Book Description

With a strong empirical and market segmentation approach, this book focuses on how the Internet has changed the way people obtain information about potential purchases, giving readers the most up-to-date material on how technology is changing their lives as consumers. The Thirty-two mini-cases help readers learn by applying the theory, drawing on current business news to demonstrate specific consumer behavior concepts.This edition now includes thirty-two Active Learning mini-cases. A clear consumer decision making model is set out in each chapter to facilitate learning—presented in the first chapter, this model serves as a structural framework for the concepts—the building blocks—examined in the following chapters. The book's final chapter ties all of these concepts together so readers see the interrelationships and relevance of individual concepts to consumer decision-making.For those studying consumer behavior and/or marketing. ... Read more

Book Description

Is there a method to our madness when it comes to shopping? Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a Sherlock Holmes for retailers," author and research company CEO Paco Underhill answers with a definitive "yes" in this witty, eye-opening report on our ever-evolving consumer culture. Why We Buy is based on hard data gleaned from thousands of hours of field research -- in shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets across America. With his team of sleuths tracking our every move, from sweater displays at the mall to the beverage cooler at the drugstore, Paco Underhill lays bare the struggle among merchants, marketers, and increasingly knowledgeable consumers for control.

In his quest to discover what makes the contemporary consumer tick, Underhill explains the shopping phenomena that often go unnoticed by retailers and shoppers alike, including:

• How a well-placed shopping basket can turn a small purchase into a significant sale
  
• What the "butt-brush factor" is and how it can make sales plummet
  
• How working women have altered the way supermarkets are designed
  
• How the "boomerang effect" makes product placement ever more challenging
  
• What kinds of signage and packaging turn browsers into buyers

For those in retailing and marketing, Why We Buy is a remarkably fresh guide, offering creative and insightful tips on how to adapt to the changing customer. For the general public, Why We Buy is a funny and sometimes disconcerting look at our favorite pastime. ... Read more

Reviews (103)

MUST READ FOR ANYONE IN MARKETING OR RETAIL!!!!
Paco Underhill's book utilizes observational research to determine why people buy. The book starts off with a detailed description of the shopping behavior of a customer in the towel section of a store. Underhill carefully writes down the customers every move, from the number of towels touched, to checking the price tag, nothing gets by without being recorded. He does this same type of observation on hundreds of customers, and from the observations recorded; he makes very thoughtful suggestions to the management of the firm.

I found many of his observations very common sense. For example, "transition zone" as Underhill calls it. Many businesses fail to recognize that it takes time for customers to make an adjustment from being outside of the store to being inside the store. A customer will ignore a simple item like a shopping basket if it is placed in the transition zone. Hanging signs and posters in front doors go unnoticed, because customers are concentrating on opening the door, rather than looking at signs. In a later chapter he goes on to discuss how natural human movement motivates customer purchasing. Because humans walk and look in a forward motion, a lot of items that are on the shelves go unnoticed. If a customer is familiar with the stores environment, then he or she is more likely to roam with his or her eyes as they are passing through the isles.

I found the most interesting topics later in the book. Underhill gives a very insightful description of why men and women shop differently. Underhill states, "Men are from Sears Hardware, Women are from Bloomingdale's." I found some of his research findings very fascinating. He gives a wonderful statistic on men's buying behavior. When a man try's items on at the store there is a 65% chance that he will purchase the item vs. a woman 25%. There is one observation Underhill makes I definitely have to agree with is that idea that men almost always pays. However, I do not agree with his idea that men get a thrill out of purchasing their female friends items.

When I started reading the chapter about what women want, I found a lot of his research findings not too surprising. It is almost common knowledge that women tend to shop faster if a male companion accompanies her. Also nothing new about how ritualistic women shopping patterns is. From seeking and comparing, to trying on and leaving items behind, it is all part of a days shopping for women.

At the end of the book there is an insightful chapter called "The Self-Exam." One idea that he mentions repeatedly through out his book, and emphasized again in this chapter is that shoppers need baskets when their hands are full. Which is not surprising, however when was the last time you saw a stack of baskets sitting in the middle of a store? This book is very thoughtful, interesting and gives any person in the marketing field excellent insight on buyer behavior. This book is a must read for anyone managing in the retail.

Worthwhile book on retail design
It's interesting that Underhill's group was the one that advised Subway Sandwiches to print specific nutritional comparisons to other brand-name fast food items on their napkins. This was genius!
After reading this book, you will never enter a store or restaurant without examining its design and displays. Underhill describes the "zones" of a store or restaurant.
There's a time or two when Underhill gives contradictory opinions. One time, he says that computers should be displayed set up with their peripherals, ready to work, so that customers can try them out. But, another time, Underhill says customers want to see all similar $300 printers lined up together for comparison.
There are several things Underhill doesn't mention which are major sales inhibitors. Stores may have the best designed signage displaying the menu items or identifying aisles, and then put up large advertising banners a few feet in front of those signs, so that customers can't read the original signs without getting right under them. Many fast food outlets also neglect clearing and wiping tables. Yes, customers are expected to clear their own tables, but if they don't, the staff should promptly do so. Otherwise, the company spends millions in advertising to get customers into a restaurant, and the negligence of a manager chases the customer out. Many a time fast food customers will find napkins, straws and utensils stuffed into dispensers so tightly that it's near impossible to retrieve them.
Likewise, Underhill barely mentions the effects of employees' broken promises and faulty information. How many of us have shopped at a Orchard Supply-type hardware store, to have an employee promise to send someone to help you and never return? Or have an employee tell you they don't sell such an item in the store, and it turns out later they do? Frequently the reverse happens, when the employee swears the item can be found waaay across the store in aisle 3, where it doesn't exist.
Underhill says video stores should play movies suitable to all audiences, but it's often the case, especially later in the evening, that customers will have to shop under blaring rock music. In some stores, such as a mall Radio Shack I visited recently, the teen employees were engaged in such an animated conversation among themselves that customers didn't feel welcome to interrupt them, for the purposes of getting help or ringing up a purchase.
This book is worth reading. In reading the book, you'll see that some stores have incorporated his suggestions in the four years since publication.

