If market research must be more effectively used, especially in tough economic times, the challenge is not so much in the research process itself, but in the way the results are targeted at and presented to the different stakeholders. Against a background of a fast changing market where end clients are becoming ever more self-reliant and agencies struggle to add value, Randstad improved the effective usage of its research program by focussing on the quality of the reporting. Interviews with information users resulted in revised survey structures and a practical, targeted, user friendly reporting portal aimed at placing market research results in the middle of the decision making process, at all levels in the organization.
The Internet makes it easier to break target groups down to the level of 'one to one' marketing. Although this marketing dream is definitively a technical possibility, in practice it appears to be very difficult. People do not like to be approached uninvited via e-mail and the effect of commercial e-mail campaigns is unclear, however well targeted they might be. It is in this context that TPG Post, the Dutch-based (international) postal services company, decided to develop the E-mail Monitor in cooperation with Pro Active International. As the focus of this paper is on consumer behaviour, the authors have targeted the first stage of the E-mail Monitor, which is used to determine what combination of mail and e-mail can best be used to achieve the desired effect.