ccb fastmap marketing gap 1

8/6/2019 CCB Fastmap Marketing Gap 1

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/ccb-fastmap-marketing-gap-1 1/13

The CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP Tracking Study measures

changes in the UK marketplace year on year and monitors

marketers' ability to observe and respond to them.

The basic divide

Since the rst 2005 survey, the CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP

Tracking Study has shown that marketers continually

underestimate the speed at which consumers embrace

change and the current survey is no exception.

The media selected to make direct contact with people is

perhaps the single most important decision a direct marketer

makes, yet the professionals were taken by surprise when

email rst took over as the consumer medium of choice in

2005 and 26% selected it while direct mail was chosen by

only 20%. At the time, 55% of marketers assumed mail would

retain the lead and felt only 15% of consumers would select

email.

And marketers have continued to underestimate email’ssubsequent growth in popularity, with 56% of people now

preferring to be contacted by email by companies with

which they have an existing relationship and 26% by

companies with which they have no relationship. However,

marketers thought only 32% and 25% respectively would

prefer email.

They were absolutely accurate in saying 32% of consumers

would prefer direct mail from known brands and services,

though optimistic in expecting 21% to favour cold mail shots,

when only 16% did.

Marketers were also massively optimistic about the number

of people who would prefer not to be contacted at all. They

felt only 7% would feel this way about contact by companies

with which they had a relationship and 37% by companies

with which they had no relationship. The real gures were

23% (up from 21% last year) and 63% (up from 57% last year).

realtime research results

New research reveals the gap between consumer motivation andmarketers’ presumptions

Are marketers staying in tune with the marketplace?

Marketers have always claimed to take a more scientic, measurable and targeted approach

to marketing than their advertising and sales promotion colleagues.

They take pride in their ability to generate and store information about the population as a

whole and their own customers in particular and claim to boost response by targeting thepeople who are most likely to be interested in their oerings.

So it is to be expected that their knowledge of the marketplace, skill in inuencing buying

decisions and ability to detect and change attitudes to products and services would be

highly developed.

This paper summarises the results of the 2008 CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP Research, the

latest survey in a tracking study launched in 2005, to measure the extent to which marketers'

perceptions of consumer buying behaviour, attitudes and motivations are correct and

abreast of the UK marketplace.

The CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP Tracking Study



Although mail and email are by far the most popular direct marketing route for companies with which there is an

existing relationship, 5% selected home telephone.

Favoured cold contact methods are email 26%; mail 16%; telephone, mobile and SMS all 1%.

The good newsWhen it comes to subjects consumers like to be contacted about, marketers have reason to be cheerful, because

people are up to six times as happy to receive marketing messages now as they were in 2005.

Today, there are many subjects on which the majority of people welcome direct marketing material – especially if it isdelivered by direct mail or email.

What’s more, their happiness to receive mailed messages on all but four

subjects has increased signicantly too: And those subjects; IT/ computers;

supermarkets/ stores they use; events / entertainment; and DVDs were already

very popular four years ago.

Far from moaning about junk mail, in July 2008, consumers listed many things

they were happy to get marketing material about and revealed which media

they preferred for each.

For example, three quarters of households are happy to get information about

supermarkets and stores (86%), competitions (84%), events and entertainment

(74%) and local restaurants and take-aways (73%).


2008 consumers:What is your preferred

methodof communication frommarketing

companies? Please tick all that apply.

Companies with which you have an existing

relationship

Telephone 5%Email 56%

Mobile Phone Call 2%

SMS messaging 3%

Direct Mail 32%

No Preference 3%

Prefer not to be contacted at all 23%

Source: CCB fast.MAP 2008 Marketing GAP Tracking Study

Companies with which you have no

relationship

Telephone 1%

Email 26%


SMS messaging 1%

Direct Mail 16%

No Preference 1%



2008Marketers:Whatdo you think is

consumers' preferredmethodof

communication frommarketing companies?

Companies with which they have an existing

relationship

Telephone 15%Email 32%


SMS messaging 5%

Direct Mail 32%

No Preference 4%



Companies with which they have no

relationship

Telephone 6%

Email 25%


SMS messaging 3%

Direct Mail 21%

No Preference 7%



“When it comes to

subjects consumers like

to be contacted about,

marketers have reason to

be cheerful, because

people are up to six times

as happy to receivemarketing messagesnow

as they were in 2005”

Gap

10%24%

4%

2%

-

1%

16%

5%

1%

1%

2%

5%

6%

26%



Two thirds also like to hear about newspapers, subscriptions and holidays (69%), local services, trades-people and

local shops (68%) and books (63%).

