In this blog, I want to consider the impact that this will have on the store design, layout and technology in the shop of the future.

The shop of the future MUST create an enjoyable environment to browse products, compare specifications or prices and seek advice. The most important aspects of delivering this will be the quality of the staff and the layout.

The quality and customer service offered by staff will be more important than ever before. It won't be enough to be able to answer basic questions and take money at the till. The store assistant will have to be a product expert, being able to advise customers as to the different choices. They must also have the most up to date knowledge of competitor products, specifications and best prices. Finally, they must be trained and empowered with the best sales skills possible.

In addition to great staff and layout, the shop of the future will also incorporate these 5 elements:

1. QR codes and dynamic pricing. Instead of price tickets next to each item, we will see QR codes that, when scanned, will lead the customer to a web page that will give the latest price comparisons. Not only that, I predict that the price itself will be dynamic, changing depending on local and national supply and demand.
2. Tablet-enabled assistants. Sales assistants will all have tablet devices to enable them to check stock availability, compare product specifications and the latest prices. These will arm them with the latest information and empower them to become more effective sales people.
3. Self-service points. Shops will have to self service points, giving customer the opportunity to personalise specifications, check out customer reviews and also and purchase items.
4. Customer advice point and consultation space. The layout of the shop will have to create an inviting space for customer consultation and a designated customer advice point. This will make it possible for customers to seek advice, return products or get technical support. These points will create reasons for customers to visit stores, re-engage brands with their customers and create the more personal and tailored service that customers want but can't get online.
5. Customer events and product trials. Specialist events and trials will create promotional occasions to get customers to come in and visit the store, creating engaging sales opportunities and improving brand perception at the same time.

The opportunity is to engage customers with your brand and your products, creating a place where retail stores can sell and promote in a personal way. Bringing technology into the shop will mean information is up to the minute. By using QR codes and dynamic pricing, the shop of the future will embrace the mobile 'showrooming' trend rather than trying to ignore it.

The shop of the future won't be about purchase, so it will have to be a place that is inviting and beneficial for the customer.

So, today I want to discuss the importance of a collaborative approach in consumer research, and in fact in any customer engagement.

Our research has found that trust in brands and companies is being degraded. Our recent study focusing on data showed only 9% are confident that businesses store and manage data securely and a saddening 26% believe companies will sell their information (this is part of our syndicated work that you can read more about here).

Couple this loss of trust with 2012's marketing mantra:  'control of your brand conversation is firmly in the hands of your consumers' and you have a strong case for cultivating consumer trust.

Businesses and companies need to cultivate consumer trust by attracting and pleasing customers who then become the brand voice. It is the customers of your brand that tomorrow's consumers listen to, interact with, and ultimately fall in love with, or mark as not worthy of attention.

Therefore working collaboratively ensures your current customers feel valued and allows them to represent your brand positively.

So, how does collaboration work, specifically for nurturing those consumer to consumer relationships?

Branded online communities provide an excellent platform for brands to openly facilitate conversations between brand and consumer and between customers. Inviting your consumers here ensures that they are willingly and knowingly taking part (collaboration can't take place without this!)

See the journey avoid any end points in your customer-brand relationship by inviting them to be part of on-going developments, and by making your teams accessible through social media, email, phone and face to face. No one is too important to talk to your customers or to encourage conversations between customers, every member of your staff can help link together brand ambassadors

Active facilitation it isn't just the shop assistants who should be present in stores, the store experience could be re-invigorated with technical, research and development staff being on hand for workshops and discussions. Perhaps that would even have a two-way benefit for your innovation team.

At Intersperience we understand this well. We use the full capabilities of our online platform to convey the message that we value each individual voice: through a truly personalised service and an unrivalled interactive suite which means there are lots of interesting ways to facilitate conversations. Our modern market research blends face to face research and longitudinal studies to assist with this future relationship.

True collaboration through an openly branded community, a continuous dialogue and accessible staff demonstrates a commitment to equality and perhaps even an understanding of the future?

No doubt this will spur yet more column inches to be written about the woes of the high street. Some will use it as evidence for a really dire economy and some will tell us the high street needs to compete better with online. But what is really going on?

Let's be practical – What lessons can be learnt from the latest casualty, HMV?

• Be ready for disruption. Never underestimate the future impact of a seemingly small change today on your long term survival. HMV was guilty of not looking far enough ahead and responding strategically to market changes. Over a decade ago they were slow to react to Amazon selling CDs online. When Apple introduced the iPod and iTunes, they didn't respond swiftly enough (although the whole music industry was slow). In short, it was evolution rather than revolution.
• Be prepared to change your business model. HMV should have fundamentally changed it's business model twice in the last 13 years – once to embrace online CD sales and second to embrace downloads. The book industry is an interesting example here: book retailers are now selling e-readers and some get a cut from every download onto that e-reader for its life. They are also bundling mixed format packages – selling a cut price book with a download of the same title (How bookshops could be happy ever after, The Independent). These give the consumer what they want – a mix of formats. HMV should have offered online CD sales long before they did and could have offered downloads packaged with CDs, but never did.

My blog about ecommerce explained why need to better embrace multiple sales channels. But what specific actions are needed for high street retailing?

1. Make the shop a destination. Our research shows that people still value shops for convenience, speed and a nicer environment. So stores have to create an experience and a reason for visiting. This means re-thinking what the store is about.
2. Encourage convenience. Change shopping hours to meet busy lifestyles, reduce parking or offer it free of charge, create park and ride schemes or arrange specialist shopping events.
3. Improve service and advice. The downfall of Comet was attributed to poor service and advice. Meanwhile PC World has really emphasised this. Service is a differentiator and creates a reason to come into the store, making it a destination. Independent retailers should have an advantage with this.
4. Independent retailers need to work together on multi-channel. On their own, they will struggle to compete with nationals when it comes to multi-channel: the online presence of nationals is hard to beat and takes a lot of investment, the convenience of 'browse and collect' is harder to achieve, harnessing the habit of using mobiles to price check very difficult etc. Independents need to realise the scale of changes coming their way and work together through local co-operatives and initiatives.
5. Local support. This is needed to encourage independent retailers to work together. My thoughts are that the local Chamber of Commerce has a role in encouraging co-operation.

Consumers still love the high street – don't let the latest casualty make you believe otherwise - convenience and a nicer environment are why they love it. If the future is truly multi-channel then the high street has a big role to play. But that role is changing and retailers need to respond.

It is true, the headline figures in the last two years were good, but underneath the surface there were lots of missed opportunities. Last year, an astonishing 50% of people experienced a problem while shopping online and a quarter admitted they bought less online as a result. The year before, the figure was 68%, although the very bad weather undermined the retailers' efforts by delaying deliveries.

Last year the problems were largely of the retailer's own making with the majority of problems being stock shortages.

This year, only 13% had a problem with stock shortages and 20% with delivery problems. In addition, retailers got savvier in combining online and high street – John Lewis is a good example, with the flexibility of collection options. (Econsultancy recently analysed John Lewis' performance).

