It's decision time for your stakeholders.

The nation's largest first-party panel, Surveys On The Go®, showed U.S. foot traffic had already dropped 92%; even before lockdowns started. 

Consumers are in quarantine. Budgets are cut. Production is halted. So, what’s next, and how do we stay afloat? 

You have questions. Here are answers...

After speaking with 100’s of our clients since March 11th, we found a pattern in our conversations... 3 questions... asked over and over. We wanted to help, so...

Here is our effort to answer them.

Top Covid-19 Research Question #1:

How do we get digital insights from consumers... right now?

California, New York, and Illinois are already on lockdown.

This throws a wrench into many traditional forms of market research. 

Yet, consumers haven't stopped spending. They’ve shifted their focus online and to apps that allow them to still buy, such as Amazon, UberEats, Netflix and more. 

Now is the time to be looking at consumers’ digital path to purchase, so you can impact sales and improve revenue. 

Answer: Survey consumers who shop with you (or your competitors) digitally.

We know your consumers' app behaviors. 

Here’s how. 

Surveys On The Go, can see all of the apps on consumers' phones. It's given permission, by the people who download it, to do so. When they download a new app, or access one, you'll have access to see their digital data.

This helps your company remain digitally connected. For example... If you’re in the restaurant space, you can reach out to your consumers who have:

1. The UberEats or GrubHub app installed on their phone
2. Recently been to your restaurant or a competitor's restaurant

You can then survey on a variety of things. Ask questions to improve channels, messaging, and product strategy for the digital path to purchase. It's still possible to access sales, if the business can be nimble and adapt to a more digital model.

Learn how to get digital event surveys.

Top Covid-19 Research Question #2:

How do we protect sales, with consumers stuck at home?

Your business has likely felt an impact.

Regardless of what you produce, the economic climate has changed. The result has been the split of two main categories:

1. Essentials, such as household supplies are up in sales.
2. Non-Essentials, such as casual dining are down in sales.

It’s left researchers with questions, such as:

• Will these trends continue?
• For how long, and how much will we be impacted?
• How can we increase sales under these circumstances?

Answer: Double down on social media ads and social media ad testing.

Consumers are spending more time on their smartphones than before the outbreak. Online shopping is up 46% (in categories such as clothing and home decor), but the biggest uptick is in time spent on social media platforms.

To reach consumers, and increase sales, try their social streams.

With advertising budgets cut across the nation, the cost of running ads on social media is actually down right now, which makes it a great opportunity.

Since social media is the best way to reach your consumers (for the foreseeable future, at least), it makes sense that you’ll need to test messaging and concepts and get real validated opinions and feedback from your consumers, in real-time.

How social ad testing works...

You can choose your audience from 10 million daily consumer journeys. These are panelists who use Surveys on the Go®, the highest-rated app for market research.

Then, launch and collect passive data on your social media ad. You’ll see:

• Visibility time and reach
• Time spent viewing the ad
• If they liked and/or clicked on it
• Whether they tapped to expand the display
• If they turned on the audio or viewed on mute

After you’ve collected passive behavior, you can do a survey to understand their motivation. Take your target audience through the following questions:

• Do they remember the ad?
• What brands do they recall seeing?
• Is the content likable? distinctive? memorable?
• Does the ad create favorable impressions of your brand and push a purchase?

If the ad’s a hit, then you’ve got a proven, scalable campaign. Or, if it needs to be revised, there's now direct feedback and a way to retest the ad for primetime.

Learn more about social ad testing.

Top Covid-19 Research Question #3:

How can we monitor consumer behavior if it's changing daily?

Consumer behavior has changed.

And, it’s evolving, from week to week. Behavior will continue to change as conditions worsen (or better), as different states take certain precautions, and as major competitors change the way they market.

So, how can you monitor behavior, if it’s constantly changing?

Answer: A mobile tracker (that captures location and digital behaviors).

You need a way to keep in touch with your consumers every move.

What you're looking for, is a way to:

• See where consumers are going in real-time
  (and compare be able to measure it against historically logged locations)
  
  
• See what apps consumers are accessing in real-time
  (and which apps they have installed and which new ones they’re downloading)
  
  
• Target and survey based on mixed location or digital behaviors.

In a time like this, visibility is everything. 

A mobile tracker looks at consumer behavior over time, and eliminates the noise that comes with constant changes. It shares brand perception, and uses a validated, first-party panel to show your market’s digital behaviors and mobile behaviors.

Learn more about always-on mobile trackers.

Start impacting digital sales

Our market research team is here to brainstorm with you. 

