Insightful research builds intelligence, not just a collection of data – and is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal to help develop, grow and optimize your business. Done well, research is a careful blend of art, science, and objective intuition-based expertise. When your Magic Eight Ball isn’t strong enough to steer your business, custom research and analytics will provide insightful and actionable guidance to inform strategy, development, assessment, and enhancement of the consumer or employee experience.
We know research . . . really well.
MMG’s insights expert has designed and executed both quantitative and qualitative studies for Walt Disney World and Disneyland and led research efforts for Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Adventures by Disney, and other growth businesses. Scope of work included potential, current, and past Guests, as well as the more than 60,000 Cast and Crew Members. Research has focused on all lines of business – retail, food and beverage, entertainment, operations, marketing and sales, and transportation – and spanned the process from concept development and testing through experience satisfaction and enhancement.
Beyond Disney, MMG’s expert has worked with major North American cruise lines, most major theme park brands, and several ‘big box’ retailers.
How well do you know your customers? Assuming they are happy with the products and services your company provides is a big risk. It’s about customer-centricity. Knowing exactly how they feel about you, and crafting your products based on their wants and needs is critical to your business success.
Understanding your employees is the second part of the equation. Their passion for delivering on your brand promise is just as important as your products and services. We believe that employees are a critical asset and an important part of the ‘product’ that you sell. Investing the time and energy to understand their attitudes and perceptions and how they impact customer behavior and engagement is time well spent.
MMG studies both of these important areas, provides key insights that tie them together, and crafts a plan to address the gap between brand promise and operational excellence.
When you want to understand the ‘whys’ behind something, or you want to dig deeper into underlying emotions that trigger decision behavior, focus groups or interviews are the best tools for in-depth discovery. Qualitative research is much more than a casual conversation but done well, that’s what it feels like to the respondent. While you may be thinking of a room with a two-way mirror or a Zoom call, and we certainly use those, we believe in going where the customers are and doing what is appropriate for the situation. Consequently, we have conducted studies with subjects in a variety of interesting locations:
Honesty? These are fancy words for seeing how people behave and react ‘in the moment’ and in the environment. It’s one thing for them to tell you what they would do, it’s another thing to watch and learn what they actually do and why – what drives that behavior? We’re naturally curious and embrace our inner chameleon to blend into the experience with them. This might mean we go into their home, or ride with them in their car, go shopping with them (Shop-along), or out to a restaurant (Dine-along) with them. In the case of cruise lines, we have perfected an onboard approach that allows us to document the ebb and flow of their entire vacation experience from initial booking and planning, all the way through their return home and receipt of final credit card bill.
While qualitative research tells you ‘why’, quantitative tells you ‘how many’ and helps to assess the magnitude of feeling, which is often necessary for critical decision making. Using both in tandem is usually most effective. We are ready to help you with:
Focusing on employee perceptions and attitudes is key to understanding organizational health. We are ready to help you with: