Market Research Deathwatch

Faux News

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:49:00 +0000

Just saw this on the FoxNews.com front page.

And the results... *DRUMROLL*

... fair & balanced--not so much, but at least it adds up to 100% this time.

Tip of the Hat: Jan Hofmeyr

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:49:00 +0000

From Jan's recent Research Magazine interview.

Our industry is one of the most conservative you will come across. Look at IT - look how keen they are to throw out the old and adopt the new. Medical doctors will go to professional conferences in order to learn up until the week before they retire. We don’t do that. We go to professional conferences to get drunk and find out what the competitors are doing. A constant refrain in our businesses is, ‘That’s too complicated.’ Do you ever hear an engineer saying, ‘That’s too complicated, I’m not going to build it’? Or an accountant saying, ‘That spreadsheet’s too complicated, do it again’? You don’t.

... People love the idea of innovation but they hate the reality of it...

I think there’s a tremendous amount of laziness in our industry - people don’t want their lives to be made complicated.

Well said. I couldn't agree more.

Lockerz.com is about to kick your @$$, one question at a time.

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:38:00 +0000

This ain't your grandma's social network. And guess what? It's a market research site.

In their own wordz:

Lockerz is the place to go to buy the coolest stuff at the lowest prices, watch exclusive video, discover new music, play the hottest games, hang out with your friends - and get rewarded for just about EVERYTHING you do on the site.

Our mission is to be your daily habit, not a site for your parents or grandparents looking for their long-lost friends from Kindergarten.

All they ask in return is that you answer their daily question. Just one per day. Only on the days when you feel like it.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the future of market research via online communities. There is still plenty of time for Lockerz to screw the pooch if they execute poorly, but my gut tells me the model is a winner. Here are some examples of what they're doing right:

The days of social networks for the sake of social interaction are over. Anyone who wants to manage their social life online is doing it with Facebook. If you want to attract people to your community you better be ready to kick it up a notch. Deals on hot clothes and electronics, premium video content, free games and music are a good start.
One size does not fit all. Know who your users are, know what they care about, know how they speak. Speak to them about the things they care about, in their own language. Don't fake it.
Market research on a website has the same appeal as learning about sex from your parents did. So don't make the site about research. Make it about something your users like and care about. Give them something they value and hide the research as much as you can.
An average 20-something web user's capacity for market research is one question long ... so make your research one question long.
One question is plenty. Combine one question a day with a rich user profile and all the other data you passively collected as the user shops, consumes media, and interacts with other users on your site ... suddenly the possibilities are endless.

These are all things the MR industry will eventually figure out ... probably right around the time we enter the 14th b'ak'tun of the Maya calendar. This is what it will take to get access to the people who won't take your surveys. Why not do it now while everyone else is still scratching their heads?

Lockerz is led by Kathy Savitt. Her previous gig was CMO @ American Eagle, and before that she was a VP @ Amazon.

Lockerz is owned by Liberty Media. That's right y'all! The people who filmed The Men Who Stare at Goats, owners of the Atlanta Braves, the saviors of satellite radio... are building a market research website.

The question I'm stuck on is why? What's the engame? Is this a private research community for Liberty's companies? Are they going to sell data? I don't know.

So maybe it's too early to say Lockerz is going to kick you ass. There's no question they can if they want to.

Don't wait for them to make up their mind. Learn from their example and get to work on something of your own that will be cool enough to compete.

[later] Bonus points for humor. From the section of their Terms of Use that deals with cheating the PTZ system and hacking their infrastructure: "Remember, pigs get fat - hogs get slaughtered."

Hamburg

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:52:00 +0000

Before they tasted success the Beatles spent two miserable years in Hamburg. They played in seedy clubs in the worst part of town. They played day and night, seven days a week. They slept in a store room next to the toilets, and quite often their performances matched their accommodations.