And more than half also want to know about DVDs and education and further education courses and classes (57%),

banking (54%); home improvement, gardening and mail order catalogues (53%), health and beauty (52%), IT and

computers (51%) and broadband, cable and landline (50%)

In fact, since 2005, people have become twice as receptive to most direct marketing messages.

Even those subjects which have always languished at the bottom of people’s lists of popular DM subjects have some

fans; 12% like to hear about mortgages by mail and the same number by email; utility companies 25% by mail, 22%

email and 2% by home telephone; loans and credit cards, 15% email, 14% mail and 1% telephone; insurance, 29%

email, 20% mail, 1% each SMS messaging and telephone; nancial services, 18% email, 16% mail, 1% each email and

telephone; and banking 27% mail; 23% email, 2% telephone and 1% each mobile and SMS.

So instead of worrying about the picture of recessionary gloom predicted by the contemporaneous Bellwether

Report, spread the condent message that direct marketing will continue to be a successful and eective marketing

tool whatever the economic climate - because people really like it.

Far from alienating our audience by with over-communication and junk mailas the media would have us believe, the reality is that DM is more popular and

better-received by its recipients now, than it’s ever been.

With direct mail, and now email, familiarity has bred trust and condence, not

contempt.

All of which gives all DM users good reason to hope that the currently-unpopular mobile and SMS marketing routes

will similarly increase in favour as they become more familiar and thus open up even more recession-busting

opportunities.

When CCB fast.MAP started tracking consumer activity and attitudes to marketing, in 2005, direct mail and print ads

were the only signicant DM media. SMS and mobile marketing were unheard of and email marketing had yet to take

o. So people were initially asked what direct mail subjects they were happy to receive. As other media channels

emerged, they were added to the questionnaire.

Are there some things you are happy to receive directmail about?


Topics people are more receptive to now than in 2005 2005 Consumers 2008 consumers

- Mail only

2008 consumers

- All media

Local Restaurants/Take-aways 46% 47% 73%

Financial Services 6% 16% 36%

Local Services/Trades people/Local shops 36% 43% 68%Charities 12% 20% 37%

Insurance 7% 21% 45%

Education/ further education courses 21% 25% 57%

Books 24% 30% 63%

Cars 12% 18% 38%

Mail order catalogues 21% 30% 53%

Home improvement/ gardening 18% 27% 53%

Customer magazines 15% 24% 46%

Mobile phones/ services 11% 17% 41%

Loans/ credit cards 5% 14% 30%IT/ Computers 21% 20% 51%

Supermarkets/Stores they use 57% 46% 86%

Events/entertainment 38% 37% 74%

DVD’s 26% 24% 57%

With direct mail, and now email, familiarity has bred

trust and condence, not

contempt.



Optimism v credibilityAlthough optimism is undoubtedly going to be a valuable asset during the predicted years of recession and despite

the huge surge in enthusiasm for mailed and emailed marketing messages reported above, the reality falls far short of

what marketers expected.

The tables below reveal that barely 1% of people want to be contacted by home telephone, mobile or text and they’re

generally not half as keen to get mail and emails as marketers believed.

For example, 27% of people were happy to receive information about banking by mail (not 62% as marketers

expected), 23% by email (marketers 35%), 2% by phone (marketers 21%) and 1% each by SMS messaging and mobile

(marketers said 11% and 9% respectively).


2008 Marketers: Do you think that there are

some things that consumers are happy to

receive communication about? If so, please

state how you think they prefer to be contacted

i.e. they like to receive direct mail for local

restaurants, events and insurance. Please tick all

of the answers, which apply and leave blank if

you think consumers don’t want to be

contacted from this sector.