The main reasons why online retail shone this Christmas are:

• Choice to collect in store
• Flexibility in delivery slots
• Free delivery options available
• The early start to online sales before shops (27% shopped online on Christmas Day)
• Better stocking levels

Most of these are improvements in the basic foundations of the service – just doing what they say they will. It's not earth-shattering strategy. The need for a bargain also helped, with customers going online to search out the best prices and also taking advantage of online sales.

However, the challenges for retailers going forward are more strategic:

1. They must integrate stores and online much more – the same product offering, integrated customer service, similar pricing and critically, internal measurement that encourages joint working as opposed to two competing businesses (only John Lewis really leads the way here).
2. Integrate mobile. This is much harder. Very few retailers understand how consumers really use mobile for shopping – many still think it is a transactional route when the real benefit is integrating mobile into the in-store experience. This will harness the so-called 'show-rooming' trend.
3. Improve customer service. The demise of Comet emphasised the importance of this and the 'show-rooming' trend has further shown more improvement is needed. Staff need to be far better aware of online competition, availability, consumer reviews and maybe even have empowerment to change prices.
4. Improve store experience and layout. This is vital if high streets are to thrive. Data shows that people still recognise the benefits and convenience of stores – but the quality of the shopping experience and service is paramount to this benefit being realised.
5. More flexible open hours. Whilst shopping seems to be round the clock, high streets need to respond to later opening times to accommodate modern work pressures.

So the conclusion is a big 'thumbs up' to online retail for a job well done, a 'must do better' for the high street and a 'still lots to do' if retailers are to ensure their own survival.

Our research has for a long time shown that consumers are currently not aware of how businesses use their data online and that the majority of teens view social media as a 'social space' and not a business one. Therefore businesses should enter this space with care – for fear of gatecrashing the party.

Anecdotal evidence is that businesses haven't always entered with due care and attention and that, in fact, the leading players, like Facebook and Google have sometimes been the worst at pushing privacy issues to the side as they try to monetise the data they hold. It is said to be in the interests of giving consumers greater convenience and better products.

This week we released some new data from our Digital Future project (examining under 18s use of digital media) showing an increasing trend towards giving false information online which demonstrates their increasing desire to remain anonymous from businesses.

Where businesses do not accurately reflect their consumers' needs, policymakers and law sometimes needs to. The article from The Guardian shows that policymakers are beginning to think there is a need for them to step in. This tension over personal data should not be a surprise. It has become an increasing issue across the whole of business – with IT compliance, payment systems and provision of customer lists to third parties like research agencies. Why should social media be any different? In all other aspects of consumer data, companies have to ask for permission and 'be clear how the data will be used' and 'who it will be used by'.

On the social media side, it is argued that 'the data is in the public domain, put there by the consumer'.  True. But do they have all the facts as to how the data they put there is being used? Is it reasonable to expect the person in the street to understand how data is recorded and used?

The debate will run for a long time to come. I believe the businesses that will win in the long term are those that embrace transparency and involve the consumer honestly in how their data is used.

What do you think?

Has the 'soft underbelly' of social media monitoring been found? At the end of 2010, I heard Andrew Keen, from Silicon Valley, speak about the risk that the future of social media monitoring would be undermined when the consumer realised how their data was being used (The full video is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAf__0k0l-c)

At Intersperience we are always on the hunt for new and innovative ideas and striving to find new ways of reaching the truths behind human behaviour. In 2013, we are more excited than ever about collaborating with consumers to gain fresh insights. Our online tools and moderating skills are honed and we are continuously learning.

I favour a collaborative approach to gaining insights because this allows customers to feel more empowered to voice their opinions, to be creative and helps them open up about the brand. There are many ways of encouraging collaboration, but the first one to get right is your approach to communication.

Communicating in a collaborative way

·         It goes without saying that you need to be clear about what you are looking to discover on behalf of your client, but please, please, please don't think clarity comes from a four page introduction! This introduction can very easily be likened to the terms and conditions that we all flit past and ignore on websites: it makes your participants feel like naughty school kids. Tell them the digested version and give them the option to read a long description somewhere else instead of forcing them to (it won't make them any more compliant).

·         The second rule of collaborative communication is being prompt – responding to comments in a timely manner has a profound effect on how valuable your participants feel. It does take a little bit of planning and foresight (such as attending to email reminders at the start, not the end of the day so you are available to answer queries) but reaps rewards when it comes to idea-sharing and facilitation of activities.

·         Lastly, an essential part of collaboration is the feeling that everyone's contribution is equal – in the same level you want your customers to share you need to lead by example. This can be difficult to do without creating a bias, so ensure you communicate a negative example with a positive, or use a playful analogy to help demonstrate to your participants the depth of engagement and discussion you need.

Research transparency and direct communication helps build trust and advances ideas quickly, because the diverse knowledge of corporate, research and consumer level participators is swiftly integrated.

Behind this approach is a sensitive framing and belief that the customer is an equal partner in success: being customer-centric scoops up a much wider pool of ideas that are relevant to your business and brings attention to the nitty-gritty details which can de-mystify a problem.

There are though, many ways of encouraging co-creation, of which I will pick up on again soon. Until then I would love to know your thoughts and ideas too.

Today we access the internet on a smartphone, tablet, PC even TV, but behind every screen, there is a person. This user lives in a country, grew up in a society and there is no doubt that their offline behaviours and choices are influenced by their cultural values.

So, to what extent does culture influence our behaviour online? Well, quite a lot it turns out!

Our recent study of 1800 people from 9 different countries shows that culture does significantly impact our behaviours online. For example, when we compare Japan and South Korea, both are technologically advanced but differences exist in how they use the Internet. As a nation, Koreans are more open to try new things and place a strong emphasis on the connections and feelings with others. These cultural traits are seen in their use of the Internet too. They place a high importance on expressing opinions and sharing content while in contrast, Japanese consumers are much more reserved, which is mirrored in their use of the Internet, appreciating it as a functional, information tool rather than as a source of entertainment.

If we look further into the use of Social Networking we find even greater cultural differences emerging, with very wide differences occurring in Europe alone. The Spanish emphasis on family and communication leads to one of the strongest connections with social sites, showing the broadest repertoire of use - friendship ties but also strong family connections. In contrast, Germans focus their social networking more on acquaintances than family, as these sites are associated with professionalism and business use.

So, how important is it for a business to understand the extent of these cultural influences?

Today, the fact that a company is online no longer gives an advantage over competitors. All companies are. Consumer's choice is immense. The challenge is to appeal to the customer and deliver outstanding customer care. If you own or run a business, are responsible for a marketing campaign, customer engagement strategy, customer service management or customer base expansion, should you consider the cultural influences on digital behaviour? Should you understand how culture influences the use of the internet? Yes, you definitely should!

If you are asking yourself, how to deliver an outstanding service to the international customer base, how to enter new markets or appeal to new customers … We have some answers!

The athletes are limbering up on the starting line in the e-lympic stadium. In today's race we have the Bulletin Board Focus Groups (BB FG) and the Live Chat Focus Groups (LC FG).

The media has been whipping up a storm about the rivalry between these two consumer research competitors.

