SurveySwipe Blog

[Note: this post was originally published on our sister site, ResearchAccess.com]

As anticipated, it was a fascinating and thought-provoking discussion yesterday in the Market Research Trends 2012 webinar.  There were over 40 people in attendance live, and there were many interesting questions submitted by the audience.

The discussion featured Lenny Murphy, editor of the GreenBook Blog, and Romi Mahajan, CMO of Metavana (Vivek Bhaskaran, CEO of Survey Analytics was not able to attend at the last minute).  The discussion was ably moderated by Ivana Taylor of DIY Marketers.

If  you weren’t able to make the webinar, here’s just a sampling of what you missed:

Gamification

Lenny said gamification is a challenge to the way market researchers currently think but that companies out the space are successfully employing game principles to their industries.   Romi said it’s possible to do gamification very well or very badly.  Using a sweepstakes as an incentive to participate in a survey panel is an example of gamification done poorly.

Consumerization

Romi described consumerization as the tail wagging the dog.  Instead of companies mandating how their employees or customers will behave, now the process has been inverted, and the customers hold the power.  Lenny said consumers increasingly own their own data and will choose with whom to share it and on what terms.

Network Intelligence

Lenny described network intelligence as an opportunity to make predictive sense of the zetabytes of data available today.  Romi added it is an opportunity to stop thinking of your limited network, for example, your company’s direct employees, and rather think about the networks to which they belong and how to start bringing that intelligence to bear.  He cited the involvement of 4 separate companies in the current webinar as a good example of leveraging network intelligence.

Social Monitoring

Romi described the geometric expansion in the amount of data available about brands, companies and individuals.  He painted the picture of a future where each of us has a brand equity ticker measuring the sentiment expressed about us on the web.  Lenny described social monitoring as a way to get to the great untapped pool of information proliferating online.

Panel Communities

Lenny described panel communities as the great compromise between the traditional online panel model and the highly interactive online community model. He described it as involving a greater investment on both sides – the research company and the consumer.  Romi urged looking at constant feedback instead of episodic interaction.

User Experience

Lenny said that since consumers have the power to choose where to go easily, a substandard user experience is no longer going to cut it.  He said that market research traditionally has not been designed with consumer experience in mind.  Romi underscored how easy it is for consumers to opt out and gave an example showing how user experience can be extremely powerful in either a negative or a positive way.

Moble Sampling and Ethnography

Lenny indicated that the impact of mobile cannot be overstated and that emerging markets are leapfrogging the PC experience entirely.  He said the app model structurally builds in consumer consent to share and receive information.  Romi said the greatest power of mobile – more than convenience – is that is allows us contact with the consumer in situ.

Q&A

The question-and-answer session was the best part of the event.  Don’t miss it!

Wed 12/14/11 at 10AM PST

Market Research Trends 2012

Click here to sign up!

The world of market research has experienced tremendous change over the last few years.  Last years’ trends of mobile surveys and analyzing social media chatter have evolved to higher levels that now include gamification; turning the feedback process into a fun and engaging experience as well as the growth of private panels and communities that can provide on-demand feedback within the hour!

Join us for a free webinar on Wednesday December 14^th at 10:00 AM PST where we will explore the top trends that will impact how you will gather information and make decisions in 2012.

SurveyAnalytics is proud to be a part of this free live webinar featuring panelists: Romi Mahajan, CMO of Metavana, Leonard Murphy, CEO of Brandscan 360 and editor in chief for the Greenbook Blog, and Vivek Bhaskaran, founder of SurveyAnalytics.  This will be a discussion style webinar where our speakers will share their opinion on what trends to look for in 2012, and audience member are encouraged to ask and share opinions as well.

In this fast paced session, we’ll be exploring:

- 2012’s Top research trends that have influenced how we collect feedback

- Resources where you can see examples of these trends in action.

- Tools that you can use today to get started

Register today  for this exciting discussion to discover how your peers are leveraging insight into defined opportunities to innovate via today’s technologies for tomorrow’s research!

Click here to sign up today!

About the speakers:

 Romi Mahajan, CMO of Metavana

He comes to us from Microsoft where his last role was  WW Director of Sales and Strategy for the Digital Marketing & Search team at Microsoft Corporation.  In this role, Romi focused on growing the Digital Marketing business for the company as well as helping define Microsoft’s increasing role in Internet Business.

Before this stint at Microsoft, Romi Mahajan was founder- President of KKM Group, an Advisory company focused solely on Strategy and Marketing in the Technology, Media, Agency, and Luxury Goods sectors.  Prior to founding KKM, Romi was Chief Marketing Officer of Ascentium Corporation, a leading digital agency with 96M in Sales in 2008.

During this first tenure at Microsoft, Mahajan spent over seven years in the company’s US business where his last role was as Director of Technical Audience & Platform Marketing. Earlier in his career, Mahajan started two boutique consulting companies specializing in technology and finance joint ventures between U.S. and Asian companies.

A well-known speaker on the technology and media circuit, Mahajan serves on a variety of Advisory Boards and speaks at over a dozen industry events per year. In addition, he has been published prolifically in the Technology press.

Mahajan graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, at the age of 19 with a Bachelor’s degree in South Asian Studies. He also received a Master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

 Leonard Murphy, CEO of Branscan 360 

Leonard Murphy is a seasoned and respected market research industry leader with an entrepreneurial drive. He has been called a visionary and am renowned as an innovator.

His credentials include:

-Editor in-Chief, GreenBook Blog, GreenBook Research Industry Trends Study, GreenBook Newsletter atGreenBook Marketing Research Directory

-Chairman at 2011 & 2012 Chairman & Co-Producer of Market Research in the Mobile World Conference series

-2011 Chairman, 2012 Co-Chairman at IIR Market Research Technology Event (formerly TDMR)

-Co-Host at Radio NewMR & Advisory Board Member at NewMR Virtual festival

-Event Advisory Board Member: Qualitative Consumer Research and Insights 2011 at Merlien Institute

-Board of Advisors at InsightPool, Kontrol, Decooda, and Market Research Global Alliance

-Principal at LMC Group Consulting

Vivek Bhaskaran, founder of SurveyAnalytics

Vivek Bhaskaran is the founding member and CEO of Survey Analytics, one of the industry’s leading providers of web-based research technologies. As Chief Executive Officer, he plays a key role in defining the company strategy and using technology and innovation continuously to maintain its leadership in the industry.

He has played a pivotal role in the Survey Analytics journey. In 2008, Survey Analytics made Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies, ranking 172nd overall and 25th among business-service providers.

Puget Sound Business Journal recognized Survey Analytics as one of the 100 fastest-growing private companies in Washington State.

Vivek completed his primary education in India before moving to Russia and then US. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Brigham Young University, Utah.