QUINT|essential
Welcome to the latest edition of the QUINT|essential newsletter.
The QUINT|essential is Phase 5's synopsis of new ideas,
issues, and techniques related to marketing research for a multichannel
world. The QUINT also keeps our clients and partners current on
news at Phase 5.
In this issue:
Feature White Paper
Filling the Planning Vacuum
By Doug
Church and Michael
Dolenko
The planning session was at a critical point. The software
company’s executive committee had taken the leap of faith and decided
to re-brand the entire corporation to position for growth. An agency
was retained. Schedules were juggled and all senior executives and
marketing managers were engaged in a day-long planning session.
With the preliminaries out of the way, it was time to face the
more contentious issue of defining the company’s brand promise.
The Senior Vice President responsible for software development
was adamant. The new brand should focus on the technical sophistication
of the software architecture. The Vice President of Sales calmly
noted that customers seemed to appreciate flexible contract terms;
perhaps flexibility should be the new brand’s watchword.
The Manager of Customer Service, meanwhile, felt that the new branding
needed to reflect responsiveness. At the centre of the table, the
Vice President of Marketing was working hard to steer the group
to his view; brand had to communicate the ROI that customers could
expect from using the software.
That’s when the following questions arose:
- What do our customers see as our unique strengths as an organization?
- How do we compare to competitors?
- How does our software benefit our customers?
- How do our competitors’ customers see us?
While people thought they had answers to some of the questions,
the project was too important to base decisions on conjecture alone.
In the absence of definitive answers, the planning session reached
a standstill.
If you can relate to this scenario, then you appreciate the difficulty
and potential pitfalls of planning in the absence of reliable information.
Whether you are faced with far-reaching strategic decisions, or
short-term tactical ones, having good information can mean the difference
between success and failure.
We call this absence of reliable information the planning vacuum.
And, like the vacuum of space, it can be a hostile environment.
Continue reading the full
article, or contact Doug
Church or Michael
Dolenko for more information.
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Phase 5 Launches Automated Usability Testing
Phase 5 has just completed a study with the Government of Canada
that involves automated usability testing.
This new methodology lets Phase 5's clients intercept visitors
to their Web site and have them complete a series of pre-defined
tasks. Our usability software tracks visitor behaviour as they complete
the tasks, and provides a detailed assessment of visitors' success
rates and navigational behaviour.
This behavioural data can then be integrated with online survey
results to create a rich data source of integrated metrics to help
manage the online visitor experience. For the Government of Canada
study, participants were recruited from an Online Panel. The technology
tracks metrics (based on pre-established 'success' rules) such as:
- completion and failure rates for tasks;
- number of clicks to completion;
- common search paths (using flow diagrams);
- time to completion;
- click patterns on pages.
Conducted concurrently with qualitative usability research, the
findings provided useful direction to the development team, with
a particular emphasis on validating the effectiveness of each prototype
for driving users through to the Canadians Gateway.
For more information on this innovative methodology, please contact Gen Lamorie at (613) 241-7555, ext. 110.
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