Our determination in a freak snowstorm to hit our interview quotas for new laptop designs.

The Situation:

In developing their 2012 laptop line, a major manufacturer of notebook computers wanted to understand which design elements are most appealing to consumers in the US, France, the UK, and Brazil.

Smarter Research:

The best way to find out what consumers like and dislike about something is to get the products in front of them. So, we conducted 30-minute Central Location Tests. Consumers who were in the market for a new laptop evaluated the laptop models, allowing for real hands-on of the design elements.

Better Service:

Oh no—it snowed in London! Respondents cancelled right and left. Thinking proactively, our team went outside and recruited respondents on the street level. A few screening questions to ensure they qualified, a promise of 30 minutes of warmth, and a cash incentive, and voila—interviews completed!

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Putting boots on the ground in Indian farmers' markets to reach our target audience.

The Situation:

A farm equipment manufacturer wanted to know whether farmers in India might be interested in a small, custom-designed utility vehicle for their hauls to market. Rickshaws and mules are the norm, but not altogether efficient.

Smarter Research:

Only one way to find out… we put boots on the ground in four different regions of India to mingle at farmers' markets in rural Mumbai, Calcutta, Rawalpindi and Delhi. Farmers came to sell their wares and we invited them for a chat.

Better Service:

Many times the best research results from a simple face-to-face conversation. Even when it's off the beaten path, we find a way to get there.

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Going beyond the usual suspects for a 720-degree view of men's health.

The Situation:

A medical company was trying to better understand the needs and frustrations associated with the male aging process.

Smarter Research:

The company had done plenty of research with nurses, doctors and aging males. They came to us looking for a fresh approach. We took a broader '720-degree' view of the male life by interviewing out-of-the-box 'male touchpoints' including pastors, weight lifting instructors, lifestyle coaches—even whitewater raft guides.

Better Service:

We start every project with a blank sheet of paper. Our preconceived notions are that there are no preconceived notions. We view research as a dynamic entity where every minute and every aspect of each day represents a potential learning experience.

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Using video evidence to bring research insights to life.

 

The Situation:

A major manufacturer of commercial cleaning products wanted to explore unmet needs around cleaning in kitchens.

Smarter Research:

The best way to understand it is to see for ourselves. So we visited 100 restaurant, hotel, retail, school and hospital kitchens in six countries to watch people clean kitchen equipment. It was amazing—we got the FULL picture of cleaning procedures (or lack thereof) before, during, and after meal service!

Better Service:

The client wanted a video. But our "better service" philosophy compelled us to catalogue the hundreds of hours of video footage and thousands of pictures into a searchable database that the clients could use to review each specific aspect of cleaning.

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Using creativity and new techniques to generate better medical device concepts.

The Situation:

A client was developing a new pharmaceutical product and wanted to make sure they optimized the benefit positioning for the product.

Smarter Research:

Our solution, The Link Group's dynamic Concept Optimizer methodology, is concept development on steroids! We complete 3-4 interviews, facilitate client debriefs, make real-time revisions of the positioning ideas... and then begin the cycle all over again. The result was a positioning which delivered the holy trinity: motivating, unique and ownable benefits.

Better Service:

The process is typically very intense. But, when an ice storm shut down the city (trapping our moderator in a hotel room and all of the clients in their homes) we took it to another level. Within hours, ALL of the research was transitioned to the telephone and facilitated work sessions were done via conference calls. That's ultimate flexibility!

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Watching products come out-of-the-box in real time to understand what really happens.

The Situation:

A major manufacturer of electronics wanted to understand and improve the customer's experience when setting up a new LED TV.

Smarter Research:

The best way to see respondents' true initial reactions and uncover pain points is to be there live and in person in their natural setting. We did just that. We were there when the TV was delivered to the respondent's home, which allowed us to better understand every step of the process: from unpacking the box, to general set-up, configuration, and initial use.

Better Service:

What's the trick to successful in-home research? Details, details, details! Throughout set up and execution of the research, our team was able to provide the client with all necessary logistics in a concise and organized manner. Additionally, our incorporation of audio and video clips in the research summary added flavor and gave our client the "back-up" she needed to present the pain points we uncovered to her greater internal team.

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Watching doctors and patients together to perceive how healthcare succeeds and fails.

The Situation:

A major healthcare provider wanted to know how 'in touch' doctors were with the opinions of their patients in regards to a specific issue.

Smarter Research:

Rather than just ask each group what they thought about the topic at hand and compare responses, we actually let the doctors 'listen, watch and react'. We created a sequential interviewing process where caregivers observed their patients in a group discussion; We then engaged the doctors in a group discussion format to capture their reactions.

Better Service:

By creating this new format of qualitative learning, we exposed caregivers to a different side of their patients. The reactions and observations that they witnessed helped provide a deeper understanding of their patient perspectives.