Sometimes the obvious isn't so apparent
I finally picked this one up after about a year of "meaning to buy it." I'm glad I did. It's a lighthearted and fun book that will make you analyze every store you set foot into and make you want to avoid many others. There are no earth-shattering ideas in here, but it does point out many of the obvious things you'd probably miss, ie: product placement, who the decision-makers are and traffic flow of the stores. It's written clear and concise, but recycles many of the examples. I read it over the course of 2 planetrips (with layovers) and will probably pass it along to a store-owner I know - meaning I won't be referencing it for the rest of my life, but I'll probably keep an eye to see what stores have read it and who should

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much
It is interesting to note people's reactions to this book. I'm reminded of the adage about the stages of acceptance of an idea. At the first stage people say it's wrong, at the second stage they assert that that it's right, but also trivial (common sense perhaps?), and at the 3rd stage (final acceptance) they claim the idea as their own. Many of the negative reviews fit into stages 1 or 2. I would concur with several reviewers that the author's ego interferes with the presentation, but this does nothing to diminish the observational detail that he manages to share, if you are in a place where you can think about it. It takes a little effort to step back from the detail and consider some of the ideas about our behavior that are cloaked in the author's descriptions. Yet many of the notions about what we notice and why and how we move about in a space could be applied (with some reflective thought) to the whole process of "arriving at" and "navigating" a web site (to purchase something or to get information).

If you are looking for a book that correlates characteristics of people (socieconomic status, sex, etc) with purchases you will be sorely disappointed. I assume that many of Underhill's clients have contemplated charateristic type marketing data with an eye toward some causal connection between characteristics of people and purchasing behavior. But what Underhill notices is that the act of going to a store and buying something is a sequence of behavior that can be derailed in a variety of ways. And this, ultimately, is why characteristics (socieconomic status, gender, etc) that predict purchasing are also not causal (I don't know of any 100% correlations between characteristics and purchasing behavior that would suggest a causal relationshp). There is instead a process that starts with purposefully going to a store, or arriving their fortuitously, and a subsequent sequence of steps that may or may not result in a purchase. In detailing this process he also takes note of differences related to gender and other characteristics. If you want to understand something about how people must get to a place, enter, move about, notice things and think in order to buy things you will intrigued by the Underhill's anthropological musings. If you want some definitive "cause" for why people buy you might look elsewhere, though I suspect you would be hard-pressed to argue that the processes Underhill takes note of have nothing to do with a successful retail environment.

They Know What You are Doing
There are very few books that I read over and over, but 'Why We Buy' has earned a spot in my top ten all time favorites. Through this book, the author takes us on an informative and entertaining journey into the world of retail marketing. However, the beauty of the book lies is that while it is a must-read for any retailer, it will appeal and intrigue the average consumer.

When you shop, you aren't just shopping -- you are performing a science. From the way you move your eyes, to what path you take through the store, even items you touch on the shelves, is all part of how each individual consumer makes a purchasing choice. Through this book, you learn how retailers have studied shoppers -- like yourself -- and why certain items are on the top shelfs, why two items are never on sale at the same time, and a wealth of other retail secrets.

Have you ever stopped to think about what happens the moment you walk into the store? Probably not, but you'll learn about what happens from the parking lot to the checkout stand in this book. You'll find out, for example, why shopping carts are usually always on the righthand side, and why the days of plastering windows with advertisements are all but over for many stores.

Overall, this book is just fascinating in the depth of knowledge it presents, and in such a manner to make it entertaining and informative. Even the most casual reader can find something of interest.

One thing is for sure, once you read this book, you'll never view a grocery store or mall the same way again. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Nothing more to say...other than this book is great!
The other reviews here sum up this book nicely. It is very insightful and great to read. Highly recommended.

learn from the best
"Uncommon Practice is the book that lets you hear about the essence of business success straight from the horse's mouth. "
Phil Dourado, Editorial Director, eCustomerServiceWorld.com

In an increasingly crowded market place, there are certain companies that really stand out from their competitors - companies like Tesco, PizzaExpress, Virgin, easyGroup, First Direct, Harley Davidson, Krispy Kreme and Pret A Manger.

This new book by Interbrand and Forum, demonstrates, through interviews with key executives from these and other leading companies, how they provide remarkable experiences for their customers and staff alike. The premise behind Uncommon Practice is that that this success stems from their distinctive cultures uniquely developed to meet the needs of customers. The companies featured have defied conventional wisdom and broken the traditional rules of management to engender exceptional levels of commitment from their people, who, united behind a clear brand vision, translate their belief in the company into exceptional customer service.

Editors Andy Milligan and Shaun Smith have taken care to let the voice of the organisation speak for itself. Uncommon Practice is not a 'how to...' book, and does not provide a 'quick-fix' list of invariable rules for success. The editors do however provide insight into the core principles and practices that the leading companies featured share but which are uncommon in many organisations today.

Uncommon Practice explores the creation of outstanding brand experiences delivered through people, illuminated with interviews with senior executives and front-line managers.

