Paid Surveys: For Real or Not?
Last year, JFY and the Webcraft Division of Beatrice Foods (North Brunswick, NJ) combined to establish a new entity called Intro-Kit Publishing Co. (Stamford, Conn.) with the assistance of Stephen W. Phillips, former group vp of The Nestle Co. Phillips is president of the new company, which was set up to utilize that JFY 17 million data base to enable marketers to deliver by mail a solo, personalized and individualized selling message (even including samples) of their product to competitive brand-consuming households. The JFY computers enable the list to be pre-screened by name, address, demographics, current brand usage, or by what products the respondents plan to buy or use in the near future.
Mr. Dale, in an interview with SurveySpencer.com, suggests that this combination of consumer mass marketing with selective focusing on the users of competitive products sets up the prospect of conversion to the brands, followed by a measure of any actual conversion that occurs. Mr. Phillips says Intro-Kit combines two sophisticated computer technologies--consumer information data base management and computerized one-step direct mail printing--in a way that lets the marketer "economically customize individual selling messages in a prestigious single product environment. This computerization also allows marketers to accurately define their consumer conversion ratio on a broad national basis because it's completely measurable."
The backbone of JFY's data is a detailed survey for money mailed out to its carefully maintained list of households, the ploy being that the filled-out survey will bring the respondent a box of free samples. Mixed among questions about routine statistics (age, age of children, family income, whether or not employed) are two dozen questions ascertaining brand preference, buying intentions, whether or not there is a dog in the house, whether or not the respondent colors her hair at home, etc. From this computer-coded card, JFY statisticians are able to tell what competing samples to send, whether or not the respondent is a prospect for an Intro-Kit mailing, and what data might be helpful for the product of a particular client. On the JFY list of OTC drug usage by brand, for example, are antacids, adult cold remedies, diet pills, hemorrhoid remedies, laxatives, nasal spray, pain relievers, sinus remedies, sleep aids. Personal products include shampoos, denture cleansers and adhesive, deodorants, feminine deodorant suppositories, hair spray, hair colors, hand cream, mouthwash, and toothpastes.
To keep its list current JFY delivers 40 million direct mail data card questionnaires and completes 9 million phone calls. The latter is done by 1400 phone screeners working at home. The company's clients receive their data in the form of tapes programmed to accommodate client retrieval systems in multi-hundred thousand units. Mr. Dale boasts that the base is the largest ever compiled by private sources and second only to that of the Census, Bureau, making the potential for the marketer considerable.
"Our data suggests, for example, that there are two million women out there who plan to color their hair (or have in the last 30 days). For the marketer of such products this becomes priceless information, since it removes the 'pig in a poke' aspects of consumer research. He can differentiate who the prime tempters in the audience might be, allowing him to eliminate the chaff."
He emphasizes that the whole concept "should not be thought of simply as a couponing or sampling idea, but a selling idea. The theory is to find out how people perceive a particular product, then to find new ways of getting through a particular message. Sometimes the marketer will have to compare one product to another, and maybe even offer comparison data. The concept is simple, but the implications are exciting indeed."