If you’re facing a challenge, chances are, we’ve seen it – and can help. We’ve helped the largest brands and market research companies in the world.  

Call us at (714) 754-1234, or send us an email: solutions@mfour.com. 

We’re here to help.

Start a new market research project

Big-Box retail is up 32%. Restaurants are down 121%.

The economy demands we take Coronavirus seriously.

Here’s why. On March 10, the Dow dropped 1,200 points. This came a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus a global pandemic.

So, what does that mean?

Coronavirus is sickening the stock market. And we need to get out ahead of it in order to protect ourselves from a recession. Protect yourself from a rapid decrease in consumer spending. Use research.

Be looking at buying behavior, and how to influence it in your favor.

Consumer spend is dying

We tracked real consumers for 30 days. In one month, they dramatically decreased shopping and being social. Figure 1 below shows how much they’ve changed due to the virus.

Figure 1: High-Traffic Visits: February vs. March 2020

Figure 1: percent change was used to calculate increase/decrease from February to March waves.

These same people are now limiting time with friends and family by 92% and 74% are working remotely. When consumer spending is 73% of the economy, that’s a big problem.

Are your products sold in-stores?

Focus on what you can control.

If you sell clothing, or home décor, your in-store revenue will shrink.

We saw in-store home décor purchases among our consumer group drop 31%. Clothes fell 32%. But, hope isn’t lost. That same group is now buying online, where there’s a 46% increase in visits. They’re changing behavior: saying “no” to stores, but “yes” to online.

Take advantage of what they’re telling you. They’re still willing to buy, but they want to do it from the perceived safety and comfort of their own home. Act on what they’re asking for.

Do you sell food or home supplies?

Business is doing well here.

We tracked consumer visits to Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club and Costco using the Surveys On The Go® app. All visits were down in January and most of February. But then, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Coronavirus is a global pandemic¹ the week of February 20^th.

An instant jump in Figure 2 below. Consumers are stocking up for a potential quarantine.

Figure 2: Tracked Visits to Big Box Retailers from 1/1/20 to 3/4/20

Figure 2: percent change was used to calculate increase/decrease from week over week from 1/1 through 2/26.

Methodology

Survey sent to 1,133 US consumers, male (48%) and female (52%) aged 18-44 years old. Participants were screened on knowledge of Coronavirus and a retailer visit within 30 days. Percent change was used to calculate increase/decrease from week over week from 1/1 to 2/26. Qualified respondents received a 13-question survey. Location-based behavioral data was collected via the Surveys On The Go® app through GPS permissions, examining with a visit between January 1^st and March 4^th, 2020.

What they're buying

Immediately, there’s a demand for hand sanitizer (80%), household supplies (65%), nonperishable foods (49%), and face masks (35%).

And because consumers are preparing for two to four weeks, we’re seeing the buying shift at big box retailers, where they can buy in bulk. So, if you’re in the market to sell any of these items, now is the time to pull the levers on your supply chain to make more – and quickly.

What’s next?

No one knows.

Prepare by tracking consumers over time, so you’re not caught off guard. The economic situation is changing quickly. You want to stay ahead of the competition – as well as a potential recession. Take time to think through the questions you need answered, by your consumers, and then ask them.

Research is more important than ever. This is the time to take stock of your market position.

Need help?

We’re researching the impact of COVID-19 now for clients. If you want to know the impact on your marketplace, let’s look at it together. For the full research report, or for assistance, email solutions@mfour.com.

For a Full Copy of the Research Report click here to contact MFour.

References:

1. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/10/dow-futures-point-to-a-loss-of-more-than-400-points-after-tuesdays-surge.html

Millennials (currently 24-39) have tremendous purchasing power… 

As a millennial myself, I know the stereotypes first-hand. 

They downplay the purchasing power of this generation. In other words, we’re not all eating avocado toast, watching reruns of The Office, making meme’s in our parents’ basements, ordering $12 cold brew delivery online, and playing with fidget spinners… 

Although sure, some of us are.

To better understand millennial consumer behavior in 2020 for multiple categories, our client Roth Capital conducted a proprietary survey leveraging MFour Mobile Research. 

This is actually their eighth annual millennial survey, which looks at spending patterns, data trends, as well as top brands across major consumer categories including apparel, home furnishings, health, beverages, healthy snacks, and even cannabis. This in-depth 209 questionnaire was completed by 2,500 U.S. millenial men and women. 

While, the meat and potatoes of the insights are kept for their own use, here are 10 surface-level statistics that they were comfortable with us sharing publicly...