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Using handheld cameras to empower Alzheimer's patients to express emotions.

The Situation:

We needed to understand the deeply complex emotions of families struggling with Alzheimer's disease.

Smarter Research:

We collected online journals with grown children of Alzheimer's patients to get their perspective. But spouses represent the bulk of caregivers in this disease state; and most seniors are not so tech saavy. Solution: we sent them digital video cameras and had them film themselves confessing their innermost thoughts "Blair Witch" style.

Better Service:

We created this new process specifically to meet the needs of this study. In the end, the team was able to understand the audience. The key was our ability to create an emotionally wrenching 15-minute clip reel from the footage so the client could fully understand how emotional the experience is for these families.

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Going into the operating room to gain accessto complex cardiac procedures.

The Situation:

A major manufacturer of implantable cardiac devices wanted to re-design the computer that programs those devices.

Smarter Research:

Rather than conducting in-facility research, we went into operating rooms so we could see first hand how these programmers were being used during device implant. We provided detailed sketches of the use environment to help the client understand what factors they needed to consider in their re-design.

Better Service:

Operating room schedules change rapidly; we remained flexible and took advantage of our downtime by interviewing nurses, physicians, and sales reps about the programmers, even while they were scrubbing in!

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Sifting through hundreds of thousands of comments to connect the dots of consumer sentiment.

The Situation:

A large customer loyalty dataset contained thousands of open-ended comments and none of the available canned coding products were up to our quality standards.

Smarter Research:

We used a custom platform to design our own coding algorithms and validated it against thousands of comments.

Better Service:

Our focus on quality made the difference. The client received customer insights that were specially tailored to their business. The client didn't even ask for this to be built—we took the initiative and built it. It's called "Surprise and Delight"!

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Shuttling patrons between fast food stores to create a clear visionof what works and why.

The Situation:

A leader in fast food products wanted a fresh approach on gathering qualitative reactions to in-store merchandising.

Smarter Research:

We took the traditional concept of focus groups and made them mobile. A group of qualified respondents were shuttled to a series of locations. They were asked to complete specific exercises at each location—and then reconvened at a central location for a group discussion to share what they discovered. In addition to the precise details that are shared, the respondents develop a special bond among themselves during this extended time frame, resulting in even more candid conversation.

Better Service:

Who do you think did the driving?

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A last-minute disaster check for advertisements conducted as fast as humanly possible.

The Situation:

An oil and gasoline company was set to launch a glitzy ad campaign for their new flex fuel in Brazil (the flex fuel capital of the world). But they couldn't decide between two very different ads… and the deadline was fast approaching!

Smarter Research:

Time was critical—we had one day to plan, two days to recruit (a continent away), and one day to conduct the focus groups. So we nixed the travel, did everything over a videostream, and used the last day to report the findings. In five days flat.

Better Service:

We understand the business world can't always conform to the research world—when it needs to be the other way around, we make it happen.

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Providing targeted deliverables to ensure the research is impactful and empowers employees at all levels to act.

The Situation:

A national pizza chain needed to track customer metrics and deliver insights at all levels of the organization.

Smarter Research:

We combined high-level dashboards for use by executives with emailed status reports tailored to each individual store to ensure the research was accessible across the board. Additionally, we used high-end analysis to help the chain prioritize their efforts and spend their budgets more effectively.

Better Service:

Our customized deliverables made a difference. We were able to identify trends even at the individual restaurant level - and present them in a way that got even the least research-savvy managers excited and motivated!

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Uncovering opportunities for a fashion brand within the Chinese market.

The Situation:

A major fashion brand wanted to understand how Chinese consumers viewed its brand and what they could do to meet consumer needs and wants in the fashion world.

Smarter Research:

We needed to understand the cultural influences and attitudes that influences shopping behavior. To engage respondents and fully understand thier perspective, we asked consumers to create a "style bio", using photos, blog posts, magazing clippings, screenshots and text to bring their shopping persona to life. We then conducted shop-alongs to understand their shopping behaviors and fashion trends. And finally, we conducted focus groups to more fully understand the cultural motivations for fashion brands and shopping attitudes.

Better Service:

To make sure we were fully immersed in the Chinese culture, we participated in all of the research onsite in China. During off-research hours, we worked with our Chinese partners to further understand the Chinese culture in order to give us more context and a well-rounded view of shoppers.

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Walking a mile in patient and caregiver shoes to deeply understand our client's new therapeutic area, schizophrenia

The Situation:

 A healthcare client wanted to completely understand the world of a patient with schizophrenia - their attitudes, beliefs, and challenges.

Smarter Research:

To understand patients lives, we had to see the world through their eyes. We used a variety of methodologies to uncover the emotions and feelings associated with the disease: we went to patients' homes and used collages, journals and patient-caregiver video documentaries to capture a "day in the life" of schizophrenia.

