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New research reveals the gap between consumer motivation and

marketers’ presumptions
Are marketers staying in tune with the marketplace?

Marketers have always claimed to take a more scientific, 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 the
people who are most likely to be interested in their offerings.

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

The CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP Tracking Study measures which they have an existing relationship and 26% by
changes in the UK marketplace year on year and monitors companies with which they have no relationship. However,
marketers' ability to observe and respond to them. marketers thought only 32% and 25% respectively would
prefer email.
The basic divide
Since the first 2005 survey, the CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP They were absolutely accurate in saying 32% of consumers
Tracking Study has shown that marketers continually would prefer direct mail from known brands and services,
underestimate the speed at which consumers embrace though optimistic in expecting 21% to favour cold mail shots,
change and the current survey is no exception. when only 16% did.

The media selected to make direct contact with people is Marketers were also massively optimistic about the number
perhaps the single most important decision a direct marketer of people who would prefer not to be contacted at all. They
makes, yet the professionals were taken by surprise when felt only 7% would feel this way about contact by companies
email first took over as the consumer medium of choice in with which they had a relationship and 37% by companies
2005 and 26% selected it while direct mail was chosen by with which they had no relationship. The real figures were
only 20%. At the time, 55% of marketers assumed mail would 23% (up from 21% last year) and 63% (up from 57% last year).
retain the lead and felt only 15% of consumers would select
email.

And marketers have continued to underestimate email’s


subsequent growth in popularity, with 56% of people now
preferring to be contacted by email by companies with

realtime research results


2008 consumers: What is your preferred 2008 Marketers: What do you think is Gap
method of communication from marketing consumers' preferred method of
companies? Please tick all that apply. communication from marketing companies?

Companies with which you have an existing Companies with which they have an existing
relationship relationship

Telephone 5% Telephone 15% 10%


Email 56% Email 32% 24%
Mobile Phone Call 2% Mobile Phone Call 6% 4%
SMS messaging 3% SMS messaging 5% 2%
Direct Mail 32% Direct Mail 32% -
No Preference 3% No Preference 4% 1%
Prefer not to be contacted at all 23% Prefer not to be contacted at all 7% 16%

Source: CCB fast.MAP 2008 Marketing GAP Tracking Study Source: CCB fast.MAP 2008 Marketing GAP Tracking Study

Companies with which you have no Companies with which they have no
relationship relationship

Telephone 1% Telephone 6% 5%
Email 26% Email 25% 1%
Mobile Phone Call 1% Mobile Phone Call 2% 1%
SMS messaging 1% SMS messaging 3% 2%
Direct Mail 16% Direct Mail 21% 5%
No Preference 1% No Preference 7% 6%
Prefer not to be contacted at all 63% Prefer not to be contacted at all 37% 26%
Source: CCB fast.MAP 2008 Marketing GAP Tracking Study
Source: CCB fast.MAP 2008 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 news


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 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 is
delivered by direct mail or email.

What’s more, their happiness to receive mailed messages on all but four “When it comes to
subjects has increased significantly too: And those subjects; IT/ computers; subjects consumers like
supermarkets/ stores they use; events / entertainment; and DVDs were already
very popular four years ago. to be contacted about,
marketers have reason to
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 be cheerful, because
they preferred for each. people are up to six times
For example, three quarters of households are happy to get information about
as happy to receive
supermarkets and stores (86%), competitions (84%), events and entertainment marketing messages now
(74%) and local restaurants and take-aways (73%).
as they were in 2005”

realtime research results


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; financial 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 confident message that direct marketing will continue to be a successful and effective marketing
tool whatever the economic climate - because people really like it.

Far from alienating our audience by with over-communication and junk mail With direct mail, and now
as the media would have us believe, the reality is that DM is more popular and
email, familiarity has bred
better-received by its recipients now, than it’s ever been.
trust and confidence, not
With direct mail, and now email, familiarity has bred trust and confidence, not contempt.
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 significant DM media. SMS and mobile marketing were unheard of and email marketing had yet to take
off. 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 direct mail about?

Topics people are more receptive to now than in 2005 2005 Consumers 2008 consumers 2008 consumers
- Mail only - 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%

realtime research results


Optimism v credibility
Although 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).

