Press Releases
Contact:
Christina Sarracino
Access Communications
415-844-6219
csarracino@accesspr.com
MarketTools Unveils First Complete Solution for Online Focus Groups;
Zoomerang Online Focus Brings Qualitative Research into the On-Demand Era
LOS ANGELES, CA – October 23, 2006— MarketTools, Inc., the defining provider of on-demand market research, is moving focus groups from behind the one-way mirror and onto the desktop. At The Market Research Event in Los Angeles, MarketTools today unveiled Zoomerang Online Focus, the fastest and most effective way to hold focus groups online and part of the company’s Zoomerang-branded offering of Web-based tools and services for fast feedback.
More than 70 percent of MarketTools’ customers, ranging in size from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and non-profits, use focus groups to investigate new product ideas, new positioning, advertising campaigns and more. Driven by an ever-increasing need for speed and convenience, marketers and researchers require a solution that quickly and easily brings together highly-targeted, engaged participants to gain actionable insights. Zoomerang Online Focus directly addresses those needs with a complete online focus group solution.
"Just as Zoomerang revolutionized online surveys for fast feedback, we are revolutionizing how focus groups are conducted," said Pamela Kramer, chief marketing officer of MarketTools. In addition to launching Zoomerang Online Focus Groups, MarketTools recently introduced Insight Networks™, the first research solution that allows businesses to capture and analyze continuous feedback from customers from over 50 million blogs and message boards. "We’re committed to bringing qualitative research online and delivering it on demand. Zoomerang Online Focus is another important step in meeting that goal."
As a complete focus group solution, Zoomerang Online Focus can quickly provide participants from MarketTools’ ZoomPanel™, an exclusive online research panel of more than 2.5 million consumers interested in giving their feedback. MarketTools ZoomPanel allows businesses to focus on their precise target audience. From homemakers over 40 to high-net-worth individuals who travel extensively to home electronics consumers, Zoomerang Online Focus provides the opt-in participants needed and qualified reach for a complete panel.
How Zoomerang Online Focus Works
Zoomerang Online Focus covers all aspects of arranging and conducting a focus group, from recruiting engaged participants and generating a discussion guide, to managing the event and providing a detailed analysis along with a transcript. Zoomerang Online Focus can do all of this in approximately one week, versus the four to six weeks it takes using traditional methods.
Certified Zoomerang Online Focus moderators create a meaningful discussion guide and use interactive tools to draw out participants’ opinions, ideas and concerns. Customers such as Arnold Worldwide, the Boston-based advertising agency responsible for Volkswagen’s "Drivers Wanted" campaigns, are already benefiting from the solution.
"Using Zoomerang Online Focus, we were not only able to get a national sample for a fraction of the cost and time of traditional methods, we were also able to steer away from the bias and 'group think' mentality that can plague traditional focus groups," said Marilyn Monturio, vice president brand planning for Arnold Worldwide. "Zoomerang Online Focus brings the best of online quantitative expertise to qualitative research."
By eliminating the hurdles of geography and logistics, MarketTools expects to capture a share of the $3.6 billion global market for focus groups. "Zoomerang Online Focus is another way in which we are leveraging our ability to combine research expertise with online innovation so that marketers and researchers can gain the flexibility, speed and control they need," Kramer added.
About Zoomerang and MarketTools, Inc.
MarketTools is the defining provider of on-demand market research. MarketTools gives companies and individuals the ability to continuously understand their target customers through innovative approaches based on advanced technology, research expertise, and global market reach. MarketTools’ full range of research applications and services provides organizations ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies with unique access to their target markets—to uncover unmet needs, reduce time to market for new products, and capture more market share. Through Zoomerang, the pioneer in online surveys, MarketTools provides the leading self-service platform and services for fast feedback.
Learn more at www.zoomerang.com and www.markettools.com