Tag Archives: focus groups

Consumer Secrets: Household Edition

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As a follow-up to our last post, here is another sampling of Consumer Reports 101 Consumer Secrets. I think many of these tips share a common trait: that we have forgotten common sense, old-timey “home remedies” in favor of the constant need for something to be NEW and IMPROVED! Hey, I’m in marketing. I get it. Anyway, here are some tips. As they say, your mileage may vary.

  • Refrigerator: The area around the vent is the coldest, the shelves on the door are warmest, so store accordingly.
  • Rice: May contain arsenic. So cook it twice the amount of time the package recommends.
  • New and Improved? Maybe not. Moldy oldies like Pine-Sol and Fels Naptha are still tops among cleaners.
  • Coffee: Clean coffee pots with dissolving denture tablets. Weird!
  • Carpets: That super-low setting is great for getting out dirt and sand. For regular use, however, it will really wear out your carpet.
  • Fire! That fire extinguisher under the sink has an expiration date. Learn it!
  • More fire! There are 2 types of smoke detectors – ones that detect fast-moving flames and ones that detect slow-smoldering fires. You might need both, but at least be sure what you are getting.

Of course, not all common sense solutions are created equal. I remember one such piece of advice: “Did you know Coca-Cola will clean your toilet just as well as Comet?” The part they left out: “Did you know Coca-Cola is about 3 times as expensive as Comet?”

More tips at the original article, so check it out. And have a great weekend!

Mother’s Day by the Numbers

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Pause while all the dudes say, “Wait? Is Mother’s Day coming up!?”

Yes, children of mothers, Mom’s Day approaches (2 days, gentlemen.) Whether we have planned well in advance, or begin scrambling right after reading this post, recognizing Mom is a wonderful tradition – and a big consumer event!

Take a look at these stats, courtesy of StatisticsBrain.com:

  • $671 million: Total amount of money spent on Mother’s Day Cards annually
  • $126.90: Total average amount of money the average person will spend on gifts of their mom on mother’s day
  • $1.9 billion: Total amount of money spent on flowers for their mothers on mother’s day
  • $14.6 billion: Total amount of money that will be spent for mothers on Mothers Day
  • 96%: Total amount of consumers that will take place in mother’s day in some form
  • 24%: Total percentage of all transactions on holidays that take place on Mother’s day
  • 69%: Total percent of all gifts bought on mothers day that are flowers
  • 13%: Total amount of flowers bought on mothers day BY mothers that are for themselves

Awww, that last one is a bit sad. Please don’t be that dope whose mom has to buy her own flowers! But seriously, what are you planning for Mom’s Day? We want to know!

Have a great weekend and a HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

(photo: hdwallpapersonly.com)

Steamin’ Hot Cashout News!

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Starbucks-2

Hey, check it out! Your cashout options just expanded AGAIN. Starting this week, you can choose to cashout with a Starbucks eGift Card. Just go to your Member Home page, click on Cashout Now, and choose Starbucks. Or, pick any of our other cashout options: Amazon.com gift card, Walmart gift card, Sam’s Club gift card, PayPal or boring old check! The Starbucks option should be available beginning this week.

In other news, Live Now! survey announcements on the Member Home page – once only available to folks who linked their Facebook and MindField accounts – are now available to everybody! Back when we were getting up and running on Facebook, the link was a good way to promote it. Now, the link is just a thing that most people do anyway, so why not take down a barrier? Convenience, right? Remember, Live Now! announcements – just like email invites – use your member profiles as a starting point in the qualification process. That’s why we encourage you to keep those profiles fresh!

We hope you enjoy the new features. Now, can I get a latte to go?

Storewide Sensory Overload!

"Don't worry, dear. According to the article, Red means savings!"
“Don’t worry, dear. According to the article, Red means savings!”

Merchandising or manipulation? It’s probably a bit of both. We’re talking about the ways retailers place items on the shelves as well as the ways they modify the store’s lighting, music and even smells. This is all in an attempt to alter your buying behavior, usually meaning making you spend more money! And if you’re trying to cut back – and who isn’t? – it may be helpful to learn some of their tricks.

Here are some of the retailers’ Sensory Weapons:

Color: Colors have different associations and those things tend to get people going. So, for example, red is almost always the color associated with sales because it inspires people to take action and it’s a stimulating sort of color. Lifehacker

Touch: We are more likely to buy something if we touch it. And, oddly, if the display is too neat or fancy, we shy away. It reminds me of the big healthcare tub display at the checkout of my local Walmart – a big tub with a huge variety of 88-cent aspirin, nasal spray and bandages literally dumped in. It’s a glorious mess, (below) and I can’t keep my hands out of it!

Who am I to resist?
Who am I to resist?