BankingDirect mail 62%

Home telephone 21%

Calls via mobile 9%

SMS Messaging 11%

Email 35%

BooksDirect mail 43%

Home telephone 5%

Calls via mobile 4%

SMS Messaging 8%

Email 36%

CarsDirect mail 51%

Home telephone 10%Calls via mobile 9%

SMS Messaging 10%

Email 36%

CharitiesDirect mail 51%

Home telephone 5%

Calls via mobile 6%

SMS Messaging 7%

Email 27%

Gap

35%

19%

8%

10%

12%

13%

4%

4%

7%

5%

33%

9%9%

10%

17%

31%

4%

6%

7%

11%

2008 consumers: Please look at the list below

and tick to indicate the subjects you would be

happy to receive communication about? Please

state how you prefer to be contacted i.e. like to

receive direct mail for local restaurants and

events and insurance. Please tick all of the

answers, which apply

BankingDirect Mail 27%

Home Telephone 2%

Calls via mobile 1%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 23%

BooksDirect Mail 30%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 31%

CarsDirect Mail 18%

Home Telephone 1%Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 0%

Email 19%

CharitiesDirect Mail 20%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 0%

Email 16%


http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/ccb-fastmap-marketing-gap-1 5/13realtime research results

2008 Marketers: cont.)

Customer magazinesDirect mail 53%

Home telephone 6%

Calls via mobile 7%

SMS Messaging 7%

Email 35%

CompetitionsDirect mail 53%

Home telephone 12%

Calls via mobile 11%

SMS Messaging 21%

Email 56%

DVDsDirect mail 45%

Home telephone 7%

Calls via mobile 5%

SMS Messaging 8%

Email 51%

Education/further education coursesDirect mail 57%

Home telephone 4%

Calls via mobile 9%

SMS Messaging 6%

Email 35%

Events/entertainmentDirect mail 51%

Home telephone 9%

Calls via mobile 9%

SMS Messaging 11%

Email 39%

Financial ServicesDirect mail 53%

Home telephone 10%

Calls via mobile 8%

SMS Messaging 6%Email 38%

Gym/Health ClubsDirect mail 51%

Home telephone 8%

Calls via mobile 5%

SMS Messaging 8%

Email 42%

Health and Beauty

Direct mail 45%Home telephone 5%

Calls via mobile 5%

SMS Messaging 9%

Email 42%

2008 consumers: cont.)

Customer magazinesDirect Mail 24%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 20%

CompetitionsDirect Mail 36%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 1%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 45%

DVDsDirect Mail 24%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 31%

Education/further education coursesDirect Mail 25%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 20%

Events/entertainmentDirect Mail 37%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 2%

Email 34%

Financial ServicesDirect Mail 16%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%Email 18%

Gym/Health ClubsDirect Mail 15%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 0%

Email 14%

Health and Beauty

Direct Mail 25%Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 25%

Gap

29%

5%

7%

6%

15%

17%

11%

10%

20%

11%

21%

6%

5%7%

20%

32%

3%

9%

5%

15%

14%

8%

9%

9%

5%

37%

9%

8%

5%20%

36%

7%

5%

8%

28%

20%4%

5%

8%

17%




HolidaysDirect mail 58%

Home telephone 11%

Calls via mobile 9%

SMS Messaging 15%

Email 53%

Home improvement/gardeningDirect mail 48%

Home telephone 9%

Calls via mobile 3%

SMS Messaging 7%

Email 37%

InsuranceDirect mail 46%

Home telephone 9%

Calls via mobile 4%

SMS Messaging 5%

Email 29%

IT/ComputersDirect mail 39%

Home telephone 9%

Calls via mobile 6%

SMS Messaging 7%

Email 45%

Loans/credit cardsDirect mail 49%

Home telephone 8%

Calls via mobile 5%

SMS Messaging 6%

Email 32%

Local Restaurants/Take-awayDirect mail 57%

Home telephone 9%

Calls via mobile 6%

SMS Messaging 10%Email 26%

Local Services/Trades people/ShopsDirect mail 56%

Home telephone 14%

Calls via mobile 6%

SMS Messaging 5%

Email 22%

Mail order catalogues

Direct mail 51%Home telephone 6%

Calls via mobile 3%

SMS Messaging 4%

Email 25%


HolidaysDirect Mail 32%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 35%

Home improvement/gardeningDirect Mail 27%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 24%

InsuranceDirect Mail 21%

Home Telephone 2%

Calls via mobile 1%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 20%

IT/ComputersDirect Mail 20%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 29%

Loans/credit cardsDirect Mail 14%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 0%

Email 15%

Local Restaurants/Take-awaysDirect Mail 47%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 1%

SMS messaging 2%Email 22%

Local Services/Trades people/shopsDirect Mail 43%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 1%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 22%

