Responding to rapidly growing demand for its true-mobile research solutions, MFour has added two experienced market research professionals to its Operations team.

Celeste Blanchard and Holly Wong arrive with more than a decade of experience as consultants and staff research experts at major companies. At MFour they will be hands-on contributors to the process of programming, fielding, and data reporting for clients’ research projects.

Celeste arrives from Scientific Telephone Samples, where she oversaw all aspects of research projects from start to finish. She is a former Operations Manager for Home Depot, specializing in data analysis and metrics for productivity and profit & loss. She is a graduate of Florida Metropolitan University in Tampa, and a military veteran who served as a Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy. Celeste is an avid reader and a sci fi buff who’s particularly immersed in “Star Trek” and “Dr. Who.”

As a freelance consultant, Holly handled all aspects of designing and implementing quantitative and qualitative research projects for a wide range of clients in many industries. Her projects included consulting on the launch of new menu items for the Del Taco restaurant chain. Previously she was a Senior Research Manager for Lieberman Research Worldwide. Holly holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physiological Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. She enjoys travel, hiking, and home-brewing beer.

Welcome aboard, Celeste and Holly!

• Meeting 1,000 Millennials
• Be a Do-it-Yourself Research Hero
• Panel Info Like You've Never Seen

Would you like to go down as one of the greatest do-it-yourselfers in the history of survey-based consumer research? In a minute we’ll tell you how. But first a bit of context, from a shortlist of history’s most heroic DIYers in any field:

Art: Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling over the course of four years, adorning it with 343 separate figures. Before getting started he designs the scaffold he’ll use to reach the ceiling.

Music: Stevie Wonder plays all the instruments and sings all the vocal parts on “Living for the City” and “Higher Ground,” two Top 10 hits from his classic 1973 album, “Innervisions.” Prince takes the cue and becomes a noted musical do-it-yourselfer on many of his albums and songs, including the Top 10 hit “Uptown.”

Literature: English author Samuel Johnson labors from 1746 to 1755 to produce what’s considered the first great dictionary of the English language. Working strictly on his own, Johnson writes definitions for 42,773 words and selects 114,000 quotations from published sources to illustrate each word’s meanings.

Military Service: During World War II, Canadian infantryman Leo Major singlehandedly captures 93 German soldiers during the Battle of the Scheldt in Holland. Major tops that feat a few months later when he uses stealth, trickery, and lethal combat skills to singlehandedly capture the Dutch town of Zwolle from the Germans. U.S. Army Lieutenant Audie Murphy accomplishes a comparable exploit during a battle in France, singlehandedly decimating waves of German infantry while calling in coordinates for artillery fire that destroyed a force of German tanks.

Market Research: Now any market research professional can be a do-it-yourself hero – quickly, easily, and with no risk of bodily harm. It’s a matter of using MFourDIY™ – the only true-mobile, do-it-yourself survey-building platform. Consider it your scaffold for creating research masterpieces of your own:

• Easy-to-use yet sophisticated features let you program and field surveys in less than an hour.

• Data begins to arrive immediately from an engaged, all-mobile panel of more than one million active members.

• In many cases it will take less than a day – and sometimes just a few hours – to get all the completes you’ve specified.

• You’ll get cleaned, validated, accurate data that displays automatically in a variety of graphic forms you’ll pick yourself.

• You’ll pull off projects under deadlines that previously would have been impossible, and be hailed as a hero by clients and bosses.

• You don’t have to be that big a hero: MFour has your back with real-time, real-person, in-house representatives who’ll help you whenever you have a question or need a bit of advice.

For details, visit the new MFourDIY™ website by clicking here, where you’ll find detailed, transparently up-front product information of a sort that’s seldom available to researchers shopping for project options. For additional information, please contact Alex at acolao@mfour.com.

MFour’s rapid growth continues in the New Year with the hiring of two new software engineers who’ll join the Labs & Engineering team to drive successful research projects.