They spent countless hours on the stage, often playing to a virtually empty room. But they were free to experiment and there was no pressure to be good. As long as they were loud and they finished their sets the club owner was happy. As a consequence of playing so much, their playing improved. Over time they mastered their instruments, they learned to play together, they learned to improvise, they learned to play many different songs in many different styles.

By the time they left Hamburg in 1962 the Beatles were transformed. They had a new look, a new attitude, and a new sound. Within months they had their first big hit with "Please Please Me" ... the rest is history. Failure and hardship prepared them for success.

Every success story includes a stop in Hamburg. Malcolm Gladwell claims that almost anyone can succeed with a bit of luck and 10,000 hours of hard work. Seth Godin says the number of hours is not important; you just have to do whatever it takes to become the best in the world at what you do. Both are right. The bottom line is potential + effort = success. Most people have enough potential to achieve great things; very few put in the effort required to cultivate that potential into achievement.

I see plenty of potential for our industry to succeed online, but we're not allowing our people the time or freedom to cultivate that potential. There is no shortage of able people ready to roll up their sleeves and move the industry forward, but they are met with resistance every step of the way. Our best people get frustrated by the closed minds at the top and leave. [later: it's worth noting there are also plenty of closed minds in the middle and bottom of the MR layer cake] The experimenters are labeled heretics by those with a vested interest in the status quo. The MR dinosaurs can see the comet hurtling toward them, but they refuse to evolve while the money is still flowing into their pockets.

Evolution is natural. It's going to happen whether we like it or not. It's simply a question of when and where. Either we open ourselves to it and let it happen within our industry, or we continue to resist it until it takes root somewhere else and displaces us.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? We all need to spend some time in Hamburg.

Phishy, phishy, phishy phish!

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:27:00 +0000

Phish: an Internet scam designed to trick the recipient into revealing credit card, passwords, social security numbers and other personal information to individuals who intend to use them for fraudulent purposes. The scam is known as "phishing" and the communications appear as if they come from reputable companies. The e-mails often instruct the recipient to verify or update account information by requesting a reply to his e-mail with updated information, or by providing the recipient with a link to a website where the new information may be entered.

Big brands, especially financial institutions, are the main targets of phishing scams so they tell their customers to be suspicious of any email messages that claim to be from them but don't quite look right.

Now think about the way we survey our clients' customer lists.

To make the example more concrete, let's pretend we've been hired to do an online customer satisfaction survey for a major bank. We email survey invitations to the bank customers. The messages claim to be from the bank, but the sender is either a forgery of the Bank's email address, or some completely strange address belonging to a market research company the Bank customer has probably never heard of. On top of this, the email asks the bank customer to follow a link that is clearly not taking them to their Bank's website, and provide information. It smells phishy, and it's one more good reason for the recipient of our survey invites to ignore them, trash them, or report them as abusive.

Survey invitations often wave several of the red flags web users associate with spam and phishing scams. This hurts participation rates and leads to blacklisting of our email.

There is a simple, no-cost solution to this problem: sub-domain delegation ... but that's another post for another day.

Top Heavy

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:56:00 +0000

Is your organization top-heavy?

Think that might have something to do with why there is so much talk and so little action?

Submariners in Space

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Our online efforts are not going very well.

Hmm... Let's brainstorm about things we can do to remedy the situation. Better yet, let's appoint a committee to develop a strategy that will get us out of this mess. Fantastic idea! Let's give the whole management team a bonus!

[several weeks go by...]

The committee's report is in: 1) tap into social media, 2) buy or hire a smaller company that knows how to mine the blogosphere ... whatever that means, 3) modernize our websites, 4) make surveys shorter and jazz them up with the latest and greatest interactive gadgets and widgets, 5) do something--do anything--with online communities... just make sure our clients know we do online communities

[lots of time and money is spent...]

Shit! We haven't made any progress. In fact, no one in this company has the slightest fucking clue about how to do any of these things. Oh well, let's just forget about it. The sky has been falling for years and it hasn't crushed us yet. We'll just wait for someone else to figure it out and copy/buy their solution.

