Time once again to update our ever-expanding list of satisfied member comments that have appeared on the MindField Online Facebook page in the past few months, including this gem from Katherine:
MindField is a great site. I’ve been a member for a few years and they have the most amazing surveys and they really value your opinion. And while you’re at it you can earn some cash. I ♥ you guys…
The little heart thingy says it all. Thanks Katherine! And thanks to all our members for their participation! Check out the latest batch of satisfied user comments at our Panelist Reviews page!
Feel like you get fewer surveys as you get older? You’re not alone. But MindField Online is doing something about it! first, some background…
From time to time on the Facebook page and the MindFieldLive blog, we hear from older folks who suspect that they are receiving fewer survey invitations due to their age. Almost always they add, “This doesn’t make sense! Seniors have money, they buy things – don’t their opinions matter?”
Well, the situation may seem frustrating right now. But we are confident things are going to change. The Baby Boomers are aging, and the number of older folks is growing. The need for consumer research in the older segment is only going to increase. And that change just might be coming sooner than you think!
And, on that note….
Mindfield recently entered into a partnership and conducted two pilot tests combining product intent questions for eight different companies/manufacturers who have particular interest in this segment of the population. If continued efforts are successful, you should begin seeing renewed energy resulting in surveys for the mature market segment.
So, it’s a pilot test. An initial success we hope to build upon. In other words, a step in the right direction. We hope you agree, and we thank you for your membership, your participation, and your PATIENCE.
People who are “happiest about money” feel like they have enough (even if they aren’t wealthy), could get more if they needed it, and that they have full control over how to earn and spend their cash.
Some tips to “get happy” include:
Sweating the big stuff and splurging on little things: Yes, definitely pay your bills. But spend a few bucks on something nice like a bouquet of flowers for your dining room table.
Travel: It’s a triple-treat! You plan and anticipate your trip, then you enjoy your trip, and then you have the memories afterwards.
Take a class: Anything that stretches your mind is worth the money.
In short, spend to buy experiences. Spend to expand your social network, and spend to buy time.
Tax time approaches, and there is often little to smile about. But if you’re a whaling captain or an accused criminal, and you’re looking for some last minute deductions, you’re in luck! From TurboTax:
Whale Tale: You can claim up to $10,000 for repairs to your whaling ship. The catch is you must be a Native American!
Orthodontic clarinets? A 1962 ruling said that clarinets were helpful in correcting a child’s overbite. So, if you have a prescription clarinet, claim that sucker as a medical expense!
The Dog Paddle Deduction: I have a brother-in-law with a bum knee who has been told by his therapist to swim every day. If that’s you, you could claim your swimming pool as a deduction!
Butts for Bucks: The various tools, tricks and prescriptions for kicking the smoking habit are often deductible.
Volunteer for the Wrong Reasons! If you have to hire a babysitter when you do volunteer work, that’s deductible!
Deductible Defense: Crime doesn’t pay, but sometimes your legal defense is deductible!
Bow-wow Bonus! The cost of a guard dog may be deductible from your taxes. Enough to offset your higher homeowner’s insurance premium? Probably not!!
There are more goofy deductions here. Have you heard of any other weird deductions? And aren’t you glad our tax code is so delightfully simple?
Times are tight, and we are all cutting back. But sometimes, for your mental health, you gotta go out! Let’s look at a few ways to dine on a dime, from an article called, appropriately enough, “Dining On a Dime,” courtesy of Today.com.
It’s Happy Hour somewhere! At many local bar & grille type places, or even at a big place like Chili’s, there are happy hour appetizer specials. Long ago I used to go to a Mexican chain at happy hour on Friday, where it was all you can eat chips, salsa and queso for the price of a couple of beers!
Go Online! Everybody has heard of Living Social and Groupon. There are others, as well, and they often have decent BOGO offers for their members. Just be careful that you don’t “impulse buy.” I have done that too often. Grabbing up a deal quickly – because they tell you to – and never getting around to using a coupon before it expires.
Support the Swim Team! Or the Girl Scouts, or your neighbor’s church, etc. by buying one of those local coupon books. You really can’t go wrong with these. They scream “a $1200 value for $25!!” Personally, I have never gotten more than $40 from my $25, but I still came out ahead.
Lunch is the New Dinner! Not really. But if you just want to go somewhere nice, sit in peace and be served – and you don’t care what time it is – do lunch! You’ll save money and you may like it enough to come back for dinner sometime.
Be Progressive! Why not grab a drink at one place, have an appetizer at another, and dessert at a third? You’re still saving over ordering two full meals, and you’re getting three times the “going out” experience!
These are just a few tips for dining on the cheap, while getting that all-important out of the house sensation. So get out there, have fun and save a dime this weekend!
In our youth-and-beauty-obsessed culture, we don’t even want to THINK about being old, gray and wrinkled. That avoidance has another big consequence: we neglect to plan for our financial futures.
But a researcher has forced his test subjects to imagine themselves in their old age and found:
The more connected we feel to our future selves, the more likely we are to save. In one study, participants looked at digitally-altered (aged) photos of themselves and then answered questions about how they would allocate $1,000 if they were to suddenly receive it. They allocated twice as much to a long-term savings account if they saw an older version of themselves versus just seeing themselves now. USNews.com
Basically, we see our future selves as strangers. But seeing ourselves bald, with wrinkles and liver spots, is apparently a big reality check!