Mail order catalogues

Direct Mail 30%Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 21%

Gap

26%

10%

9%

14%

18%

21%

8%

3%

6%

13%

15%

7%3%

4%

9%

19%

8%

6%

6%

16%

35%

7%

5%

6%

17%

10%

8%

5%

8%

4%

13%

13%

5%

4%

-

21%5%

3%

3%

4%




Mobile phones/servicesDirect mail 35%

Home telephone 17%


SMS Messaging 18%

Email 33%

MortgagesDirect mail 40%

Home telephone 11%

Calls via mobile 4%

SMS Messaging 4%

Email 29%

Newspaper subscriptions/discount

vouchers/oersDirect mail 53%

Home telephone 8%

Calls via mobile 6%

SMS Messaging 8%

Email 25%

Supermarkets/StoresDirect mail 55%

Home telephone 12%

Calls via mobile 7%

SMS Messaging 6%

Email 32%

Utility companiesDirect mail 45%

Home telephone 12%

Calls via mobile 7%

SMS Messaging 5%

Email 27%

Broadband / cable / landline suppliersDirect mail 42%

Home telephone 12%

Calls via mobile 6%SMS Messaging 5%

Email 35%

None of the aboveDirect mail 9%

Home telephone 16%


SMS Messaging 15%

Email 8%


Mobile phones/servicesDirect Mail 17%

Home Telephone 0%

Calls via mobile 1%

SMS messaging 3%

Email 20%

MortgagesDirect Mail 12%

Home Telephone 0%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 0%

Email 12%

Newspaper subscriptions/discount

vouchers/oersDirect Mail 40%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 27%

Supermarkets/StoresDirect Mail 46%

Home Telephone 1%

Calls via mobile 1%

SMS messaging 1%

Email 37%

Utility companiesDirect Mail 25%

Home Telephone 2%

Calls via mobile 0%

SMS messaging 0%

Email 22%

Broadband / cable / landline suppliersDirect Mail 20%

Home Telephone 2%

Calls via mobile 1%SMS messaging 1%

Email 26%

None of the aboveDirect Mail 16%

Home Telephone 26%


SMS messaging 26%

Email 17%

Gap

18%

17%

11%

15%

13%

28%

11%

4%

4%

17%

13%

7%

6%

7%

2%

9%

11%

6%

5%

5%

20%

10%

7%

5%

5%

22%

10%

5%4%

9%

7%

10%

12%

11%

9%



Shortage of timeFor the fourth year running, the CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP tracking study has re-armed that packs ‘from a

company or brand they know’ are of most interest to consumers. But in response to:“What makes you open and read

a direct mail pack?” people indicated time pressures had increased since last year.

In 2005, 13 % of consumers cited‘lack of time’as one of the ve main reasons for not opening direct mail. This rose to

17% in 2006, 19% last year and 20% now. This echoes the steadily-increasing demands of the internet age and reects

in the larger percentage choosing the ‘known brand’ option which has risen since 2005, from 51% to 55%.

People are being more selective about which mail they open. They continue to view personalisation as an indicationof relevance and the percentage selecting‘Personally addressed to me’ (which has always been the second most

important factor) has increased from 43% in 2006, to 49% in 2007 and 51% in the current study.

‘Can clearly see it contains a free sample or voucher’ remains a major motivation to open, although the percentage

selecting this option has dropped 1% since last year, to 39%. ‘Local services and events’ are also popular, at 27% only

1% below the 2005 high, having risen from 21% in 2006 to 24% last year.

This boost in interest in local events reects a response to the rapidly-rising petrol prices at the end of July, as people

started to look closer to home for leisure activities which involved driving shorter distances.


2006: Consumers. What makes you decide to

open/read a direct mail pack? Please tick all of

the answers, which you think apply.

From brand/company that I know 47%

Personally addressed to me 43%

Interested in the product or service 42%

Local services or events 21%

Looks fun/humorous 10%

The design 6%

The colour 3%

Can clearly see it contains a free

sample/voucher 36%

Because it’s a competition 18%

Attractive envelope 6%Interesting package 17%

Other (please specify) 16%

Source: CCB fast.MAP 2006 Marketing-GAP Research









The design 6%

The colour 3%


sample/voucher 39%Because it’s a competition 21%

Attractive envelope 6%

Interesting package 15%











The design 6%

The colour 3%


sample/voucher 40%Because it’s a competition 20%

Attractive envelope 6%

Interesting package 19%




open/read a mail pack? Please tick all of the

answers which you think apply.



