GutCheck to kick-off Advertising Research Foundation conference next month!

GutCheck is excited to announce that we will be a featured speaker to start this year’s Re:think 2012 conference sponsored by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). Our session on Monday March 26th will focus on trends and innovation driving online qualitative research and will feature three keynote speakers:

Matt Warta – CEO, GutCheck

Steve Rappaport – Knowledge Solutions Director, ARF

R.G. Logan – Manager Insights and Planning, 360i

The conference is expected to draw over 2,000 insights and research leaders from advertising and media and will be held at the Marriott Marquis in the Times Square area of Manhattan. We hope to see many of our customers – especially those in the New York area at the Re:think 2012 conference. If you haven’t yet registered for this event, or want to learn more information, visit http://www.thearf.org/rethink-2012-program.

Extra Support: Seeing stars (and giving them meaning)

A few months ago GutCheck implemented a system for rating respondents. Not only did this allow us to understand why certain chats were ‘bad’ and ‘good’, as time goes by it will also allow us to see which respondents have repeat positive or negative ratings.

Now, you can also track your transcripts through star ratings. This will allow you to isolate the best chats, and save the less vocal respondents for later analysis if needed. This quick, at-a-glance reporting is meant to save you time when sorting through data for patterns and verbatims.

We’re always eager to understand more about how our community of researchers is making the tool work, and what kinds of things we can do to improve. Leave us your product feature requests at our community page, here. And, as always, let support know if you have any issues with the tool!

Happy chatting!

GutCheck Is Sharing The Love Today

The Battle of “Fun” vs. “Function”: How Gen X and Millennial Markets View Their Smart Phone World

When it comes to differences in generations, the story boils down to a smart phone viewed as a social tool for texting and apps (Millennial) vs. a more feature rich functional tool to make talking and emailing easier (Generation X).  The groups have spoken and results are fascinating!

In late January and early February, GutCheck fielded online community discussions with large groups of Gen X and Millenials to determine differences in their feelings about Smart Phones.   Here is a synopsis of some key findings:

 1. Gen X Still Considering Traditional Brands – Even When Buying New Phones.  Over 25% are still using Blackberry, and not just old models.  This was double of the usage they reported compared to iPhone usage.  And they still reported owning brands like Nokia, Motorola and Palm.  In comparison, Millennial were much more in love with iPhones, with over 40% currently owning one.  They also were big Samsung users, and almost none of them owned a Blackberry.

2. Millennial Choosing Phone Based on “Coolness” vs. “More Functionality” for Gen X.  This directly links to the brands they chose, but the younger generation said they chose their phones because it excited them and had apps they were seeking.  The Gen X group however, said that factors such as pricing and features were more important reasons to make their choice.

“I bought my 1st Smartphone about 4 years ago, because My friends had the same one and I thought it looked cool so I got one! ” – Amanda B (Millenial)

The two different generations did agree on several key issues:

 • Driving and texting was #1 pet peeve for both groups.  Both found that behavior very annoying.

 • Facebook, Games and Weather apps were viewed as most valuable – and ones they couldn’t live without.

 • Overall thought that Smart Phones are not making life more complicated, although both said volume of information available does take up more of their time. 

 • Both groups think the ability to stay in contact with others and easily connect to the Internet are the biggest benefits of the technology.  Neither group would want to lose access to their phone.

 Impact for Marketers and Consumer Insights?  While everyone is talking mobile technology today and wanting to offer products, services and apps to support mobile users, it is important to remember that one size or solution does not fit all.  Taking just a few days like we did to drill down into particular consumer segments can bring deep learnings very quickly and help shape your future business decisions.  To find out more about GutCheck, don’t hesitate to email us at info@gutcheckit.com. More detailed findings on this particular research will be available for GutCheck customers on request.

Shaping the future of market research: GutCheck CEO talks online qualitative research

A couple of weeks ago GutCheck CEO Matt Warta was interviewed for Radio MR’s CEO Series. There, he discussed online research, trends for 2012, and how GutCheck is moving forward. A sample:

“The high-level answer is that we plan on staying true to our vision of making online qualitative research accessible to brands of all sizes. In practice, that means making online qualitative very easy to use. I think the tipping point you refer to is going to be one of exponentially more experimentation. Experimentation will lead to repeat usage only if the the product promise is fulfilled. It is one thing to talk about making online qualitative quicker, more affordable, and easy. It is much different to actually fulfill on that promise. So for us, staying ahead of that curve is working at fulfilling that promise every day. If we do that, we are given the opportunity to start a dialogue with our customers. That dialogue mapped to our organizational capabilities will drive our innovation forward.”

Read more from the full interview here.