Does this sound at all familiar?

Everyone wants to talk about transforming market research, but when it's time to turn words into actions we fall flat on our faces.

Why?

Because we still aren't prepared to do what needs to be done. Because we have the wrong people doing the wrong jobs, using the wrong tools. Because no matter how many times you fill a submarine with submariners, strap it to a rocket and shoot it into space, those people will not magically become astronauts and the submarine will not achieve a stable orbit or return safely to earth at the end of its mission.

If you want to drill through the brick wall that's keeping you on the wrong side of online success I suggest you get yourself some good drills, masonry bits, and professionals who know how to use those tools. Otherwise, you're welcome to keep beating your head against the wall. You might get through it, but odds are your head will crack long before you make a dent.

Remember Remember the Fifth of November

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:01:00 +0000

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

And what should we do with him? Burn him!

There is no plan

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:21:00 +0000

Set a general course using instinct and whatever scraps of information you can scrape together, then keep your eyes open and take advantage of the opportunities as they come along. That's it. That's all there is... ever was... will be.

You're wasting all of your time reviewing what you did last quarter, forecasting what's around the corner, budgeting for next year. Why? You can't change the past. The forecast is a shot in the dark. The budget will be adjusted countless times to fit whatever situation you find yourself in. All the planning is leaving you with no time for doing.

There is no plan. You live in a time of tremendous change and uncertainty. Accept it. Throw out the old rules and taboos.

Do someting. Do anything. Do things that your competitors would never do. If it doesn't work, do something different. Do it long enough and you will succeed.

Pearls of wisdom from Hugh MacLeod

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:36:00 +0000

Hugh's creative genius is on permanent display here.

Tip of the hat: Synovate apology

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:58:00 +0000

This is how Synovate is greeting their panelists today:

No bullshit, no excuses; they just accepted responsibility and apologized for their mistakes. That's all your panelists expect and it's what they deserve. Good on ya Synovate!

Getting your message out in the new media landscape

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:39:00 +0000

Clay Shirky claims we are living through the most significant media revolution in human history.

In the first 12 minutes Shirky covers the basics and some real world examples of the changes that are taking place. The last 5 minutes are absolutely essential for any marketer or market researcher who wants to exist in this new media landscape. "Convene but don't control" is the perfect mantra for [EDIT] building [/EDIT] online communities.

People make shoes, not money

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:37:00 +0000

...“people make shoes, not money”. Make something that is worth while and people will pay you for it. Figure out what shoes you’re good at making and then make them well. You will make money as a result.

Knowing in advance how you’re going to make money from snake oil may sound like you have a business model; what you have is snake oil. And that’s the problem you need to concentrate on first, the fact that you’re not creating anything of value...

What I am trying to do is to point out that sometimes we hold up innovation by concentrating on the wrong thing at the start. And sometimes it’s because of the anchors and frames of the way we do things.

That's from JP Rangaswami's "Thinking about innovation and business models" post. It's a parable about the economics of innovation, told through the story of JP's personal stake in the long anticipated invention of the polypill. You can read the rest of it here.

Our industry has become so concerned with making money that we've completely forgotten about the shoes. Let's get back to making great shoes, the money will follow.

Real fake or fake real?

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:05:00 +0000

Joseph Pine argues that authenticity is the new consumer sensibility. His message to businesses dealing with this new reality is:

Don't say you're authentic unless you really are authentic.
It's easier to be authentic if you don't say you're authentic.
If you say you're authentic, you better be authentic.

Survey Fail ... again

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:42:00 +0000

I wouldn't post them if they weren't so abundant ... but they are.

FAIL!

In case anyone at Ipsos i-Say is wondering where your respondents are dropping off...

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:11:00 +0000

I'm willing to bet that starting your surveys with questions like this one isn't helping your response rate.

The question asks: "Please review the following list of companies. Then click on any that you or other members of your immediate family or household work for."

Are you f***ing kidding me?

Phishy Survey URL

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:34:00 +0000

Just because something is technically possible doesn't automatically make it a good idea.

