Market Research Specifically
The first one is from Forrester entitled "Market Research Online Communities [MROCs] Gain Visibility And Uptake" by Tamara Barber. To get hold of this one will set you back US$500 and depending on how ingrained in MROC's you are will depend on how much the 12 pages hold value for you, but here is the executive summary:
Market researchers are aware of and interested in using market research online communities (MROCs). However, according to results from Forrester’s Q3 2009 Global MROC Online Survey, many don’t know exactly how to bring online communities into their research mix. The Web is still gaining traction as a viable channel for qualitative research, much like it was only a burgeoning channel for quantitative research 10 years ago. As a result, researchers want to partner with trusted providers that can bring a flexible offering, methodological expertise, and superior service to the table. Given the number of new entrants into the MROC vendor space, expect to see more choices in service model options, better integration of community research with quantitative projects, and focus on insights from client-side market researchers.So it has not quite had the effect Brad Bortner anticipated last year when he wrote that MROCs "will shock the qualitative market research world", but the interest is growing.
Having participated recently in the AMSRS National Conference, Barber's summary reflects what my feelings were - there was a very high attendance of this particular stream, yet there were very few questions after the presentation.
To be honest I am quite use to this. When I talk to clients, research buyers normally only ask questions relating to the traditional queries, the detail queries... representativeness, sample source etc (and that is if they ask anything at all). Marketers have a lot more big picture questions. There is no right or wrong. Researchers and marketers have mostly different needs for a community despite the same community being able to serve them both.
But back to the paper, amazingly there were still 22% of people who had not heard of MROC's but there is a growing contingent who are adopting them with an expectation of 33% using communities in the next 12 months. So what is it that they want? Here is the short end of it:
- Whilst there is certainly no shortage of software out there, it is full or hybrid service that is wanted, not just a technical platform. How to use communities and operate them is a relatively new and unknown territory and needs guidance.
- Deliverables. It is all very well operating an engaged community, but extracting meaningful insight out of them is another thing.
- Creativity. Not something that is well know at this end of the marketing spectrum. Aside from customer contact and lower costs, how else can a community be utilised?
The second paper (well actually a presentation) address's what is happening in the wider world. This is the latest installment of Deloitte's paper "Tribalization of Business" and actually shows how the Market Research world compares to the wider world. I am not going to go into as much detail here as the presentation is below, but these are the key extracts I came out with:
- The paper demonstrates that communities is a very lively, growing area and hence additional resources are being added as business's recognise that this is an important aspect of marketing and customer relations
- Communities across the board are being utilised predominantly for word-of-mouth and increase customer loyalty. However less than 15% are utilising them for reducing market research costs despite being well proven that they are effective in making reductions. In fact less than 5% of communities are managed by their Market Research departments.
- Attraction, engagement and retention are the biggest problems business's face with communities
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2 comments:
Dan,
Thanks for sharing your thought re: Forrester new MROC report. I think much of what you say validates many of our assumptions.
For me, the first two points, deliverables and platform are key issues and big opportunities for improvement. The third point, Creativity, misses the mark. Engagement is more useful as a concept and perhaps the biggest challenge for research communities.
Intuitively the idea of research and community feels fake and disingenuous. Chris Brogan amplifies this point when he said 'you can't fake community, you can't force it either'. Making a research community feel like a community of shared interest (see any definition) will the difference.
This leads me to my main point and criticism with the Forrester report. There was no mention of collaboration or participation, let alone discussion about enthusiasts or fans. Collaboration is more valuable to constituents and fits better into the emerging new marketing model, where brands best engage when they facilitate conversations rather than broadcast.
As a new industry we need to change the way we think. MROC is an anchor term which ties us to past thinking, methodologies and tools. We need a new definition, which at the heart of it provides shared benefits. I'm not sure how best to describe this new model. Would appreciate your thoughts?
You raise some interesting points here, particularly your final one about the need for a new definition.
We (hopefully) understand that communities offer a paradigm shift from the traditional way we have done research, whether it be telephone, face-to-face or traditional online and so do we need to drop the word "research" altogether so that we are not caught up in a traditional mindset?
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