Critical to the success of these brands is the way they treat their own people. Open management, share ownership, training and appraisals are common benefits, but can you guess which company has an empty seat policy on the company jet, keeps a fleet of yachts, has a monthly beer bus, gives an employee the Bentley for the weekend or awards Tiffany stars? Through a series of interviews with key executives, Uncommon Practice gives an insight into how certain companies have become so successful by providing remarkable experiences for their customers and staff alike. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Parents will be tempted to read Born to Buy as a kind of contemporary horror story, with ever more sophisticated marketing wunderkinds as Dr. Frankensteins and their children as the relentless monsters they create. Indeed, it's difficult to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the avariciousness, omnipotence, and ingenuity of the advertising industry Juliet B. Schor portrays when it comes to transforming preschool kids into voracious, 'tude-infused consumers. Intermixing research data with anecdotal illustrations, Schor chronicles the rapid development of a once-shackled industry that now markets R-rated movies to 9-year-olds. The mind boggles at the notion that Seventeen magazine's target readership is now pre-teens. While Schor unearths a surplus of information on the effectiveness of advertising, she's not nearly as adept at proposing effective responses. Reacting to the power and creativity of the consumer culture with politically unfeasible regulation and parental diligence is a little like attacking Frankenstein's creature with torches. Still, Born to Buy is an eye-opening account of an industry that is commercializing childhood with remarkable effectiveness and insouciance. --Steven Stolder ... Read more

Book Description

Communicating a fascination for the everyday activities of people, this leading book on consumer behavior examines how our world is influenced by the action of marketers, and considers how products, services, and consumption contribute to the broader social world we experience. Its incredibly interesting and dynamic content proves hip and engaging, while reflecting the latest research. KEY TOPICS A four-part organization looks at consumers as individuals, consumers as decision makers, consumers and subcultures, and consumers and culture.For brand managers, marketing research analysts, and account executives. ... Read more

Book Description

This marketing classic has been expanded to include new commentary, new illustrations, and a bonus book: The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding

Smart and accessible, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is the definitive text on branding, pairing anecdotes about some of the best brands in the world, like Rolex, Volvo, and Heineken, with the signature savvy of marketing gurus Al and Laura Ries. Combining The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, this book proclaims that the only way to stand out in today's marketplace is to build your product or service into a brand -- and provides the step-by-step instructions you need to do so.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding also tackles one of the most challenging marketing problems today: branding on the Web. The Rieses divulge the controversial and counterintuitive strategies and secrets that both small and large companies have used to establish internet brands. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is the essential primer on building a category-dominating, world-class brand.

Reviews (46)

To focus and place a word in the prospect mind!
I have read a few books written by Ries and there are two ideas that are emphasized again and again, that is, to focus and to place a word in the prospect mind. This book is no exception. The laws of branding built in this book are based on these two concepts.

"Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect". I totally agree. People are exposed to an over-communicated environment, to place a word in the prospect mind can surely lead your company to success. In fact, in customers' mind, there is no difference between your products and your competitors'. Only by building a brand can you differentiate your company from its competitors.

I also agree that brand building is not just for marketing department but for the entire company, as a brand is not only composed of its name but also of its product, service, environment, communication and behavior of the company. Everything a company does is related to brand building. Therefore, apart from the name that includes the logotypes and the color, this book also provides us with a lot of ways to do with the brand. For examples, to focus in its scope, to achieve it with publicity and maintain it with advertising, to promote the category rather than the brand, to distinguish it from the company, to avoid using subbranding etc.

This book is clear in the format and the content, illustrated by plenty of examples of what not to do and lessons on how to brand in the customer's mind! I can get a lot of insights from it.

This book is worth reading! I highly recommend you to read it!

Then 1 Immutable Law of Al Ries
Focus. Don't do a line extension to save your life.

OK, this book is great and should be read by anyone involved in marketing (I mean come on, who doesn't have the 3 hours it takes to read this book). Unfortunately one serious drawback is that he uses plenty of examples to support his claims. Huh? Why is that a negative? Here's why: because it gets the reader to think of plenty of counter-examples that contradict his points. As another reviewer suggested the claim of "immutable" laws of marketing is a bit bold, but what the book does provide is food for thought in a highly readable context.

You gotta give the guy credit though. He takes a stand. And there's a lot to be said for taking a viewpoint and standing by it in today's middle of the road world.

If you don't feel up to reading "Focus," "Positioning," or some of the other texts by Al Ries, this one provides a lot of the insights in bite size pieces.

Despite the knocks against it listed above there are a few points worth acknowledging: 1. Al Ries is a legend in marketing. 2. It's a good, fun read with many useful examples worth keeping in mind when developing marketing strategies. 3. By reading it for yourself you can develop examples to refute a lot fo the laws and move along the path towards critically evaluating branding strategies.

Give credit where credit is due
Nearly everything in this book is copied verbatim from the marketing classic "Positioning, the battle for you mind" by Jack Trout; Give credit where it's actually due.

"Yeah, right," I said
I do a little consulting in marketing & branding. I've got five other books on branding sitting on the shelf, & I've plowed through four.

I wouldn't say those other books were a waste of time, but I'm confident that this one has more immediately useful information than all of them taken together. And I'm stunned that it as easy read, not only informative but *fun*.

This edition is the one you want, as it combines the 22 laws with the other 11 that pertain very specifically to the Internet. By the time you get through the first few, you will find yourself looking at every brand -- on television, in the stores, on your own shelves -- in a whole new light. One of the prime models, coincidentally enough, is Amazon.com itself. The authors' comments on this very site will probably open your eyes to how remarkable the Bezos legacy has been.

I've barely finished, yet this book has already helped steer me better as to some website questions I had been studying. It's already paid for itself ten times over, & I am certain that the benefits have only begun. The simple, clear differentiation between a company name & a brand name has, by itself, been a unique lesson, & I've taken to heart the stern warnings (& wonderfully absurd object lessons) against line extensions & brand dilution.