Hristo Botev will focus on continued advancements in MFour’s survey platform. Previous positions include Viscomp, Ltd., a Bulgarian web development company where he developed new web services, optimized existing platforms, and mentored colleagues. Hristo holds two degrees from the University of Plovdiv in Bulgaria –  a Master’s in Software Technologies and a Bachelor’s in Engineering Physics.

Michael Dennis will support all facets of developing MFour’s research applications, drawing on his experience in developing consumer-oriented technology and overhauling e-commerce sites, most recently for Wild Attire, Inc., a Southern California online fashion retailer. Besides tech interests that include contributing his free time to open source software projects, Michael enjoys outdoor sports and playing the guitar. His academic background includes studies at Santiago Canyon College and Platt College.

A hearty “Welcome Aboard!” to Hristo and Michael.

Who are Millennials?

A Millennial Insights Project conducted by MFour in 2016 revealed that:

• Most are television bingers: 68% say they binge-watch at least once a month; 52% report doing it once a week.

• Movie theaters aren’t a frequent stop: 43% report having seen a movie during the month before they were surveyed.

• They like banking apps, but not bank branches: They prefer using banking apps (61%) to in-person banking (18%).

• Their smartphone use varies among demographic populations. More than half of African Americans (57%) and Hispanics (52%) say they use their phones at least five hours a day; for Caucasians it’s 39%.

How do we know? We asked. Using MFourDIY™ – the nation’s only true-mobile survey-building tool, we were able to get 1,000 validated and completed responses in less than an hour to 30 questions. Panelists were able to answer quickly and enthusiastically – because they were interacting with the survey via a smartphone app, by far Millennials' favorite conduit for receiving and providing information.

The Millennial Insights Project demonstrates what true-mobile technology can accomplish when combined with an engaged, all-mobile panel. It’s a guide to how you can make 2017 the year you solve your panel problems with faster and more accurate insights from hard-to-reach consumers.

Respondents were ages 18 to 36, and they represented the demographic makeup of U.S. Millennials: 56% Caucasian, 19% Hispanic, 14% African American, 5% Asian and 6% other. Other panel characteristics included 33% were living in a relative’s home and 19% were homeowners.

To learn how you can use MFourDIY™ for your research, click here.

Here's your Friday roundup of 3 items from MFour to keep you up to speed on mobile research as you head into your weekend festivities.

• 7 Mobile Insights for 2017

• When Brick & Mortar Meets Mobile

• Research Worth Bottling 

And here's a Friday tune to get your party going early.

In business, knowing your Millennials is as important as knowing your ABC’s in kindergarten. Failing to master this skill is simply not an option.

It’s a big task, getting to know 83.7 million Americans. And it’s complicated by the fact that the era of the Millennial is also the era of fractured information and communications. Baby Boomers grew up with three commercial TV networks and perhaps a handful of local channels. Millennials grew up with YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, which invite anybody and everybody to be a broadcaster or a publisher.

Another complication: Millennials are the second-most diverse generation of Americans, ever – exceeded only by those born after 2000, the post-Millennial Generation Z.

To get some big-picture insights, let’s run some statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 population estimates.

• The Bureau defines Millennials as people born between 1982 and 2000 – that is, Americans who will celebrate their 17^th to 35^th birthdays in 2017.

• The 83.7 million Millennials, many of whom have entered their prime spending years, outnumber the 75.4 million Baby Boomers – most of whom are beyond or on the verge of turning 60.

• 44.5% of Millennials identify as what are commonly understood to be minorities, rather than as what the Census Bureau calls “non-Hispanic whites.”

• In the post-Millennial generation, ages 15 and under, 49% are minorities – and that percentage is likely to grow by 2019, when Gen Z will finish being born. Z-ers who arrived on the scene from 2010 to 2014 are 50.2% minorities.

• The key insight for market research is that it absolutely must gain a diverse understanding of these unprecedentedly diverse generations. Wholesale generalizing won’t do for businesses striving to realize real success.

