What a dilemma

MarketingProfs.com reports that Consumers Prefer Verizon Service, but want an iPhone).  It sounds like there should be an opportunity there.  Customers who have switched over to Verizon were happy to pick up a Google Android phone back in December. 

I got a free coffee

On Monday I was at Starbucks, and I was lucky to get a "long receipt". The long receipt has a section that invites you to participate in a customer satisfaction survey - which I did. The questions were really straight forward, including: what did you order, did you intend to buy some food, and did you buy some food, was the place clean, was the service good, and so on.

The survey only takes about five minutes (as promised by the Barista). The best part is that I got a free coffee out of the deal. Great pay off for five minutes of work.

I did find it interesting that when I 'Google'd "Starbucks Customer Service Survey" I didn't come across very much about this survey. You'd think that there'd be lots of Marketing people out there blogging their heads off about this. The only story I found out there about this specific survey is a write-up by Biff Motley that shows up on several different pages.

I did find one very interesting piece of information about Starbucks customers. Did you know that chocolate and vanilla ice cream lovers are more likely to visit a coffeehouse (such as Starbucks) on a regular basis. I do love chocolate, and I do my fair share of spending at Starbucks. Their research is accurate.

Advertising Methodology (14) - Testing

After building the creative, it is tested. Depending on the type of creative it may be subject to technical tests. For instance, if a web-site is built, it must be tested to ensure it meets typical technology norms such as functionality, security, performance, and so on. If the campaign is a pull-tab, it must be tested to ensure that you can’t see through it, modify it, or otherwise determine the game piece’s outcome. This test should be carried out by a test team that is separate from the development team.

The next step will be to test the ad in front of Stakeholders. Stakeholders may include employees and customers. Like a review of good art, the test at this point isn’t to see if the ad is funny or well-liked. The point is to ensure that the ad is:

• On-brand, and
  
• That the message is clear, actionable, and memorable.

Again, this test should be conducted by someone other than the team that built the campaign.

Just to reiterate (because it is really important) ... the point of testing isn't to see if people like the ad. A good point here is that it is well documented that advertising that is funny (i.e. well liked) isn't advertising that is easily recalled.

Customer Satisfcation Survey -- Up & Running on MarketGoGo.com

Thanks to the good folks at iPerceptions and Avinash Kaushik, I have put a customer satisfaction survey on the Market GoGo website.

Why is customer satisfaction important to measure through a tool like the 4Q survey? You may already be using an analytics program like Google Analytics, WebTrends, or Omniture. These will tell you how people surfed around on your site, but they won't tell you what they were trying to do, if they achieved that, and what would have helped them better. A good customer satisfaction survey will. Subsequently, that will help you figure out what changes you need to make to your site to help you ensure that your site achieves your goals.

While the 4 free questions will suit my needs for now, a bigger or more complex organization will probably want to be able to ask a few more questions. That's where iPerceptions can offer you a more customized solution that will provide even better information.

What's it like? Check it out at www.MarketGoGo.com.
(You may have to surf around a bit on the Market GoGo site to find it, as it pops up randomly.)

Free Surveys

For my latest client I have been looking into analytics tools. There are two kinds of Web Analytic Tools that are important:

• Traffic source and path analysis - Tools like Google Analytics, Omniture Site Catalyst, and WebTrends
• Direct survey data - Tools like iPerceptions and ForeSee Results which allow you to actually ask the customer about their experience on your site and how successful they were in completing the task they set out to when they hit your site.

The iPerceptions team pointed me to www.4qsurvey.com - which is a project by Avinash Kaushik and iPerceptions - that will provide you a free survey solution that allows you to ask 4 set (but somewhat customizable) questions.

I love the idea. It even fits with one of my Marketing Trends for 2009.
In fact, I loved the idea so much that I'm implementing it on my own website! Check it out at www.MarketGoGo.com.