Better Service:

We immersed ourselves in the project and schizophrenia. Observing where patients, caregivers and involved health care professionals live and work, and talking to everyone involved in a schizophrenia treatment allowed us to help our clients gain a valuable view into this difficult disease.

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Connecting with young teenagers to discover what drives their shoe purchases.

The Situation:

A shoe and apparel company needed to ensure that their brand was staying relevant to their target – young teenagers.

Smarter Research:

While young teenagers are easy to find, it can be challenging to draw out their true opinions in a focus group setting. So we changed the setting of the focus group room, set up smaller mini-groups, and split up the groups by age. In addition, the moderator called each respondent a few days before the group to introduce herself and make sure the teen was comfortable sharing their opinions among peers.

Better Service:

Turns out teenagers have a lot of opinions! We sifted through the findings to turn them into strategic and actionable insights. These results are now driving the client's five-year strategy.

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Using a unique research tool to optimize positioning of a new medical product.

The Situation:

A client was developing a new pharmaceutical product and wanted to make sure they optimized the benefit positioning for the product.

Smarter Research:

Our solution, The Link Group's dynamic Concept Optimizer methodology, is concept development on steroids! We complete 3-4 interviews, facilitate client debriefs, make real-time revisions of the positioning ideas… and then begin the cycle all over again. The result was a positioning which delivered the holy trinity: motivating, unique and ownable benefits.

Better Service:

The process is typically very intense. But, when an ice storm shut down the city (trapping our moderator in a hotel room and all of the clients in their homes) we took it to another level. Within hours, ALL of the research was transitioned to the telephone and facilitated work sessions were done via conference calls. That's ultimate flexibility!

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Customized segmentation research with an added touch to save the client time and money.

The Situation:

A major retail client wanted to segment the market across four different product categories, but didn't have the budget or time to conduct separate studies.

Smarter Research:

This called for a customized approach. So we created an integrated survey design that allowed us to streamline the research, while still providing a tailored experience for the respondent. Once we collected the data, we wove common threads together to create a cohesive story across all product lines.

Better Service:

To help our client target their highest opportunity segments, we conducted secondary research to fit the segments into a future performance model. While not part of the original research scope, this additional information helped our client predict how the current landscape may change so they could create a more targeted positioning. A little extra effort on our end resulted in a big marketing opportunity for the client.

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Making a complex line of home entertainment products easy to visualize and execute.

The Situation:

A retail client was developing an entirely new line of over 20 products, designed to work together to create a new connected home experience. With so many product and feature combinations, they needed help in deciding which products to package together and the associated features that would drive the most revenue and margins.

Smarter Research:

We developed a multi-phase, iterative approach using choice-based exercises, customized to each category. The research resulted in over 300,000 combinations, which was a bit overwhelming. So we designed an algorithm that helped the client determine which combinations were feasible and actionable.

Better Service:

During development we helped our client visualize the respondent experience by creating mock-ups of each design option, along with a recommended plan. With the execution of smarter research and a clear visual of the product opportunities, our client could move forward to bring the connected home experience to life.

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Streamlining research results so that they are accessible and applicable to all internal stakeholders.

The Situation:

Our client wanted to reinvent their brands with new customer-centered features. The challenge: testing unique sets of features across dozens of brands while being sensitive to limited budgets.

Smarter Research:

We rose to that challenge by partnering with them to create an efficient template that standardized survey design, analysis, and reporting. Now projects can be implemented in just a few days, and at a fraction of the cost.

Better Service:

In addition to simplifying the approach, we needed to make the results accessible to the many product managers involved. We worked with the individual product teams to provide recommendations and to optimize the final output so it was useful and actionable in guiding feature design.

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Using a unique approach to segment patients within a little-understood disease state.

The Situation:

A healthcare client had developed a ground-breaking medication for a disease state they knew little about. They wanted to understand the marketplace and determine which patient types would see value in this new medication.

Smarter Research:

We started with qualitative interviews among healthcare providers, patients and caregivers to better understand the disease state. Then we segmented the patient market through the lens of the healthcare provider, an unique approach that was needed since healthcare providers had a more holistic view of the disease state.

Better Service:

Starting with qualitative interviews gave context and depth to the segments created. This helped bring the segments to life and gave the client a clear understanding of the disease state, as well as a clear direction on which patients would most benefit from a new medication.

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view the work >> quantitative research

Our toolbox will make any research junkie proud—Conjoint, Max Diffs, Segmentation, T.U.R.F., and some spiffy software delivery platforms.

We’re all about custom designed studies. We don’t try to push a proprietary methodology or a pre-packaged solution. In fact, we love to discuss our methodology recommendation and our analysis plan with our clients. We can be kind of nerdy like that—but in a good way.

quantitative cases:


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