Product/service not relevant to me 6%


Looks humorous/fun 14%

The design 7%

The colour 3%


sample/voucher 43%

Because it’s a competition 23%

Attractive envelope 7%Interesting package 21%



Yr/Yr

- 1%

+ 2%

+ 4%

+3%

-1%

-

-

-1%

+1%

-

-4%

-



Increase in those who don’t open mailFor the rst time in four years there has been an increase in the number of people saying they don’t open and read

their direct mail.

14% of the consumers, said they did not open and read any direct mail, up from 13% last year.

In 2005, 26% of consumers didn’t open direct mail, but this gure had been decreasing steadily until now.

People’s tolerance of cold marketing messages is gradually eroding. Of the 86% who do open some mail packs, 37%

will only open those from a company they have a relationship with. And there has been a steady increase in the

number saying they would opt out of receiving all text messages if there were a Text Preference Service, from 65% in

2006 and 67% in 2007, to 70% now.

Opting outAwareness of the telephone preference service which had increased steeply to 60% between 2006 (when 28per cent

had heard of it) and 2007, has fallen back to 57%; almost half of these (26%) have enrolled.

(The most recent change is no doubt due to the fact that shortly before the 2007 CCB fast.MAP Marketing-Gap

Research took place, there had been a high-prole BT TV and press ad campaign which oered BT customers free TPS

subscription (although the TPS is free to subscribers anyway!). This greatly heightened general awareness of the

possibility of opting-out of telephone marketing. That this has been reected in the ndings is an indication of the

accuracy with which real time research captures current attitudes.)


2006: Consumers: What makes you decide tothrow away an unopened mail pack? Please tick

all of the answers, which you think apply

Lack of time 17%

No interest in the company 59%

Not personally addressed 33%

Object to being sent marketing pieces 66%

Not interested in the product 66%

The design 5%

The colour 4%


Source: CCB fast.MAP 2006 Marketing-GAP tracking study

2007 Consumers : What makes you decide to

throw away an unopened mail pack? Please tick


Lack of time 19%



Object to being sent marketing pieces 60%Not interested in the product 68%

The design 5%

The colour 3%

Other (Please specify) 4%

Source: CCB fast.MAP 2007 Marketing-GAP tracking study

2008: consumers. What makes you decide to

throw away an unopened mail pack? Please tick


Lack of time 20%



Object to being sent marketing pieces 63%Not interested in the product 76%

The design 7%

The colour 4%

Other, please specify 6%

Source: CCB fast.MAP2008 Marketing-GAP tracking study

Responders to the above 174

2005: Consumers: What makes you decide tothrow away an unopened mail pack? Please tick

all of the answers which you think apply

Lack of time 13%



Object to being sent marketing pieces 61%

Not interested in the product 66%

The design 5%

The colour 3%

Other (please specify) 7%Source: CCB fast.MAP 2005 Marketing-GAP tracking study

Yr/Yr

+1%

+1%+3%

+8%

+2%

+1%

+2%



Only 16% of marketers correctly identied 21% to 30% enrolment; more than half expected it to be less than 20%,

which is surprising considering ongoing marketing press coverage of the steadily-growing TPS register.

More than three quarters (77%) of marketers expected less than half of consumers to have heard of the TPS.

In 2005, marketers accurately picked the main motivating factors for TPS enrolment, including the fact that silent calls

were not people’s main motivator. Four years ago, three quarters of consumers selected “being disturbed in a leisure

period” as a motivation, while only two thirds mentioned silent calls and 64per cent “pre-recorded messages”.

Consumer motivations have changed very little since then, though today the number expressing dislike of “being

disturbed in a leisure period” has increased, to 78% (marketers underestimated this considerably – 57%), and slightly

fewer (63%) cited “silent calls” as another major TPS enrolment motivation, again marketers underestimated the

strength of feeling over these, at 47%.

The other main motivations were‘overseas call centres’59% (as accurately identied by marketers);‘pre-recorded

messages 51% (marketers said 49%) and‘hour of the day’ 48% (marketers said 46%).

