PMR Research Practices

Every area of business activity can benefit from marketing research. Rarely, if ever, does management have all the information it desires to make clear business decisions. To provide management support, Pioneer offers research studies in the following areas:

Customer Satisfaction
Pioneer Marketing Research recently combined and expanded its two field offices. Our North Georgia facility, on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was created for the purpose of handling customer satisfaction surveys and customer service quality assurance surveys. For four years, this 32-station facility was dedicated to completing short customer satisfaction surveys, making over 50,000 calls a month for many industries, including automotive, insurance, and the utility sectors.

Some of the benefits of implementing our customer satisfaction programs are:

Establish an ongoing process to insure customer loyalty and good will
Identify and remedy problems before they affect future sales
Improve the quality of your deliverables
Increase sales with positive word of mouth and lower customer attrition
Bases to improve employee training and focus on areas that need attention
Cost effective methodology to insure your deliverables are satisfactory

Most experts agree that it is preferable to use an independent organization to accurately and objectively monitor customer satisfaction. This is particularly so in industries that provide services which are intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable. With services, it is more likely to require more quality control, supplier credibility, and adaptability. Our staff of professional interviewers has been specially selected, trained, and evaluated for excellence in communicating with your customers. In today’s environment, everyone is sensitive to intrusive phone calls. Our customer satisfaction programs have been developed to execute short, very specific quality assurance questionnaires. Our interviewing staff has been trained to maintain the highest levels of courtesy and accuracy. And their experience shows in the numbers; we maintain cooperation rates of 85% or more on most of our programs.

Reporting
We can administer a survey entirely of your own design, or you can work with Pioneer’s project directors to create a survey instrument customized to your company. No more than a few minutes in length, these surveys will provide you with a wealth of information. Just a small sampling:

Did your company meet the customer's expectations?
Have your company’s employees represented your company appropriately?
Does your company’s record of the purchase accurately represent what took place?
Are there any outstanding issues regarding the purchase or services provided?
Would the customer recommend your company to others?
Will that customer use your company again?

You have tremendous flexibility in the way you receive the results. We can provide the raw data for you to analyze in house, or we can provide you with various reporting options. You may receive cumulative results on a regular basis, or segment the results by location or department. We can also post the results online if you wish. And most importantly, in the event of a “hot button” issue, such as a very low rating or serious complaint, we can forward a special snapshot report to all concerned parties, allowing for quick follow-up.

Cost
One of the best reasons to use Pioneer’s facility is that it’s among the best values you will find anywhere. Because of the location of our combined call center, and the fact that special management and staff teams are dedicated and trained to excel in a very specific line of work, we are able to keep the overhead very low. Most of our clients pay no more than a few dollars per completed survey.

Satisfaction Programs Offered

Customer Satisfaction Measurement (CSM)
Every time your company provides a service to a customer, that customer’s satisfaction level with his/her experience becomes the basis for all future buying decision; the customer’s satisfaction level is most often more important than marketing efforts or even price. Whether your company has cleaned his home, repaired her windshield, or prepared a tax return, your customer’s satisfaction level will directly impact future revenue from that person, and often family and friends.

With Pioneer’s Customer Satisfaction Measurement program, you will be able to assure your customers’ satisfaction (and future patronage) for a fraction of the cost of acquiring a new customer. By providing your customer’s name and telephone number, and a job identification number, we will be able to contact your customer immediately after the purchase. We will arrange an interim that best fits your business model, but we can often make the initial contact as soon as 24 to 48 hours after the event.

By quantitatively measuring satisfaction with such areas as the quality of work, the effectiveness of your staff, the quickness of the service, and the pleasantness of the purchase, you will have the raw data that measures the life blood of your company. By adding customized reporting, you can compare your different locations, reward your employees, and measure the impact of your training programs. Most importantly, if you desire, you can be contacted immediately with “hot button” responses that need immediate follow-up.

Customer Service Measurement (CSM2)
Customer satisfaction doesn’t end with the purchase. Customers often interact with the customer service department for many reasons. Today, the customer service inbound call center has increasingly become the main interaction point between customers and business. It is very important that the customer has a satisfactory experience with the customer service department.

Having your customer service representatives ask if the call was satisfactory just isn’t enough. Many people will simply not reveal to your employees what they will reveal to an independent third party. Using an outside company for measuring the satisfaction of customers using your customer service department can be most beneficial in making sure customers are handled properly.

In Pioneer’s Customer Service Measurement program, we are usually provided with a name, phone number, and a number that identifies the original call. Several days after the call was made, our interviewers will contact the customer for a short customer service evaluation. Several targeted questions will identify the nature of the original call, satisfaction with the customer service representative, and whether all issues were resolved properly.

Armed with this information, you can evaluate your representatives and modify their training. You can get results by location, department, and even individual representatives. And in the event of an angry customer or unresolved issue, you can receive a “hot button” report so you can make a quick response to the customer.

Brand Equity / Image - determines how your brand name/image is performing for you in your markets by examining awareness and attitudes of the target audience. Discrete Choice Models are often used to determine key components and motivators. Probed, but unaided, awareness is used to better measure actual awareness.

Ethnic Research - Pioneer Marketing Research provides comprehensive research for business and consumer products directed toward the Hispanic, African-American, and Asian markets. In addition to the capability to deliver multi-lingual interviewing and survey designs, we have undertaken complex projects in these ethnic markets. Pioneer uses native language project directors to help focus our research efforts and ensure that we have complied with all the cultural nuances that are unique to these communities.

Market Dynamics - looks at the characteristics of buyers, their sources of information, and trends in a changing marketplace.

Win / Loss Sales Analysis - special B2B market research studies that identify why deals are won or lost, how the decisions were made, and what could have changed the outcome.

Advertising Evaluation - explores attitudes and reactions of potential purchasers to new advertising. Tests can be performed pre- and/or post-release of the ad or commercial. This approach is best if measured against current and/or competitive advertising, but can be accomplished monadically.

Concept Testing / Product Design / Promotion / Pricing - sophisticated studies to determine the best marketing mix of new and/or "improved" products. Usually employs a version of conjoint measurement which is custom-tailored to the needs of the project.

Awareness, Attitude and Usage - a standard survey that measures with statistical reliability awareness, attitudes, and usage of your products against the competition.

Market Sizing - statistically measures how many existing and potential purchasers are in the market for your product and/or its competitors.

Market Characteristics - examines the characteristics which influence demand: alternative products/services, alternative use of funds, characteristics of providers, and characteristics of buyers. Often used in tandem with a Market Sizing study.

Segmentation Research - identifies and quantifies the different segments for a particular market based on usage, attitudes toward the product category, brand image, demographics, and/or psychographics. As needed, the research can be matched against geo-demographic models and databases for target marketing.

Acquisition Analysis - supports or challenges decisions to acquire another organization by collecting primary and secondary information from customers, end-users, distributors, and suppliers.

Employee Satisfaction - examines the internal processes that support or hinder employee performance and loyalty, including processes that promote quality products and services.

Upward Feedback / 360° - examines the role and performance of each manager by collecting feedback from superiors, peers, and subordinates.

Internal Customer Satisfaction - measures the satisfaction of employees, managers, or business units with administrative departments like information systems, human resources, facilities, and accounting.



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