Research Services

MMSI offers a comprehensive range of primary and secondary marketing research facilities and conforms to BS EN ISO 9001 and BS 7911:1998 and IIP standards. The methodologies of primary research employed by MMSI include, but are not exclusive to, telephone interviews, postal questionnaire, focus groups, face to face interviews, fax surveys, street surveys, observational, mystery shopper, group discussions and blind testing. Currently our most valuable research tool is web based interviewing, where surveys are distributed via an e-mail with an embedded url.

• About the Research Department
• Preferencing Objectives
• Research Methodologies
• Dynamic Reporting
• Focus Groups and One to One Interviews
• Press Monitoring
• Web Monitoring
• Voice of the Customer

MMSI Research department has a history of local and international clientele and currently includes Compaq, Teletech and Lucent Technologies in its portfolio of international clients, utilising a variety of research techniques. It currently has a research centre facility at its Glasgow headquarters and an IT suite dedicated to performing web-based research and reporting activities. The research centre forms the backbone of the Global Marketing Advantage System (GMAS) and prides itself on its language capabilities and innovation. The research centre currently has 17 language representations.

In this highly competitive market the research department takes pride in its innovative, progressive approach to business. On seeing the future and potential of the internet to deliver unprecedented real-time research on a global basis the research team seized this opportunity to take transactional research beyond tradition. Coupled with a commitment to deliver irrefutable research information MMSI embarked on a major development project to record audio and video files and distribute them over the web within hours of an interview. This gives clients the ability to act on problem areas with more complete information real-time. Following this very successful product launch MMSI embarked on a continual programme of development including and a web based surveying package and web based reporting systems. Dynamic Reporting, a system tailored to the individual needs of clients to effectively report trend data and provide benchmark and drill down functionality has recently been launched. Dynamic reporting affords clients the opportunity to take macro level temperature reading to micro level product and customer specific issue identification and resolution.

In accordance with our mission statement and company ethos MMSI aim to deliver added value to our clients, not simply churn out results and information that rests in a manager's top drawer. We look at the users and address their needs, analytical and reporting requirements and internal systems for the dissemination of data. We provide real-time research that is both irrefutable and actionable"

The research department is unique in the experience and training that its members have acquired. Account and project managers are taken from the consultancy department where they have received full consultancy training and experience, building on the foundations of their academic qualifications. This means they have a clear understanding of research and the role it plays in the marketing arena, and understand the value of customer satisfaction and customer relationships.

MMSI have research services and methodologies that can provide fast, effective and irrefutable research. MMSI believe that only essential, needed, actionable information should be collected. To ensure maximum impact we design research programs to optimize time and investment, and to provide actionable results and information that the right people use at the right time.

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• Eliminate respondent fatigue
• Create research pools for future research studies
• Protect against falling foul of unsolicited mail legislation
• Conduct research based on customers' preferred time and research methodology
• Relationship marketing
• Respondent profiling

MMSI's proprietary Preferencing service gives you piece of mind, knowing that your valued customers are not being aggravated by continuous streams of unsolicited phone calls and e-mails. Pending European and US legislation leaves companies vulnerable to large fines for distributing unsolicited mail. Preferencing allows your customers to opt out of future research and further to specify the frequency and method you use to contact them, eliminating respondent fatigue.

Ever had to do that ad-hoc research study with no readily accessible information on your target population and an imminent deadline. MMSI preferencing service affords clients the added benefit of being able to extract research pools of customers who are known to fit a certain profile and who have previously stated that they are willing to do research.

Operating in dynamic markets and environments requires up to date information on customers and their preferences, lifestyle changes and social undertakings in order to stay ahead of the competition. Clients need to know the impact of their actions and reaction to product releases and concepts. Research pools are vital in a company's ability to react in real-time with actionable research information. Whether is be for a survey, web-based user forum, focus group or press monitoring, preferencing provides research-ready respondents at the touch of a button.

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• Tailored solutions for projects and clients
• Traditional and bleeding edge
• Customer preference

MMSI tailor its research programs to suit the individual needs of projects and clients and have an impressive portfolio of products and services to deliver in real-time right-time.

MMSI boasts a specialist telephone-based research centre at its headquarters in Glasgow, Scotland. Its team of international researchers have capabilities in 17 languages and research is carried out in respondents' native tongue. Specialists are fully trained in accordance with MRQSA and BS EN ISO 9001. When given permission by respondents interviews are audio recorded with the opportunity of developing a quantitative study into an in-depth qualitative interview. Unlike traditional methods of telephone research MMSI's approach means that stakeholders can interpret and validate customer responses and understand underlying motivations. The use of audio files, with the aid of verbal cues such as intonation, ensures that the research gathered is irrefutable.