Don't let the somewhat bizarre cover put you off (as it did me). This is one of the few books that I intend to re-read on a regular basis, & I will read more Reis titles in the near future.

YOU'LL BE "INVOLVED" WITH THIS LITTLE RIES CAMEO
I write reviews on Amazon rather avidly. When I started reading this particular book, I knew it would be a good number to review. So I started marking everything in the book that I disagreed with or that I felt was worth commenting on.

That the Ries duo relies on sweeping statements (e.g., "Quality of a product doesn't matter. It's all about brands.") hardly made my intentions any easier. Needless to say, my copy of 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is riddled with lots of ink and copious sidenotes. There is a lot I said "Really?" to while reading.

But maybe that's the thing I adore about Ries Inc. Their books are anything but boring manuals on a topical issue so relevant to almost anyone in business. I was "involved" with this book like I have seldom been with a work of non-fiction. I adored and went all retrospective with the "Law of the Name" and the "Law of Globalism". The writing is trippy, semi-provocative and hence absolutely delectable in a piece of work such as this!

Do I recommend it? Wholeheartedly. A wonderfully satisfying read. Just keep your discerning senses about you and think twice before wrapping your (brand management) career around all the advice this book proffers.

Noteworthy: The whole book is also available in a PDF version, if you are not particularly averse to on-screen reading. ... Read more

Book Description

Offering a sound theoretical base supported by relevant and current examples, this practical, detailed, and well-documented guide takes readers through all phases of developing and conducting international marketing research - from analyzing the nature and scope of the research, to the preliminary stages, gathering data, designing the questionnaires, sampling, analyzing the data, and more - plus includes numerous country-specific examples and provides valuable training in using the Internet for research purposes.Presents broad and comprehensive coverage of the most current information on research methodologies available. Contains examples and references from ongoing international marketing research projects, and offers country-specific information to aid researchers in conducting studies in an international market. Shows how to use the internet as an effective resource. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Decent overview of international marketing research
I used this book in a class I took on International Marketing Research. It offered a decent overview of international marketing research concepts, but also was fairly dry in parts. ... Read more

Book Description

This market leader has established itself as a classic through seven previous editions by presenting superior, balanced coverage of both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of marketing research. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Marketing Research from a Project Based Perspective
This is the new edition of the book we used in the marketing research course at the Michigan Business School.It was great then and is even better now that they have tightened it up and slimmed it down a bit.It reads clearly, is focused, and doesn't pull any punches about the benefits, tradeoffs, and limitations of the various problems and methods involved in this subject.

Rather than focusing on decision support systems or marketing information systems, this book is focused on a project based approach.The authors help you recognize a problem, how to formulate it clearly, present it to decision makers for approval, designing the research to be done, data design and collection methods, they offer sample designs which is very helpful.They then do a fabulous job on data analysis and conclude by showing you how to present a proper research report.

There are several helpful appendices providing statistical values for those calculator based problems, but, really, who doesn't use a spreadsheet or SPSS or some similar package anymore?

There is also a glossary, a subject index, and an author index.

This is a standard text on the subject, and it is terrific.

Expensive but worth every penny!
This is a huge work of marketing research, both in terms of volume and importance.Although intended as a grounding in the foundations of marketresearch, the book takes you further than that.As a result I was using itas a text at post-graduate level.

The book sets out to explain how to:Formulate your problem. Determine your research design. Design yourcollection method and forms. Design your sample and collect the data.Analyse and interpret the data. Prepare your research report.

It is thensubdivided into sub sections.I was particularly impressed with thesection on ethics, which was so clearly laid out that I used it as a guidewhen writing a pure ethics paper.

The book is amply supplied withexamples and case studies to illustrate the text and make it useful in amore practical sense.

All in all a clear, accessible, well laid out andwell indexed textbook.

A complete detailed theoritical and analytical book
An excellent work both theory and analysis. Provides an insight about the math requirments for the Marketing Researcher. In certain areas it gives the basic ideas - pp 752,753 - Fig.13.1 Histogram and Frequency Polygon of Incomes of Families in Car Ownership study.The Preface states- this edition, is designed to avoid such extremes by providing the student with a thorough treatment of the important concepts, both simple and complex - This aspect is proved in every section of the book. Really it will help the student to develop their creativie and analytical marketing skills. A very good work. ... Read more

Book Description

For nearly two decades, Don Dillman's Mail and Telephone Surveys and the Total Design Method it outlined has aided students and professionals in effectively planning and conducting surveys. But much has changed since the TDM was developed in 1978. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, Second Edition, thoroughly revised and updated by the author from his classic text, addresses these changes and introduces a new paradigm that responds to the recent developments that affect the conduct and success of surveys.

In this new edition, Dillman introduces a new paradigm called "Tailored Design," which expands TDM to account for-and take advantage of-innovations such as computers, electronic mail, and the World Wide Web; theoretical advancements; mixed-mode considerations; the increasing acceptance of self-administered surveys; our better understanding of specific survey requirements; and an improved base of social science knowledge. As insightful and practical as its classic original, Mail and Internet Surveys, Second Edition is a crucial resource for any researcher seeking to increase response rates and obtain high-quality feedback from mail, electronic, and other self-administered surveys.

Topics covered include:

• Writing Questions and Constructing the Questionnaire
• Mixed-Mode Surveys
• Personal Delivery of Questionnaires
• Surveying When Speed Is Critical
• Government Surveys of Households and Individuals
• Business Surveys
• Internet and Interactive Voice Response Systems
• Questionnaires That Can Be Scanned and Imaged

Praise for the previous edition . . .