Gap
2008 consumers: Please look at the list below 2008 Marketers: Do you think that there are
and tick to indicate the subjects you would be some things that consumers are happy to
happy to receive communication about? Please receive communication about? If so, please
state how you prefer to be contacted i.e. like to state how you think they prefer to be contacted
receive direct mail for local restaurants and i.e. they like to receive direct mail for local
events and insurance. Please tick all of the restaurants, events and insurance. Please tick all
answers, which apply of the answers, which apply and leave blank if
you think consumers don’t want to be
contacted from this sector.

Banking Banking
Direct Mail 27% Direct mail 62% 35%
Home Telephone 2% Home telephone 21% 19%
Calls via mobile 1% Calls via mobile 9% 8%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 11% 10%
Email 23% Email 35% 12%

Books Books
Direct Mail 30% Direct mail 43% 13%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 5% 4%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 4% 4%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 8% 7%
Email 31% Email 36% 5%

Cars Cars
Direct Mail 18% Direct mail 51% 33%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 10% 9%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 9% 9%
SMS messaging 0% SMS Messaging 10% 10%
Email 19% Email 36% 17%

Charities Charities
Direct Mail 20% Direct mail 51% 31%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 5% 4%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 6% 6%
SMS messaging 0% SMS Messaging 7% 7%
Email 16% Email 27% 11%

realtime research results


2008 consumers: cont.) 2008 Marketers: cont.) Gap

Customer magazines Customer magazines


Direct Mail 24% Direct mail 53% 29%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 6% 5%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 7% 7%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 7% 6%
Email 20% Email 35% 15%

Competitions Competitions
Direct Mail 36% Direct mail 53% 17%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 12% 11%
Calls via mobile 1% Calls via mobile 11% 10%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 21% 20%
Email 45% Email 56% 11%

DVDs DVDs
Direct Mail 24% Direct mail 45% 21%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 7% 6%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 5% 5%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 8% 7%
Email 31% Email 51% 20%

Education/further education courses Education/further education courses


Direct Mail 25% Direct mail 57% 32%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 4% 3%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 9% 9%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 6% 5%
Email 20% Email 35% 15%

Events/entertainment Events/entertainment
Direct Mail 37% Direct mail 51% 14%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 9% 8%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 9% 9%
SMS messaging 2% SMS Messaging 11% 9%
Email 34% Email 39% 5%

Financial Services Financial Services


Direct Mail 16% Direct mail 53% 37%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 10% 9%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 8% 8%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 6% 5%
Email 18% Email 38% 20%

Gym/Health Clubs Gym/Health Clubs


Direct Mail 15% Direct mail 51% 36%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 8% 7%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 5% 5%
SMS messaging 0% SMS Messaging 8% 8%
Email 14% Email 42% 28%

Health and Beauty Health and Beauty


Direct Mail 25% Direct mail 45% 20%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 5% 4%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 5% 5%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 9% 8%
Email 25% Email 42% 17%

realtime research results


2008 consumers: cont.) 2008 Marketers: cont.) Gap

Holidays Holidays
Direct Mail 32% Direct mail 58%
26%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 11%
10%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 9%
9%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 15%
14%
Email 35% Email 53%
18%
Home improvement/gardening Home improvement/gardening
Direct Mail 27% Direct mail 48% 21%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 9% 8%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 3% 3%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 7% 6%
Email 24% Email 37% 13%
Insurance Insurance
Direct Mail 21% Direct mail 46%
Home Telephone 2% Home telephone 9% 15%
Calls via mobile 1% Calls via mobile 4% 7%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 5% 3%
Email 20% Email 29% 4%
9%
IT/Computers IT/Computers
Direct Mail 20% Direct mail 39%
19%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 9%
8%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 6%
6%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 7%
6%
Email 29% Email 45%
16%
Loans/credit cards Loans/credit cards
Direct Mail 14% Direct mail 49%
35%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 8%
7%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 5%
5%
SMS messaging 0% SMS Messaging 6%
6%
Email 15% Email 32%
17%
Local Restaurants/Take-aways Local Restaurants/Take-away
Direct Mail 47% Direct mail 57% 10%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 9% 8%
Calls via mobile 1% Calls via mobile 6% 5%
SMS messaging 2% SMS Messaging 10% 8%
Email 22% Email 26% 4%

