LUXURY MARKET PROJECT
Institute produces survey specialized in brands and upper class customers
In order to raise details on the luxury segment, which comprehends a number of sectors (vehicles, fashion, properties, among others), GfK, one of the largest research institutes in the country, produces every year a project named Luxury Market. The survey's objective is to get to know the upper class public better and supply details which make the professionalization of this segment's management in Brazil.
QuestManager software was used to technologically apply the survey in the last two editions of the project, which already has been happening in the past three years. According the Marketing and Communication Manager at GfK, Lucia Godoy, the institute was in need of a tool which could distribute the questionnaires in a simple way and was able to gather the results fast. The solution found was the partnership with the team at DOMUSTEC.
Regarding the luxury market, Lucia confirms that the sector has presented a very strong and sustainable growth rhythm in the past few years and it presents a large potential of expansion. However, the details available about this niche are still very few and empirical.
“In this survey details regarding invoicing and investments are raised, the habits and purchase attitudes of luxury consumers, current consumers' profiles and new entries in the category, besides their motivations for the purchase and expenses”, the Manager clarified, and she still continued: “The results of this survey have been used for the decision making of these companies in the sector in question, which earlier happened essentially through perception and feeling of professionals active in this segment”.
Besides knowing better the consumers' market, the survey, which usually would take six months, gathered details from luxury companies. Directors and CEOs of this segment responded to questions on the field of performance, number of employees, adopted marketing actions, investments produced and target-public.
DURING A CRISIS, EVEN SANTA WILL JOIN THE SURVEY
Leader in the market of the segment technology innovates during a marketing campaign this Christmas
DOMUSTEC, company specialized in web solution development for the automatization of surveys, it proves during own current marketing campaign that it is more updated than ever. In order to prevent Santa to spend too much money on presents and transport, a questionnaire has been created to evaluate who deserves to be graced by the Good Old Man.
Priscila Cacicedo, Marketing Manager at DOMUSTEC Brazil, current leader of the Latin market in the segment of technology to apply questionnaires, she explains how they did all this.
“Our intention to produce this interactive campaign is to make it viral. We got this idea while we were deciding what present to give to our customers. Many are used to getting things that they do not even need. We, then, decided to discard the idea of a present. Instead, we decided to create a beautiful and funny message using QuestManager's functionalities. We want people to identify themselves with the situations presented in the questionnaire. Besides sending Christmas wishes in a different way, our objective is to provide an idea on everyone's posture throughout the year.”
To implement this idea, DomusTec defined that Santa would be one of the customers, who bought the licence to apply the company's software. With the survey's results, the Good Old Man will be able to evaluate the interviewees' behaviour throughout the year, so that, in this way, he can identify what the type of present the person deserves.
After taking part in the survey, the customer could reveal to his friends. They knew the score the person who indicated him had and, whenever a friend took part in it, the one who began the chain received a message informing him the score the other participants had. In this way DomusTec accomplished the viral effect.
“Whenever a person revealed it to others, he created an invidualized link and, in this way, we were able to control each group of friends”, The Marketing Manager at DomusTec explains, that they have the biggest marketing companies in the world as customers, besides large groups of corporative market.
CPqD uses QuestManager in in-house evaluation
It has been acting for 32 years with technological surveys, CPqD develops solutions in telecommunications and software for public and private companies in countries in North America, South America, Africa and South Sea Islands. With 1200 employees, the company works with personalized programs to integrate people and institutions. These projects involve Software Systems, Technological Services and Product Technology.
In September, CPqD concluded a partnership with DomusTec to produce an internal survey about the managerial staff in the company, named Evaluation 180º. According to HR administration, Raquel Pieroni, the intention was to measure, from the staff's viewpoint, what would need to be improved. “This type of feedback will surely contribute to the personal and professional development of these managers, positively reflecting the accomplishment of the company's objectives”.
CPqD has been producing surveys electronically for awhile, however it was only in this survey that the company had access to the facilities offered by QuestManager software. The research's coordinator of CPqD, Maria Ângela Plessmann, told us that with the system it was possible to automatically send an email to each participant, with the name of respective leader who should be evaluated. “This made the sample control a lot easier”, Maria Ângela said, who also highlighted the help from the support team shaping up the questionnaire and creating graphics with the results. “Because of the fact that it was our first project with QuestManager, we had to align a few topics and, in this way, the support team was extremely alert and helpful, and fully assisted us with our needs. Undoubtfully, to be able to count on a company specialized in this field, it helped and added up value to our job”, the coordinator emphasized.
Raquel Pieroni highlighted that the partnership with DomusTec was important to guarantee the secrecy of information, which reassured the interviewees when answering the questionnaire. On in-house surveys, people usually feel afraid to expose their true opinions. “By doing the evaluation applying QuestManager software, we believe we can offer more confidence and reassurance to the employees”.
QuestManager is a Case of HHighlight in Web Solutions in Rio Info 2008
QuestManager software was chosen as a case in Web Solutions in RIO INFO 2008, main Information Technology event (IT) in Rio de Janeiro. The program presentation - and its applications – was produced by the Director of Marketing and Sales of DOMUSTEC, Guilherme Cerqueira, on the second of October, at the Glória Hotel.
The Web Solutions category had the objective to identify cases of exploring possibilities, methods and strategies in the use of web environment which would add technical, managerial or marketing advantages to the products developed. In this context, QuestManager became an example of success in Technology and Business for being a creative and innovative for the needs of the users. The software presents a broad view of resources to create, apply and manage marketing research, opening opportunities for national and international business.