But what are their strengths and weaknesses? Let's take a look at their profiles:

Bulletin Board Focus Group		Live Chat Focus Group
	Competing since: Late 90s Performance summary: Fifteen years of competition have changed BB out of all recognition. Stats: The larger of the two competitors, with 10 to 30 participants per group Best times: 1 day - Several weeks Strengths: Allows more time for customers to reflect upon their answers. Does not require constant commitment - participants, clients and moderators can dip in and out of the group. Weaknesses: Potentially less interaction between group members. Harder to probe on key points.		Competing since: Mid 00s Performance summary: A relative new-comer to competition. Stats: Quick and agile, with 8-10 participants. Best times: 60 - 120 minutes Strengths: Probe instantly on respondents points. Get feedback fast. Cover a lot of ground. High levels of collaboration. Weaknesses: Participants need to dedicate an hour or two of their time. Being able to type quickly is useful.

Then a funny thing happened to the forum.  It became laden with a huge burden of expectation, with would-be forum-ites demanding cheap, self-perpetuating, plentiful insight from customers.

Is this justified?

What a forum is

• A way for customers to build up online connections and even friendships leading to a stronger community.
• A space for reflective discussion about your brand, your competitors and your customers' lives.
• Cheaper to run than face-to-face research (but more resource intensive than you might think!).
• A way of involving and engaging large numbers of customers.
• A quick way to get a snapshot of opinion.
• A way to generate ideas which can then be tested using research methods.
• A window into the thoughts of consumers, through which we can start to see the questions we should be asking that we never thought to ask.

What a forum isn't

Quant!

Self-perpetuating

You can't just drop a few hundred customers into a virtual box for a few months, and then expect them to have somehow magically created insight about your brand the next time you take the lid off.  Unless you have an extremely engaging brand with a highly motivated set of customers to start with, you will need to intervene, prompt, cajole, scold and ask questions.  Even if you think your customers (or even staff) are that engaged, they're probably not.

Guaranteed to answer all your questions

Some questions just don't engage customers. Or the weather might be nice and they're not logging in.  Or they misconstrue the question, wilfully or otherwise.  If you want to make sure that you have a structured discussion, with carefully probed responses from a certain number of customers in a set time-frame, write a carefully planned topic guide and run an online focus group. 

In summary, used correctly and with your expectations pitched according to its strengths, the forum can be a very useful tool in the online research repertoire.

This is significant for a number of reasons as it was originally conceived as the future of Freeview and was designed to bring 'connected TV' to the masses. In short, it has been designed to change the nation's viewing habits for good.

However, it's been beset with problems and has launched 2 years late and analysts have been rather less than impressed – lukewarm at best. The £299 price tag for a box has taken the gloss of it somewhat, but also, evidently the product doesn't offer much in the way of vision either.

But this isn't the first time analysts have been less than impressed. Hard to imagine now, but 2-3 years ago analysts weren't overly keen on the iPad – why, they asked, do consumers need this when they have laptops that are technically superior and cheaper? Good question, but behaviour is a funny thing and indeed there was a gap for a tablet device and now it seems, they are the future.

For a good review of YouView, read this Telegraph story from the weekend:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9381795/YouView-presents-businesses-with-a-real-opportunity.html

So what does this mean for consumer research? Well not much has been written about this so far, so maybe it means nothing. Compared to the buzz around Google Surveys and Facebook 'Wants', YouView hasn't notched up a lot of column inches!

This is a mistake. I believe that YouView will be a massive success – for all of the reasons identified in the Telegraph article. It will speed up the adoption of Connected TVs significantly.

The critical point for research is that soon we will have another (much larger) screen connected to the internet and giving us a new way to interact with consumers and get feedback. We will have yet another 'app store' to consider. Another new tool in our armoury.

So what are the possible opportunities:

• First up, how about a depth interview? I suspect one future use of connected TVs will be video calling, via Skype type services
• This also opens up a great way to get feedback from the whole family – unlike a tablet or smartphone, we get a whole group of people in one room discussing with us
• What about surveys? Researchers are only just getting their heads around smartphone surveys but what happens when people start choosing to do them via connected TVs? That will change the survey dynamic again
• Gamification and fun collaborative surveys should love this new format – family feedback; fun, engaging games, all of this will take on a new meaning with connected TVs
• Advertising feedback and interactive response – I've no idea about how this works but TV interactivity is likely to take a step up in the next few years. What does that mean for customer feedback?
• Our research communities and panels will also have to adapt, giving the option of participants using the connected TV to get involved

Be creative

Something to consider is that people hate to be asked the same question and, in my experience, you're far more likely to be criticised for this by the over 45s than you are the under 25s. So, if you have to ask the same question, be creative in how you do it.

Don't bore your community members, don't just re-phrase the question and start a new forum topic; use your imagination and make the most of the tools you have at your disposal!

Here's an example, you receive a request from an online client, where the simple answer would be run a few threads and polls. At Intersperience we're lucky to be able to think outside the box; we can use a multitude of techniques with an interesting twist to strive for the answers. Ultimately, we avoid making the tasks tedious and in the long term provide far greater insight to our clients.

See value in experience

Regardless of age, members who feel they are valued are much more likely to participate. Make the most of the experience and knowledge of the older age groups; take an interest and probe that little bit further.

Not only might you uncover some new insight, you'll make members feel valued and the next time you ask them something, they'll want to share.

Delegate community responsibilities

Every online community has at least one member who has to have the first post on new content. It's very likely that these members are aged over 45 and if you run a branded customer panel, are highly critical of the brand. Whilst this level of engagement is great, it can be intimidating to less active members.

Give these members a Community Leader badge. Encourage them to act as ambassadors of the community; commend them for their enthusiasm; ask them to welcome new members and encourage people to post on current discussions but without necessarily posting first. It will maintain their engagement and boost that of others.

Tailor your communication

Over 45's aren't digital natives and as mentioned are the most critical audience: so keep that in mind when communicating with them.

If you need to give instructions for an online task make the instructions clear and easy to follow. 

Moderation and facilitation will also need to be carefully thought out - perhaps don't send invites to more off topic activities to those known to be highly critical; otherwise you might see responses such as this “I've lost my head why **** are asking about pancake day…” – and yes, someone did post that this year!

Don't over play social networking 

Last but not least. Social networking might be playing an ever growing part in our lives but some of our research showed that people over 45 are generally less engaged with Facebook. So trying too hard to engage with someone this age via this channel could well leave you red in the face and have the opposite effect than the one desired. Instead use email; they'll be a lot more receptive.

Whilst there are lots of other ways to maximise the engagement of the over 45s, these 5 should go a long way to helping. Use them alongside strategies to maximise the participation of the under 25s and you will see your online research communities going from strength to strength.

If you take anything away from this blog, let it be this quote from an anonymous author;

“Humour helps us to think out of the box. The average child laughs about 400 times per day, the average adult laughs only 15 times per day. What happened to the other 385 laughs?”

Keep this in mind and not only will you be more creative in your research techniques, you'll see much higher levels of engagement from the older members of your research panel and you'll gain some invaluable insights.

With social media usage constantly growing and extending to a wider range of people, it is now of great interest to market researchers to capitalise on this large pool of customers using social media to express attitudes towards brands (53% of active adult social networkers follow a brand).