A survey URL that contains the IP address of your web server instead of your domain name works just fine. Click on such a link and it will take you to the right place. Type it in the URL bar of your browser and magically you will be transported to the correct destination.

The problem is that most people will not click on such a link because it looks like Phishing. Using an IP-based survey link increases the chances of your email invitations being blocked; web browsers with anti-phishing filters might warn the user against visiting such a site and worst of all, user trust--the most precious of all web commodities--is further eroded.

Domains are dirt cheap, and if you have enough technical expertise on staff to deploy an online survey platform you won't have any trouble configuring domain-based survey URLs. It's not expensive and it's not hard, but failing to do it is causing you more harm than you realize.

Hey hey, my my, surveys can never die

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

When the punk movement made him feel irrelevant and obsolete, Neil Young sang "it's better to burn out, than to fade away." That might be true for irrelevant rock stars, but obsolete data collection methods seem to prefer Douglas MacArthur's version.

Wish as I might, online surveys aren't likely to disappear any time soon. We all know there are many, many ... many problems with online surveys, but our dependence on them has never been greater. Even worse, our entire industry sees online as the next frontier but we don't know how we're going to replace our ailing workhorse. Even worse than that, the same people who acknowledge that

surveys are dying don't want to invest in finding new methods; hell, most of them are openly hostile toward anything new and experimental. They want someone else to figure it out for them, put it in a box, and sell it to them ... for cheap! Until that box arrives they will continue doing what they've been doing, exactly the way they've been doing it, for as long as it takes. Oh yeah - I almost forgot - they have to ridicule the innovators to make their stale methods more palatable to clients ... but don't take it personally; they're secretly rooting for you and hoping you succeed so they can buy you.

So how do you teach an 800-pound gorilla with an attitude problem to play nice on Twitter? You don't.

Mashable recently wrote about the decline of Internet Explorer, and projected its inevitable death around 2021. So what does that have to do with online surveys? Everything! In 2004 IE had more than 90% of the browser market. Microsoft knew their browser was slow, ugly, and riddled with security problems ... but they were so big and so far ahead of everyone else ... there was just no motivation to evolve. All the while the crackpots at Mozilla, Apple, and Google were working on browsers that were safer, sexier, and faster. No one paid much attention to them at first, but then word of mouth started to spread and slowly the tide started to turn. The Nike ads from the mid-90's were right: the revolution was - indeed - not televised. The other browsers became credible alternatives to IE slowly, relentlessly, and without much fanfare. By the time Microsoft realized their lunch was being eaten it was too late. IE is now on a slow, linear path to the grave. Currently at 66% market share, IE has become fatally uncool and unfashionable; the Members Only jacket of browsers.

I think online surveys will suffer a similar fate. The question is, are you Microsoft or one of the other players?

There is too much revenue at stake to mess around with surveys too much or too fast. Trying to replace online surveys now would be like trying to change the engines on a jumbo-jet in mid flight. But this is - above all else - a cautionary tale. Don't let the absence of an easy or fast solution lure you into protecting the status quo. Keep doing surveys to pay the bills, but embrace the unproven technologies and methods that MR crackpots are experimenting with. Don't just accept it, join in! Evolution requires time and lots of trial & error. With your participation the solutions will be found faster; actively discrediting the innovation efforts will delay the process ... but the revolution is definitely underway and we will get there eventually. Whatever is waiting at the other end of the research rainbow probably won't come in a box. You won't be able to buy it because it will be equal parts attitude and technology.

If you hide in the shadows and criticize, then expect to buy a seat at the new MR table once it's built ... well, you may find that the seat doesn't fit your ass and while you were waiting your business went into a deadly tail-spin.

Embrace change; participate; collaborate; experiment. Doing these things will naturally evolve your tools and your people. The Net rewards enlightened self-interest. Are you in?

Hat tip to "Dr. Dre" for his contribution to this post.