Music: It depends on what the retailer wants you to do. Sometimes they want you to move through a place quickly (like a fast food restaurant), while other times they want you to linger. Lifehacker

Layout: It could be the grocery store that moves everything every six months to make you discover new items to buy. Or a really specific example such as Ikea – which has a definite In and Out door, and a specific path we must take to get from one to the other.

Smell: yes, even smell. Smell has a strong tie to memory (Personal smell note: Fresh cut grass = first day of kindergarten.) If the retailer can connect with a memory, it’s a sale!

I guess you could make a counter argument… that all of this sensory experience is part of the fun of shopping. (I’m told some people enjoy shopping, anyway.) What do YOU think? And check out the original article!

In Case of Emergency…

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emergencyI don’t know…it feels like today calls for a “public service” post instead of the usual consumer fun.

So, this was the week of the Boston Marathon attack and the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas. Still fresh in our memories are the shootings at the school and the movie theater and Hurricane Sandy.

If you happened to know anyone involved – and I have an acquaintance that had been tweeting about running his first Boston Marathon for weeks – you immediately wonder about his or her safety. And you keep wondering, because cellular service instantly crashes and the TV news is completely unreliable.

What’s the solution? It takes some forethought and preparation. We begin with some good news, and it is this:

That doesn’t mean your phone is useless. Text messages are a much better option than calls, because they take up less of a cell site’s resources and because if they can’t get through, they automatically keep trying. If you are connected to the Internet or can find nearby free Wi-Fi, email and Twitter are also quicker, more reliable options.  MoneyTalksNews.com

Now, let’s go worst-case scenario… what if something happens to your physical self, and you can’t communicate? Plan ahead, and remember this acronym: ICE. It stands for In Case of Emergency, and more and more first responders are learning it. Basically, you set up an emergency contact on your phone with the last name ICE, and the first name MOM or HUSBAND or WIFE. If a rescuer finds you unconscious, he will know what to do. Also, if you have a memo or reminder app, you might want to enter some medical history, or at least any medication allergies you may have. Of course, you will have to take off the password protection on your phone.

So, that’s it. Here is some extra reading that explains all of this in greater detail. Again, thoughts and prayers to our friends in Boston and Texas. And please stay safe!!

Cellphone Networks Fail in Emergencies: Here’s What to Do

Five Minute Lifesaver: ICE Your Cell Phone

4 Easy Ways to Get Free Wi-Fi

How to Set Up an ICE Contact

Death of the Family Portrait

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so METAL!
so METAL!

“Treasured” memories like the above will soon be a thing of the past. Out of the blue, the company (CPI) that runs thousands of portrait studios inside big retail stores such as Sears and WalMart is closing its doors.

In fact, go to Searsportrait.com, and this is ALL you see:

After many years of providing family portrait photography, we are sad to announce our Sears Portrait Studios are now closed. We appreciate your patronage and allowing us to capture your precious memories. If you currently have an album or have had a recent portrait session, you can order products at searsphotos.com thru April 18, 2013. If you have had a recent session, your portraits may be available at your local studio.

Now, before you blast Sears or Walmart, remember that CPI, in business for 60 years, is just a vendor for the retailers. They are deeply in debt, and their time has come.  CPI says that much of the blame goes to the proliferation of camera phones.

Their employees are shocked, to say the least, and more than a little worried that CPI might not make good on their current orders. Some are taking matters into their own hands. One employee “hastily burned as many undelivered portrait packages as she could onto compact discs on Thursday. By Friday, she tried to spread the word to those customers that she’d be at a nearby pet store’s parking lot Saturday with those CDs.”

So, if you have a pending portrait order with a local CPI, you might want to pick up the phone. To CALL them, not to take pictures!

So, what do you think? Will you miss the old portrait studio? Hey, I never used one, but it is kind of sad to lose a minor American tradition such as this.

On a brighter note, here are some bad family portraits from around the web!  Awkward Family Photos, More Awkward Family Photos

State(s) of Happiness, 2013

The darker green ye see, the happier ye be! Arrr!
The darker green ye see, the happier ye be! Arrr!

Well, the 2012 results have just been released, anyway. Today, we revisit and update a topic from June of last year.

Who are the happiest Americans? And how would be know? Well, you interview a BUNCH of people all across the United States – DAILY, for a WHOLE YEAR – and you draw some conclusions!

