Last month Kinesis customer iGR released findings from a study they conducted about how consumers typically utilize their smartphones. Just as these devices themselves are evolving, so are the preferred activities that are performed on them. iGR issued a survey to 1000+ U.S. smartphone users (balanced by age and income) and asked them to report [...]

The online research panel model that arose during the late 1990s was developed to support what was then perceived as the next generation of market research via the web.  Throughout the decade that followed, online panels of all varieties and sizes sprung up – first thriving and then ultimately resulting in a market saturation that [...]

Consumers are increasingly utilizing mobile devices in addition to (or instead of) desktops for their online activities, and therefore it is the market research industry’s responsibility to comprehensively understand how online research projects and methodologies must adapt.  A highly insightful presentation on this topic, “Mobile Redefines Media, Research” was recently given by Kinesis partners’ Illuminas [...]

CASRO’s annual Online Research conference took place in San Francisco last week; it was another successful event filled with informative and well-received sessions. One that was particularly thought-provoking was SSI Global Knowledge Director Pete Cape’s presentation “Do I Have Your Full Attention?” Cape provided insight from a study his team conducted that examined the inattention [...]

Throughout the last few years Twitter has been utilized by brands as one of the primary qualitative tools for social listening, to monitor consumers’ views about their products and services. Now Twitter is taking more control over its market research assets and untapping a substantial new revenue source by moving into the quantitative realm with [...]

The concept and goals of market research panels are evolving due to the availability of expanding online technologies, and how these technologies aid in panelist recruitment, engagement and retention. Dynamic functionality is now often required in order to keep panelists regularly participating in various research initiatives, and in recent years the panel research community has [...]

Social media has been gaining momentum as a valuable segment of market research for some time now as consumer usage of – and the amount of data that is shared on – these sites quickly escalated. Even with user numbers now leveling off for the major social media players, the amount of data accessible via [...]

The repeated call from end clients is that the market research industry must evolve from data collection providers to producers of market insights. As research companies explore what new tools and methodologies can be put in place to satisfy these demands, it is important not to overlook data that is already available, right now, that [...]

There are numerous Latin American market research companies that have been producing highly insightful online research for many years.  However, Internet usage throughout the region historically has been much lower than in other developed regions of the world, and thus online research has lagged somewhat behind. Yet over the past couple of years the region’s [...]

As 2012 draws to a close, it’s that time during which all kinds of predictions are made about the upcoming year. Kinesis routinely offers up some predictions about what we expect to occur in the market research industry based upon what we are observing from our colleagues and clients, what we have learned from others [...]

The Kinesis Client Services team had an interesting lunch conversation recently that we have decided to share via this blog.  A business associate told a story about how she had been called by a customer over the weekend (on her mobile phone, of course!) in order to obtain advice for purchasing a new computer.  She [...]

For some time now Kinesis has been recommending the “quick and easy” survey design modifications that market researchers should be making to better accommodate and support mobile respondents.  These include detecting for online device type to either terminate mobile respondents in instances where the survey cannot be made mobile-friendly, or to request that they change [...]

  What Market Research Software Really Costs It is no secret that there has been continued downward price pressure in the market research industry since its inception.  The industry has, for decades, sought technology solutions that help deliver more and “better” data, with faster turnaround times, and at lower cost. The trend continues to be [...]

As overused as the term “innovation” may be in business, everyone desires to be viewed as innovative by colleagues and customers. After all, who wants to think of themselves (or be thought of by others) as unimaginative or uninspired? In the field of online market research, we certainly want our clients to view us as [...]

As mobile market research continues to expand, there are increasingly more options available for communicating with online research participants: email, SMS, in-app messaging, location-triggers, QR codes, social media, and others. The selection of which method(s) to utilize is of course dependent on the type of studies being conducted, and the target audiences required.  While email [...]

One of the newer and much discussed research methodologies is social listening. With 66 percent of online adults actively using social networking sites, it is a major conduit to what people are thinking about the various issues, events, products and brands. Social listening enables market researchers to discover highly immediate and personalized insights on a [...]

The North American Market Research in the Mobile World conference was a fast-paced event with numerous sessions covering mobile research topics of all varieties; it was much like its predecessor event in Europe, only on a bigger scale. The sold out conference provided an opportunity for many presenters to showcase their latest research tool, methodology, [...]

See Kinesis President Leslie Townsend interviewed about the utilization of SoLoMo in market research for the Research Business Daily Report:  

The intersection of mobile and geolocation technologies offers tremendous potential for the market research industry. The ability to deliver survey invitations based on the targeted respondents’ physical location, and then obtain their feedback in the moment, will provide a level of data accuracy never before possible. It means less reliance on recall and more real-time [...]

Today’s most significant non-response bias is…mobile respondents. Non-response bias in surveys is the bias that is created through accidental or intended omission of individuals who do not complete a survey.  An example of this would be a survey project in which a large number of invitations are sent out, and quotas become full in a [...]

Obviously, from our most recent blogs, the CASRO Tech conference provided a wealth of new data on mobile survey traffic. Survey participation from mobile devices is now growing at what many deem an “alarming” rate, and the information that was revealed throughout the conference was very compelling. At a session co-presented by Federated Sample and [...]