• 73% of millennials are Amazon Prime members.
• 53% of millennials will pay 10% or more for socially responsible brands.
• 47% are more likely to purchase digitally native brands that begin in-store. 
• 74% of millennials own either a Yeti, HydroFlask, or Contigo reusable water bottle.
• 47% of millennials buy second hand items for sustainability and affordability reasons.
• 63% of millennials who buy online prefer to make returns in-store, and then 76% of those who return stay and shop after making an in-store return.
• Dollar Shave Club is the most used subscription, followed by Chewy, then Target.
• While millennials prefer traditional mattresses, Purple is more popular than Casper.
• Nike is the favorite brand in multiple categories including activewear, outdoor apparel, outdoor footwear, fashion footwear and climbing. Followed by Under Armour, The North Face, Adidas, Timberland, Vans, and Black Diamond.

It’s time to take millennial consumers seriously. 

David Bain, managing director, senior research analyst at Roth Capital Partners summarized it well when he said “Millennials will make up nearly three-quarters of the workforce by 2025 and are rapidly redefining consumer patterns … [The] study of millennial consumer behavior and preferences is an essential factor to projecting business earnings…” 

At MFour, we over-index on under-represented consumers such as millennials, Gen Z, Hispanics, and African-Americans, so you can get the accurate representation you need.

If you want to understand your millennial consumers, let's chat. 

(L-R Keith, Hunter, Jennifer, Ashley, Nimitha)

MFour is excited to announce Keith Miller as our new Senior Solutions Executive. In his role, he will help his clients understand the power of our data and how it will help them reach their target audiences as well as improve their outreach programs. We are lucky to have Keith as he brings 14 years of business to business strategic selling to our organization. In all his previous roles, Keith consistently went above and beyond to exceed his quota, and won multiple “Circle of Excellence” awards as the top sales rep on my team. When he is not in the office, Keith enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons. As a family, they love anything outdoors such as snowboarding, wakeboarding, surfing and finishing.

Hunter Stamba joins our sales team as our newest Solutions Development Representative. In his new role, he will prospect new business, support team members with administrative tasks, schedule meetings and conduct compelling supportive outreach. Hunter brings a relentless spirit and eagerness to learn and grow. He looks forward to building relationships with new and existing clients. Hunter holds both a Bachelor's Degree and Masters degree from the University of Alabama. In his free time, Hunter enjoys going to basketball and football games and loves spending time outdoors.

Jennifer Wang joins the MFour marketing team as our new Senior Graphic Designer. In her role, she will work closely with the marketing and sales team to ensure that all creative designs meet both the end user and business goals. She brings 10 years of design experience working in various industries from film, automotive, beauty, technology and non-profit industries. She looks forward to transforming information into intuitive designs while making sure all designs follow our brand messaging. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys traveling to new places, trying new foods, baking and playing video games.

MFour is proud to add Ashley Hightower to our Operations team as a Project Manager. At MFour, Ashley will work to understand and manage client needs and cater to their business objectives. In her new role, Ashley looks forward to providing a consultative relationship with our long-term clients. Ashley holds a Masters of Social Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and also holds a double Major from California State University in Geography and Women and Gender Studies. In her free time, Ashely loves to play board games as well as read and write. She is a very accomplished academic, and was even the valedictorian of one of her bachelor’s programs.

MFour is excited to announce Nimitha Panikkassery as our newest Senior Data Analyst. We are lucky to have Nimitha join the team as she brings 5 years of professional experience working in Business Intelligence. In her new role, Nimitha looks forward to developing analysis and metrics around panel performance as to help MFour increase our panel engagement and retention. When she's not in the office, Nimitha loves to play games and solve puzzles. She is also a talented dancer who won several first place prizes when she danced for her college dance team.

Elaina, O'Mahoney, VP of Product at MFour Mobile Research, is nominated for OC Women in Business Award, through OC Business Journal

MFour's Elaina O’Mahoney, VP of Product, has been nominated for the OC Business Journal Women in Business (WIB) Awards.

Featuring the top businesswomen in Orange County, the WIB Awards is a distinct recognition for O’Mahoney, who brings more than a decade of experience leading product teams in the technology sector.

Under her leadership, the product team has seen a 35% gain in productivity. Elaina is also actively managing the redesign of one of the App Stores’ most successful apps, Surveys On The Go® which ranks in the top 100 apps in the Lifestyle Section.

O’Mahoney holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University and is working on a Master's in Business Administration at Maryville University. Apart from work, Elaina loves to travel and spend at-home time with family. We are excited to see Elaina nominated for her fantastic work!

Coronavirus is a consumervirus.

It’s as deadly to the economy, as it is to people.