"Required reading for anyone who wants to diversify research procedures."
-Contemporary Psychology

"An excellent reference tool and valuable addition to any serious practitioner's library."
-Public Relations Journal

"The book is packed with practical suggestions that cover each task in designing andimplementing a survey."
-Social Forces

... Read more

Reviews (7)

Light on the technical side
For those of you who do survey research and struggle with getting an acceptible response rate, this is the book for you. It truly is an amazing resource for a method that can get one to near a 75% response even on mail-only surveys. Highly recommended.

For those of you looking for any help on statistics, this is NOT the book for you.

For those of you interested in increasing the validity and reliability of your surveys, this is could be the book for you. It does have an effective treatment of writing questions and effective survey design.

If you wish to become an expert in coverage, sample frames, sampling, etc, look elsewhere. That topic gets just 10 pages.

No book can do it all of course but I would have left out some of the "fluff" chapters Dillman included for some discussion of the more technical side of the statistics of analyzing surveys after you have designed them the way he suggests.

Still lots of great wisdom on survey research.
Dillman's text was the classic for so long that many of us think of him as the guru of survey research. I would guess that is why the Census Bureau hired him as their lead consultant for the 2000 Census.

As has been pointed out, Dillman does not present as much theoretical material as he might. But, I don't think that that detracts from the strengths of this book. There are other books out there that cover the cognitive and social psychology behind survey answers, and there are other books that give you guidance on the scientific method, experimental design, sampling, etc. (I would recommend Babbie's Practice of Social Research) And Dillman even has a more hands-on book (How to Conduct Your Own Survey) for non-scientists.

But, the real strength of Dillman's book might be how well he instructs on how to put together a great questionnaire - the design, layout, order, question design and implementation.

I find his take on internet surveys to be controversial and a little out-of-date. But, my concerns might be viewed as those of a skeptic - I'm not yet convinced that internet surveys are viable for all that many situations. And, I think Dillman does a good job of laying out some of the challenges and promises of internet surveys.

Strong book but doesn't cover software
This is a good book, but it doesn't offer much help picking an Internet survey tool, and there are a lot of choose from: perseus.com, raosoft.com, inquisite.com, scantron.com. I would have liked to see some discussion or analysis of the types of tools that could be used.

Misnamed, Lacking Scientific Methodology
Well, this may be "the book" when it comes to surveys, but it still lacks a lot. First, I found the chapters on writing questions and organizing a questionnaire to be very useful. However, it looks like the author only added a couple chapters about Internet surveys, instead of reviewing his decades-old book in terms of the impact of the Internet. For example, I don't find it particularly useful to discuss how to fold a survey, or how to distribute it by mail, when it's being administered on-line!

Furthermore, this book is lacking any real scientific methodology. I suspect this is a result of the nature of the field, but survey designers should at least try to employ some good experimental design approaches. For example, this book does not help me at all to ensure that the survey actually gives me information that I need. While he does give information on writing interpretable questions, he has no recommendations on how to determine the goals of the survey, how to design questions that will address those goals, how to arrange questions in the survey to ensure good data that addresses those goals, etc. And what about statistical accuracy, and how certain types of questions are easier to measure? Any suggestions on how to evaluate free-response questions? Why isn't there an entire chapter on "How to avoid bias and inaccuracy in responses", instead of having suggestions scattered around the text?

This book has a lot of useful sociological hints on how to increase the response rate from a population. However, this isn't the most important aspect of surveys---it sorely lacks the scientific basis for the design and evaluation of the "experiment" that is the survey. Without this, it doesn't matter how many people respond, because the data will be useless.

So much to say, even to those who think they know
I have close to 20 years of experience in market research; yet with the move that many are making to conducting their research over the Internet, I knew I needed to get a lot of learning quickly, in order to better understand the trade-offs being made between cost savings and research quality. Dillman's book fills that need. Building on an earlier edition, which focused on the issues surrounding interviewing by mail, Dillman confronts issues surrounding lack of randomness, need for clarity in a self-administered-survey world, and issues of internet coverage, in drawing conclusions. Also, he has a very helpful discussion on the issues surrounding combining data collected through different methodologies at once. Dillman also discusses the need to recruit within the context of a social exchange; we are, after all, collecting information with the respondent's approval, and our generalizations are stronger when we have a good sampling plan and can maximize co-operation.

Highly recommended! ... Read more

Book Description

The direction of Marketing Research, 2e heads towards a more application-oriented approach, wonderfully enhanced by the creation of a custom website that will enable students to complete their marketing research project with our online support. In addition to this distinction, the focus of the new edition takes an application-oriented approach, providing students with the tools and skills necessary to solve business problems and exploit business opportunities. This book is also unique from any other in the market in three significant ways. First, it provides a greater balance between primary and secondary information and the techniques and methods that underpin these two important types of data. Second, it offers in-depth coverage of the critical research tools and skills that will be required of today and tomorrow’s marketing researchers and business decision-makers. Third, with its in-depth coverage of secondary research, the practice of customer-based management is highlighted as this book helps students see what real companies are doing for their marketing research. This book provides students a realistic and current view of the practice and importance of marketing research in the business world. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great way to learn Marketing Research
I used this book along with a Marketing Research class at Drake University. The text clearly explained the principles of marketing research and provided real-life examples. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved with Marketing. ... Read more

Book Description

Now in a completely revamped second edition, the authors of Customer Behavior have adapted the content, length, and end-of-chapter materials in the text, producing a new text that is tailored specifically to upper level 4-year programs, or to graduate level programs.Its managerial approach focuses not only on the household consumer but also on the business customer market.This text goes beyond the conventional subject matter of consumer behavior textbooks, focusing not only on the role of customers as buyers, but also on their roles as users and payers. ... Read more

Book Description

Hawkins offers balanced coverage of consumer behavior including psychological, social, and managerial implications.The new edition offers exciting and extremely current examples.This author team is best known for their ability to tie the topics back to marketing decision making and strategic planning. ... Read more

Book Description

How to capture customers by learning to think the way they do

The most common complaint Bill Stinnett hears from his corporate clients is that would-be vendors and suppliers "just don't understand our business." In Think Like Your Customer, Stinnett explains why the key to landing corporate customers is to learn to think about the things executives and business owners think about and understand how they make complex buying decisions.