The one useful, generation-defining generality to be drawn about Millennials and Gen Z is that if you look at their hands you’ll see a smartphone. More than 80% of Millennials have them, according to the Pew Research Center, and the number rises to 86% for Millennials under 30.

True-mobile research lets you respond to that core fact about Millennials. It harmonizes the research experience with the Millennial and post-Millennial insistence on smartphone experiences that hold their interest and provide rewarding encounters with smoothly-functioning technology. There’s just one technical concept you need to understand before you start sending surveys to Millennials, and that’s the difference between mobile apps and the mobile web.

• In true-mobile surveys, the experience takes place entirely within an app, from push notification through completion. The survey loads instantly in a respondent's phone, eliminating the need for an  uninterrupted internet connection to receive and answer questions.

• Online surveys that mobile respondents access via the mobile web require cumbersome e-mail notifications, followed by an even more cumbersome back-and-forth exchange between the website that houses the survey and the respondent's smartphone. It's a recipe for slow performance, frustrated respondents, disengagement, and suspect data.

• It’s the elegance and smoothness of the app experience that accounts for the fact that smartphone users now spend more than three hours a day with apps, and just over 20 minutes, on average, using their phones’ web browsers, according to Flurry Analytics.

• If you go looking for Millennials where they are – on their smartphone apps – your chances of finding the numbers and demographic quotas you need will soar. 

Click here for MFour panel demographics that show just who you’ll reach when you reach out to more than a million active members who use Surveys on the Go® – the nation’s only true-mobile research app.

A fast and cost-efficient way to explore true-mobile research is to try MFourDIY™ – the only app-centered, true-mobile DIY alternative. For details, please visit mfourdiy.com or contact Alex at acolao@mfour.com.

One of the big retail stories of 2017 will be how shoppers – and most particularly, Millennial food shoppers – respond to the rollout of 365 By Whole Foods. The initiative, launched during 2016 in select locations, seeks to hit Millennials in their sweet spots by tailoring how Whole Foods delivers on its well-established brand identity as a seller of healthy, eco-friendly edibles. “New stores will be popping up all over the place in 2017 and beyond,” the “365” website promises.

Here are some of the key changes that could hold a special appeal for Millennials:

Technology Matters: Price labels will be digital only, and iPad-like devices will let shoppers place takeout food orders that will be waiting for them at checkout.

• This taps into a signature preference of Millennials, for whom tapping smartphones to access information and carry out the tasks of daily life is second nature.

• And that extends perhaps even more to the younger Gen Z that’s beginning to come of grocery-shopping age.

Speed Matters: Technology and standardized store design aim to accelerate the shopping experience.

• Millennials are accustomed to going from experience to experience rapidly in the mobile realm.

• Some say that’s a sign of short attention spans – but it also underscores the fast, multitasker’s pace at which Millennials are accustomed to getting things done, shopping included.

• Today’s grocery retailers have to compete with online shopping and food-delivery options that Millennials also favor. So delays can’t be part of the in-store experience.

Thrift Matters: A core proposition for 365 By Whole Foods is lower pricing attained through operating efficiencies, and a standardized, utilitarian, no-frills store design.

• As the generation that came up during and after the Great Recession, Millennials are well aware of economic challenges and seek ways to adapt or overcome.

• A generation that doesn’t see big screen monitors, powerful stereos, landline telephones and cable or satellite TV subscriptions as necessities could be a natural audience for minimalist-chic store design and other features that underscore unpretentiousness and cost-savings through technology and efficiency.

Social Interaction Matters: Whole Foods invites local boutique restaurants and vendors to take up residence inside its “365” stores – hoping they will become social hangouts.

• It’s often noted that many Millennials like hanging out face-to-face in groups; social media isn’t the only way they keep in contact with friends.

• A grocery that’s technologized and standardized for efficiency-optimization, combined with opportunities for human-to-human, distinctly local hanging out seems like a bid to appeal to different sides of complex Millennial mindsets.