In less than two months, COVID-19¹ has ravaged the U.S. economy, savagly infecting consumer behavior as it spreads around the world. And, according to Oxford Economics, it’s estimated the virus will likely lead to $1 trillion in global losses² before it’s stopped.

Here’s why that matters.

Consumer spending in the U.S. accounts for about 70%³ of the economy. That’s a massive amount of balance precariously placed on the health of consumer behavior. Any move in the wrong direction, and we find ourselves in a very painful predicament.

Our economy depends on China. A lot.

The U.S. supply chain is very closely tied to China. And the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai has found that 78% of American companies don’t have enough staff to resume full production⁴. Nearly half said the shutdowns are impacting their global supply chains.

On Feb. 1, Apple closed all of its retail stores, and offices in China ⁵.

The impact on consumerism is clear, especially in technology. China makes roughly half of the world’s LCD panels for TVs, laptops, and computer monitors. Its economic impact⁶ is expected The longer Coronavirus is in play, the greater the impact will be.to be worse than:

• 2003 outbreak of SARS
• 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster
• 2011 Thailand floods

What we found in researching consumers

“We’re seeing the early impact on consumer behavior,” says Jeff Harrelson, COO at MFour. “Eighty-six percent of our consumer panel is limiting social interaction. Travel is social. So, we’d expect other high-traffic businesses to feel the effects³, as the outbreak continues.”

Research highlights from the Surveys On The Go® consumer panel:

• 38% airport decline was observed through GPS tracking on panelists’ smartphones
• 72% of panelists expected the concern of Coronavirus to last more than two months
• 86% planned to limit social interactions, or visits to public places, as a preventive step

This means COVID-19 caused a 38% drop in U.S. consumer behavior.

In early January, the first death⁷ linked to COVID-19 was reported. Consumers took notice. Two weeks later, MFour traced its consumer panel’s visitation to the top 10 U.S. airports. Using the market research app, Surveys On The Go®, the company found a 38% decline in airport visits. The drop correlates to the first reported Coronavirus case in the U.S⁸.

The behavioral data tells us travel was much more impacted than what was stated in the surveys we ran. This is why watching what consumers do is more important than just surveying. As we tracked people, we saw up to a 38% dip in travel, compared to the 23% that was stated in surveys. That’s a 15% shift in behavior, observed by tracking their locations.

Research was conducted comparing visitation to top 10 US airports by MFour's consumer panel.  Examined Jan - Feb 2019 vs. same period 2020.  

For a full copy of the Research Reports click here to contact MFour.

References:

1. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html
2. https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/my-oxford/publications/537166
3. https://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/consumer-spending-and-the-economy/
4. https://www.amcham-shanghai.org/en/article/supply-chains-and-factory-openings-amcham-shanghai-mini-survey
5. https://qz.com/1800540/how-coronavirus-is-upending-the-tech-industrys-supply-chain/
6. https://www.wsj.com/articles/commentary-supply-chain-risks-from-the-coronavirus-demand-immediate-action-11582054704
7. https://apnews.com/c0e87e089a89fa5579e1c63acded7d46
8. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0121-novel-coronavirus-travel-case.html

(L-R Sharon, Justin, Jack, Carmen)

MFour is excited to announce Sharon Leynes as our latest Senior Research Consultant. She brings 15 years of market research experience in managing and designing custom research studies within various sectors, including automotive, telecommunications, retail, entertainment, hospitality, and medical devices. In addition to her start at a full-service market research company, her recent experience at Johnson & Johnson, The Walt Disney Company, and Kelley Blue Book, has enabled her to design studies which closely align with corporate/marketing strategies. Sharon holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from San Francisco State University. When she’s not in the office, Sharon enjoys spending time with her family and dog. You might find her on a local bike path, catching a play or even in the stands of a baseball game.

Graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Justin Hadaegh joins the sales team as a Solutions Development Representative. In his role, Justin will work on building our sales teams pipeline through consistent outreach, both through calling and emailing. Justin looks forward to bringing his verbal communication skills, work ethic, past sales experience, and his passion for creating new relationships to his new role here. When he’s not in the office, soccer is one of his biggest passions and he plays any chance he gets.

Jack Felich joins the sales team as our newest Senior Solutions Representative. In his role, he will be responsible for generating new leads, building a qualified pipeline, and overall helping drive sales and facilitating the growth of our business. He looks forward to helping others achieve results and to grow our business, and becoming an industry expert in market research. Jack brings over 3 years of sales experience where he was recognized as a top sales performer at his previous employer. Jack holds a Bachelor's Degree in History and Business Administration from University of California, Riverside. In his free time, he is passionate about fitness, finance, sports, and helping others.

