What we do » Text analysis

Over the last decade the analysis of text has progressed at an incredibly fast paced. Gone are the days when frequency counts of open enders codes was the only way to summarize textual data.

Word trees

A word tree is a visual search tool for unstructured text, such as an open ended question, a comment, interview transcripts or any other text source. It lets you pick a word or phrase and shows you all the different contexts in which it appears. The contexts are arranged in a tree-like branching structure to reveal recurrent themes and phrases. Also very useful to understand the mental relationship that specific brands have, for example when asking for brand awareness, how close is brand A to brand B.

Word clouds

A “Word Cloud Generator” enables you to see how frequently words appear in a given text, or see the relationship between a column of words and a column of numbers. You can tweak your word “clouds” with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. Very useful to gain quick insight into the main themes without having to code all questionnaires.

Phrase nets

A phrase net diagrams the relationships between different words used in a text. It uses a simple form of pattern matching to provide multiple views of the concepts contained in open ended question, a comment, interview transcripts or any other text source. Can also be used to map the spatial position of brands.

To find out more about what we do for you, contact us

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What we do » Driver analysis

Driver analysis tries to answer the question “what is really important in your product/service” or “what has the most effect on the likelihood your product will be purchased”. By understanding the effect that specific product/service characteristics have on potential behavior specific marketing strategies can be designed that target purchase, volume, or satisfaction.

And once you understand how product perceptions relate to consumer behaviour then creating scenarios is just one step away. Our TargetTest technique uses bootstrapping to test scenarios and comprehensively understand what route to market delivers the best returns on investment. Alternatively TargetTest can also test if a particular target (for example a 10% in sales) is achievable or not.

To find out more about what we do, visit www.cm-research.com

 

CM Research has developed PriceBuilder, an extension to the PSM (Price Sensitivity meter from Van Westendorp) that is sensitive enough to differentiate between the effects of a 0.99 and a 1.00 price change.

Pricing research

When net profits are typically about 5% of revenues a 1% increment in price can increase net profits by between 10% and even 20%. Therefore getting the price absolutely right has never been more important as mispricing, even if just by a few pence, can represent millions in lost profit. However, most techniques in existence today aren’t sensitive enough to determine the effect a 1% change in price can have on consumers price perceptions.

CM Research has developed PriceBuilder, an extension to the PSM (Price Sensitivity meter from Van Westendorp) that is sensitive enough to differentiate between the effects of a 0.99 and a 1.00 price change.

PriceBuilder has proven advantages over other traditional pricing methods like Conjoint, Gabor Granger or monadic testing.

Main benefits of PriceBuilder:

• Clear identification of the price of least rejection acceptance and the price that could potentially generate the most revenue.
• PriceBuilder also identifies the psychological price barriers, the price points at which price rejection increased dramatically.
• PriceBuilder will also establish pricing tiers for premium, normal and budget channels.
• Pricing effect on volume can also be included.

 

Veterinary Union

When we asked vets about what they thought of the idea of a Veterinary Union we had no idea how polarized their views and opinions would be. Of the 500 vets that took part in a VetsPanel survey almost half where in favour of the idea/concept of a Veterinary Union, while 36% where against and the rest where either undecided or simple did not care.

Up to there fair enough, but what was surprising was the clear income/age divide between those in favour and those against. Those in favour of the idea of a union where younger and had an annual income of about £37,000 while those against had incomes in excess of £52,000. Quite a few vets indicated that a union would help those vets that are employed, or assistant vets, that currently are “exploited”, “overworked” and/or “underpaid”.  Some went as far as to say that “Many vets are lousy employers” or that “Something needs to be done to improve working conditions of employed vets”. What is clear is that many vets currently feel that working conditions are not ideal and that junior vets need more protection. It’s therefore not surprising that those in favour of a Union are also those most stressed. So they are not only suffering from bad working condition, but these are also affecting them emotionally and psychologically. Consequently about 40% of these vets are considering leaving the profession (compared to only 26% amongst those against the idea of a Union)

Although some of these vets did acknowledge the BVA/RCVS , they also considered that they were not doing as good a job as they should.  Some vets even went so far to say “BVA and RCVS seem to be against the average vet”.

ON the other hand those against a Union are older and tend to be practice owners. Some said that vet practices are “private sector business/small practices where the ideals of working conditions etc just don’t seem to apply”. They are also in favour of job mobility (“If you don’t like your boss, move on!”). Generally they tend to agree that the BVA/RCVS currently protects the interests of all vets so a union would be unnecessary and just bureaucratic and expensive and overall just a plainly bad idea.

The high stress rates amongst the younger vets, and their associated desire to leave the profession, is a warning sign that should be carefully looked at. The role of the BVA and RCVS should maybe be revised, or their remit extended as currently it’s perceived that they are not adequately protecting the vets most at risk of being exploited and of leaving the profession.

A recent Vetspanel survey in the UK uncovered that the average vets salary was £43,016.

A recent Vetspanel survey in the UK uncovered that the average vets salary was £43,016.

In times of economic uncertainty and reduced income it becomes more and important to determine how your income compares to those of other vets.  In a July 2010 CM Research, through VetsPanel, asked over 1000 vets questions related to their income, job satisfaction, stress levels, amongst other topics. A total of 500 vets replied.

OK, straight to it. The average yearly income (before tax) for all the surveyed vets was £43,016. Half of vets earned up to £38,000 with the rest earning more. The highest yearly income was £300,000 but that came from a vet that declared to work 140 hours a week! On average vets worked 47 hours a week, with 25% claiming to work 50 or more hours a week.

This year’s incomes also seem to have stabilized as most vets consider their financial situation to be equal of better than last years. Only a third considers it to be worse.  It’s therefore not a surprise then that these vets are also those the most stressed.

Overall working hours are long, with the average being about 47 hours worked per week. This however does increase in some cases up to 90 hours a week! When also taking into account income then the hourly pay rate is £18. There are however 9% of vets that earn less than £10 an hour. However vets don’t seem to be very concerned about the long hours.

While half of vets claimed to be stressed this was not due to their long hours, but rather due to the inadequacy of the income they received. While 39% of those that were completed unstressed said their income was inadequate this increased to 76% amongst those that were very stressed.  And how much is a stress free work life worth a year? £85,000 is the magic number. Earn that much and you are almost guaranteed to be stress free!

The high levels of stress are leading many vets to consider leaving the profession. Currently about a third of vets often think about leaving the profession while only a quarter never do.  Stress seems to be the main cause of this as most of those that do think frequently about leaving the profession have high levels of stress.  They also work the longest hours. Not surprisingly those earning over £50k a year tend to never think about leaving the profession.

For more information on this survey contact CM Research at contact@cm-research.com