IKEA isn't just innovating in their design process, they are innovating in their customer research approach too

Global home furnishings and meatball brand (IKEA sell 150 million meatballs a year), IKEA of Sweden already innovate in their democratic design approach when producing new products, but now they're taking a leading approach with their customer insights: chatbot surveys. The IKEA concept already works to make their products attractive, functional, sustainable, accessible and affordable. IKEA are the masters of efficiency and it seems that they are working with their research agencies, to take this approach to customer insight. The world of market research and insight has somewhat an obsession with innovation, researchers are always looking for new ways to gain insights, hence big data, online communities, shorter surveys (though I question whether many are actually getting shorter). But in the day to day, researchers tend to stick…

Neuroscience reveals how you can nudge your customers into converting

Dr. David Lewis, neuroscientist and author of The Brain Sell, delivered a fascinating keynote speech about customers’ brains when they buy at Ecommerce Conversion World 2017 in March. Here are 3 fascinating insights about your customers and suggestions on how to apply them to your website to increase conversion rates.

Fact 1: People Notice What's Different (or the Same!)

While this may sound contradictory, Dr. Lewis suggests that there are actually 4 factors that make a person stand out in a crowd. There’s something inherently different about the person, such as exceptional beauty or a striking feature The person has made themselves look different, such as with tattoos or colored hair The person looks familiar to you, like someone you know in real-life or from a film It’s someone you’re specifically looking for …

Chart of the day: Market research budgets have been cut whilst marketing budgets are being sustained

Market research (increasingly referred to as "insight") budgets are taking another cut this year, according to research by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, whilst marketing budgets overall have not grown. As few as 8% of respondents signaled growth in their insight budget whilst just over 26% of respondents indicated marketing budget growth. The analysis shows it's the worst prediction for market research in over four years of data collection. One reason for the fall in budget could be that businesses are using non-traditional research methods, doing fewer large-scale annual research projects and instead focusing on more cheaper, innovative techniques, such as the use of research communities, online focus groups and cheaper providers such as Survey Monkey Audience, Ask You Target Market and Toluna Quick Surveys, rather than using…

Flybe and Honda are fined £83,000 for breaking data rules

The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is coming into effect in May 2018 and businesses have to prepare for this new rigorous regulation. Because of this, companies are beginning to panic and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will not tolerate misuse of people's personal information. These two examples of email reactivation campaigns attracting fines is a warning to all businesses since this is a tactic which is commonly used by marketers to re-engage inactive email subscribers using the techniques in our best practices guide to e-mail engagement. In August 2016, Flybe sent emails with the subject line, "Are your details correct?" to over 3.3 million people in their database, who had previously opted out of marketing emails. The ICO have now fined the airline £70,000 for breaking the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR) - read enforcement notice and fine details. In a…

Use these 'Voice of the Customer' Tools to gather qualitative data on your customers

Web analytics can provide the what, the when and the how, but struggle to deliver the why and the rationale which explains the numbers from your analytics tool. 'Voice of the Customer' tools can run continuously in the background, be focused on specific pages or be time-based, gathering detailed feedback on barriers to conversion, design issues, user confusion – all useful and actionable insight for marketers. These tools allow you to go beyond the quantitative insight of analytics tools and provide a deeper layer of site visitor feedback. Tools in this category are growing in popularity and include general website feedback, crowd sourced product opinions and exit survey functionality.

Key things to consider before purchasing and using these tools:

Be careful not to request too much data. Just like us, users are put off by surveys that are pages…

Be alert to the danger of new government Digital Economy bill

Its hard to believe, but digital marketing may be at its most critical point to date. Day-to-day it continues selling services and products, and maintaining purchasing loyalty while many of those involved are unaware of why a government bill could change everything forever.

The act is nearing its final phase of Westminster consideration before Royal Assent is the Digital Economy Bill, and the element of danger in what is wide and far reaching legislation is a section that instructs the Information Commissioners Office to produce new direct marketing guidelines, which incorporates anything to do with consumer data relating to digital marketing.

This in itself may seem fairly innocuous until the background is considered. The ICO will be instructed to produce new recommendations for ministers to consider. But it knows and understands acutely that the…

Psychology has a bigger effect on purchase decisions than you think

A while ago I was doing my monthly "Let's see what TED's been up to recently" session, and I came across an older one: Dan Ariely's Ted talk on irrational purchase behavior. It's well-worth a watch (after, of course, you finish this article). In it, he breaks down the delusion that our buying decisions are rationally made. He discusses the true influences and psychological factors which affect our subconscious - the real determinants for why we buy that pack of gum, why that T-shirt stands out, or why we decide we need a jacket we don't.

Ever gone into a store for a single thing and walked out with a full cart?

Psychology has a bigger influence on your prospective customers than you might think. Understanding how you can use psychology to influence buying decisions will make you a better marketer and…

Every B2B marketer's holy PECR is on the chopping block

So, you thought the Privacy and Electronics Communications Regulations, your precious PECR, was going to save you from the new ePrivacy rules. Unfortunately not. The PECR appears to be on the chopping block and there is only one way it is going: to fall in line with the new EU General Data Protection Regulations. "Oh!" I hear you cry. "But I didn't listen to the GDPR changes because I assumed it didn't apply to B2B marketers!" Well, I have good news and bad news for you. Let's start with the good news, shall we? You've got the rest of this year and until 25th May 2018 to make sure your marketing data does comply with the GDPR. There are 17 months between now and then, giving you plenty of time to make sure that anyone on your email mailing lists has given you…

Digital Economy Bill update: New Marketing Code Sanctioned By Commons Committee

The Committee stage of the Digital Economy Bill has passed with a change to the Data Protection Act 1998. The key consideration is that the Information Commissioners Office is being given powers to put forward rules for a new direct marketing code that will apply to relevant areas of digital marketing.

The significant element of the act will be the instruction to the ICO to prepare a code that includes practical guidance in accordance with the Data Protection and Privacy and Electronic Communications Acts, plus introduce any other appropriate measures necessary to promote good practice.

The act gives the ICO a broad remit to put forward new rules, but must take into account the views of trade associations, members of the public and bodies that represent members of the public.

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The EU's GDPR law requires compliance by 2018. Even with Brexit predicted to occur in 2019 or after, it can't be ignored.

Last month, I woke up in the blissful world of B2B marketing. I could create campaigns, upload my purchased data lists, segment them as appropriate and set up my lead nurturing series to send. Then it happened. That thud that resounded throughout my perfect little marketing world and shattered that blissful bubble. The judges hammer as the EU General Data Protection Regulation was put into force. It has taken me a while to come to terms with what the EU GDPR means for my marketing. Below is an account from my marketing journal through this year, with the questions that kept me awake at night, and the answers I discovered along the way. I hope you find it useful! 29th April 2016 So, I've just heard about the EU GDPR. I…