Drawing upon his years of experience as a Fortune 500 consultant, he offers sales and marketing professionals a powerful framework for understanding the inner workings of a business; knowing what motivates its executives and influences their buying decisions; identifying a company's organizational structure and decision-making psychology; and using that information to develop a winning strategy for influencing how and why the customer buys.

In addition, you receive:

• Solid marketing insights delivered in a fun, breezy style by a top corporate consultant and seminar leader
• Expert tips on how to maximize the value and profitability of relationships with corporate clients and customers

Download Description

"It's more important than ever for companies to objectively assess the value of their customers. But conventional measures of ""customer lifetime value"" haven't been linked to overall business value and haven't been useful to senior managers. Managing Customers as Investments overcomes both shortcomings.

Through practical examples and case studies, you'll learn a rigorous yet simple approach to estimating the lifetime value of your customers¿and how you can use that information to make better tactical and strategic decisions. You'll learn how customer value calculations impact customer acquisition, service, retention, and segmentation¿as well as strategic M&A and alliance decisions.

Whether you're a CxO, line-of-business manager, marketer, analyst, or investor, Managing Customers as Investments will help you focus your resources where they'll deliver maximum value.

Key takeaways include

• Customers are assets
• How to calculate the value of customers in a simple way
• How the value of customers provides the basis for marketing strategy and planning
• The importance of balancing the value of the customer to the firm with the value the firm provides to the customer
• How to use the value of the customer as a basis for firm valuation and M&A decisions
• The implications for organization and incentive structure and the limitations of product and brand management
• How to link customer value to business value
• Practical techniques for CxOs, line-of-business managers, marketers, financial analysts, and investors
• How to make better decisions about marketing, partnerships, and organizational structure
• Easy-to-use metrics and real-world case studies

What your customers are really worth: crucial knowledge for better strategic and tactical decision-making

How can you find out, without endlessly complex modeling? And after you know, what should you do with that knowledge?

Managing Customers as Investments has the answers¿and they may surprise you.

You'll learn surprisingly simple ways to get reliable customer value information...and get it in a form you can use.

You'll learn how to use it to measure your marketing effectiveness more accurately than ever before¿and drive improvements throughout your entire customer relationship lifecycle.

You'll learn how customer value can bring new clarity to decisions about M&A and firm valuation.

Everyone tells you to manage your business around customers. This book gives you the tools to do it.

" ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The Do It Smarter Book
Understanding that a businesses customers are one of it's greatest assets is not a new or novel idea.After all these are the people that pay the bills.But how can you fairly asses what the true value of any one customer is?Is it all based on total revenue, profit margin or market share?Questions that are difficult to answer and not really a black and white issue. This book teaches the readers how to see the link between customer value and firm value.It also does a great job of showing you which aspects of customer management are the most critical.One of the rules they want you to look at is long term relationships and strategies and not just the short term fix.

There were two great aspects of the book that made it one that can easily be used.First the authors made the decision to keep the approaches simple.You did not have to work through some multiple step process with NASU like calculations.The authors theory is that simple and intuitive concept can be implemented by almost all management thus insuring a better adoption rate.The second aspect I felt was valuable was that the book was full of real life examples.It was far easier to see how the process worked when you could relate to the examples provided.Overall I really enjoyed the book.It was informative, had great ideas and is one that can make a difference in any organization.

The marketing book of the year 2005?
This is a particularly thought-provoking book which, as have so many others, came from Wharton School Publishing. Columbia professors Sunil Gupta and Donald Lehmann have written regularly on the subject of Customer Value and Marketing over the last 20 years. Their articles and books have been standard texts for many MBA students interesting in customer value management for some time. Sunil and Donald have produced a jewel: it is so well written and convincing that, after reading it, you will rethink your customer relationships in terms of value creating opportunity and not in terms of expense.

Cool approach to help you better understand your company
This book argues a customer based metric to understanding not only firm value, but for making more realistic decisions about investing in new customers or even company acquisitions.The authors are quite frank about the vague nature of some of the components of the equations they develop because you have to make some assumptions about the future.I really like their statement that it is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong.Upon close examination that statement actually sounds better than it really is, but it gets the point across.

The basic idea is that your customers represent a series of cash flows.Using the tools provided in this book you can make reasonable assumptions and make an estimate of their value to your firm.This can help company executives make better decisions about marketing spends, acquisitions, and in targeting customer segments.It can help investors and analysts double check company predictions and market valuations.

Since we have been through a period of corrupted financial reports by too many companies, it is great to have another tool to check the value of a corporation, no matter how rough.In fact, the measure is so easy to run, it would be great to make a range of assumptions to create a bounded "realities check" in order to see what would need to occur for a given investment or management scenario to be a good decision or realistic outcome.

