by Robert Walker | Nov 11, 2019 | Data quality, DIY software, Marketing research, Research design, Survey research
Happy Birthday to SurveyMonkey, who turned 20 this week. In 1999, when SurveyMonkey burst onto the scene, there were virtually no cloud-based (SaaS) DIY survey platforms in existence. Looking back, we can see that SurveyMonkey was the original “disruptor” in the...
by Robert Walker | Sep 16, 2019 | Marketing and strategy, Marketing research
Do you run a marketing research and insights department, or does a function like this report to you? Having a solid research and insights function is worth its weight in gold – if it is staffed properly and has an adequate budget to complete key research tasks. But if...
by Robert Walker | Aug 10, 2019 | Business strategy, Marketing research, NPS
In May 2019, The Wall Street Journal published a comprehensive article on the use – and misuse –of customer satisfaction programs that heavily rely on a single measure known as the “Net Promoter Score” or NPS*. Titled “The Dubious Management Fad Sweeping Corporate...
by Robert Walker | Jan 5, 2019 | Marketing and strategy, Marketing research, Strategic research
I always tell my children that life is not linear. Neither is business. Things rarely go in a straight line, and companies can never sustain super-normal growth in either sales or stock price. Yet we were somehow surprised this week that Apple reported significant...
by Robert Walker | Nov 13, 2018 | DIY software, Marketing research
So by now many of you have heard the news: Qualtrics is being bought by Germany’s SAP for $8 billion in cash. I also received an email from Ryan and Jared Smith announcing the news. But what exactly did SAP get for its money? For the first nine months of 2018,...
by Robert Walker | Oct 31, 2018 | Uncategorized
Happy Halloween! As expected, Qualtrics filed its Form S-1 registration statement (IPO) on October 19, 2018 under the oh-so-sexy symbol ‘XM’. Qualtrics, backed by VC firms Sequoia and Accel, has been valued at as much as $2.5 billion; soon we’ll hear what...
by Robert Walker | Oct 31, 2018 | Uncategorized
Happy Halloween! As expected, Qualtrics filed its Form S-1 registration statement (IPO) on October 19, 2018 under the oh-so-sexy symbol ‘XM’. Qualtrics, backed by VC firms Sequoia and Accel, has been valued at as much as $2.5 billion; soon we’ll hear what...
by Robert Walker | Oct 3, 2018 | Marketing and strategy, Marketing research
There is an old joke about sharing research results: management’s response is either “I could have told you that”, or “I don’t believe it”. Humorous, but too often true. Yet if a company has spent serious money on research, perhaps management should listen more...
by Robert Walker | Sep 17, 2018 | Marketing and strategy, Marketing research, Survey research
On August 29, 2018 SurveyMonkey filed an initial registration statement with the SEC (symbol “SVMK”) to float an IPO; the offering is now expected in late September. A recent update to its IPO filing includes a first pass at pricing; it has printed a price range of...
by Robert Walker | Sep 16, 2018 | Marketing and strategy, Uncategorized
Blockchain provides the basis for a dynamic shared ledger that can reduce time when recording transactions, intermediary costs, and fraud. In the last couple of years, I’ve seen an increasing number of presentations on the value of blockchain. In industries where...
