Just as the Market Research Mobile World event was taking place in Amsterdam last week, Ramius was keeping up with the trend of innovative mobile marketing research technology by releasing a new app in the Apple app store.
Recollective was built with HTML5 and CSS3, which has enabled it to be a web based app - that means it is available anytime, on any connected device. So if Recollective is already a web app, why was it necessary to release one in the Apple app store? And why don't we have an app in the Android Marketplace?
All good questions! The answer is Apple currently prevents iPhone and iPad users from accessing media files saved on their device while sending emails, or in our case, when uploading photos directly to Recollective tasks. Our new app eliminates this shortcoming, but ensures Recollective's ease-of-use remains.
One of the many aspects of Recollective that we're really proud of is it's intuitive design. Participants are never left wondering what to do next or how do complete a task. To ensure user experience is as optimal as possible, there's no need to instruct participants to go and download this app. If a participant needs it, a notification will appear instructing them to follow the link provided to the Recollective Uploader in the app store.
Once installed on their device the application will:
- Launch automatically when it's required
- Allow for existing photos and videos to be selected from the device
- Allow for the capturing of new photos and videos from the device
- Upload all photos and videos with a single click
- Automatically return participants to the study once the upload has been completed
Mobile research on Recollective just makes sense!
Other Release News - Webcam Video Upload
Last month we released the Video Task Type empowering researchers with a new way to gather even richer visual insights from study participants. This month we've taken video to the next level. As well as being able to upload any video from their media gallery or any online source, participants can now record a webcam video response directly into Recollective with a single click. Recollective automatically grabs, uploads and converts the video making it incredibly easy to now add video to your study.
Out with the old and in with the new - although not stated exactly like this, that is my summation of this year's GRIT report. As written in the opening remarks by editor Leonard Murphy, "market research is still changing, but at this point the change has been acknowledged by the majority and embraced by the many." What this is referring to is the move from old research techniques, such as telephone surveys, to what is being called 'New MR'.
Recollective is quickly making a name for itself as one of the most innovative new software platforms available to agencies looking to conduct New MR. Hot on the heels of the Video Task released only a few weeks ago, we're delighted to say that we've further expanded the capabilities to include new private messaging, email broadcast and activity preview features.
Private Messaging Feature Update
Private Messaging is an important piece in a researcher's community management toolkit. If you're currently conducting a Recollective study, the Messages tool enables participants to contact you and for you to privately converse with them.
Messages are delivered to the participant's web-based inbox inside Recollective. For participants these messages are viewed as a single threaded discussion, with responses kept inline below the original message. Admins see an index page listing all active message threads. Messages marked 'Awaiting a reply' by admins make it easy to identify any participants slow to respond to your questions.
Private messaging is important for researchers who want to probe for further insights from participants outside of a specific task response or open discussion topic. They can even be used for asynchronous text-based IDIs.
One of our goals is to make our customers jobs as easy as possible while using Recollective, so when it's time to undertakde the task of analyzing messages, they can be coded, excerpted and included in transcripts just like any other participant data.
Email Broadcast Feature Updates
Not only have we tackled private messaging, but we've also made huge improvements to Recollective's Email Broadcast feature. 
Now, when you want to send email messages to participants, you are able to do so with specificity you'd expect in a New MR tool.
Simply filter participants by the appropriate criteria, such as the date they were added to the study, last activity completion, segments - or hand select individuals using the people-picker. We've also included the ability to insert dynamic fields (such as first name, last name, or username) so that your emails can be professionally personalized to the recipient.
Task Preview Update
In addition to messaging, we've improved usability for researchers by introducing a feature to preview Activities before they are made available to participants. This enables researchers to experience the task flow as a participant to check logic and links, catch those typos and double check that it is what you envisioned.
I'm not sure how our team managed to pack all of this (plus some unglamourous bug fixes and UI updates) into one release, but they did. If you have any questions about these updates, would like more information on conducting Recollective studies or just want to chat with a friendly Canadian company, please don't hesitate to give us a call. If not, then watch out for more changes coming to your Recollective site next month - of course we're at it again!