Changing the status quo

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Seth's TED 2009 talk about changing the status quo offers a blueprint for transforming our industry.

If you're the kind of person who would read a heretic's blog, you're probably the kind of person who could lead a tribe that changes the status quo ... so do it! You're not alone. Many - if not most - of the people you work with are hungry for change. They're just waiting for someone to lead them. Start a tribe. I'm in! Tell me know how I can help.

The wait and see fallacy

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:24:00 +0000

The online survey business is fine.

Okay, surveys are dying but I need them until something else comes along.

I'm too busy with surveys to develop new methods. I'll wait for someone else to develop it then I'll buy it.

No sign of a solution on the horizon. I better do something to show my clients I'm innovative.

I should have started innovating a long time ago, but now it's too late so I'll stick with surveys and BS my clients into believing I have a plan for the future.

The mistake we make is thinking we are dealing with a technology problem; we are not. At its core this is a people problem. The people in our organizations don't understand the people they want to study on the Web. Even if someone handed us online research in a box, technology requires people to operate it ... and the people who could not engage Web users with surveys will make the same mistakes with any new technology they are given.

Using the right technology is important, but putting it in the hands of people who know what to do with it is the key. Start by putting the right people in place. Find people who know how to improve the survey user experience. Those people can fix your current problems, contribute to identifying or developing solutions for the future, and form the nucleus of a Web-compatible culture.

Get off the Camel

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:20:00 +0000

Ten years ago we tried to tell you, but you didn't listen. So let's try this again.

Over the last decade you have slowly begun to accept that something is wrong with our relationship. Your golf buddies from the recording industry have fallen on hard times, and your newspaper tycoon pals are hanging on for dear life. It’s getting ugly – really ugly. Captains of industry and robber barons everywhere are united in their despair and outrage at the prospect of having to sell their private jets and roughing it in first class. Oh, the humanity!

So how did we get in this mess? We had a deal … didn’t we? You produce and get rich, we consume and feel happy. Everybody wins! It worked so well for so long, what changed?

We’re glad you asked. We’ve been trying to tell you. Are you ready to listen? Great! Kick off your shoes and pull up a chair, we have a lot of catching up to do.

In a nutshell: we don’t like the way you’ve been playing games with our minds, so we took our ball and went to a different playground; it’s called the Internet, maybe you’ve heard of it?

After the Great War you were worried about overproduction, so you used Freud’s ideas to link your products to our selfish inner desires. With the help of Freud’s daughter and nephew you created a conformist society of docile consumers whose happiness depended on your products. You figured out how to make sure there would always be plenty of demand for your products – by programming the demand into the psyche of society.

Over the years we occasionally caught wind of your tactics, but you always managed to stay a step ahead. Like when we started to rebel against conformity in the 60’s and 70’s and you used VALS to make your products an expression of our individualism. We got to hand it to you; that was slick. Evil, but slick.

As time went on you grew bigger, richer, and ever more bureaucratic. Your priorities changed.

You got so good at marketing to us, so proficient at pulling our puppet strings that it didn’t even matter if the thing you were selling was a piece of crap, because you knew how to mindfuck us into buying it. You became so focused on cutting costs and maximizing profits that you completely forgot about us. We knew we had become just faceless consumer units to you, and deep down we were mad as hell about it, but by this point we were so isolated, weak, and selfish that all we could do was continue to eat/drink/shop/watch more TV to soothe our anger and depression.

And then something amazing happened. The Internet awoke something powerful in us and we started to connect and create in ways unimaginable even a few years before. BTW, we’re not talking about YOUR Internet. That thing reeked of everything we don’t like about you and the world is a better place for the bubble having burst in 2001. We’re talking about OUR internet; the one you think has a decimal place in its name.

We made this Internet. We made it for people, not business. We made it to keep in touch with our friends, to share pictures with family, to collaborate with strangers, and to be entertained by sharing the experience of living with other human beings. And by the way, we can also get all the news, video and music we need without leaving the Net.