The one tiny area where I think the authors head off into the world of making the whole world a nail for their new hammer is their idea of a CMO, a Chief Marketing Officer.There are too many Chief whatevers in companies nowadays.I think the reality is that if this turns out to be a useful and predictive tool that executives would be foolish to not use it.The role of marketing within a corporate structure has more to do with the role of marketing in the nature of the product.For example, Proctor & Gamble is a marketing firm and has to emphasize it much more than a captive auto supplier.It is not something that can be uniformly prescribed.

Far from being an abstract exercise in quantification, this is a lively and concise book with many case studies to illustrate the authors' points.Just beware that every new idea cannot really be proven with past data because of the danger of fitting the data to the needs of the tool.You will have to work with these ideas and see how they work in your organization.My guess is that these ideas will yield good results if used well.

Good business book. ... Read more

Book Description

Emotional Branding Bonds Brands With Today's Savvy Consumers

A visionary approach to building powerful brand loyalty, this groundbreaking book shows marketers of any product or service how to engage today's increasingly cynical consumers on deeper emotional levels. Case histories from the author's high-profile client list analyze demographic and behavioral shifts in populations and retail distribution channels, then show how all five senses can be used as powerful marketing tools to respond to those trends. Chapters detail how to develop strong brand personalities, customize brand presence to different consumer groups, use brand strategies in packaging and display, and facilitate breakthrough strategies for the Web. Chapters detail how to:

* develop unforgettable brand personalities
* customize brand presence to different consumer segments
* incorporate brand strategies into product and retail architecture design
* facilitate interactive access to your products through the Internet.

Emotional Branding breaks new ground in proposing innovative ways to create powerful and effective branding programs for meeting the challenges and opportunities of the new emotion-based economy. ... Read more

Reviews (30)

How to Connect Brands to People
According to Gobe, "an Emotional Branding approach is quite simply the crucial defining element that separates success from indifference in the marketplace....[It] brings a new layer of credibility and personality to a brand by connecting powerfully with people on a personal and holistic level....Emotional Branding is more than a process or research technology; it is based on the connections between people that transcend charts and graphs. It is a culture and way of living; a fundamental belief that people are the real force in commerce and that business and the street cannot survive separately." I begin my review with this brief excerpt because, with these remarks, Gobe creates a frame of reference for his reader before providing information and insights which differentiate his book from any other on the same general subject.

After an Introduction ("Emotional Branding: Fuel for Success in the Twenty-first Century"), Gobe presents his material within four Sections and then provides a Conclusion in which he acknowledges that branding is not for everyone while asserting that branding is about cultural relevance and emotional connection, not hype. For those who are responsible for devising, launching, and then managing a successful, emotionalized brand, he suggests three "essential" ideas: 1. "Brands have life cycles. The future of a brand is defined by its relevance at any given time and by how well it can protect the values that made it great. 2. Brands are elected every day based on their emotional relevance with the public and its commitment to quality. 3. Real brands are about meaning and truth." Here are some of the questions to which Gobe responds:

1. How can a brand engage people on the level of their senses and emotions?

2. Which brands have done so most effectively? How?

3. What is the biggest misconception in branding strategies? Why?

4. What are "The Ten Commandments of Emotional Branding"?

5. Which values are unique to Baby Boomer (born 1946-64), Gen X (born 1965-76), and Gen Y (born 1977-94) consumers? So what?

6. Which values are unique to African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American, Gay, and Lesbian consumers? So what?

7. Why are Women "The New Shoppers in Chief"?

8. Why are sensorial experiences (i.e. sight, sound, touch, taste, feel, and smell) "the uncharted territory of branding"?

9. Which branding strategies based on sensorial experiences have proven most effective? Why?

10. What are the "Key Trends for the New Millennium"? Why?

These questions correctly suggest the scope and depth of Gobe's perspectives on emotional branding. Throughout the book, he cites and discusses examples of branding initiatives which either succeeded or failed. I am also grateful for the inclusion of highly innovative graphics which illustrate "thinking out of the box" while creating an advertising campaign. (See the Introduction to Section III.) Gobe concludes his book with this observation: "To get people interested in a long-term relationship, keep your ear to the ground and always be ready for any market changes. Change is good, but predicting change is better -- the answer is within people's hearts." In this remarkable book, Gobe does indeed offer a new paradigm for connecting brands to people.

Those who share my high regard for Emotional Branding are strongly urged to check out Levitt's The Marketing Imagination, Ries and Trout's Positioning (NOT the sequel, The New Positioning), Brands: The New Wealth Creators edited by Hart and Murphy, Schmitt's Experiential Marketing, and Pine and Gilmore's The Experience Economy. For those who wish to explore the subject in even greater depth, I highly recommend Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence and his more recently published Working with Emotional Intelligence.

How to Market to the Heart as Well as the Head
This is a great book. If you feel that people largely buy products and services for emotional reasons, and you want to learn more about branding strategies that address consumer emotions, this is for you. I would recommend you first read Lisa Fortini-Campbell's exceptional little book, "Hitting the Sweet Spot", then Chapters 3 and 10 (on "Brand Design" and "Advertising Strategy", by Bobby Calder, Steven Reagan and and Brian Sternthal respectively) in the new book by Dawn Iacobucci, "Kellog on Marketing" and then finish with "Emotional Branding". The Gobe book pulls everything together, yet maintains an unwavering, retriever-like focus on leveraging buyer emotions. Some of the new books like Hill and Rifkin's "Radical Marketing" stress the importance of buyer empathy and passion for the brand, but I have yet to read a book as good as "Emotional Branding" which tells the reader HOW TO DO all of these things.