Posted by
Simon Chen on Tue, Mar 13, 2012 @ 09:09 AM
Gen Lamorie-Wallace is a busy woman. By day, she is an Ottawa, Canada-based Vice President with market research consultancy Phase 5. By night, she runs a restaurant with her chef husband in a trendy city neighbourhood. Sometimes, Gen's worlds collide and inspiration strikes. For her, it's when a 'foodie' patron pulls out a smartphone and starts tweeting an online commentary about his dining experience. This experience as a restaurateur informs Gen's belief that market researchers need to understand how our communication culture is shifting and to be able to offer to clients new approaches that mimic this "new normal" for communications. Following her presentation Lessons Learned When Adapting Technology Platforms for Qualitative Research at the recent MRIA QRD Conference, we had a chance to talk to Gen about the forces that are transforming consumer culture and the opportunities for businesses and MR.
How is a business/brand's relationship with its customers and prospects changing?
Social media has ushered in a seismic shift in a business/brand’s influence and control. People expect to be treated as true stakeholders. The number of people in my Twitter feed that I see talk to or even yell at businesses/brands/government representatives is amazing. There is an expectation from customers for genuine dialogue and for their opinions to matter. And these opinions do matter -- social media is a vehicle unlike anything we have seen before that lets customers have a significant influence on what is being said about a business or brand. Social media has made social democracy a reality and exploring a research approach that mimics this keeps us relevant as researchers.
What is "the new normal?"
Well, as an illustration, let’s say I walk into my local Starbucks and I see something I like or dislike. My first inclination is not to mention it to my friend or partner who is physically there with me, instead, I tweet it for all the world, or at least my followers, to see! A culture has developed where it is completely normal to publicize our every thought and observation that was once random or passing at best. And we now do this to the world!
We think the world is interested in this and it is our duty to communicate it to those in our circle, however small or broad that may be. This kind of normal is evidenced by the surging popularity of social media platforms like Pinterest which is essentially an online bulletin board that lets you “curate” and showcase your interests. My Facebook News Feed has surged with Pinterest mentions lately -- everyone wants to broadcast their interests and hobbies to each other!
I have also really noticed the use of terms like “curating” and “curator” in casual conversation. In a previous life I worked in museums and these terms were reserved for that profession. Now, we are all curators of our own lives and our natural inclination is to broadcast to those in our circle of followers and beyond.
At Phase 5, we took notice of this "new normal" from a research perspective and came up with a social engagement process that relies on online technology to facilitate a holistic approach to engaging with “stakeholders” in the manner in which they are accustomed to.
Phase 5 has been in the marketing research business since 1991 and recently, launched a new division called Konnex. What prompted Konnex?
Konnex is a research-based consultancy that helps gain intelligence from and connect with audiences through social media platforms. Konnex is backed by Phase 5, which has more than 20 years of experience in research and strategy consulting. Konnex was formed as a sister company to Phase 5 as a direct response to the influence and importance that social media plays in today’s business environment.
We understand the changes to the marketing model that is, more and more, affected by social conversations. We help our clients engage audiences as meaningful stakeholders in important business processes. We offer methodological rigour, deep analytical skills and strategic insight that comes with a research background. The rigour and research background that we bring to the table are key differentiators.
Online social engagement technology platforms bring with them less structure than traditional research approaches like focus groups. Less structure is good from a participant's perspective but, at the end of the day, having a partner that can apply rigour and traditional research management and interpretation principles is really key. The rigour and strategic insight that we apply to the findings are really what sets us apart.
What has you excited about the future of MR?
The evolution that I continually see. I recently attended a conference in Miami that was focused on social media and research. The industry is not staying still -- there is a huge appetite for applying research approaches to this new reality. I think market research has a bit of a reputation for nerdy stats geeks, but it is anything but! Well, at least I think I’m not too nerdy!
It is not just the suppliers either who are innovating -- I love the fact that I am getting more and more requests from clients to show them innovative approaches to conducting research. The fluid and interactive nature of some of these new approaches is really neat and the ongoing engagement you get with your participants -- who are now our “innovation stakeholders" -- is so much more rewarding. I much prefer these experiences to the more traditional qualitative techniques like one-off focus groups or interviews.
