve developed for municipalities, clubs, churches, businesses…anyone with a strong affinity with their membership or customers.  The idea came from work I’m doing currently for North Liberty, Iowa.  They wanted to know what their citizens thought about the need for public transit.  A couple years ago they tried an effort to find out but it was unsuccessful.  They hired me to get the answers they need.  I recommended a mail survey.  To date we have a 33% response with no incentive and they’ve found out the answers to their public transit concerns but also now know a lot about what people think about streets, street construction, their parks, what they’d like to see added to the parks and recreation program, how they feel about utilities and rates and other subjects as well.  Six pages worth.  Because it is public information I can share the survey materials with you if you are interested.  Just let me know.

First Crack at Something New

I’m giving you an early look and first crack at a new research product I’ve developed.  It’s described in the ad below.

 While the ad focuses on municipalities, the method works great for churches, associations, trade publications, clubs…any entity with an affinity relationship with its members.  It even works for businesses who have a strong relationship with their customers and with a business’s employees.  If you, a friend, relative or acquaintance are dealing with the situation described in the ad I can certainly help.  Feel free to spread this information far and wide.

Wish You Knew What “They” Think About the Decision You’re Facing?

 It took me 30+ years, but I have nurtured and refined an idea that can help you find out what you need to know…

• It’s crazy simple.
• It generates accurate intelligence for the best decision-making.
• It’s so inexpensive, it’s scary.

 What scientific and technological breakthrough has allowed me to pull averages of nearly 40% response and gain such insight into what your citizens/voters think about issues?

 It’s the modern marvel known as the Mail Survey. And it truly does work –– but like most things, it’s all in knowing how to make it work.

 In recent years, I have used Mail Survey methodology on behalf of lots of different kinds of clients, including municipalities ranging in population from the hundreds of thousands to just over ten thousand ­­–– with an average response of 36% using no incentive other than a few “tricks” honed from years of experience.

 And in this hyper-speed, abbreviated world in which communications have been reduced to acronyms, tweets and slang, we have achieved great success by understanding how to expand and cover many topics rather than restricting surveys to one-issue queries…

I am offering a basic research package for $2,000 which includes expert advice and development of all survey materials, including cover letter, questionnaire and other materials. Data entry of all returns, tabulation of results, a written report and an Excel database of each individual response is included.

Get Accurate, Affordable answers from a True Research Pro.

Contact: Dan Wiese at 319-364-2866

danwiese@mchsi.com

www.danwiesemr.wordpress.com/aboutdanwiesemr

Let’s talk about your project, today.

Thank You!

This month marks the 25^th Anniversary of my business and I want to thank all of you for your business, your support and your friendship.  It’s been a great 25 years and I look forward to serving you for many more years in the future.  I couldn’t have done it without you and I am really grateful.  Thank you again!

How to do your own research

How to be your own best researcherThe Internet can lead you to a lot of information, obviously.  But don’t overlook other ways to go about getting the info you need.  The attached article from the dim past ran in Iowa Commerce magazine.  I think it’s still timely and I offer it to you as a gift for the holiday season in hopes that it is of some value. 

 I also love the picture of a much younger version of myself.  Kind of miss that guy, but his mind  still lurks and still works inside the aging shell.  

I wish you an early Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Focus Groups are Still Valuable

Here is the big reason to do focus groups, even though there are people who will tell you they are a thing of the past .  There is absolutely nothing like them to engage and inform a client’s decision-makers and especially those charged with figuring out how to promote the product or service being researched.  Seeing, hearing and feeling the emotions (or lack thereof) focus group members express is priceless for a creative person.  As a researcher there is nothing more difficult than trying to reveal all that in a report to folks who weren’t there.  No other research method provides that first-hand exposure to the customer.

 So what can’t focus groups do?  While they can tell you all the different ways people in the groups think, feel, believe and say they behave, they cannot tell you how many people in the world think, feel, believe and behave those ways.  That’s the job of quantitative surveys.  You can learn a lot in focus groups, but it’s a mistake to make your final decisions on actions to take without confirmation from projectable surveying

Open Markets for Preemption

Last month I talked about the “5^th P”.  The fifth P is preemption and I said a market can be preempted if the market is open.  So what is an open market and how do you know if you have one?

The initial benchmark measurements of top-of-mind awareness give you a lot of information on what kind of market you are dealing with.   You will find three kinds of markets based on awareness, one that is closed and two that are open.  The closed market is one where there is a clear strong leader and a strong number two with everyone else lagging well behind.  If you are one of the laggards there is little hope of achieving either awareness or market share gains.  If you are one of the leaders there is little or no “up” to be achieved.

The open markets are:

1.       There are a bunch of people fighting it out with no clear leader.  If you are one of those, stronger marketing efforts than the others will eventually make you the clear leader.  This is the result of perfect competition, i.e. a closed market as described above.  In a 12 to 15 month period you might increase awareness by 20%, realistically.  If you are already fairly strong in awareness there’s not too much room for growth.  Preemption is possible but only in a limited way.

2.       There is a significant share of the market who name no one when asked a top-of-mind awareness question.  I saw this 30 years ago in Des Moines when we did work for Mercy Medical Center.  The question was “when you think of a place or person to learn about how to stay well, what names come to mind?”  Half the people came up totally blank and the rest mentioned a huge number of different entities with none having over 1 or 2%.  That market was totally open to whoever educated the public on wellness and attached their name to it.  There is great room for growth in a 12 to 15 month period with this type of market if money and effort are thrown at achieving it.  This market is ripe for preemption.