Local Services/Trades people/shops Local Services/Trades people/Shops


Direct Mail 43% Direct mail 56% 13%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 14% 13%
Calls via mobile 1% Calls via mobile 6% 5%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 5% 4%
Email 22% Email 22% -

Mail order catalogues Mail order catalogues


Direct Mail 30% Direct mail 51% 21%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 6% 5%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 3% 3%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 4% 3%
Email 21% Email 25% 4%

realtime research results


2008 consumers: cont.) 2008 Marketers: cont.) Gap

Mobile phones/services Mobile phones/services


Direct Mail 17% Direct mail 35% 18%
Home Telephone 0% Home telephone 17% 17%
Calls via mobile 1% Calls via mobile 12% 11%
SMS messaging 3% SMS Messaging 18% 15%
Email 20% Email 33% 13%

Mortgages Mortgages
Direct Mail 12% Direct mail 40% 28%
Home Telephone 0% Home telephone 11% 11%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 4% 4%
SMS messaging 0% SMS Messaging 4% 4%
Email 12% Email 29% 17%

Newspaper subscriptions/discount Newspaper subscriptions/discount


vouchers/offers vouchers/offers
Direct Mail 40% Direct mail 53% 13%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 8% 7%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 6% 6%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 8% 7%
Email 27% Email 25% 2%

Supermarkets/Stores Supermarkets/Stores
Direct Mail 46% Direct mail 55% 9%
Home Telephone 1% Home telephone 12% 11%
Calls via mobile 1% Calls via mobile 7% 6%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 6% 5%
Email 37% Email 32% 5%

Utility companies Utility companies


Direct Mail 25% Direct mail 45% 20%
Home Telephone 2% Home telephone 12% 10%
Calls via mobile 0% Calls via mobile 7% 7%
SMS messaging 0% SMS Messaging 5% 5%
Email 22% Email 27% 5%

Broadband / cable / landline suppliers Broadband / cable / landline suppliers


Direct Mail 20% Direct mail 42% 22%
Home Telephone 2% Home telephone 12% 10%
Calls via mobile 1% Calls via mobile 6% 5%
SMS messaging 1% SMS Messaging 5% 4%
Email 26% Email 35% 9%

None of the above None of the above


Direct Mail 16% Direct mail 9% 7%
Home Telephone 26% Home telephone 16% 10%
Calls via mobile 27% Calls via mobile 15% 12%
SMS messaging 26% SMS Messaging 15% 11%
Email 17% Email 8% 9%

realtime research results


Shortage of time
For the fourth year running, the CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP tracking study has re-affirmed 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 five 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 reflects
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 indication
of 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 reflects 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.

2008: Consumers. What makes you decide to 2007: Consumers. What makes you decide to Yr/Yr
open/read a direct mail pack? Please tick all of open/read a direct mail pack? Please tick all of
the answers, which you think apply. the answers, which you think apply.

From brand/company that I know 55% From brand/company that I know 56% - 1%
Personally addressed to me 51% Personally addressed to me 49% + 2%
Interested in the product or service 50% Interested in the product or service 46% + 4%
Local services or events 27% Local services or events 24% +3%
Looks fun/humorous 10% Looks fun/humorous 11% -1%
The design 6% The design 6% -
The colour 3% The colour 3% -
Can clearly see it contains a free Can clearly see it contains a free
sample/voucher 39% sample/voucher 40% -1%
Because it’s a competition 21% Because it’s a competition 20% +1%
Attractive envelope 6% Attractive envelope 6% -
Interesting package 15% Interesting package 19% -4%
Other (please specify) 12% Other (please specify) 12% -
Source: CCB fast.MAP 2008 Marketing-GAP Research Source: CCB fast.MAP 2007 Marketing-GAP Research

2006: Consumers. What makes you decide to 2005: Consumers. What makes you decide to
open/read a direct mail pack? Please tick all of open/read a mail pack? Please tick all of the
the answers, which you think apply. answers which you think apply.