The demand for consumer research through social media sites has been clearly recognised by Twitter who have recently started selling data to research companies, with reportedly more than 1,000 companies joining a waiting list to use this data.

"We want to collect the voice of the customer through all means necessary, including social media"

(Mike Moran, 2011)

Integrating Social Media Research with Online Research Communities

Social media can complement consumer research at every stage in a project's design. Taking the pros and cons into account, it's best used as part of a mixed research approach and is at its best when combined with other online research techniques, especially online research communities.

In this way, the trends picked up in social media can then be explored further inside the research community. The community is used to dig deeper into the motivations, influences and context behind what is observed in social media. At Intersperience, our research communities can also be informed by customer panel databases, adding much more depth and background to the consumer's behaviour. Customer segments can be separated, response to stimulus explored and specific issues debated.

Moran, M. (2011) Will social media listening replace market research? Available at: http://www.biznology.com/2011/04/will_social_media_listening_re/ [Accessed: May 17th, 2012]

Following feedback from many of our community members and clients, who are steeped in Facebook, we've moved on to a system of 'like' buttons.  And I have to say, we're loving 'liking'!

enables gamification through ranking of panellists by number of likes.

forges bonds between community members.

provides community members and panellists with an interface they're more used to.

acts as a quick voting system, turning qual into quant.

As ways of engaging participants in online research communities have got more sophisticated, we now create leader boards of activity and now likes.  It will be interesting to see what we're doing in another 5 years' time!

'Cultural awareness' is a hot topic in today's globalised (market research) world. There is hardly a researcher who hasn't been confronted with typical issues and challenges that revolve around cultural awareness: translating market research into different languages and taking into account all the fine details, the challenges of making the participant feel 'at home' during a survey or interview; accounting for time zones, public bank holidays and cultural preferences; making sure our survey instruments account for cultural diversity (survey response bias, scales etc.), to name just a few.

But sometimes I get the impression that market research can get a bit lost – we worry about details and the most minute cultural facets in a market research project. One can lose sight of the bigger picture. How do we at Intersperience avoid getting lost, how do we step back to see the wood, and not just the trees?

Step 1 - Treasure the skill of suspending judgement and pausing for a moment

It's tempting to jump to conclusions, but it rarely helps your objective – look at the situation and collect as much information as you can before entering the next stage of evaluation. E.g. “A project has come in for Switzerland.” Stop and think. E.g. what are your language requirements: is there a need to cover multiple official languages (Switzerland: French, Italian, German, Rhaeto-Romanic) or to consider regional subtleties?

Step 2 - Evaluate and check assumptions

During evaluation there is a need to regularly check your assumptions, re-evaluate and adjust where necessary. E.g. cultural traits can lead to response bias: Hispanic respondents (compared to non-Hispanics) typically show not only a strong response bias, but also use fewer midpoints on a typical 1-7 scale (Culpepper, 2006).

Remember: Not-knowing is not a bad thing

Let's admit that we don't know. Let's assume there are differences. Let's investigate to find out what we need to know.

It might seem obvious, but to call on a (native) colleague, a native speaker or a professional (translator, statistician, psychologist, cultural expert) who has the specific expertise needed in your case can go a very long way. It will help you to stay on track, point you into the right direction or simply confirm your assumptions and judgement.

In order to make the most of diversity, to embrace and value it, we need to be comfortable with accepting some ambiguity and being confronted with differing views on action, priorities and outcomes. But that's exactly the beauty of cultural diversity and what strengthens intercultural relationships – working together and joining forces. For us researchers this ultimately means that our efforts will result in a better cultural understanding, precisely tailored research and truly culturally sensitive results that make a difference.

Culpepper, R. A. (2006). Culture-Based Extreme Response Bias in Surveys Employing Variable Response Items: An Investigation of Response Tendency Among Hispanic-Americans. Journal of International Business Research, Vol. 5.

It should be noted that here I'm talking about live chat focus groups with around 6-10 participants lasting for 1 – 2 hours, rather than asynchronous bulletin board groups.

1)    Focus, focus, focus!

In all types of focus groups, having a specific topic for discussion really helps, but for online groups this is even more important.  Not everyone is a top touch-typist, or used to using Instant Messaging and quite as quick at responding as you'd like.  This means that your carefully planned but jam-packed topic guide with input from everyone across the business might go out of the window and you find that you never get to that vital last section.

2)    Be a top touch-typist

It's far from essential (especially when you can pre-load questions and prompts), but for ad-hoc responses and probing, it makes life useful to be able to post a speedy reply before the discussion moves on.  Now where did I leave that 'Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing' disc?*

3)    Have a road map for the group – and share it with group members.

Participating in an online focus group could be a disenfranchising experience if you've not taken part in a group before and aren't sure what is expected of you and when.  If you're talking about a process or customer journey, why not tell participants at the start of the discussion what you'll be discussing using a diagram or map, then refer back to it throughout the group, for instance at the start of each section?  This helps frame the discussion and participant expectations and can also help reassure them that they won't be expected to hang on online all afternoon!

4)    Mix it up

A variety of methods is even more important in online groups than in face-to-face groups as they help to break up large amounts of text-based discussion.  Images to be annotated, quick 'shows of hands' and showing stimuli (images and video) break the experience up for participants, and also allow a bit of 'breathing space' for participants, moderator and any clients viewing as well as facilitating great feedback on images, ads and concepts.

5)    Respond and reflect

Good practice in a face to face group but even more important when moderating online! Without feedback, response and reflection, participants start to feel that they are involved in an online survey rather than a live discussion.  Further, reflecting on people's points, asking for examples, sympathising, explaining and so on go a long way to showing that they are engaged with a real researcher and not a chat-bot!

Why not share your top tips and online focus group experiences with us using the submit comments form below?

*Other online typing teachers are available!

Donald Rumsfeld, 2002

One of the most widely-reported benefits of online research is its speed and, moreover, economy – it is seen by many as a way of generating quick, cheap and plentiful 'insights'; “the growth of online technology has enabled researchers to offer clients a fast and cost effective method for reaching their target audiences” (The MRS, 2007).

However, at Intersperience, we would argue that whilst online research can be quicker, and might be cheaper, this is to miss one of the major benefits of this approach.

Traditionally, research was a 'one-shot' effort. The client would brief an agency, the agency would submit a research proposal, design and sample plan, carry out the research then report it.

If the research raised new research questions, or the product or the initial concept was rethought during the course of the study, then it would be time to start the whole process again.

Online research, especially in research communities or research panel based form, however, allows new ways for clients and agencies to work together.

Due to the combination of a database of participants and tools to connect with them, whether the online panel or community is continuous or ad hoc, there is scope for working in a new kind of way.

Has the research raised a new question you want a quick response to? Pop up a poll and start a debate on the subject.

Realised you need more specific feedback from one particular group of people? Target them with a new research activity.

Need to know what people are saying about a particular topic? Search and filter the conversations that have been taking place, then contact those community members who have been most vocal on the issue to conduct a one to one interview or focus group.