Gallup rated each state on the following: life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, work environment, healthy behaviors and basic access to services and amenities.  Drum roll please…

Happiest States 2012 (with 2011 score)

10 Massachusetts (14)…09 Iowa (16) …08 New Hampshire (9)…

07 Nebraska (8)… 06 Montana (10)…05 Vermont (12)…

04 Utah (5)…03 Minnesota (3)…02 Colorado (6)… 01 Hawaii (1)

Dropping out of top 10 from last year:  Kansas, Alaska and North Dakota

Unhappiest States 2012 (with 2011 score)

41 Oklahoma (39) …42 Indiana (38) …43 Louisiana (36)…

44 Ohio (46) …45 Alabama (45)…46 Arkansas(44) …

47 Tennessee (41) …48 Mississippi (48)…49 Kentucky (49)…

50 West Virginia (50)

Climbing out of the bottom 10 (yay…?) Delaware, Missouri, Florida and Nevada

So that’s the rundown. What do you think? Are you in a “happy” state? An “unhappy” state? Do you agree or disagree with this assessment? Let us know! Check out the whole report, and have a great weekend!

Fighting Fitness Myths

Yesterday my new, seemingly 14-year-old doctor said to me in a comforting tone (or so she thought,) “If being in shape were easy, then everybody would be in shape.”

Uh, thanks, Bones. Can we be done now?

Anyway, with news like we highlighted yesterday (“Get healthy or pay more for your employer’s health insurance,”) and with the continuing mystery of what our health care system is going to look like in the coming years…

Like this, I fear...
Like this, I fear…

…people are starting to see “getting in shape” as a sort of hedge against the unknown, instead of a goal in and of itself. Hey, health is health, but using the wrong motivation can lead to mistakes like using ancient, outdated diet advice (you know, more than 3 months old!)

So, the good housekeepers at Good Housekeeping have rounded up some dieting myths for us to ponder…

  1. Carbs bad. CARBS BAAAD!!! Carbs are fuel. While the white grains can be trouble, the browns are less so.
  2. Fresh fruits and veggies are always more nutritious than frozen. Unless you pull them out of the ground yourself, there’s no real difference.
  3. Egg cholesterol BAD! It’s not great, for sure. But you can probably still eat 1 or 2 a week. Or switch to egg whites, and have as much as you want.
  4. Skipping breakfast? Don’t do it, man!!
  5. It’s all in your GENES. Actually, they say that weight is 25% genes, 75% behavior.
  6. Creative combinations. I did this once. Something with cottage cheese and beet juice. You see, the CHEMISTRY of the foods in certain combinations means that your body reacts by burning more… yeah, it was all nonsense.

There’s your top 5. For further explanations, as well as a list of Exercise myths, check out the original article. And have a great weekend!

Kiss Me, I’m Irish

This-cat-like-Guinness-too-228x300

St. Patrick’s Day by the Numbers!

  • Nearly 35 million Americans claim some Irish heritage. That’s seven times the population of Ireland, around 4.58 million.
  • Americans, Irish- and otherwise, will spend around $4.5 billion for various St Patrick’s day food, and festivities, at around $35 per person. Where does it all go?
  • In the all-important food and beverage category, St. Pat’s celebrants will buy 26 billion pounds of corned beef and over 2 billion pounds of cabbage. Then, they will combine those, boil them to death and EAT them!
  • Meanwhile, they will spend $435 million on beer alone, not all of it green.

Other popular expenditures?

  • Irish-Americans will spend $24 million on lime-green dyed potted  mums for Ma and Gran.
  • We will send 7 million St. Patrick’s Day greeting cards, presumably with leprechauns on the front.
  • And we will spend around a billion dollars on trips to Ireland.

Sounds like a blast. The good news is that you don’t have to be Irish, at least according to the stats. While Irish-Americans make up about 11% of the population, fully half of all Americans say that they will be partaking in the St. Pat’s festivities. So tilt a pint of the green stuff, but please do it responsibly! Thanks, and have a great St. Pat’s weekend!

Cool links: Here, here, and a really fun graphic here.

Lose Weight Get Paid!

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scarebux

Or, just the opposite! Sometimes we need a little incentive to change our habits. In this instance, it’s cold hard cash!

Researchers followed 100 Mayo Clinic employees over the course of a year as they took educational classes on how to eat healthy and lose weight. They were broken up into several groups – some of which got financial incentives to shed the pounds and others that just got the classes.  CNN.com

What they found is that the people getting cash incentives lost around 9 pounds on average in the course of the year, vs. the info-only folks who lost 2.

Programs like this are not exactly new. “About 86% of large employers are already offering some kind of financial incentives to help employees reach their health goals,”  (CNN again.)

Here employees who lost received $20. BUT, if they gained, they owed $20. This is effective for two reasons. Reward is nice, but reward and penalty together are even more effective. Second, these types of programs can get really expensive. Losers helped pay the winners in this case, and helped keep the cost of the program lower for the company.

So, what are your thoughts? Have you done this at your  company? Did it work? Read the original piece, and let us know!