From brand/company that I know 47% From brand/company that I know 51%
Personally addressed to me 43% Interested in the product or service 50%
Interested in the product or service 42% Product/service not relevant to me 6%
Local services or events 21% Local services or events 28%
Looks fun/humorous 10% Looks humorous/fun 14%
The design 6% The design 7%
The colour 3% The colour 3%
Can clearly see it contains a free Can clearly see it contains a free
sample/voucher 36% sample/voucher 43%
Because it’s a competition 18% Because it’s a competition 23%
Attractive envelope 6% Attractive envelope 7%
Interesting package 17% Interesting package 21%
Other (please specify) 16% Other (please specify) 21%
Source: CCB fast.MAP 2006 Marketing-GAP Research
Source: CCB fast.MAP 2005 Marketing-GAP Research

realtime research results


Yr/Yr
2008: consumers. What makes you decide to 2007 Consumers : What makes you decide to
throw away an unopened mail pack? Please tick throw away an unopened mail pack? Please tick
all of the answers, which you think apply all of the answers, which you think apply

Lack of time 20% Lack of time 19%


No interest in the company 66% No interest in the company 66% +1%
Not personally addressed 41% Not personally addressed 40%
Object to being sent marketing pieces 63% Object to being sent marketing pieces 60% +1%
Not interested in the product 76% Not interested in the product 68% +3%
The design 7% The design 5% +8%
The colour 4% The colour 3% +2%
Other, please specify 6% Other (Please specify) 4% +1%
+2%
Source: CCB fast.MAP2008 Marketing-GAP tracking study Source: CCB fast.MAP 2007 Marketing-GAP tracking study

Responders to the above 174

2006: Consumers: What makes you decide to 2005: Consumers: What makes you decide to
throw away an unopened mail pack? Please tick throw away an unopened mail pack? Please tick
all of the answers, which you think apply all of the answers which you think apply

Lack of time 17% Lack of time 13%


No interest in the company 59% No interest in the company 61%
Not personally addressed 33% Not personally addressed 33%
Object to being sent marketing pieces 66% Object to being sent marketing pieces 61%
Not interested in the product 66% Not interested in the product 66%
The design 5% The design 5%
The colour 4% The colour 3%
Other (please specify) 3% Other (please specify) 7%
Source: CCB fast.MAP 2006 Marketing-GAP tracking study Source: CCB fast.MAP 2005 Marketing-GAP tracking study

Increase in those who don’t open mail


For the first 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 figure 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 out
Awareness 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-profile BT TV and press ad campaign which offered 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 reflected in the findings is an indication of the
accuracy with which real time research captures current attitudes.)

realtime research results


Only 16% of marketers correctly identified 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 identified 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 identified this high level of data
protection 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 further
communication 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 flawed. It has never been more essential for
them to keep abreast of activity and opinion within the marketplace.

David Cole
Managing Director
CCB fast.MAP

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 fulfilment 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 profitable and unique data-driven business. David is Co-founder and Managing Director
of CCB fast.MAP

realtime research results


Methodology
Each 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-qualification of the panel to ensure that background variables are updated. Differences 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 profile echoes that of the UK’s population profile in age and gender.

Demographic data, collected via online lifestyle survey, made it possibly for only people who are both mail and
internet 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 specific way. For example, it might choose to investigate their age, sex, income, family or
marital status to establish whether there are any significant 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, finance, 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 different 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 offers many benefits. 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 profiling of cluster groups of those who respond in specific ways. By relating these profiles back to
the database, it was possible to identify and quantify the number of other individuals who fitted the same profile.

The second benefit 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 effect into the findings.

realtime research results


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.

Validity
When looking at the validity of research findings 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 influence 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 identifiable as being connected with a charity. In such cases guilt will
become 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.

Recency
One of the greatest benefits 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 difficulty in deciphering someone else's
writing and partly because if an individual takes the trouble to fill 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 profile.

This is because, it would be necessary to first identify individuals with the right demographic profiles and persuade
them to participate. Then, either the questionnaires would have to be mailed or delivered or a qualified, 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 first findings 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 findings


In the marketing specialist questionnaire it was necessary to collect responses in a slightly different way from the
consumer questionnaire. So that one set of findings 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 for
marketing?" 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:

realtime research results


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 findings 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 profiling through the web replace regression analysis?

Visit www.ccbfastmap.com to find out more.

realtime research results

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