Title is prime example of subject
Problems: there is a lot of useless commentary; Gobe pushes political correctness in advertising; he generalizes about Baby boomers, Generations X and Y; he often supplies only anecdotal evidence for his ideas. On the other hand, he seems sincerely interested in the subject, and there's some real insight underneath all the BS. About what you would expect from an Ad executive.

extraordinary new insight on marketing
I recommend this book to anyone wants to follow the new marketing trend of approaching consumers not in a rational way, but rather through an emotional connection that allows identification and enhtusiasm... taste, feel, smell, touch, hear: approaching the consumers using all the senses, allowing an holistic brand experience. A great book that stands out of the group, if you have to buy one book on emotional marketing, this is the one you cannot miss.

Good book, but 50% too long
This is a good book that explains the importance of creating an emotional connection with the consumer when designing a brand. It is however too long as the same (good) concept is repeated many times in different words. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Fans of Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado will certainly be attracted to The Chasm Companion, a step-by-step manual by longtime Moore associate Paul Wiefels that lays out specific ways to apply his popular tech-oriented business principles in our fast-changing world. But even those who never warmed to the earlier works--which proposed a pragmatic path for successfully navigating the ever-moving environment of "disruptive technologies that force changes in both strategy and behavior"--could find this book appealing. Designing The Chasm Companion as a hands-on field guide, Wiefels opens by explaining six "inflection points" in high-tech market development (the Early Market, the Chasm, the Bowling Alley, the Tornado, Main Street, Total Assimilation) that he and Moore insist everyone must carefully watch and properly react to as internal and external conditions evolve. He then outlines models and tools developed in the consulting practice he co-founded with Moore that enable individual corporations to carefully craft relevant strategies that they can align correctly with the appropriate market phases defined earlier. Finally, he presents initiatives (strategy validation, whole product management, marketing communications planning, and field engagement strategy) to help these firms actually implement their plans. Graphics and sidebars help Wiefels drive his points home clearly. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Extends beyond high tech
Wiefels get to the heart of high tech marketing. Nothing I have read has more insights or is more useful in the practical application of marketing constructs for high tech. Anybody in high tech, indeed in marketing of any sort, can benefit from these concepts.

THE guide for tech marketeers and managers
It's a very simple and clear framework to keep in mind, with VERY practical results in day-to-day activities of product management (specially for those, like me, come from "techies" backgrounds). It's reccommended to read the other 5 books of Chasm Group to fully understand the concepts, but to start using as product manager, this is THE guide.

Tough Marketing Decisions Made Easier
Paul Wiefels has given a gift to marketing and technology executives by doing an extraordinarily difficult thing: adding yet more value to some of the most valuable marketing strategy books ever written (Geoffrey Moore's). For both readers and non-readers of Moore's books (Crossing the Chasm, Inside the Tornado, and others), The Chasm Companion is an immensely useful how-to guide to successfully marketing technology products and services. It provides thoughtful and provocative connective tissue between Moore's books for those who are already Chasm devotees, but doesn't rely on the reader already having familiarity with Moore for this book to be completely understandable and immediately actionable. The author's intimate experience with difficult technology marketing decisions saturates each chapter with a pragmatic perspective often missing from consultant-authored books. The "field guide" format insures that theory consistently supports rather than trumps practice and execution. As a strategy consultant and former Fortune 100 marketing executive, I highly recommend reading The Chasm Companion before your competitors do.

For converts of The Technology Adoption Life cyle
I have been a keen student of the Chasm Group publications for a number of years and this book starts to bridge the gap between the theory of visionaries, tornados, gorillas etc and the application of the concepts in practice. The style is very readable and filled with good "common sense". I have already started using it in earnest ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Only consumer market research, no medical or industrial
Good overview book for consumer market research, but weak in the areas of industrial and medical/pharmaceutical market research, where tactics and objectives are much different.

Coverage of traditional methods is sound and thorough, and the internet market research techniques tend to stick to the conversions from traditional methods. Viral marketing and monitoring are over-looked, probably because few people call such activities market research. Overall, the book is generally well-written.

Two criticisms: With time and budget such a large part of the entire market research field, the book has few numbers in that regard, making it seem less practical than it actually is. Second, the examples start at clearly defined objectives. While it discusses the importance of clear objectives, it conveys it in an academic and simplified manner, not addressing the analytics of turning a vague forecast or planning need into a clear study objective.

As a general market research and survey reference, we at Documus give it good marks.

A thorough and methodical work on Marketing Research
The book is extensive. It will serve as a valuable reference for business people who do not specialize in research; but it is a must read for Marketing People.

Following the book you will be able to create and execute a complete marketing research program. I have used this book in a number of projects and the results were pleasing.

Do not read this book unless you intend to use it. It is a difficult book for people who have average business knowledge.

An excellent textbook for MBA's.
The book has very methodically explained the various aspects of MR. Problem methodology and questionnaire design has been dealt with exhaustively. Data analysis is also very good.

OK for designing questionares, poor at tough techniques
The book spends too much time on developing a questionaire and what errors you can have in sampling a population. Then in the factor and discriminate sections the books blows throught it too quickly and doesn't explain the difference between determining attitude vs. behavior differences. Not a good book for non-MBA people, even as a class textbook it wasn't so good. ... Read more

Book Description

Since it was first published more than twenty-five years ago, Asking Questions has become a classic guide for designing questionnaires?the most widely used method for collecting information about peoples attitudes and behavior. An essential tool for market researchers advertisers, pollsters, and social scientists, this thoroughly updated and definitive work combines time-proven techniques with the most current research, findings, and methods. The book presents a cognitive approach to questionnaire design and includes timely information on the Internet and electronic resources. Comprehensive and concise, Asking Questions can be used to design questionnaires for any subject area, whether administered by telephone, online, mail, in groups, or face-to-face. The book describes the design process from start to finish and is filled with illustrative examples from actual surveys. ... Read more