During the recent CASRO Technology conference, multiple sessions presented findings that indicate a higher and growing percentage of survey traffic is coming from mobile devices. The issue of “big grids” – meaning those large rating tables and multi-question tables that were originally intended to save respondents time by presenting a large amount of information on [...]

Kudos to Gregg Peterson of Market Strategies International for his presentation at the CASRO Technology Conference on unintentional mobile respondents.  This term refers to the respondents who are “creeping” into web surveys using smartphones and tablets, when we as an industry do not intend for them to use these devices for survey participation. Market Strategies [...]

Those who have been reading this blog with any regularity know that we at Kinesis have been arguing, for nearly a decade now, that the market research industry must shift its online survey processes to support mobile respondents. Surveys must enable respondents to participate from any common web device of their choosing – be it [...]

As promised during the webinar, below is the Q&A follow up from Leslie Townsend’s session “Panel Research in the Mobile Era” that was hosted last week by the Southwest Chapter of the MRA: Q: Right now we have a panel that is made up mostly of customers.  What would you recommend we do to enhance [...]

Watch this video to learn about the comprehensive panel management features and tools available with Kinesis Panel. Video by: Raven Productions

The Market Research in the Mobile World conference took place in Amsterdam last week; it was an agenda-packed and insightful event that solidified the industry’s commitment to expanding both the opportunities and the capabilities of mobile market research on a global scale. Kinesis’ Leslie Townsend and Tariq Mirza delivered a session “Glocalizing” Mobile Research in [...]

What has been buzzed about for quite some time became official last week when Google announced its new Consumer Surveys tool. Google will now enable companies to field quick and simple surveys at a very low cost, enable participating publishers a new means of monetizing their premium content, and enable online users to gain access [...]

Last week’s CASRO Online Research event in Las Vegas included what is sure to be one of the most memorable industry conference sessions for quite some time. Toluna’s John Bremer moderated a panel discussion with actual MR panelists who shared their motivations, frustrations and expectations about participating in online research panels. The panelists were exceedingly [...]

OnlineMR recently conducted an interview with Kinesis President Leslie Townsend. She offers up a valuable perspective on the current state of the market research industry, and also shares some history about Kinesis. “We believed back then – which has certainly proven true since – that mobile technology would become vital within the MR industry for [...]

Right now the 18-34 year old demographic that is so coveted among advertisers is almost exclusively comprised of people who are part of the Millennial generation. Millennials (also called Generation Y) are a highly influential group of consumers and as such market researchers seek their feedback on virtually every kind of brand, product and concept.  [...]

Last summer Kinesis offered up our Top 10 Predictions as to how mobile technology will significantly transform market research over the next few years. Included on the list was a prediction that “apps will be a mostly transitional phenomena in the industry.” This prediction likely did not sit well with the market research software providers [...]

When Apple first announced the iPad two years ago this month, it was received with very mixed reviews among the technology gurus and press. While some immediately saw its value, many others predicted that it would fail. Leading tech reporters deemed the iPad “disappointing,” and its utility as “awfully thin.” Fast forward to now, and [...]

To date, sampling costs for mobile respondents have been higher than those for traditional web respondents. This reality has left many market researchers hesitant to recommend mobile (or mixed-mode) survey projects to their clients. It is true that mobile research methods can be more expensive during initial implementations, but this is primarily because mobile is [...]

Earlier this month Adobe – creator of Flash technology – announced that it will no longer develop out Flash for smartphone and tablet devices and will only continue providing security updates and patches. When it comes to mobile support, Adobe is instead getting on the HTML5 bandwagon with Apple, Google, Microsoft, and RIM. Regardless of [...]

SoLoMo is the new acronym on the block, according to the presenters at last week’s Geo-Loco Conference held in San Francisco. Executives from Google, Facebook, and Starbucks were among those who discussed the convergence of the Social, Local and Mobile platforms and how the marketplace is being transformed through this synergy.  Many of the sessions [...]

Today is the Main Stage segment of the second annual NewMR Virtual Festival, and many highly insightful sessions on various market research topics have occurred thus far. Since Kinesis recently introduced our new multi-mode online community solution, the presentations on this topic were of particular interest to us, and these sessions did not disappoint. Due [...]

  Peter Harrison of BrainJuicer UK presented “The Researchification of Games” at ESOMAR 3D today. BrainJuicer believes that incorporating gaming into market research may solve the most basic crisis of our industry …the fact that we ask research participants (via surveys and communities) to answer questions in a purely theoretical context, while people’s basic, everyday [...]

  There are many resources available, including several from Kinesis, that detail best practices for mobile surveys. Harder to find are best practice recommendations specific to mobile survey invitations; while there are actually numerous invitation options to consider, little information is available to the MR industry as to which are most effective for any given [...]

With tight budgets and shrinking revenues in the face of a weak economy, more market research firms and brands are electing to bring management of their panels in-house. Self-management can offer greater control over the panel’s processes, features and usage, and provide a means to monetize other assets, such as website visitors. The problem is [...]