There are apps that allow you to perform this exercise, including AgingBooth.com. But the article also suggests you get in touch with the concept of aging by visiting MeMaw and PapPap, and also asking yourself what the older you would say about the various big-ticket purchases you make – will the old you regret buying a jet-ski versus a municipal bond?
Anyway, it’s pretty interesting. Check it out here!
Just how big is Facebook? As a private company it hasn’t been easy to pin that down. Now that Facebook is going public, they have released some statistics like this:
In December 2011, Facebook had more than 425m monthly active mobile users – people logging in from the company’s apps and mobile website. That is just over half of its 845m monthly active users overall. UK Guardian
So, half of their usage comes from mobile devices. Personally, I am not the biggest fan of using Facebook on my iPhone. Everything is so shrunken down, and my big stupid fingers can’t handle it!
What I DO like about mobile Facebook is that it’s free from clutter, very simplified, and NO ADS. Well, guess what?
“Growth in use of Facebook through our mobile products, where we do not currently display ads, as a substitute for use on personal computers may negatively affect our revenue and financial results,” explains the filing. UK Guardian
85% of their revenue comes from ads on the desktop site, but only half of their users are tuning in? This will not stand! So get ready for “Sponsored Stories” in your mobile Facebook feed. The global ad market is expected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2010 to $17.6 billion in 2015, and Facebook wants its slice of the pie!
The problem? We have grown used to mobile Facebook WITHOUT ads! Oh well, the only thing more popular than Facebook is complaining about Facebook!
Prefer to rent your DVD’s from Blockbuster Express vs. Redbox? So sorry! I just received a notice from Blockbuster Video that states, in short:
NCR, which operates your Blockbuster Express kiosks, has entered into an agreement to sell its kiosks and other assets to Redbox. Until the transaction is completed (3rd quarter 2012), you will continue to enjoy the convenience, choice, and value you’re used to from BLOCKBUSTER Express.
They had not much to say about how things will be run afterwards. Is BB going away? I don’t know, but not having machines SEEMS like sort of a handicap!
Now, I have no particular love or hatred for Blockbuster. But never having to go in their store again was a nice feature of the kiosk! However, there were definitely fewer Blockbuster than Redbox kiosks. BB managed to get some advantage with certain exclusive deals where they would have a film 2 or 3 weeks before Redbox got it. So, for a while it was something of a 50/50 advantage between the two rivals.
Then BB screwed it up with tiered pricing. Redbox was 99 cents across the board (now 1.29.) BB was .99 to 2.99, based on newness and popularity. Basically, you never knew what you were going to pay. But the more you wanted to see it, the higher the price. That irked me.
So, now what? BB’s kiosk machines are being sold to their rival. I have to say my preference in this battle goes to Redbox. Flat pricing, with BB’s exclusives removed? Nearly perfect. But who knows how long that warm feeling will last when they have ZERO competition?
So, how about you? Red or Blue? Do you prefer one over the other? Why?
The fireworks are cool, but how do they make those big words in the sky?
Late in 2010, MindField Online decided to jump into the social media pond with a new blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page. And today, we have a fun milestone to celebrate!
The whole idea was to open up the lines of communication and enhance your experience in a positive, fun way. We wanted to shed some light, help everyone better understand the whole survey process, and hear your ideas for improvement. It’s the oldest cliché in social media, but we wanted to “build community.” Based on the number of comments posted to the Facebook page, combined with messages received at our main support line and the scuttlebutt we read on other survey industry related boards, we feel like it’s been a big win for you and for MindField.
Today’s big milestone? 20,000 Facebook fans! It happened on January 30, 2012.
To celebrate, we tracked down number 20K and attempted to contact her. When we hear from her and verify her info, she will receive a $50.00 Amazon.com gift card! No contest, no sweepstakes, just a fun little celebration of our milestone. You may recall we did this when we had our 1 millionth survey response back in November.
We will update this post soon. Until then, congrats to our 20K and thanks to our other 19,999* fans for your continued support!
(*actually, since Monday we have already grown to 20,278 Facebook fans!)
We saw an interesting article about major banks, and the growing tendency for their customers to use social media, like Facebook and Twitter, to lodge complaints. The question is: is that effective?
(Strategy & Research firm) Javelin analyzed more than 5,000 Tweets between customers and financial institutions to explore just how helpful (or not) the conversations proved to be. It found that only a minority of the conversations successfully resolved customer problems (36 percent for Citigroup, 11 percent for Wells Fargo, and 3 percent for Bank of America.)
So, in other words, your answer is likely to be, “please contact customer service.”
Don’t get us wrong…your issues don’t bug us here at Mindfield Online! If you are not having an efficient, enjoyable experience, we want to know about it! But, here at the blog or the Facebook page, all we can do is to pass along to the helpdesk all the bits of anecdotal details that we can. We can’t actually dig into your account and fix things. So it is much more quick and efficient for you to contact the helpdesk during regular business hours at [email protected] or 800.969.9235
So that’s the scoop. It is an interesting article, and we encourage you to check it out. And have a great weekend!
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