What keeps you up at night?
My husband’s snoring!
Seriously though . . . I guess just staying on top of the rapid changes in today’s social environment and always thinking of how this can be applied to our research approaches. As an example, the huge popularity of Pinterest or research industry buzz around gamification has me exploring how our online approaches can mimic these trends.
Thanks to Gen Lamorie-Wallace for taking time to speak with Ramius as part of our new "Five Questions With . . ." blog feature where we profile business partners and thought leaders who challenge and inspire us with their ideas. Disclosure: Ramius is a technology partner to Phase 5.
Posted by
Simon Chen on Thu, Mar 08, 2012 @ 02:44 PM
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the MRIA's 2012 QRD (Qualitative Research Division) Conference in Toronto where one of the speakers was Dr. Sam Ladner. Sam delivered a presentation entitled Truth, Lies and Ethnography. Think of the talk as being an 'ethnography 101' -- it was intended to help researchers in the audience learn "What to expect, how it's done, and when you should do it."
Sam began by stating that "ethnography is not 100% qual" and that the etymology of the term comes from the Greek:
ethnos + grapho
Where ethnos represents folk, culture or people while grapho refers to writing (or representing). So, one might say that ethnography could generally refer to 'writing about culture.'
The 'origin story' of ethnography continued with Sam contrasting the work of Dr. Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish anthropologist who focused on cultural research, with the work of Dr. Paul Lazarsfeld, lauded as the founder of applied sociology. Sam's comparison of their interests and work helped to illustrate the differences between research methods like ethnography and focus groups. While ethnography seeks to understand culture, the researcher in a focus group is seeking more detail about an individual's decision-making process.
As Sam described this, the pop culture fan in me recalled a Star Trek (TNG) episode which opened with a science team observing an alien village from a hidden vantage point. In that episode, drama ensued as the Starfleet Prime Directive of not interfering with an alien civilization was broken. If this science team were conducting an ethnography, they would be observing the aliens in situ -- living among them and "going native" as it were. The science team would be looking at symbols and systems, documenting behaviours and experiences when and where they actually occur, with the goal of understanding and writing about the alien culture. Such observational research differs from a focus group where a moderator defines the research parameters, sets the context in which the research is to be done and takes an active role to guide participants through the inquiry.
Sam has made her presentation available on SlideShare and I have embedded it to the end of this post. You can, at your convenience, review her presentation in its entirety.
One slide that I do want to highlight is the one below where Sam has mapped out scenarios when a marketer might use ethnography. I think this slide will be very useful when working with my own customers and prospects. My clients develop online communities using our software offerings. There they might conduct ethnographies by observing what is going on in their online communities. Or, perhaps they are themselves immersed and directly engaged in the online community with other members. The slide can help a business manager consider the lifecylce stage her product is in and know that ethnography and/or data from ethnography can inform her decisions involving new product development, advertising and messaging development, customer experience improvement, etc.
Thanks Sam for your intro into ethnography! And, for those that are interested, here are her presentation slides.
Posted by
Simon Chen on Fri, Mar 02, 2012 @ 08:20 AM
For Americans and Canadians, multicultural consumers are a rapidly growing demographic. Understanding the social lives of such consumers -- their values, beliefs, habits and preferences -- is of great importance to brands and their marketers. An annual day-long event called the Multicultural Media for Multicultural America Forum will explore this demographic. Presented by marketing research consultancy Horowitz Associates, the March 21st, 2012 conference will focus on ". . . how the concept of community impacts programming, marketing, and advertising geared toward America's new multicultural audiences."
One of the new things the conference presenter will be doing this year is to conduct multimodal research to learn about the multicultural consumer who may, more and more, consume media on various platforms. Three reports will be presented during the event:
Viewing the Viewer -- an in-home videography of multicultural households. Here is a preview:
State of Cable and Digital Media -- a quantitative survey of US-multicultural consumers
Consumer Voice Community -- This 8-week research online community is focused on the media lifestyles of US-multicultural consumers and how they are adopting to a rapidly changing media world.
