Senseo, the famous coffee machine of Sara Lee, is making its worldwide march. MarketResponse (MR) has the duty to closely monitor the introduction of the brand. Leo van Doorn, director of MR: "With the ‘Dub InterViewer Global Mode’ we succeed in setting up and carrying out an investigation within two weeks in nearly all countries in the world. An achievement we are proud of."
Are you familiar with the brand Senseo? How often do you use this apparatus, and when? These are the basic questions of the investigation conducted out by MarketResponse from the Dutch place of Leusden in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia and the United States. The investigation conducted by Market Response for Sara Lee has been underway for two years now. Leo van Doorn: "Three years ago we found that it should be possible to combine the best of two types of investigation for an international web-based inquiry: questionnaires that are identical and local research bureaus that carry out and supervise the fieldwork. The green light was given by Sara Lee, which challenged us and a few competitors to set up an efficient and high-quality investigation that would yield reliable comparable data for several countries. We examined which software suppliers could realize this for us, and Nebu was the most likely option by far. Particularly because they were already skilled at the time in developing web-based research programmes. We decided to do this project together, and meanwhile the ‘Dub InterViewer Global Mode’ is applied by many companies."
In order to find out how the introduction of the brand Senseo is going, Sara Lee wants to have access at any time to the most recent research information. But these data only give a clear picture if the results are exactly comparable. This is possible with the 'Dub InterViewer Global Mode'. Leo van Doorn: "With this so-called 'Satellite call center system', the central server is located with us in (Dutch)* Leusden, we can conduct an investigation in each country always in exactly the same way, from the same standard. In order to draw a hard comparison, despite the cultural differences. We are already working with local research bureaus in each country, for they know about the culture in their respective countries best. They bring together a group of poll-takers for us, and they provide us with a random sample framework - which is optimal for the local market - that will help us conduct the investigation."
A hell of a job
"Before the introduction of the 'Dub InterViewer Global Mode' such investigations were conducted in two different ways", Van Doorn adds. "One type of investigation was carried out from one central location, with poll-makers who had to master the foreign language, which is expensive and difficult to check. In the other type, the investigations were set up separately in each country. In actual practice, there are always local changes in the questionnaire as a result of which the results were no longer optimally comparable. It was never possible to conduct exactly the same investigation; we always had to deal with 'buts and proviso's' and a great deal of calculating and endless puzzles. Thus, drawing a comparison soon became a hell of a job. And it took a lot of time before the commissioner would have the final results at his disposal."
"When we launched the first investigation two years ago, there were eight of us here in Leusden watching a screen and cheering when the green light was given; it was that exciting. At present the one who sets up the investigation is on his own on 'le moment suprème'. Meanwhile, we carried out investigations with over ten thousand respondents. One time there were some doubts about the results. In that case, it was not a problem to get a 'second opinion' through a parallel investigation with another research bureau in the same region."
Leo van Doorn: "At this time Market Response can start up an investigation on the site within two weeks after being commissioned. "We never know long in advance where and when an investigation will take place, because it concerns sensitive information. Therefore, it is good that we can start up a field study fast. Up to now we always guided and initiated the projects on the site, and experience taught us the important things to keep in mind. Therefore, we expect to be able to start an investigation even within one week in the near future."
"We are very satisfied with this 'Dub', and we are also very proud of it", Leo van Doorn adds. "This system is so much less cumbersome than it used to be, for the data play a central part in this type of investigation. The 'Dub InterViewer Global Mode' is very efficient, the system can be set up fast and has a good price/quality ratio. What else do you need?!"