Americans Knowledge of Computer Tech

Interesting results.  Some odd questions.  Could have had more and broader questions.  Indicates the challenges for things like understanding topics like privacy and transparency by the general public.  Our own work with decision makers and execs found this to have changed radically with the adoption of smartphones,  but that also increased misunderstandings of some capabilities for things like analytics.

Americans and Digital Knowledge
A majority of U.S. adults can answer fewer than half the questions correctly on a digital knowledge quiz, and many struggle with certain cybersecurity and privacy questions      By Emily A Vogels and Monica Anderson

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that Americans’ understanding of technology-related issues varies greatly depending on the topic, term or concept. While a majority of U.S. adults can correctly answer questions about phishing scams or website cookies, other items are more challenging. For example, just 28% of adults can identify an example of two-factor authentication – one of the most important ways experts say people can protect their personal information on sensitive accounts. Additionally, about one-quarter of Americans (24%) know that private browsing only hides browser history from other users of that computer, while roughly half (49%) say they are unsure what private browsing does.

This survey consisted of 10 questions designed to test Americans’ knowledge of a range of digital topics, such as cybersecurity or the business side of social media companies. The median number of correct answers was four. Only 20% of adults answered seven or more questions correctly, and just 2% got all 10 questions correct.

As was true in a previous Center survey, Americans’ knowledge of digital topics varies substantially by educational attainment as well as by age. Adults with a bachelor’s or advanced degree and those under the age of 50 tend to score higher on these questions. These are some of the key findings from a Pew Research Center survey of 4,272 adults living in the United States conducted June 3-17, 2019.... "  ..... '

Lifelogging Pauses

Gordon Bell was a big proponent, but has stopped doing Lifelogging.  Has the ubiquitous smart phone taken over for the approach?  Only if you automated periodic picture taking and recorded keystrokes. And made sure the phone was pointed in the right direction.

We examined variants of the idea for understanding consumer behavior in both laboratory and real life contexts.  Not enough work was done doing pattern analysis of the data gathered.  I see I have not written much about that experience here (see mentions in tags below).  May follow later.

Google's Mobile Research Team

This was the kind of thing we did in our innovation centers.  We watched how people were exposed to, bought and used our products.  The idea of sending out mobile teams to do this was brought up, but never implemented in this way. But Google has the money to drive the idea.  You do wonder how different the results will be from all that other data they gather.

 In Engadget:

" ..... Google is hitting the road to see how people outside of its San Francisco-area backyard use its products. The Associated Press reports that the mobile research station will be doing a handful of tour stops across America in an effort to act as a sort of focus group to "shape the future" of its services and apps.

"We are trying to understand the whole end-to-end experience, which is why we are trying to get out to more locations and see more people so we can gather more context," Google's Laura Granka tells the AP. .... " 

Details in the AP Story.

Automating Multiple Streams of Biometric Analysis

I see that iMotions is out with a method that can analytically combine eye tracking, facial expression, ECG and more.   Have not used their devices and methods, but combining streams of data would be interesting.  This is analogous to ensemble methods in analytics.  Does this further need a cognitive, in a true sense, method to combine results?    More here.

Passive Consumer Data Collection

Why are retailers turning to passive data for consumer insights? 

Custom surveys are considered the most important data source for the creation of insights today, but fast forward two years and they will be rivaled by passively collected consumer data, according to GfK's "Future of Insights" report. Do you see passively collected data rivaling consumer surveys within two years?  ... " 

Some Consumers Can Predict Product Failures

In RetailWire: " ... While brands and retailers continually try to link themselves to trendsetters, a new university study has identified a unique subset of consumers — "Harbingers of Failure" — for their ability to predict product failures.

The study from Northwestern University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology identified these customers either through past purchases of products that failed — such as Diet Crystal Pepsi or Frito Lay Lemonade — or past purchases of existing products that few other customers buy. ... " 

Nielsen Buys Innerscope

In Adage:
Nielsen Buys Neuromarketing Research Company Innerscope ... Ratings Giant Wants to Get Inside Your Head ... 

Recall that they previously bought NeuroFocus,  so apparently they remain convinced of the neuromarketing approach.

" .. Nielsen will now merge Innerscope with NeuroFocus. Dr. Marci will serve as the chief neuroscientist of the newly branded unit, which will now be known as Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience. ... " 

Here,  an example Innerscope uses with client Procter & Gamble.  Gain brand.  Using  'Biometrics and facial coding'. 

P&G 2014 Press Release.

More on Apple ResearchKit

Now everybody can do their part to advance medical research.
Medical researchers are doing some of the most important work in the world, and they’re committed to making life-changing discoveries that benefit us all. To help, we’ve created ResearchKit, an open source software framework that makes it easy for researchers and developers to create apps that could revolutionize medical studies, potentially transforming medicine forever.
Watch the film ... " 

New Developments in Eye Tracking Glasses

In Engadget. New advances. in particular a way to get a denser data stream for certain kinds of marketing insight.

" ... Researchers and marketers often want to know what catches your eye, whether it's players on the basketball court or just a new shampoo at the store. They may have an easier time figuring this out with Tobii's latest eye-tracking headset, the Tobii Glasses 2. Besides providing a much wider field of view than the original eyewear, the new design has a front-facing 1080p camera that lets observers see whatever you're focused on in real time ... " 

Understanding Faces and Consumer Behavior

Understanding consumer behavior by building on facial recognition software.  Work that came out of MIT where we saw it being used to trap and classify emotional responses to products via a set of digital eye glasses.    The first step into what they called affective computing.  How will this then be compared to 'deeper' neural based methods?  Am currently looking at several comparable methods.

Gaining Insight from Research at McDs.