For disclosure purposes, Ramius, a technology partner to Horowitz Associates, is pleased to support the Forum with our new Recollective software which powers the Consumer Voice Community.
This new data should foster interesting discussion among the Forum delegates with confirmed representation by media organizations such as NBC Universal, Telemundo, mun2, Comcast, ESPN, Imagina US, History en Español, Ella (MGM Networks Latin America) and TV5MONDE.
Check back to this blog for an upcoming profile of Horowitz Associates and for a conference recap. For those who will be attending the Forum, we look forward to meeting you in New York!
It's been a busy couple of months. Since launching Recollective in November we've implemented some huge research communities and lots of short projects. We've been listening to every bit of feedback we get and are delighted that you're all finding it such an easy-to-use and powerful platform.
One feature we've been itching to release from the very beginning is Video task types. We're really pleased to announce that it's live and you can now create Video tasks in any study. Your participants will be able to upload and share their videos, start conversations about them and spread their 'likes' around.
The outcome? Richer and deeper insights from participants. Watch as they use products, shop or even complete a video diary. With results like that, who wouldn't be excited!
To allow for maximum flexibility, videos can be submitted in a variety of different formats (MPEG, VP8, WMV, etc.), using almost any device (computer, tablet, smartphone, flip camera). The outcome is a converted H.264 video with a back-up Flash version. Don't be satisfied with low-resolution grainy images, Recollective accepts HD video upload, playback and download, so you can watch participants in cystal clear clarity.
Video tasks and diaries are enabled in your site now in "demo mode" which let's you try it out with 15 second clips. To upgrade to the full feature, give your account representative a call for pricing.
Our Multilingual Capabilities are Growing
Another new feature that we're really excited about is our support for two new languages. Out of the box, Recollective can now be switched between English, French and Spanish. Participants choose the language they prefer for the interface, researchers can create questions and comment in any language too; all of which makes Recolelctive the perfect platform for studies in multiple languages.
With more languages to be introduced throughout 2012, now is a great time to start planning your international research projects on Recollective. Of course, if you have a specific language that's required for an upcoming project, let us know a month in advance and we will try to accommodate your request.
For more info, why don't you get in touch with us?
Posted by
Simon Chen on Tue, Feb 21, 2012 @ 05:16 PM
This Friday, February 24th, I am looking forward to traveling to Toronto to attend the
MRIA's annual
QRD (Qualitative Research Division) event: ". . . a full day conference about all things qualitative with speakers, breakout sessions and opportunities for networking." I note that the event will take place at the
Ontario Science Centre, a museum I last visited during my high school years. I hope the organizers will treat us to a Van de Graaff generator demonstration!
I remember enjoying my museum visits because many of the exhibits were live and interactive, which made it an entertaining way to discover and learn new concepts. I am hoping that the QRD Conference, with its tagline -- "learn, explore, expand" -- will be just as valuable. With Ramius' latest offering --
Recollective -- being (continuously) designed with the help of qualitative researchers, I hope to discover and learn new methods and techniques that I can share with the team. And, coming from a background in social software for online communities, collaboration and innovation, I hope I can contribute some new ideas to the qualitative research community's discussions on new MR technologies.
Conferences are always about the great people that speak and attend. As a new MRIA member, I hope to have the opportunity to meet and learn from others. I spotted a couple of friends to Ramius on the speaker list:
Dr. Sam Ladner of
Copernicus Consulting and Gen Lamorie-Wallace of
Phase 5 Consulting. Sam's presentation is entitled
Truth, Lies and Ethnography while Gen will discuss
Lessons Learned when adapting technology platforms for qualitative research. Please consider checking back to this blog next week -- I plan to recap what Sam, Gen and others will be presenting on.
When I first started at Ramius almost a year ago I tried my best to shorten the learning curve as much as possible. As Ramius designs and develops online community and social networking software, I found myself being exposed to topics like Web 2.0, social media, customer-centricity, customer communities, crowdsourcing, cloud computing -- certainly not topics I’ve ever needed to be familiar with! And with the launch of our new Recollective software, I’m now being exposed to the marketing research industry with acronyms like MROC, IDIs, etc... The list is vast!One way to immerse myself in all of this is to meet with my colleague Simon Chen from time-to-time and discuss trends and technologies in our industry. Recently, this was more formalized as a weekly lunch meeting that we have dubbed our Weekly Hump Day Roundup. We find it’s a fun way to set a regular time during our work week and keep up-to-date with what’s going on around us. Doing it together helps us build on each others insights. Since we do leverage social media to do this, we thought we would also blog, tweet -- generally share with you what interests and inspires us. And we hope you’ll feed us back what you think!For our inaugural Roundup post, I thought I would let you know of some blogs that I started to read early on.As a technology company with know-how in online communities and social business software, we follow popular blogs like:TechCrunch - Plain and simple we visit this site because Tech Crunch is the tech industry's bible. That's why we read it. Mashable - Mashable is awesome. We’re never disappointed when we visit their site…. everyday! It’s a quick read and keeps us current with an emphasis on social media news. ReadWriteWeb - For the similar reasons as why we like Mashable, we scan the headlines of RWW daily.Bokardo - Simon still wonders who at Ramius borrowed (and never returned) his copy of Designing for the Social Web by Joshua Porter, the Bokardo author. Read it to be inspired by a guy that thinks and cares about user experience when designing web application interfaces. Steve Rubel - Understanding social media through the eyes of an industry thought leader.Web Strategy - Ramius has followed blog author Jeremiah Owyang for several years. Part of the reason is because Jeremiah covered our ‘white label’ online community and social networking platforms as an analyst. But also because he keeps us up to date with how companies can use technology to connect and engage with customers.Alltop - With our new Recollective software, Ramius has designed an offering for the research and insights space. We scan blog aggregation sites like Alltop for the latest in Market and Qualitative Research. Some daily blogs on our must-read list include:Greenbook Market Research Blog - This blog is a good source of NEW market research thinking. The Ramius team very much enjoys the thought and research that goes into the GRIT Reports. Building My Own Ladder and Spych- We consider Ben Smithee's personal blog, and the one for his company Spych, to be great reads. Ben ‘gets’ the impact of the Social Web on a brand’s relationship to their customers and applies this to challenge MR. Something the Ramius team very much respects and finds commonalities with. Research Rockstar - For a firm that has expert know-how in online communities and designing and building supporting technology, the lot of us are not researchers beyond taking research method courses in Uni. Research Rocks is a good way to learn the basics of quant and qual research. The LoveStats Blog - In a recent blog we mentioned that the Ramius TMRE Team was unable to leave our booth and attend any sessions. So instead of learning through them we did the next best thing and followed along with Annie Pettit as she live blogged summaries. In addition to providing insights into TMRE and other industry conferences, this blog is a good way to get a different take on market research trends.As a new recruit, the first three sites on this list were tremendously helpful for learning the ins and outs of the industry space that Ramius occupies. Once we decided to build Recollective the rest of the sites/blogs on this list were immensely helpful for learning about the market research industry. From these sites, and many others, Simon and I will regularly highlight individual blogs or blog aggregate sites that we find insightful, thought provoking, controversial and most importantly interesting. So stay tuned for more Weekly Hump Day RoundUps!
Posted by
Simon Chen on Fri, Nov 18, 2011 @ 09:42 AM
Congratulations to Candice Seiger, who is the winner of Ramius Corporation's The Market Research Event (TMRE) 2011 booth iPad giveaway!
During TMRE last week, Ramius ran a draw at our exhibit booth. The deal was for attendees to come say hello to the Ramius team and, before heading off to the next booth, we invited them to drop off a business card for our iPad giveaway. Easy peasy and gimmicky, I know! Tablet and related accessories seemed to be the de rigueur booth contest prizes. That said, the draw was a fun ice breaker and the iPad allowed us to demonstrate how our new Recollective software works out-of-the-box on mobile platforms (HTML5). Thank you to everyone that came by, met one of our team and entered our draw. Candice stopped by with her colleague and, her business card was later drawn!