As Tim Britton points out, (Research Live, http://www.research-live.com/magazine/tell-us-something-we-dont-know/4005177.article) longer term ways of interacting with both clients and participants means that over time, we can build up a big picture of customers'lives, preferences and habits. This means that we can follow the customer over time through their interaction with a brand, and follow up on interesting experiences.

The main advantage of online research, therefore, may well be to be able to discover 'unknown unknowns' – the factors of key importance to a customer that we had just not thought about asking about but had never considered might be a big deal.

However, on closer inspection, our research (conducted through our syndicated online research community, TrendSpot) shows that online retailers are not taking full advantage of their position and sales could and should have been higher.

1 in 2 online shoppers experienced some form a problem or difficulty with their online shopping. Some 26% noted stock shortages and 25% had a delay with delivery. More alarming still was the 9% who didn't receive at least one gift in time for Christmas day. This figure is half what it was last year, when twice as many didn't a present in time for the big day – the snow obviously had a big impact – but nearly 1 in 10 is quite a large chunk of your customers being frustrated.

And annoyed, they were……

“So, no Christmas present for my son, who goes without! A very frustrating experience! This has made me more wary of using unknown websites”

“Next year I will think again before ordering online”

“The experience has meant that I will never shop online with them again”

“Won't buy this type of gift online anymore”

“I was annoyed and frustrated, so had to then give up and went into town instead”

“…go elsewhere and got a different one. I would though be more cautious of ordering from Tesco as this kind of thing should not happen to a website/company as big as this, especially with no proper form of apology”

These problems do take their toll. After last year's severe problems, 9% of shoppers were put off spending their money online this year. That's right – the proportion of UK shoppers who actually shopped online fell this year for the first time. Despite the headline growth in sales, it appears fewer shoppers parted with their money through websites. The traffic to sites was up, the use of the web to search out bargains was up – but 9% chose not to spend online after last year. This wasn't a freak occurrence; we and other organisations predicted it before Christmas .

Perhaps most startling was the impact on under 25s – 44% of under 25s who didn't shop online cited worries about delivery as their reason for not buying online. The figure was half that for over 25s.

As online retail matures, these things will matter more. As with any other business, service, dissatisfaction, trust and word of mouth are the things that drive customers to your business or away from it. In the words of one customer, “…how they handle your concerns and complaints when things go wrong is really important for online customer loyalty”

Online will continue to grow without a doubt; as the headline sales figures demonstrate, there is a big appetite for its convenience amongst UK shoppers. As the press focuses on what impact this has on our high streets, where the bloodbath is likely to be severe, individual online retailers need to improve if they are going to survive in the long term.

Behind the headlines lurks a creeping distrust and dissatisfaction.

"Facebook Places seems to work fairly well but they want to make a big play in this area," said Lee Bryant, the European managing director of Dachis Group, a social media consultancy.

The point is that location matters. As researchers, we know this. We know that location is a key influencer in how we behave, how we experience a brand or how we choose a product. In the future, we have to ensure that we use the mobile as a way to better understand the influence of location.

I would argue that location is a real game changer in market research. Location should be at the top of our minds, our development agendas, conference topics and the buzz word for 2012.

Mobile research shouldn't just be about creating apps that replicate traditional research methods, such as surveys. This won't harness the unique element that mobile brings to the party. Mobile is unique amongst devices because it is emotionally so important to us all – it's the device they are most emotionally attached to; the one that goes everywhere with them. It is their problem-solver, their connection to friends and a companion for when they are bored on a train.

What does this mean for research? In September 2010, Research Live published an interesting article that summarised some of the innovations being talked about in the industry. It's a good read. It isn't exhaustive but touches on some of the key ways of using the unique characteristics of mobile to do something different; to add understanding about location into our data sets and more action to our recommendations. But it's worrying that just as the big titans of social networking and retailing begin to really focus on how they will harness SoLoMo (the intersection of Social, Location and Mobile) the market research industry is still mainly focussed with other aspects – gamification, social media monitoring to name but two. If there's one thing I'd ask for in 2012 its more emphasis on how we can use the unique intersection of Location, Mobile and maybe Social networking to take MR to the next level.

Location is the new real-estate – it's what Facebook knows and it's what we need to address as an industry.

Yet when we analyse the timeline the death of the physical CD has been relatively slow, it has taken a whole decade and the CD is still alive and HMV still breathing, if not kicking!

Our research is now picking up a lot of interest in e-readers and the Kindle, to the extent that in our Christmas research for 2011, 24% of people buying tech presents put the Kindle at the top of their list. This is well ahead of last year and far outstrips the demand for other gadgets such as tablets or smartphones. Our online research community, TrendSpot has seen a lot of debate about the pros and cons of e-readers, with many outlining the price as a key reason for it being top of their Christmas lists this year:

“I put my Kindle at the top of my favourites because it is such an excellent device if you love reading and not too expensive. Smartphones, tablets and laptops make great gifts, but their price puts them out of most people's price range for presents.”

Yet, one of the most interesting things about this rise of the e-reader is that people who want e-readers tend to be over 30, with popularity rising in the older categories. Last year, we saw similar demand amongst these age groups the i-Pad.

This analysis leads me to conclude that the Kindle and e-readers may lead to a revolution in reading and book sales far far quicker than a lot of people would have thought possible. I would even stick my neck out and predict that the digital revolution in reading habits will be faster and farther reaching than that seen in the music industry.

The reason is simple: to date, it has been the older demographic who have been attached to 'tangible' things – such as books, CDs, DVDs. For a long time, we've liked the touch and feel of 'real things', having them on our shelves and on show. The digital music revolution started amongst kids and teenagers, where they were comfortable with buying things that didn't exist – intangibles. They didn't care so much for the physical product. The revolution then spread, slowly at first, to the older groups, who still cared for the CD.

In the case of digital books and e-readers, the revolution seems to be starting amongst the older age groups – and taking off at quite a pace according to the research and comments we've seen. This all points to them putting down the physical book and 'picking up' the digital form far far quicker than they did with music.

Don't say you haven't been warned!

However, there is still a group that often eludes market researchers and online communities – that being of the under 25's. In this article I will explore aspects of young people's behaviour online, common pitfalls and tips for engagement.

If you make it – will they come?

There's a common misconception that younger people will be the most actively engaged in online research as they are the most frequent users of the internet (73% of under 25's chat with friends online every day). However, just being online gives you no guarantee that young people will get involved in what you are offering. Make yourself present in online environments they already use – set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account for example. At Intersperience we have integrated our communities with Facebook, making access to the site, updates and research invites even easier.

Digital Natives

Under 25's are often referred to as 'Digital Natives' - having grown up in a world that is far more connected and technologically advanced than ever. Digital Natives are not shy of using the internet, they are already comfortable and most likely experienced in the ways of sharing videos and photos, posting comments, playing games and conducting their own research online. Therefore ensuring the use of a variety of different research techniques that are both interesting and entertaining will go a long way to enhancing user experience and increasing engagement.

A Need for Speed

However, this does not mean over-complicated, flashy websites are necessarily the way to go. Under 25's are used to instant everything; from fast food to instant messaging, simplicity and speed are key. Young people like to express their views in a quick and easy way, take the example of the Facebook 'like' button or Twitter's micro-blogging – simple ideas that have had huge success.

