This session is going to look at three major aspects of research: 1) identifying possible data targets and research methods, 2) investigating and acquiring quality research firms, 3) the research process.
Moderator: Brett Tabke
Speakers:
Gordon Hotchkiss, President, Enquiro Search Solutions
Tom Hughes, Director of Research Services, Sentient Services
Glenn Alsup, President, Viewmark
Dana Todd, Founding Partner, SiteLab International, Inc.
Tom Hughes, Director of Research Services, Sentient Services
Brand Positioning Research
Tom has been focused on brand positioning and brand development. He starts out by asking the audience to step back from the website for a minute and look high-level.
While we are delivering website performance we are also delivering brand experience.
Why should I care?
The website is a major driver of brand experience. It’s the frontline for the brand. Are we delivering the right brand experience?
Optimal brand positioning matters in website optimization
Gets everyone on the same page.
Drives strategy for search optimization.
Connects website efforts to sustainable business performance.
We need to measure what we can leverage.
Our strengths vs. competitors. Where do we have advantages? Beware of “greens fees” issues.
What customers ideally want – what does the ideal look like and where are the gaps?
What tools can we use?
Secondary research (syndicated studies, market data)
Primary research (qualitative and quantitative)
What can we do ourselves?
Talk to customers, talk to employees (understand the essence of your brand).
Get help with: questionnaire design, analysis and interpretation of data.
Brand positioning and messaging template
Position (essence of how you are compellingly different) – for example SW Airlines is the freedom airline
Identity (who you are and what you do)
Differentiation (how you are better)
Significance (why customer should care)
Messaging support (key messages that deliver the brand position)
Emotional support (key motivational needs delivered by the brand)
Examples of how optimal brand positioning can turbocharge your website efforts
- Deliver optimal brand experience on homepage
- Use pictures and taglines
- Define and audit search terms
- Banner ad campaigns that resonate brand positioning
Flash-based banner ad campaign case history
Dell was at a crossroads for large vertical segments
They conducted research to fine tune it and ran it. Results?
Hit every pain point discovered in research. Resulted in a 15% buy rate.
Gordon Hotchkiss, President, Enquiro Search Solutions
Thanks to Guy Kawasaki – Gordon’s first night in Vegas was spent changing all of his font sizes. (Laughter)
In John’s speech – he heard one really important point – the notion of search as intent and consumer control. That is really, really important.
Why is research important in search?
- Right message
- Right person
- Right place
- Right time
- Right experience
How not to do this…
Digital camera search on Google and the ad says Get special offers on desktops and notebooks. Then it takes you to a page that has no digital cameras on it.
Gordon’s Eye-Tracking Study
The sweet spot is upper left. But it’s not that simple.
Intent is key. Get inside your customer’s mind. Can’t do it based solely on the query. You must research.
How intent impacts searching – example:
- Forgot to buy b-day present for your brother-in-law
- Knows he likes John Irving
- Lives out of town
- Prefer to spend $20 – $25 minimum
- You find it quick in the sponsored links – boom you’re done
Another example:
- Someone recommended the latest John Irving “Until I Find You”
- You liked one of his books but not the other
- You start in the organic rankings – one of the results isn’t positive – matches your intent
People want to scan 2 of the sponsored ads and 1 natural result.
Purchase intent – much more top heavy.
Research intent – much more even split.
You want to provide the shortest path possible to their user intent. You can’t force someone to scan parts of a page they don’t want to scan. You aren’t in control – the user is in control.
Points to remember:
- Understand your target and their intent.
- Right place, right time, right message.
- Follow through for the on-site experience.
Glenn Alsup, President, Viewmark
The area between the user and the object. Qualitative vs. Quantitative
User research: Preparation
- Situation & Background
- Goals & Objectives
- Use case(s)
Methodology – Heuristic study / Qualifying Questionnaire / Usability Lab Testing
Glenn went into a long case study which was very visual but hard to write up.
Traditional Lab
- Facilitator (ones who conduct the study)
- Observers (outside the room)
- Participant (person partaking in the experiment)
Usability does not have to take place in a lab today. You can do remote usability. Aureole is a good example. You order wine via a tablet and they can see exactly what the customer does, says, etc – remotely.
Brands are created like birds create nests.
Dana Todd
SEMPO has been doing research for 3 years. They started out with over 300 data points and it was overwhelming. They pared it down to 20.
Interesting data points from 2005 SEMPO survey:
- SEO still has strong demand as SEM tactic
- Migration of SEM management to in-house teams
- Click price elasticity is nearly capped out
- Awareness and concern about click fraud is growing
2006 highlights:
- Organic SEO is the most popular of SEM programs
- Organic SEO surpasses paid placement as top SEM service offered by agencies
- Majority of 2006 organic SEO spending will be managed in-house, not outsourced to agencies (training, conferences, books are exploding due to this)
- Most advertiser respondents could still tolerate further price rises (at moderate levels)
- Agencies exhibit growing concern over click fraud
They want people to take the SEMPO Survey (one survey respondent will receive a special prize!) – survey runs until Nov. 29. Take it at www.sempo.org
Brett then talks about when they did a survey and there were three major gripes from WebmasterWorld members. He then ran into a book called The Ultimate Question.
The Ultimate Question is How likely are you to recommend product X to your friends?
- 9-10 are your promoters
- 7-8 slightly passive positive – mostly neutral
- 1-6 called detractors
Brett then asked the audience how likely they are to recommend Pubcon – about 80% said they would. Very biased.
Q&A
Question: Gordon – as for the eye stats – did you do anything with countries that read from left to right?
Gordon: We haven’t yet and I’m not aware of any yet.
Question: On your eye tracker study – did you have any type in?
Gordon: Yes – we get a very small percentage who always try to type directly in no matter what.
Tom: To me the best balanced scorecard is if you think about a circle and investors that return gains back to employees – its when a brand can do that. Look at SW Airlines and how well they have been able to be profitable by being true to their brand.
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