Consumer research at McDonalds.  In Research Mag.   Not unlike our innovation center aims:

" ... McDonald’s is a customer-oriented business, and research and consumer insight are our lifeblood,” says Lauren Cody, vice president of business strategy and insight for McDonald’s UK. “It runs right through the heart of our planning process, the development and testing of new products, and the introduction of changes to our operations and customer experience in our restaurants.

“Our strategy is built and shaped using a range of research and insight methods; from collating qualitative and quantitative research to garnering insight from unprompted customer feedback and engagement on social media. But overall, we take a 4-Cs approach with the aim of producing insight which encompasses and adds value to all key pillars of our business - customer, competitor, company and (trading) context.” ... " 

Artafact and Serious Games for Customer Insight

Brought to my attention,  an AMA Webcast on November 19, 2013 at 12 noon CST: By Research company Artafact.  and Innovation Games (who is providing the gaming expertise)

" ... How can you use gaming techniques to gain valuable customer insights? In this Webcast, Sumi Shohara, Director of Customer Advocacy for Hewlett-Packard, and Linda Stegeman, President of research company Artafact, will share how HP Software uses interactive games to engage their customers in everything from strategy and product development to marketing messaging.

Specifically they will cover how gamification techniques can help:

- Form innovative ideas to implement
- Let your customers help you determine the product vision
- Rank feature lists by letting customers choose the most important features
- Mine the return on investment customers receive from your product and services ..... " 

More information and registration. 

Consumer Products and Robotics

Consumer products taking cues from robotics. We did this early on.  But the economics ultimately did not make sense.  " ... Smart thermostats, drones and other consumer goods have to take complex, traditionally expensive components and make them appeal to the average buyer. TechCrunch Disrupt panelists explained their strategy. ... " 

On the Millennial Consumer

In Time:  More intent on Browsing than on Splurging?

" ... The millennial generation is easily the most studied demographic since their parents, the Baby Boomers. This is not only because Americans are always fascinated by youth culture, and that millennials are growing up during a period when technology and economic forces are changing rapidly, but also because—to put it bluntly—Gen Y represents big bucks. Roughly 80 million American millennials spend $600 billion annually, and by 2020, it’s expected this generation’s spending will hit $1.4 trillion per year, or about 30% of all retail sales....

America's 80 million millennial consumers are on track to account for about 30% of all retail sales by 2020, but the group can be a tricky demographic when it comes to figuring out what they'll choose to spend on, according to recent studies. Gen Y consumers love to shop but make fewer purchases than their older counterparts, according to NPD Group, in part because they love a bargain and in part because many of them have less money.... " 

Y&R Says Consumers Lie

Not unexpected, but the details are impressive.  Full presentation.

" Secrets & Lies” Study from Y&R Reveals
the Hidden Side of Global Consumers 
A New Consumer Mainstream Emerges – “Generation World”

NEW YORK, NY September 18 -- Are consumers hiding their most important desires and motivations from marketers – and maybe even from themselves? That’s the key question explored in “Secrets & Lies,” a new global research study from Young & Rubicam. ... "

Retailing, Brands and Consumer Experience

In the coming weeks I will be passing along some of the excellent work by correspondent Phil Hendrix.   Here is a set of slides on Retailing, Brands and the Consumer Experience (slides; excerpts from presentation to Clorox iConnect Conference, May 2013)

Philip E. Hendrix, Ph.D. Director, immr and GigaOm Research analyst
phil.hendrix@immr.org  |  770.612.1488 (O)  | 678.294.8017 (M)  |  www.immr.org | Twitter: www.twitter.com/phil_hendrix

Walmart Reveals Economic and Customer Trends

From Consumer Goods Technology:  Some quite remarkable findings from the retail giant.   " ... A new report from retail behemoth Walmart Stores Inc. uses sales and survey data compiled in the first quarter of 2013 to identify ongoing economic and customer trends. Key takeaways include:
Uneven expectations cause both shoppers and small business owners to look inward for stimulation.  Consumer confidence’s bumpy ride in the first quarter can most be attributed to shoppers’ lack of faith in economic progress and was undoubtedly shaped by perceived Washington gridlock on budgetary issues. .... " 

China's Generation 2 Consumer

In McKinsey:  The rise of the generation 2 consumer in China.  " ... In this video, McKinsey’s Yougang Chen explains how rising middle-class wealth and a new generation of young people are changing the rules for China’s consumer market and the companies that serve it.
 ... " We actively built agent based simulation models of the Chinese consumer.  These findings could be inserted in these models to understand consumption behaviors in buying new products.

Data in that Toothbrush

In Adage:  More internet of things linked with consumer behavior plays: " ... Imagine for a second that you could interview a product. How often is it being used? For how long? And where in the house does it live? Sounds crazy, but it's increasingly probable as marketers mine for data beyond the usual places -- web browsers, loyalty programs and smartphones -- and capture information from pill packages, soda fountains and the most mundane of consumer implements, the toothbrush. ... " 

Full Scale Virtual Research Continued

I made another working visit to John Milby's Full Scale Virtual Research laboratory today and remain very impressed by their abilities and direction.  He has taken the capabilities far beyond our enterprise lab work. I had professor Shu Schiller of Wright State University with me and we discussed the practical applications of the method, and its similarity to augmented reality research methods she is working on in her research.  This resulted from a talk I gave at Wright State last weekend on the implications of the 'end to end virtual supply chain'.

Imagine the ability to rapidly interact with shelf designs and expose designs to the shopper.  Build experimental designs and create trade offs for all sorts of packaging,  fixtures and product placement.  Understand the mechanics and details of consumer first-moment-of-truth choice.  Include how shoppers use their smart phones in the store.   Integrate advanced methods like eye tracking.  All at full scale and seamlessly, digitally and quickly done.  Contact me or John Milby directly at the link above for more information.