Accessibility is also vital in the modern age with the rise of the smartphone, young people are connected 24/7. Sending out bite-size research via mobile or creating a mobile app for your site could work well, however make this too complicated and time-consuming and again response rates could be low.

Personality vs. Anonymity

Young people are more creative when it comes to their online persona and like to be able to design the environment they're in, making it as individual as they are. The ability to change colour schemes, backgrounds and in particular profile pictures are important in enabling this. The ability to create a personal profile, where you are able to express your likes and interests as well as upload photos and videos is also a tool which will help engagement.

However, Digital Natives are extremely savvy when it comes to sharing their personal details online, a comforting thought for parents but a potential barrier for market researchers. Incentives may encourage sharing of personal information, answering the common 'what's in it for me?', but how can you trust that details provided are not false? The key here is to create a secure environment where young people are able to be as anonymous as they wish and express their views without being identified or feeling judged.

However, when it comes to surveys, we have found that research participants themselves are already forging a way ahead.

In a recent 16 question customer satisfaction survey by Intersperience for a company whose customer base has a lower than average ownership of mobile devices, we found that at least 16% of respondents responded via some sort of mobile device (whether phone or dongle) – this included 4% who completed the survey on a Blackberry.

Further, users of our online research platforms are increasingly accessing communities and panels of which they are member on their phones.  Smartphones also allow our research team and our clients to access communities wherever they are.

Increasingly, 'the internet' means 'mobile' to younger people – who don't see a distinction  between online and offline, mobile internet and non-mobile internet, so this trend is set to increase further.

This raises two considerations:

1) User experience:

We need to make the experience of using online surveys and communities mobile friendly as a matter of priority as we may be losing participants whose main form of access to the internet is via mobile.  This is particularly important for the hard-to-reach 18-25 age group.

This means thinking about the layout of online surveys, the styles of questions asked and the length.  The amount of time spent browsing on mobile internet is much shorter than on other devices, although this is gradually increasing.

2) Validity of responses:

When we're writing online surveys, there is often an underlying assumption from the researcher that the participant is sitting at home in a relatively peaceful environment, using a laptop or PC to provide considered feedback on a given topic.

We know that situation (especially physical surroundings, time and task) affects perception of service.  For mobile, that situation is “unstable” and less fixed.

When participants start completing surveys on the mobile web, our assumptions are challenged.  We can be less certain in our assumptions about where they are, who they are with and how much time they have to complete the task. Therefore, we need to think more deeply about how people are answering our surveys and whether their responses are valid.

We manage online communities where customers not only have the opportunity to answer surveys, vote on polls, join focus groups and take part in other research activities; but also to interact with one another, trade tips and advice and gain feedback into what their research has provided.

A strong research community is not only an ideal platform on which to launch research projects and conduct pilot testing to gauge consumer reaction, but also an enjoyable space that customers actively want to be engaged in.

We have identified several common elements that a research community must possess a combination of in order to be successful.

1. Is it an established community? Bonds take time to grow and often a research community needs to develop with a bit of TLC in order to flourish and bear useful feedback and insights.

2. Does it have a 'core' group of users? Often in online communities it takes a couple of members to take the lead in creating content and sparking debate, other than the moderator. These advocates can be powerful assets to the community and should be encouraged and rewarded for their efforts. Others will recognise these familiar voices of the community and may be more inclined to join in themselves.

3. Is there a high level of research content? Customers have joined the community on the basis of having their say and providing feedback to the company, so make sure it's there for them to do!

4. Do the consumers have a strong attachment to the brand? Consumers who feel passionate about the company, even if by means of a complaint, will be more likely to get engaged in activities in the hope of making a difference. If the company themselves have a strong online presence this also helps to facilitate people joining and staying in the community.

5. Is there a range of activities for members to do? No one wants to fill in endless lengthy surveys; make research activities fun and varied incorporating visual aids, games etc and you will see interest and engagement increase. Also, bear in mind that people vary in what activities and to what extent they prefer to take part, so make sure your community caters for all.

6. Do customers feel they are being heard? Customers like to know that their opinions are valued and taken on board. For this reason it is important not to overlook providing feedback on research and how it has been used, even if this is by means of having a few set questions to answer at the end of each research project to give back to the community. Customers will then feel like they matter and that being a member is worthwhile.

7. Are there good incentives for contribution? You don't get something for nothing, if customers are spending their time and effort to give you feedback, then they need to feel as though they are getting something in return. This could be regular prize draws, vouchers for completing certain tasks or even merchandise or tickets to events. Good incentives certainly help response rates, but do not put all your members in the same boat. More engaged members care more about intangible incentives such as feeling valued and listened to, whilst others will need the nudge of a prize opportunity to log in and take part.

8. Want to be friends? Finally, it's not all about the 'researcher – customer' experience but also the relationship between members. Members need to be able to talk to one another, discuss their interests and share their points of view. The research community can be a place that brings those with a common interest together, helping to form real friendships where members want to log in and chat.

Our 'Digital Selves' research has shown how little this group use email, with online communication for them being all about social networking sites, such as Facebook. For them, this is about communication, not entertainment.

The surprising thing is that community style research is actually better at engaging older demographics who are keen to learn to use forums and blogs in what they see as relatively safe branded spaces. For them, branded communities are more easily understood than Facebook. On the other hand, research has shown that the younger demographic are keen to stay anonymous where brands are concerned, willing only to communicate on their terms, when they want.

Everyone from the local hairdresser to huge multinationals are suddenly talking to their customers – and potential customers via SNS.

By integrating our online communities and panels with Facebook, we hope to address the following points:

1. Engaging younger customers in their space:
   
   The under-25s are notoriously hard to reach with traditional research methods. In fact, even online, community-based research hasn't proved to be the key to reaching this group. We need to be talking to them via the channels they use: Facebook being the most popular.
   
   
2. Facebook is increasingly used instead of email:
   
   Facebook is increasingly being used as a main means of online communication. Therefore, rather than our emails falling into the black hole of an unchecked email account, we'll be joining the stream of conversation which makes up participants everyday lives. This will, lead to higher levels of engagement and keep us in participants' social loop.
   
   
3. Pass it on:
   
   In 2010 we introduced our 'Invite a Friend' function to our platforms and started to receive referrals to our in-house online research community: TrendSpot. We can take this one step further with Facebook integration. Now, panellists can share the news about TrendSpot with their Facebook friends who will be able to join the panel using their Facebook login details, so they're only a few clicks away being panel members.
   
   
4. If it isn't on Facebook it doesn't exist.
   
   In this day and age, we take it for granted that we can find out anything about everything on the web. Any company, organisation or institution without a plausible looking web presence is regarded with suspicion at the very least and in the last couple of years the addition of that little blue Facebook button has become almost mandatory. Therefore, not only does being on Facebook allow us to connect to community members and join their social network, it also keeps our platforms real.

In this Vlog, Paul Hudson, CEO introduces the M-Age and the challenge that the economic fruition of this generation presents for business; a challenge which will be addressed in more depth at Open Ideas.