QuestManager's main differential is to concentrate all needed phases to make a professional quantitative survey possible and to make it available up to six simultaneous distribution channels of questionnaires.
The Survey Shows Why People Want a Second Life
A GfK Indicator made a survey which became very famous. The institute analysed the reasons why people want to take part in Second Life's virtual world (SL). The results showed that the users search: the possibility to make new friends (58%), to have assets they do not have in the real world (45%), to relax and distress (43%), to visit places (40%), to be another person (38%), entertainment (36%), and other options.
Entitled by the GfK of “Who needs a second life“ , the survey also included opinions of a anthropologist, a psychologist and a sociologist who helped us understand what is inserted in this three-dimensional environment.. The questionnaire for SL was applied with the use of QuestManager, developed by DOMUSTEC. The survey was used as paper in the 3rd Brazilian Congress of Marketing Research, Opinion and Media, where it came out as winner of the “Alfredo Carmo Prize”.
According to IT's manager of the GfK Indicator, Simone Moro, the technological partnership with DOMUSTEC was important so as the institute won the necessary speed to conclude the job. “We, as an institute of research, we need to be united with partners that are compromised. We can find that at DOMUSTEC, which finished an extension with GfK, giving the study a tempo that we needed to be done”, Simone stressed out.
During the process of recruitment to do this survey, which consisted of two phases, people who worked as promoters in Second Life were used. In the qualitative stage, internet users were invited to take part in a group discussion. The authors themselves of paper presented in the congress, Helena Palla and Leonardo Melo, of GfK, were the moderators. The promoters were also used in the second stage, quantitative, motivate people to answer the questionnaires. The interviewees had access to the questions through a link sent by email by QuestManager.
Other results of the survey produced by GfK show that real brands are inserted in Second Life by means of sponsoring of parties and events. The responsible ones for the study show, however, a bad advantage of this media space. The companies are still not benefiting of all potential to create new business and links with SL, as the interaction with the characters is still very low.
And more
Second Life is a virtual and three-dimensional environment which simulates in some aspects real and social life of a human being, where people relate with others through an avatar. Information show that SL was counting on 8 million users in 2007, estimating 4 users for every 5 people who use the internet.
The GfK Indicator is a replacement which works on creating new skills to support the process of strategical decision. Belonging to the German GfK group (present in over 60 countries), the company arrived in Brazil in 1987 bringing the knowledge to conduct local, regional and global studies, with effort and high quality. Today, it has more than 100 employees and is present among the 5 largest institutions of research in the country.
SOFTWARE FIGHTS FRAUDS WITH ONLINE MARKETING RESEARCH
Technology inhibits clones and it controls the quality of answers
Many marketing research companies which sell market panels still are not able to efficiently control the participations of clones. This happens especially in the United States, where cash payment is normal to people who answer the questionnaires online. Aware of this problem, a web IT company innovated and invested in creativity so as to prevent those partnerships and research companies end up in the hands of charlatans.
Users of the marketing research managing software QuestManager, developed by DOMUSTEC, they are able to apply questionnaires with options to block eventual non confident attempt of answers. Actions which, when not prevented, may lead the marketing team to take wrong decisions, which cause higher costs, time loss and even failure of products/services in business.
High technology
According to the ceo of the Information Technology DOMUSTEC's, Gustavo Cerqueira, among the current technologies in QuestManager software to apply researches online (by email or in the company's site) you will find: recording of cookies to avoid double participation through the same computer; filters which obstruct more than one time participation with the same IP no; as well as the CAPTCHA, system which asks the user to digit an alphanumeric code before starting the survey. This is one of the best and most efficient ways to prevent sequential and mass participation of robots.
The software also offers intelligent anti-fraud devices, like the possibility to finish the survey by means of “filtered questions” which will randomly appear in different parts of the questionnaire. In case the interviewee is carelessly answering, he will not pay attention to fill in the “filter question” and, consequently, will make a mistake according to what is expected by the system. In this case, the interview will be automatically discarded because of the wrong answer.
“Another device of the software is the possibility to create invisible and stopwatched ‘checkpoints’ inserted in the questions If the survey was answered quicker than estimated time, it might be an alert that the interviewee answered the questions carelessly, without paying attention to the questions or that a robot being used”, said Gustavo.
NASA Takes QuestManager to the Moon
The managing sofware for professional marketing research, QuestManager, developed by DOMUSTEC, has been taken to the Moon within the "Send your name to the Moon" promotion, produced by NASA, the North American spatial agency. Thousand of names, among which QuestManager's, were sent to the space on the 28th of October 2008 in a microchip integrated to the Atlas 401 space aircraft, in the Reconnaissance Orbiter Moon mission (ROM).
On the moon
The Reconnaissance Orbiter Moon (ROM), first NASA's mission for Space Exploration (NASA's Vision for Space Exploration), it is a plan to conduct investigations in order to prepare a support to install a future base of moon exploration and, furtheron, to start with trips to Mars and other planets.
According to Nasa, with a number of details information about the extension of the human presence in the solar system, the ROM will help to identify sites with a high scientific value, favourable ground and safe environments for future moon missions both with the participation of robots and humans. Thereafter, the details will be stored in the PDS every three months and will help the world to develop a deeper understanding on the moon environment, allowing the development of a safer environment so human being can return to the moon to explore our solar system.
