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It’s not “all about you”: A more customer centric approach to customer satisfaction research
The irony of most customer satisfaction research, including Net Promoter Score, is that it uses a vendor-centric lens to evaluate the health of the customer base. The most commonly-used metrics in customer satisfaction research are more about the vendor than about the customer (e.g., likelihood to recommend, satisfaction with vendor’s service, satisfaction with vendor’s product, etc.) The reason for the vendor-centric approach is a desire to focus on the levers that the vendor controls and can take action on using the data.
Read MoreEntering new B2B technology markets and the planning fallacy
When B2B technology vendors enter new markets they often find that their success falls short of their expectations. Some of this is due to their go-to-market strategy, competitor actions and unpredictable market changes. However, many technology vendors fall victim to the planning fallacy – the tendency for individuals and organizations to under estimate challenges and to over estimate their chances of success. A useful for tool for mitigating the planning fallacy is reference class comparison.
Read More5 Questions to add to your Win/Loss analysis
Many companies conduct win/loss analysis on a formal or informal basis. These efforts often focus on product features, pricing and the performance of the sales reps which are critical to understanding the sales process.
Read MoreHumanized brands still need to be relevant and focused
Many marketers these days are focused on the importance of “humanizing” the brand in order to be more authentic and engage more deeply with customers. A lot of the discussion on this topic focuses on the opportunities (especially through social media) to showcase the real people behind a brand and engage consumers in two-way conversations.
Read MoreIt’s still the people – even with Big Data
A recent WSJ article on big data focuses on the mistakes organizations make as they implement big data initiatives. Common mistakes include being seduced by Big Data’s promise and moving forward without setting clear and achievable objectives, overestimating their staff’s abilities, trying to connect too many disparate data sources, having too many cooks in the kitchen and setting unrealistic goals. Four of these challenges do not relate to the technology side of big data – they are problems with the human side of the equation.
Read MoreThe other “focus” in focus groups
Much of the debate around the value of traditional focus groups centers on the discussion that happens around the table of participants. Left out of the conversation are the benefits traditional focus groups provide to the people sitting behind the one-way mirror – the team sponsoring the research.
Read MoreThe Price of Incivility
Isurus applauds the extensive research by Christine Porath and Christine Pearson on the “price” of incivility. They outline their findings in a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review. The long and short of their findings is that a lack of respect and civility in the workplace has real and meaningful consequences for the bottom line.
Read MoreRelevant messaging in a changing IT outsourcing landscape
IT organizations are becoming more mature users of outsourced services and delivery models. Isurus’ research across multiple technology categories shows a shift in how IT evaluates outsourcing options and its use of various models (offshore vs. domestic, in-house vs. outsourced, on-premise vs. offsite hosting, etc.), and these trends are also evident in research conducted by CIO Magazine, Forrester, and others.
Read MoreImproving innovation through better questions
Dwayne Spradlin, President and CEO of InnoCentive, recently contributed an interesting article in the Harvard Business Review that identified asking the right questions and defining the problem as critical elements of successful innovation: “When developing new products, processes, or even businesses, most companies aren’t sufficiently rigorous in defining the problems they’re attempting to solve and articulating why those issues are important. Without that rigor, organizations miss opportunities, waste resources, and end up pursuing innovation initiatives that aren’t aligned with their strategies.”
Read MoreOne from the archives: 7 Communication tips from the B2B trenches
Based on research with business decision makers we’ve developed broad recommendations for B2B marketers aiming to overcome these challenges. Although each company and sector faces a unique set of communications challenges, the following seven themes apply in some degree to any company–including yours.
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