In 2005, 82% of people said they always looked for the opt-out box when providing personal details to ensure those

details were not passed on to a third party or used for marketing purposes. By 2006, this had risen to 86% - the same

percentage as in the present research - and then only 1% of marketers correctly identied this high level of dataprotection awareness, while half felt fewer than 40% of consumers would look for the box.

Marketers did a little better this year, though still only 9% correctly ticked the ‘81% to 90%’box and 31% were still

convinced that fewer than 40% of consumers knew of their rights.

This indicates that marketers are still massively underestimating peoples’awareness of the opt-out option and the

steadily increasing numbers of consumers who are opting out of receiving telephone marketing messages by

enrolling for the TPS.

68% of consumers say they always tick the third party opt-out box, and 18% always opt out of receiving further

contact from the company to which they have revealed their details. A further 79% sometimes opt out of furthercommunication from the company itself and only 2% say they never opt out of third party contact.

Marketers seem to be ignoring the changes advancing technology, the TPS and the opt-out box are making within

their industry. It is now possible to reach more people online than via the telephone and, mainly because of the

recent Government losses of sensitive public information, people have become less happy about revealing

information and especially of allowing third parties to share it.

Until marketers fully appreciate these changes, their strategies will be awed. It has never been more essential for

them to keep abreast of activity and opinion within the marketplace.

David has 20 years of experience in the direct marketing industry.

David has a Business Degree, a CIM diploma and the BDMA Diploma in Direct Marketing. He has worked in direct

marketing agencies, a database bureau and in a mailing and fullment operation. He was Head of Database

Marketing at The Telegraph Group, where he developed a substantial research programme as well as building

and managing a highly protable and unique data-driven business. David is Co-founder and Managing Director

of CCB fast.MAP

David Cole

Managing Director

CCB f ast.MAP



MethodologyEach year, the same questions are asked of similarly-constructed, online consumer and marketer panels.

However, to ensure the survey stays abreast of technological advances, some questions have been added since 2005,

as emerging media have moved into the marketing mainstream, for example, the internet, mobile phones and SMS

messaging.

Each panel responded to a separate survey.

Both surveys contain the same questions, but while consumers are asked to express their own views, the marketers

are asked to use their experience and judgement to predict how the consumers will have respond to that question.

The consumer panel• 34 questions were submitted into a fast.MAP online self completion survey despatched on Friday 27th June 2008

• The panellists were entered into a prize draw to win £250

• Randomisation of images and answer options to avoid top box bias / creative skew

• An acceptable minimum completion time was pre-set and surveys completed more quickly were not included in the

results

• Intelligent Routing ensured panel members would experience a high-quality survey experience, because

respondents are only presented with relevant questions

• Constant re-qualication of the panel to ensure that background variables are updated. Dierences from initial

recruitment can result in being removed from the panel

The consumer panel comprised 4,000 adults recruited from the 30,00 CCB fast.MAP wholly-owned, closed panel

whose prole echoes that of the UK’s population prole in age and gender.

Demographic data, collected via online lifestyle survey, made it possibly for only people who are both mail andinternet responsive to be selected for the panel.

This pre-existing data also makes it possible for CCB to examine in detail the demographics of a group of people who

respond to a question in a specic way. For example, it might choose to investigate their age, sex, income, family or

marital status to establish whether there are any signicant similarities.

The advantage of the CCB panel - which has been running for more than seven years and has achieved accurate

results for marketers within sectors including automotive, charity, nance, catalogue and mail order, telecomm,

internet, fast moving consumer goods and medical - is that it is extremely representative of a direct

marketing-responsive audience.

It is used by direct marketing, marketing, advertising and sales promotion agencies and brands to gain feedback on

marketing, advertising (print/ web/ mail/ video/ radio) or sales activity, e.g. testing dierent creative treatments,

scripts or envelopes; list selection; data planning and purchase and media planning.

It is now possible to reach far more people for research purposes via the internet than the telephone, because so

many households have registered for the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

Online research oers many benets. Two of these are overwhelmingly important for the CCB fast.MAP

Marketing-GAP study. One is the availability of the wealth of demographic and lifestyle data on panel members,

which allowed the proling of cluster groups of those who respond in specic ways. By relating these proles back to

the database, it was possible to identify and quantify the number of other individuals who tted the same prole.

