Vermont Teddy Bear Zooms into New Product Designs

With Zoomerang, Vermont Teddy Bears customers are able to vote for new product offerings through online image-based surveys.

Vermont Teddy Bear Company is a gift-delivery service for adults who send themed bears as presents. For the past 20 years, the company has served the last-minute gift buyer with seasonal, holiday-specific or topical designs.

Remaining ahead in a theme-oriented business requires staying focused on the needs and preferences of their consumer. To maintain a high awareness level of their customers interests, the team at Vermont Teddy Bear (VTB) had been using phone surveys and focus groups. These research tools were relatively costly and lacked the immediacy required in a time-sensitive product development cycle.

Database becomes source of feedback
Michelle Cote, Loyalty Marketing Manager at VTB, began market research for the company about four years ago. We have a large customer database, she says, and we were looking for a way to reach them directly. So she decided to try Zoomerang.

At first, people at the company were questioning the validity of online surveys. Coming from a background of phone surveys, people were skeptical. But when they saw the results, they were convinced, she says.

Customers help decide on designs
The creative development team starts the process with several new product concepts for a particular holiday. Once the final concepts have been developed, they construct the Zoomerang survey. With their extensive database theyre able to target a survey to, for example, men who have purchased a bear for Mothers Day over the previous two years.

The research team uses the skip-logic feature to pre-screen respondents. The next step of the survey includes embedded images of the new concepts for testing. We ask for feedback on the new bears, using the design from the previous year as the benchmark, Cote says. We found that customers love to interact with the surveys. They love to give feedback.

Surveying for sales forecasts
Besides being used to choose upcoming designs, the research team also analyzes the responses to estimate production quantities. We use the results for forecasting, Cote says. If a new product scores a certain level in the Zoomerang survey, we can translate the response into a sales forecast, so we have a solid idea how many to produce.

The response rate varies from 10% - 30%. We also include a small incentive to take the survey, such as win a free bear, she says. Generally they receive most of their survey results back in two days, although they usually allow a week before they close off a survey.

Telling colleagues about Zoomerang
Cote and the product development team have come to rely heavily on Zoomerang. A lot of key decisions on product development are done through Zoomerang, she says. We test a lot, about once a month. For us we find it really affordable.

Her satisfaction with Zoomerang is evident. I tell everyone who asks about it, Cote says. Its such a great way to communicate with your customers, and get valuable feedback.