Candice was at the conference representing Luminosity Marketing*, where she is Associate Director, Research & Client Development. Candice wrote about her event experience at the Luminosity blog in her post The Market Research Event -- A Twitter Review.
Candice: Enjoy! We hope you'll use it to Tweet a picture of the unboxing when the iPad arrives!
*Not a current Ramius partner
Late last Wednesday night the Ramius team returned from Florida tired but excited about their trip. The TMRE conference exceeded all of our expectations.
Before leaving, we drafted a schedule that was packed with sessions and keynotes to attend, booth duty and of course some time to network. However, when our team arrived they quickly realized this plan had to be thrown out the-resized-600.JPG)
window. The guys were so busy at the booth that they didn't have a chance to leave it for the entire three days. On their return, Alfred Jay, CEO, Philippe Dame, COO and Simon Chen, Senior Consultant debriefed the rest of us and here are a few snippets from that conversation that I thought you might be interested in:What are your overall impressions of TMRE?Simon:TMRE 2011 was a great event for Ramius to exhibit at! Timing-wise, it coincided with our launch of Recollective, Ramius' new cloud-based MROC software. TMRE was well-attended and our booth team enjoyed meeting many of the 1,200-odd delegates and introducing them to Ramius, the company, and to Recollective, the product. Hat tip to the IIR event team that planned the event.
Philippe: It was definitely worth exhibiting at TMRE as it's a well-focused conference that clearly attracts the decision makers in the market research industry. We spent most of our time at our exhibit booth but I would have loved to attend the sessions. That said, I learned a lot in the conversations we had and look forward to attending again next year. What did you enjoy about the event?Alfred: The conference was certainly valuable in terms of speaking to a broad spectrum of people in the MR industry. The conversations we had were very valuable in setting our future direction.Philippe: Meeting people from a wide range of disciplines that make up the MR industry. We got lots of valuable and positive feedback about Recollective.What was the hardest part of the three day conference?Philippe: We had planned to attend some sessions and thus alternate standing at our booth. It was busy enough that we never left the booth and so we stood for a very long time without a chair in sight. Standing all day just killed my back and is a reminder to hit the gym!Simon: Not being able to participate in the main conference program which had a terrific line up. What was your most memorable moment at TMRE?Simon: Two come to mind. One was during my tour of the exhibit hall during the Monday evening reception. I walked by the Affinova booth and bumped into their CMO, Jeffrey Henning. Although I keep up-to-date with Jeff via Twitter and his blog, we probably haven't had much of a chance to connect in person for a couple of years. When I went to say hello with a handshake, Jeff caught me off guard with a 'bro hug' instead to the laughter of his colleagues.
The other moment was watching the Peabody ducks march in on a red carpet to their daily digs in the hotel fountain. A nice tradition at a nice venue!Finally, what could we do to improve for the next conference we attend?Alfred: We should make more active efforts to visit all the booths and network the other exhibitors.Philippe: Next year, we'll be better setup to give a demonstration of our software right in the booth. We'll have more tangible case studies to share and I think that will excite our booth visitors even more.Due to the size of the conference centre, the exhibit hall and meeting rooms were a bit spread out. Not everyone mingled or came by the exhibit hall. As exhibitors, we'd obviously like as much foot traffic as possible. Anything that can be done to get attendees to spend time in exhibit hall is appreciated. Simon: Although Ramius has been developing online community software for some 13 years, Recollective is our first product specifically designed for the MR industry, and TMRE 2011 was the first trade conference at which we exhibited. So, it was valuable for the Ramius team to gain direct feedback from visitors to our booth. Next time, we will have some of the team participating in the sessions themselves so we can offer and bring back more insights.By all accounts, The Market Research Event was a success! Networking with and learning from the other delegates, gaining insights on industry trends and themes, and probably the most important of all, introducing the market research world to Recollective were well worth the trip to the conference. I think it's safe to say we'll be back next year, and will be on the lookout for other conferences to attend in the mean time.