MMSI have the facilities to provide the more traditional methods of both mail and fax research. These methods, although less frequently used than others, can provide an ideal medium to reach respondents who are less often available on the telephone or do not have access to modern technologies such as E-mail and the internet.

MMSI can provide the latest in Email & Web-based research. Respondents can be invited to complete a pop-up survey or reply via E-mail with questions embedded in the message body. This E-mail will also contain an embedded and secure link to a survey to be completed on the web. Surveys can embody hidden questions which contain reference data, e.g. Name, E-mail address, demographic profile, what products they have bought or what services they have used. Web research can contain visual images as well as normal text questions, allowing the medium to be successfully used as a branding tool and facilitate a wide range of surveys from customer satisfaction to concept testing. Responses feed into our Dynamic Reporting mechanism, allowing clients to data mine in real-time.

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• Develop macro level research data into micro level understanding
• Provide irrefutable real-time research information
• Encourage best practice & buy-in
• Unlimited search requests & hotsheet investigation

Dynamic Reporting is the latest in on-line data mining. A system tailored to the individual needs of clients, Dynamic Reporting affords clients the opportunity to take macro level dash board readings to micro level product and customer specific issue identification and resolution. It gives clients the ability to react to specific customer, product and service issues with confidence and assertion through more complete and irrefutable real-time research information.

This web-based suite acts as a central source for the download of research data and the production of reports. The principle objectives of this mechanism are to hold functions on one front-end application to facilitate ease of use and encourage buy-in at all levels. Having a centrally held hub of real-time information, users are encouraged to benchmark performance of other business units and promote a healthy state of competition and understanding. Understanding is derived from drill down functionality enabling users to take the broadest overview through to specific case responses and audio files.

MMSI operates a hotsheet system whereby responses of particular interest are flagged and made available for further investigation. In addition to search request capabilities for individual cases, hotsheets or any combination of survey responses, users can view search results on-line or download with time and business unit parameters.

Fully secure and password protected, Dynamic Reporting generates time-series graphs, facilitates drill-down and allows cross-survey benchmarking on comparable questions.

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In all forms of research MMSI continue to break the Status Quo and stretch the boundaries of tradition. One-to-one interviews, conducted only by senior researchers and consultants, allow for complex, sensitive or highly confidential issues to be explored in-depth. To gain the most from this research MMSI strongly recommend that interviews are filmed to provide highly visible, easy to understand research results that are irrefutable and of very high impact. Edited videos can be produced to highlight, educate and communicate key findings of the research, identify issues or investigate known problem areas.

To gain maximum impact and return on investment it is essential to take account of verbal and non verbal cues which can not be accomplished through moderator notes and debriefing. Video interviews allow stakeholders to take account of verbal cues such as intonation, pitch and interest, and non-verbal cues such as gesticulation and facial expression.

By following an Enterprise Neuron Trail (ENT) individuals at all levels of the organisation are positioned the take full advantage of this investment.

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Press monitoring watches the general and industry press for information about clients (current and prospective), competitors, critical assumptions, changes in personnel, changes in the market place, general market information as well as sales opportunities with current and prospective clients. The key areas and sources to be monitored are defined for the customer's strategy and any critical assumptions are monitored along with the general market information. This service alerts clients instantly to movements that will directly affect their business, allowing further investigation where necessary.

In addition to the weekly report the press monitoring also highlights Sales Leads and information which required further monitoring and testing. Where a sales lead or market movement is identified that will have a significant impact on the client's business, further research can be commissioned to fully assess the impact.

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Web monitoring is similar to press monitoring, the only difference being that it searches for information on the Internet. The resulting report is similar to that of press monitoring. The report contains summary information on each of the key stories, or triggers, and the title of the story acts as a hyperlink to the full details, allowing key personnel to investigate the impact of the information.

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Voice of the Customer is a research methodology, which examines the opinions of key customers, using a selection of methodologies most appropriate to the customer group. Depending on the customers involved a typical implementation would involve either one-to-one interviews or focus group type interviews. The interviews are filmed or audio recorded and the results are disseminated on the web. Like all of our research services, interviews can be conducted globally with all responses translated into English.

The key to the Voice of the Customer research is extracting actionable data that can bring about real service improvement and greater internal understanding of customer needs and issues. Each web dissemination site is tailored to the customers needs, but a typical example is given below, where authorised personnel can access customer feedback by selecting a geo, country, company, or particular issue that directly affects their department.

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