The second benet is that the research was done in real-time to gain fast, continuous feedback. This means that, for

example, if people change their views following, say, a Government announcement, a disaster, a product recall, or a

rise or fall in the interest rate, it is possible to instantly track this change and factor its eect into the ndings.




The marketer research panel The second panel comprised 200 marketers, drawn from the CCB fast.MAP marketing professionals' panel, who were

emailed the questionnaire. Additional responses came from the readers of Precision Marketing magazine who were

invited to access the questionnaire via a website address printed in the magazine.

ValidityWhen looking at the validity of research ndings four things are of prime importance – recency; sample size (that a

statistically relevant number of people took part in the survey); whether the respondents form a representative

sample; and the manner in which the question is posed.

The representative sample and statistical relevance aspects have been covered above. The research was conducted

among a very large sample of 4,000 consumers and is therefore more statistically relevant than similar research done

among a smaller sample: The bigger the panel, the more accurate the results.

Since the order in which multiple choice answers appear can inuence response (it has been shown that for some

individuals items higher up a list are more likely to be selected than those lower down) the order items appearing on

all multiple choice lists was randomly changed throughout the survey, to avoid bias.

Results can also be biased by the way in which responses are collected. A very obvious example would be for a

face-to-face interviewer to ask the question: "Do you donate to a charity at least once a month?" Or even worse, for

the question to be asked by someone easily identiable as being connected with a charity. In such cases guilt willbecome a factor and people are likely to lie to save face, rather than admit they've not given to charity recently.

With an online, anonymous survey, people are more likely to give honest answers to awkward questions.

RecencyOne of the greatest benets of online research is that it takes place in "real time" so that at any moment it is possible

to monitor response levels and observe progress. Since answers have been input by the respondents, the delay which

occurs because written data has to be entered by a third party is avoided.

Also, it has been shown that data entry errors are less likely to occur when people enter their own responses online.

This is partly because a third party may make a data-entry error if they have diculty in deciphering someone else'swriting and partly because if an individual takes the trouble to ll in an online questionnaire, they are likely to enter

the data more accurately than a keyboard operator whose attention may wander during monotonous, repetitive

data-entry work.

Using face-to-face surveys or paper questionnaires, it would take two or three months to achieve responses to 34

multiple-choice, complex questions from 4,000 people who mirror the UK population prole.

This is because, it would be necessary to rst identify individuals with the right demographic proles and persuade

them to participate. Then, either the questionnaires would have to be mailed or delivered or a qualied, nationwide

research team would have to be assembled to do the interviews. Responses would be returned to base for input and

data processing before results could be presented in a useable form.

The CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP Research was carried out in late July and the rst ndings were accessible within

hours, statistically relevant results representing an accurate "snapshot" of topical UM consumer opinion were

available within three days.

Comparison of marketing specialist and consumer respondent ndings

In the marketing specialist questionnaire it was necessary to collect responses in a slightly dierent way from the

consumer questionnaire. So that one set of ndings could be compared with the other, it was necessary to organise

responses into class intervals.

For example, if consumers are asked to provide a yes or no response to the question: "When providing details about

yourself do you always look for the opt out boxes so your details are not passed on to a third party or used formarketing?" 82per cent may answer "yes".

The corresponding marketer question would be: "What proportion of consumers do you think always look for the

opt-out box when providing details about themselves, so their details are not passed on to a third party or used for

marketing purposes?" and their responses may be as follows:




Proportion Response

0 – 10% 7%

11 – 20% 13%

21 – 30% 22%

31 – 40% 16%

41 – 50% 16%

51 – 60% 7%

61 – 70% 13%

71 – 80% 5%81 – 90% 1%

91 – 100% 0%

The above ndings can be reported in several ways, for example, that 1% of marketers correctly predicted that more

than 80% of consumers look for the opt out box, or that 99% of marketers are more optimistic than reality suggests, or

that, on average, marketers are more optimistic thinking that only 37.5% of consumers opt out compared to a reality

of 82%

If 50% of marketers had underestimated and 50% had overestimated, then the overall assessment of consumer

attitudes by marketers would have been correct.

This white paper is part of a series from the team at CCB fast .MAP

CCB fast .MAP can help you to improve your consumer insight

CCB fast .MAP can illustrate ways in which you can win new business pitches through online research

Can real-time proling through the web replace regression analysis?

Visit www.ccbfast map.com to nd out more.

ccb fastmap marketing gap 1

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