Did we mention the average cost of things on the internet is free? There are things we are willing to pay for on the Net, but not often and not much. That’s how we like it, that’s how we intend to keep it. If you manage to ruin it (and we know you want to), we’ll just take our ball and look for a different playground again.

What we love most about the Net is what you fear. The Net reconnected us to our humanity. We’re no longer as tame or predictable or polite as you would like, and we don’t understand why you think that’s a bad thing.

Buck up, it’s not all bad news for you. We still need the stuff you make, and you’re welcome to hang out on the Net with us anytime … you just have to learn some manners and show some respect if you want to sell to us.

We came up with a few tips to help you settle in.

You still don’t seem to understand what we mean when we say online markets are conversations. It’s simple: you can’t speak if you’re not willing to listen. When you do speak you will be held accountable for what you say.

You can’t psychoanalyze us to figure out which messages will make us buy your stuff anymore, because before we buy anything we can find out what thousands of your other customers are saying about you. If it’s bad we won’t buy your stuff and we’ll spread the word about how much your stuff sucks. If it’s good, same rule works to your advantage.

If your customer service is terrible, and despite all of our attempts to tell you that you need to fix it you still haven’t done anything about it, word will spread that your customer service sucks. If you put out advertising proclaiming your love for us and your dedication to customer service, word will spread that your customer service sucks and you lie. Online word of mouth spreads fast and it spreads far. Just ask Amazon or Dominos.

We’re offering you a second chance. Think of it as a return to the ancient markets. If you want to sell to us we want you to woo us. Listen to us and address our concerns. Act with integrity and stand behind your products. Build a solid reputation so we hear good things about you from other people. Even if you are big and rich, don’t act like a bully – act like a friend.

Welcome to the future. You're invited, but it's our world. Take your shoes off at the door. If you want to barter with us, get down off that camel!

[LATER] Check out the other CluetrainPlus10 posts by visiting the CluetrainPlus10 Wiki or Twitter search #cluetrainplus10.

Countdown to CluetrainPlus10

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:49:00 +0000

If you're planning on reading the CluetrainPlus10 posts tomorrow, you should read Doc Searls' post from last Friday first. It's a good intro to/review of what Cluetrain is all about, and what it isn't.

So, to set the record straight, “Markets are conversations” is a statement about markets. It’s about getting real. Not about getting talkative.

Of course, countless marketers have jumped on what they think is the clue train, and with lots of BS about “conversational” marketing. In the old days, we called this “sales”.

For what it’s worth (a lot, I hope), a 10th anniversary edition of Cluetrain is due out this summer. It’s the original with some more chapters added, including a couple by other folks who found Cluetrain useful. I hope it helps correct other misunderstandings as well.

Walking the walk matters

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:39:00 +0000

In the mrweb article announcing the launch of MatterMeter, one of the principals is quoted as saying:

"MatterMeter is uniquely poised to listen to consumers."

This reminded me of thesis #24 from the Cluetrain Manifesto:

"Bombastic boasts - "We are positioned to become the preeminent provider of XYZ" - do not constitute a position."

Given how clued-in the MatterMeter concept is, and for a MR site it really is, this may be a rare case of a company that walks-the-walk better than they talk-the-talk ... which is a rare and commendable thing indeed.

BTW, the jury is still out on how much I matter. :)

Why are so many things broken?

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:03:00 +0000

Seth Godin explains why so many things are broken, and how to fix them. The first 4-5 categories he describes are spot on, the last couple are a little weak. Still, it's worth watching if you need a good laugh and overall it rings true. We all see these things happening in our companies and are probably guilty of doing them on occasion.

If you have ever awarded, or considered giving away prepaid credit cards as survey incentives pay close attention to what Seth says about them in the first two minutes. ***Spoiler alert*** They're broken!

Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Hat tip: GlobalTestMarket

noreply@blogger.com (mr heretic) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:46:00 +0000

Kudos to GlobalTestMarket for fixing their email display name.

Before:

Now:

Much better!