Carmen Pham joins the operations team as a Senior Specialist - Fielding. In her new role, she will be helping internal teams assess feasibility for sampling and also ensuring quality data collection. She looks forward to helping improve process documentation and training. She brings a solid understanding of the project process, research methodologies, and what it takes to ensure quality data. Carmen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Cal State Fullerton. When she is not in the office, Carmen is a self-described “foodie” and she even has an Instagram devoted to trying new foods.

Have you seen the article?

Surveys On The Go® is the #2 side hustle app for consumers.

That's why we get 50% completes on your surveys. They're paid cash for their input. And they're only too happy to give you photos and videos of their feedback on your brand.

Got a brand question? Our consumer panel will answer it.

And it only gets better.

Surveys On The Go® is now the nation's largest consumer panel. With that big of a panel, and a 50% return on your completes, there isn't a survey or a data project, we can't help you with.

So, why not try it out?

In many cases, we turn around research in less than 24 hours.

That’s accurate, validated consumer data - in a day.

And because we use an app, the feedback is in real-time. Your consumers are responding to surveys while they’re still experiencing your brand. It doesn’t get any better than that: freshly sourced data - straight from their smartphone.

So, if you’re asking:

• How can we better meet buyers’ needs?
• What do buyers think of the brand/product?
• What’s the market look like for the brand/product?

Get the answers.

We’ll deliver the data you need. Contact us.

USIM just won the Programmatic Agency of the Year Award.

Their data was powered by MFour. The award is for targeting active and prospective retail customers: something that was previously not possible in mass media.

And the targeting is working. The data has generated sales lifts averaging 10% to 15% — and as much as 50% — over normal targeted local TV advertising buys.

It all started when Rob Jayson, USIM Executive Vice President-Insights & Analytics, stumbled upon MFour's unique platform. Capable of providing an opt-in panel of mobile users, MFour gave Rob a way to track devices for media research purposes. He was intrigued.

MFour has nearly three million users, making its sample both big enough and stable enough to be used as a building block for refined analyses. So, USIM decided to use MFour's panel to create a geo-targeting methodology dubbed PureView. That allowed the firm to effectively create custom trading areas based on the actual travel patterns of its retail clients’ customers.

“The end result is a much more efficient deployment of programmatic and OTT and other media we can buy with geo tags that is much more efficient in driving traffic to stores,” Jayson explained when MediaPost first wrote about the innovation early last year.

For more information on the article, please view the original post, published by MediaPost.

(L-R Juan, Chris, Cheryl, Vanchhit)

MFour is proud to add Juan Toscano to the operations team, where he will setup and manage surveys on MFour’s research platform. In his role, he will ensure the highest quality is being met for the data the MFour collects, and he will manage and track projects astutely to ensure clients request are being fulfilled. Juan brings several years of market research experience where he led teams conducting phone interviews. Juan has extensive knowledge of MS Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite and has the ability to learn new software easily and intuitively. Juan holds an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts from Cypress College. In his free time, he enjoys working on landscape and perfecting his travel photography skills. 

Chris Gimenez joins our sales team as our newest Solutions Executive. He brings over 7 years of sales experience and looks forward to landing accounts and using data-driven approaches to selling and finding new clients. In his previous roles, Chris has constantly exceeded sales goals by utilizing a consultative sales approach when meeting with new and existing customers. He holds a degree in Economics from California State University. In his free time, Chris likes to snowboard and be in the mountains. In the warmer months, he likes to wakeboard and spend time at the river. He also loves the NBA and NFL and is a fan of the Lakers and the Patriots.

MFour is proud to announce Cheryl Aday as our new Senior Product Manager. We are certainly lucky to have Cheryl as she brings a deep understanding of data analysis and experimental design to our team. In her previous roles, Cheryl has managed more than 40 projects in mobile, web, desktop and IoT projects for small-to-medium size businesses and startups using Scrum, Kanban, and waterfall. She also brings strong writing skills and has a Masters in Professional Writing from the University of Southern California. In her free time, Cheryl enjoys her passion for board games and was even previously co-founder of the LA Board Games group.

MFour is excited to announce Vanchhit Khare as our new Salesforce Administrator. Vanchhit holds a Bachelor degree in Electronics and Communications from Amity University Rajasthan and a Masters in Computer Science from California State University, Fullerton. He brings more than 3 years of experience in the field and always loves to explore new features of Salesforce and trying to establish a rich UI experience for the MFour users. When he’s not in the office, he enjoys taking photographs and trying new recipes. He is also currently learning about music and how music influences our experience.