When loyalty programmes backfire: loyalty, entitlement and complaints

Disappointed customers complain. And while really loyal customers may be more forgiving that others, when they do feel disappointed and complain, they are particularly difficult to recover. These general truths of business make it particularly important to understand disappointment in loyal customers. Researchers Xiaofei Li, Baolong Ma and Chen Zhou conducted a study about … Continue reading When loyalty programmes backfire: loyalty, entitlement and complaints

A trip down tech-memory lane: my 2002 report on interactive TV

When I was looking for an old file on my laptop, recently, I stumbled upon a report that I co-authored, 15 years ago, about interactive TV. Digital television (as opposed to analogue TV) had been around for just over three years, and interactive TV (i.e., digital TV with a return path from the consumer to … Continue reading A trip down tech-memory lane: my 2002 report on interactive TV

Use of screens among young children

Since today is World Television Day (yes, there really is a day for everything!), I thought that I would share with you some findings from the report “The Common Sense Census: Media Use By Kids Age Zero To Eight’, looking at media use by young children in the US. You can access the report here. … Continue reading Use of screens among young children

Three advantages of Twitter’s extended characters limit

After trialling it out with a handful of users, Twitter has increased the maximum length of tweets from 140 characters to 280, for all users. Some people expressed concern over how the additional capacity will be used by the trolls and harassers that litter the platform. Others have talked about the creative challenge … Continue reading Three advantages of Twitter’s extended characters limit

Which branded tweets get most retweets?

Researchers at Western Sydney University in Australia – Alena Soboleva, Suzan Burton, Girijasankar Mallik and Aila Khan – have analysed the characteristics of branded tweets that get the most retweets. They collected tweets posted by the leading brands in the automotive, the luxury and the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries, and adjusted for factors … Continue reading Which branded tweets get most retweets?

Using wearables is all about control. And so is not using them.

The short video below presents two extreme cases of attitudes towards using wearables. On the one hand, we have Thomas who monitors multiple aspects of his daily life, from food intake to movement, and even built a wearable to track his sneezes. On the other hand, we have Emma, who firmly rejects using wearables even … Continue reading Using wearables is all about control. And so is not using them.

Emotion analysis for real time interactions

Emotions influence how we interpret situations, what we do, and even how we remember them. Thus, emotions are a very important driver of how consumers behave and why. Because of this importance, there has been a growth in the number of products that promise to scan online conversations (e.g., in social networks, or on product … Continue reading Emotion analysis for real time interactions

TED talk: blind faith in big data must end

Super interesting and short talk by Cathy O'Neil about What is an algorithm Why they are subjective, flawed and unfair How they can have disastrous effects in people’s lives How they perpetuate the past and historical discrimination Why they are so difficult to scrutinise And, thus, why we can not have blind faith in big … Continue reading TED talk: blind faith in big data must end

Huawei customers more likely to endorse the brand than Apple ones. So what?

Market research recently published by Globalwebindex shows that Huawei customers were the most likely, among technology users, to recommend the brand to others. Should competitors like Samsung or Apple worry? No. And why not? Because when it comes to the impact of word of mouth on consumer behaviour volume of word mouth … Continue reading Huawei customers more likely to endorse the brand than Apple ones. So what?