For the full Open Ideas agenda, venue details and booking information click here

But when it comes to online groups, there is far more variation in what is promoted as an online focus group. For some, it's half a dozen respondents on the phone and/or webcam, responding to slides posted by a moderator. For others, it's an asynchronous discussion forum with a limited number of customers over a short period of time (aka a bulletin board focus group).

What we call an online focus group, however, is 6 to 10 participants engaged in a real time online chat, with questions posed by a moderator in a special, closed, invite-only chat environment, perhaps with clients watching in their own online 'client room', attended to by an online host.

Online focus groups like this have many advantages:

• They're great in getting detailed feedback on copy, marketing concepts, adverts and packaging.
• They're relatively quick and easy to convene, especially if you already have participants engaged in an online community.
• It means that customers from a broad geographical region (or even different countries) can join together to share their views.
• It is more convenient for customers to take part – which is especially important for groups such as professionals and those with young families.
• Researchers and clients don't have to travel.
• Moderators can show visual, audio and video stimuli.
• Participants are more likely to be disinhibited by a degree of anonymity.
• Transcripts are already in text format and ready to analyse.

There are, of course, downsides:

• Depending on the number and type of participants the chat can be fast and therefore it can be difficult to follow up points raised and generate debate.
• Less technologically literate participants less used to chat formats may feel disenfranchised by online groups (though pre-group practice sessions may help these users).
• It's harder to gauge meaning from facial expression and body language (though both participants and moderators are increasingly using chat and social networking as a first choice for communication, and so feel at home with strategies for conveying meaning online, such as text speak and use of emoticons).
• There are no chocolates on the table in the middle!

A final 'word to the wise' - although online focus groups score highly on convenience, cost effectiveness and afford flexibility, they shouldn't be seen as 'quick and dirty' research. They still require thought and time to go into design, sampling, recruitment, writing the topic guide – and, most of all, with a typical transcript running to 23 sides of A4, interpretation!

Also, they are not a replacement for face-to-face groups, but rather an additional technique in the researcher's toolkit. It is best to combine both face-to-face and online groups, or to combine with other qualitative and/or quantitative research methods.

Take my recent experience with my broadband supplier. I contacted them because I was having difficulty switching to online billing, I had recently moved house and my online account was somehow still 'connected' to my old address. The 'moving house' system had failed and I had to ring to 'fix it'.

I couldn't find a phone number on the website. All I could find was a 'self-help' system. Another 10 minutes studying that was no help at all! When I finally found a number, from a marketing leaflet, I went through to the sales line. The website made it very difficult for an existing customer to get help; trying to divert contact towards lower cost online help systems.

The agent explained that to switch to online billing, I would need to do it via my online account; he couldn't do it over the phone. I explained the problem and he managed to alter my online account to my new address. I asked again if he could now switch me to online billing, but he couldn't. I pointed out that he was logged in to my account, so it would be quicker and handier if he could adjust it for me. He explained that wasn't possible, I would have to log on.

The agent could fix part of the problem (the part that of moving home process that was broken) but couldn't actually solve my reason for calling – because the process wouldn't allow it, despite the fact it would have been quicker for me to do it on the phone, there and then.

After the call, I was asked to rate the customer service. I thought the feedback would help. The feedback specifically asked me to rate the agent. But the problem wasn't him it was the processes that were broken.

A feedback system that was truly interested in improving the customer's experience would evaluate the whole experience, not just the part the organisation is interested in. But in truth the system is put in place to make training and coaching easier. To the customer, this feels all wrong. It actually feels like you are not interested in hearing their views. I felt frustrated and annoyed at the end of my experience anyway, but this system made me even angrier. It was as if the organisation was trying to say “we're not interested in your views, just what we need to know to make our jobs easier”.

The final result is not at all customer focussed, only internally focused and self-seeking on the part of the organisations.

Isn't it time we put the customer back into customer service?

In this Vlog, Paul Hudson, CEO explains the need for engaging the digital age and introduces the purpose of Open Ideas.

The agenda can be found here

More details and booking can be found here at www.intersperience.com/open-ideas

For a long time, I have always believed and stated that communication will always breed more communication. We humans tend to be social animals after all. And providing any information about anything tends to engage the reader and can lead to more questions. In fact, 'engagement' is often a measure of success for marketing (why then in customer service, do we so often seek to 'disengage' by reducing contact?)

Effective websites should help customers answer their queries; thereby reducing the need for them to ring or email. And indeed it is true to say that some sites will be more effective than others at achieving this. But how many sites make it difficult to find a telephone number or email address? How many seem designed to be a 'replacement' for phone or email contact?

In the project analysis, only 58% found the answer to their initial question and admittedly, the better the website, the higher this rate will be. But even amongst those that did find the answer, 10% felt the need to contact the company through telephone or email. Amongst those that only found part of the answer, nearly 50% felt the need to contact, but by this time, their satisfaction had plummeted through frustration and annoyance.

Opening up new channels of communication is likely to breed more contact in total. It also makes it more critical for seamless integration and excellent customer experience – as frustration and annoyance can rise fast.

Throughout 20 years of inspiring and training professionals to understand the customer's perspective and empathize to build customer loyalty, I have seen some who are naturally good at it, some who learn it, and others who struggle with it.

Most puzzling to me have been those whom I have seen empathizing with customers — except with angry or irate customers. If you or your customer care reps find it difficult to empathize with customers — especially angry or irate customers — is fear of emotion part of the reason? I believe that it could be. I have met professionals (many not even in customer care) who are afraid to empathize with a colleague, a customer, or even a boss. They have said to me, “What if the person gets more emotional when I empathize?”

Moreover, recent research has taken on the subject of negative emotions and empathy. In one such study, subjects empathized more with those who showed fear than with those who showed anger. Turning Bad Emotions Into Empathy and ProSocial Behavior post reports: “While there is a huge range of human emotion, recent studies have suggested that a fearful facial expression is a more salient elicitor of prosocial behavior than are other facial expressions, such as surprise or anger.”

Empathy - Lose the Fear By:Zaaracollier

Are you more likely to show empathy to a customer who shows you their fear — credit card problems or serious technical difficulties or critical health issues — rather than their anger? Is it because their fear doesn't frighten you but their anger does?

The issue is critical in customer service, technical support, and customer care because it affects customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Showing empathy to customers, angry or not, builds bonds to your product, service, and brand.

Lose the fear of the customer's anger to build your empathy skills. Here is a post to help you do exactly that Two Mindsets to Show Empathy for Irate Customers.

What else do you think blocks people's ability to show empathy? We welcome your comments below.

It is true that online sales continue to grow at a staggering rate – up 18% this Christmas from 2009 and accounted for about 10.6% of all retail sales. Without a doubt, this is phenomenal growth at a time when household budgets are under the cosh and overall retail sales were down. But if we dig a little further into the figures we see that there is a weakness that is hidden by this topline growth.

Within our TrendSpot Christmas project we survey what people expect to spend at Christmas and then compare what they actually did against this. This extra analysis uncovers an important insight: Online sales should have been higher.

