Want feedback? Ask your customers… or maybe not

A trip to the gym last weekend resulted in an unexpected market research lesson, which I talked about on Snapchat*:   Our usual instructor had been away on the previous weekend, and had been temporarily replaced by somebody else. This one had a very peculiar style – ‘though love’, if you wish. He kept telling … Continue reading Want feedback? Ask your customers… or maybe not

Who wants 4G?

This afternoon, I am delivering a talk at the Oxfordshire branch of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. More details here. In this talk, we put technology to the side and focus, instead, on the social and psychological needs of mobile phone users. This is the slide set for the session. As usual, I would … Continue reading Who wants 4G?

Benefits of using social media in target marketing

The practice of profiling the different needs and preferences of customers in a market, in order to decide which groups to focus on and how best to serve them, is a well established one in marketing. The process may be broadly divided in three steps, namely: Moira Clark, Paul Fennemore and myself set out to … Continue reading Benefits of using social media in target marketing

The importance of asking ‘why’

My friend Tim Kourdi brought my attention to this presentation by Professor Clayton Christensen about a market research study done with milkshake consumers: If you abstract from the presentation's background and the fact that he keeps describing the act of buying food items as 'hiring' ***seriously, what's going on there?*** this is, actually, a neat … Continue reading The importance of asking ‘why’

PhD topics that I am supervising at Oxford Brookes University

The institution where I work, the Faculty of Business at Oxford Brookes University, has a thriving doctoral programme, including studentship opportunities. If you are considering a doctoral degree, do take a look at the research topics available. I can supervise 1-2 doctoral students who wish to research any of the topics below. Bad customer behaviour … Continue reading PhD topics that I am supervising at Oxford Brookes University

Social Media and Customer Insight

In a previous post, I reported on the keynote speech by Charles Hofacker, at the Academy of Marketing conference – you can read it here. Charles noted how computers have been getting smaller but more powerful, and closer and closer to the users. As a consequence of smaller, more powerful and closer information technology, consumer … Continue reading Social Media and Customer Insight