Whole Foods’ interesting bet on a Millennial-tailored grocery chain resonates with the idea that the realm of mobile technology is not something alien to in-person consumer experiences. It’s an early example of how the physical world of commerce will adapt to smartphones by recognizing how much Millennials'  intimate connection to their phones shapes their lives -- including their lives as consumers.

In the case of 365 By Whole Foods, a decades-old grocery chain rooted in a regard for nature is adapting to align itself with both the firm realities and stylistic sensibilities of the smartphone era – that is, it’s adapting to the rise of the Millennials and the even more tech-native generation coming up behind them. The best way to understand what young consumers think about 365 By Whole Foods -- or any other product or service -- is to ask them.

To find out how you can use MFour’s true-mobile research solutions to connect with Millennials, go to www.MFour.com or contact Alex at acolao@mfour.com.

Millennials are on the verge of becoming all grown up—all 83.7 million of them. And of course, that makes them the most important focus for businesses. Millennials are a national obsession, subject to more analysis, commentary, and off-the-cuff generalization about their attitudes and actions than any other group of Americans.

Marketing success depends on making accurate conclusions grounded in data. Off-the-cuff thinking won’t cut it. Perhaps the only useful generalization about Millennials is that nearly all of them have smartphones. At least 86% of those under 30, and at least 83% of those 30 and over are smartphone users, according to 2015 data from Pew Research Center.

Interface with them on their phones for market research, and you have a chance to understand them more accurately. But there is a further distinction to be made. Not all mobile market research is the same.

Research professionals acknowledge that the online survey methods that have long prevailed no longer work. They can’t reach enough of the right people at the right time – and that’s because online surveys and smartphones simply don’t mesh. Asking respondents to use their smartphones to connect with the Internet to take an online survey is like asking a Ferrari driver to stick to the speed limit on an open road with no other cars around.

A figure published by Flurry Analytics points the way forward: Americans average three hours and 40 minutes a day on their phones, and 90% of that time is spent using mobile apps. True-mobile research is app-based research. Americans have voted with their fingers – they’re tapping on apps. It’s how they like to use their phones. It’s what Millennials, in particular, find most appealing.

So how do you reach them in a way that matters to your business? MFour’s true-mobile surveys are driven by an app, allowing respondents to answer your questions in the way they most prefer. By reaching them where they really live (or shop), you’ll get vivid insights into their thoughts, feelings, and preferences.

Millennials constitute 70% of the more than one million active panelists you’ll connect with on the Surveys on the Go® app. Reward Millennials with a true-mobile smartphone survey experience, and they’ll reward you, too – with the business insights you need – now, and in the decades to come.

To learn more about the only app-centered, true-mobile platform, please visit www.mfour.com or contact Alex at acolao@mfour.com.

Santa Crosses Geofence After Commissioning Study on Shopping Mall Santas

A new study by MFour Mobile Research reveals that shopping mall Santas receive high customer satisfaction ratings for their cheerfulness, patience with frightened children, and beard authenticity. But respondents say that in certain cases, mall Santas’ personal hygiene leaves room for improvement. The client for this study was the real Santa Claus, who needed insights into customer satisfaction with his surrogates at 1,200 U.S. malls.

Mr. Claus commissioned a GPS-enabled geolocation survey in which MFour geofenced each of those malls (see real time map below). We then pushed surveys to natural mall-goers on our million-member, all-mobile active panel who are parents of young children. We got the 1,000 completes Santa required within a day of fielding – pro bono, of course.

Mr. Claus said the insights are driving a new initiative in which his elves will distribute lightweight, sweat-resistant Santa costumes to every surrogate by next Christmas season. The real Santa, who uses a smartphone like everybody else, has joined MFour’s Surveys on the Go® panel, enabling us to track him and the reindeer as they cross custom-geofenced areas.

To find out what attracted this illustrious client, of whom we’re exceedingly proud, just click here. And welcome to our panel, Santa! Thanks for being such a great client. Here’s to a Merry Christmas for one and all!

And here’s your Friday tune to put you in a holly jolly holiday mood. Enjoy!