If online retailers were on top of their game, they would have achieved higher sales in both 2009 and 2010. In 2010, 89% of people had planned to shop online but in fact only 81% actually did and of those, 68% experienced some kind of problem and 25% spent less as a result. In short, less was spent online than customers had intended.

The bad weather partly explains this poor performance, with snow delaying deliveries. However, customers also spent less online than they had planned in 2009, when 48% experienced problems and 29% reported stock shortages, indicating retailers weren't keeping up with demand.

The online retail sector needs to grow up and come of age. Here, I strongly agree with the conclusion of Scott Thompson, Retail Systems, “Online retail will no doubt continue to perform strongly during 2011, but the Intersperience research shows that there is much work to be done on the customer service/satisfaction side of things”

Online retail needs to improve in the following 5 ways;

1. Fulfillment and customer satisfaction. An area that the Christmas data shows to fall short of expectations.
2. Customer service. One area where online retail falls far short of the high street.
3. Understand customer needs. Online shoppers are not homogenous. Understand the different needs of each segment and design services to meet each.
4. Improve the customer experience. This has improved in leaps and bounds in recent years but each customer group will have a different browsing style and level of confidence. Serve each differently.
5. Becoming truly multi-channel. Partly about a ubiquitous presence on all channels but increasingly about understanding the 'role' that each channel plays in supporting the other. For example, mobile is unlikely to be a key transactional channel just yet but it does play an important role in the decision making process.

Our February eJournal will have a feature on this issue. Sign up here. It will be published mid-February.

See also "Online sales fail to meet expectations"; 1 in 6 gifts go missing

See also "Online shopping fans"; Under 25's enjoy online shopping less than over 25's

Self-service offers many benefits to the customer – convenience, speed and control – and also great cost-saving benefits to organizations. In many ways, self-service is a 'win-win'. Customers like to use self-service and it is true we are all more satisfied with a solution that helps us beat queues and crowds and allows us to transact from the comfort of our own homes.

However, a great mistake that I hear time and again from organizations and continuously repeated at conferences is how the words 'self-service' are inter-changed at will with 'customer service'. Let me be clear; self-service is not the same thing as customer service. They are two terms with very different meanings.

We asked customers what words they associated with 'self-service' and also which they associated with 'customer service'. The answers were very very different; customers do not perceive self service as being the same thing as customer service.

Customer perception is that self-service is associated with speed, convenience, simplicity……and technology – but not associated with offering support, being caring, or personalised. However, the words 'customer service' is associated with care, support, personalised, but less associated with being fast and convenient.

Companies need to 'tune into' the fact that these are two very different things – almost two channels, if you like. They therefore do not necessarily substitute. Both are needed. Self service does not replace customer service, it adds to it, complements it. Customer service – in the sense that it offers 'support' is still needed.

And here is the rub – when we buy a product or a service, we 'implicitly' expect that company to support us when we need – so if something goes wrong, we will still expect someone or something to care for us and support us. These expectations haven't gone away and as our research shows, self service is not seen as meeting these needs.

Customers very much need both and any company that believes self-service is the same thing as customer service is mistaken. At the end of the day, customers cannot 'support' themselves in times of need. Yes, they can 'serve' themselves – but 'serve' and 'support' are not the same thing.

See also: 'The Hidden Cost of Self-Service'

This blog is all about the consumer – what they think, what they want and how they behave. It puts the customer at the heart of business issues; bringing you the latest trends interpreted through customer insight. I aim to be thought-provoking and to get 'under the skin' of consumer behaviour, to tell you what matters and to tell you what doesn't.

But this blog is bigger than just myself - we will also be featuring the best guest bloggers we can find. The aim is to bring you the best knowledge relating to consumer behaviour, social and technological change, customer experience and market research techniques.

To give you a flavour of some of the research we will be using to fuel the debate, here are some highlights of our programme for 2011:

• TrendSpot - one tool I will be drawing on a lot during the year is our online insight community that we use to continuously track and delve into customer trends – as they happen. It's a great tool for us as we can get feedback from customers at any time and get to know what matters to them in their lives. One example is our annual Christmas project – some of the findings can be viewed on our site here
  
  
• Digital Selves January 2011 The first of our new syndicates, Digital Selves is now in design phase. The project is exploring the impact technology is having on how we live and the nature of our relationships; the influence it has on the way we communicate and interact and how it is changing the way we make purchasing decisions and how we buy.
  
  
  
• Digital Futures April 2011 Here we focus specifically on those born into the digital age – those under 18. Digital Futures will consider how significant the generational differences in behaviour and technology usage is for this group, whether these behavioural differences are significant enough to suggest a genuine generational difference and if so, what impact this will have in coming years as well as the identification of sub-segments within the under-12s, 12-15s, 16-18s and 18+.
  
  
  
• The Future Consumer September 2011 Our third syndicate, The Future Consumer, will provide a pragmatic analysis of the influence of communication channels; how each channel influences our purchase decisions and our trust in brands. For the first time, we will compare traditional media channels with new media.

I look forward to sharing and discussing throughout 2011.

Exactly…and I'd also suggest hearing what isn't said is just as important in building a remarkable customer experience.

But instead, how many times do businesses listen for what they want to hear from their customers? Or maybe get defensive about what is said? Or take what is said at full face value and miss out on so much of the subtext and subtle (but far more powerful) meanings behind the customer's experience? If you're only paying attention to what sits at the surface, your business is missing important data that could mean the success or failure of your product, service, or full brand proposition.

We anthropologists are trained to uncover these clues. When we listen, we don't just use our ears – we use our full set of senses. We detect behaviors that might otherwise pass unnoticed. And we ask questions that attempt to understand how customers interact with their world and give their it meaning.

That may seem like a huge undertaking, but at the heart of our anthropological work is simplicity. Here are five simple ways to listen like an anthropologist:

• Shut up. The hardest thing for a marketer, executive, or consultant is to put away the agenda and stop talking. But do it. It is near impossible to talk and listen at the same time. Even if we don't come at a customer issue with an agenda, we may still find it difficult to keep quiet. However, if we're going to understand how to meet the needs of our customers, we've got to shut up.

• Be naive. This is the first of two steps toward having a child-like mind. As adults, we think our expertise is built on always knowing the answer (or thinking we probably know the answer). But its this very temptation to appear all-knowing that keeps us from actually knowing anything. Kids learn instinctively because they really don't know things and they ask a lot of “Why?” questions. Here's a truth: when it comes to understanding the world our customer lives in, we REALLY don't know anything.

• Get curious. Step two toward a child-like mind is getting curious. When we approach a customer from a place of UNknowing, we ask better questions. And we don't make the killer mistake of allowing assumptions to guide us.
  

• Show me. Having problems understanding what your customer is trying to express? Respond with, “Show me what you mean.” Get creative and help them show you what they're seeing, hearing, feeling, experiencing. Look for the symbolism and meaning behind what they show you.

• Record it. As anthropologists, we're trained to record every single detail we possibly can. We don't edit, we simply record because we never know what will turn out to be vitally important while sharing an experience with a customer. Don't just rely on electronic monitoring. Practice observing subtleties, seeking meaning behind the surface language and really listening for what's not being said.