Tag Archives: prize giveaway

Shopping Psychology 101

"These super deals are bumming me out!"
“These super deals are bumming me out!”

This one’s for the ladies. We begin with a question: do you “Mood shop”? According to a Quidco.com survey of 2,000 women in the UK, you DO! And your emotional state affects your pocketbook. Check it out:

When you shop…

  • After a break-up, you will spend $72 on new clothes, shoes or accessories.
  • On payday, $65
  • Bored, $47
  • After a fight with your honey, $44
  • After a bad day at work, $42

And my favorite…

  • When you just meant to window-shop, $49

You can read the rest here, so do that! If you get sidetracked and shop online, it’s cool.

How about YOU? Do your emotions affect your shopping habits? Explain it over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Online Shopping Do’s and Don’ts

She found a great deal, and her hair looks fabulous!
She found a great deal, and her hair looks fabulous!

My wife told me about a girl from work that ordered a dress online for an upcoming wedding. It is a rental place and their gimmick is to send you two of the same dress, one in your size and one the size next to it, thereby “guaranteeing” the fit. They only charge you for one dress, and when you’re done, you just send them back.

I don’t know how revolutionary this is, but it’s a good example of the kinds of perks and benefits you can get when shopping online, mainly because there is so much competition for your dollar. At the same time, it’s a little oddball. “You order one and they send you two? What’s the catch?!?”

Every retailer is different, and not all are on the up and up (more on that in a minute.) So, what you do to enjoy a more satisfying online shopping experience? The Sacramento Bee has some ideas. Here are some bullets:

  • A good return policy: Look for at least a 30-day policy.
  • Free Shipping: It’s pretty common, especially at places with actual stores where they ship the item for pickup.
  • Fit: It helps if you are familiar with the store and the label. Some sites have different “Virtual Fit” software but, again, look at the return policy
  • Fit, comma, shoes: Can be difficult online. Maybe buy two pairs, like the girl above, and return the ones that don’t fit?
  • Restocking fees: Can be pretty steep for electronics, media, games, etc.

Lots more info at the original piece, so check it out!

As for things to watch out for, I will simply direct you to something called the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. A lot of the negative things about online shopping relate to ID and credit card theft. They have a bunch of advice about that.

So, are you among the 25% shopping mainly online? What’s your favorite part? What worried you? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a GREAT weekend!

Memorial Day Sales Tips

memorial-day-sales-20123For some, Memorial Day weekend is a time to kick back and do nothing (some like ME.) Others like to hit the shopping center and reap the savings at the big Memorial Day weekend sales (some NOT like me.)

If you’re into the shoppin’ and the savin’, what can you expect to find this weekend? Kiplinger.com shares some thoughts…

  • Apparel: Up to 50% off at places like Aeropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, JCPenney, Nordstrom’s , Land’s End and Sears
  • Appliances: Up to 45% off at places like Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Sears
  • Camping gear: Up to 50% off at places like Backcountry.com and REI
  • HDTVs: (And other home electronics) Up to 50% off at places like Best Buy and Amazon
  • Mattresses: Up to 50% at places like Macy’s and Sears
  • Tools: Up to 50% at places like Sears and Lowe’s

As usual, these are just the highlights. There is much more info at the original piece, as well as helpful links to deal sites and specific sales. So check it out!

So, how about you? What are your Memorial Day weekend plans? Staying in? Grilling out? Shopping to you drop? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

Last Minute Tax Fun

tax-tips-last-mBy the time next Tuesday’s blog post rolls out on 4/15, it will be Tax Day. So, consider this post to be the Last Minute!

All the helpful writers on money matters are quick to point out that there are plenty of things you can do to grab some last minute tax savin’s. So, if you are one of those of those thrill seekers who puts things off, what we call back in Kansas “Thing Put-er Off-ers” then this is the post for you. We have gathered a bunch of helpful links from around the web for your procrastination pleasure! Please to enjoy, “Last Minute Tax Tips 2014”!!

US News Money: 9 Last-Minute Tax Tips for Procrastinators

TurboTax: Tax Tips After January 1, 2014

Huffington Post: Last-Minute Tax Tips to Maximize Your Savings

Business Week: Last-Minute Small Business Tax Tips for Procrastinators

PC Mag: Tax Tips for Last-Minute E-Filers

Daily Finance: Don’t Panic: 5 Tips for Stress-Free Last-Minute Tax Returns

These look like some bits of sound advice, which is good for you because the only advice I could come up with was either A) Pssh! Blow it off, man!” or B) “You should start panicking, like, NOW!” Anyway, you’re welcome. If you got your taxes done, have a great weekend. If you’re starting tomorrow, have something else!

April Foolishness

google-companies-prank-work-job-april-fools-day-ecards-someecards
That’s the spirit!!

As a writer FOR the web, I spend a lot of time ON the web. For me, April 1st is the most irritating day of the year, and it sneaks up on me every time!! I’m reading something (supposedly) serious like Newsweek.com and I see, “The President then said farewell, boarded the mothership and returned to his home planet.” And I’m like “Grrr! April Fools!” I might as well go play in the street for the rest of the day.

So I guess I can appreciate when businesses try to have a little fun with the concept. I mean, I might as well. They’re not going to stop just for me, and playing in the street is dangerous. So, here are some noble April Fools’ Day efforts from companies trying to get in on the fun and irritation.

See any that didn’t totally irritate you to death? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

Extreme Cutting Back is Extreme!

336Caught a 2am rebroadcast of Kathie Lee and Hoda (Link here if you can bear it) interviewing a couple that moved with their two kids into a 336 square foot house they built. Apparently, this is a thing now, so they say. The couple really didn’t seem to be too smug about it (unlike, say, the enviro-hipsters at my old job who ride their single-gear bikes to work every day even though it’s 88 degrees in Charleston by 9am and you smell like a mule the entire day.) Anyhoo, these folks lost everything in the Crash, had to start over, and didn’t want to be in debt ever again.

Yeah, but 336 square feet? “It brought us closer together…” Geez, you think?

How about some more practical tips on cutting back? Try “54 Ways to Save Money” from AmericaSaves.org. Ideas include everything from keep a jar of change to buying the new light bulbs to only using YOUR bank’s ATM, and 51 more!. Some good stuff there.

So, what about you? Could you have a fire sale and move your family into 336 sq ft? What ways have you cut back? Are you saving much? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

Consumer Culture Hall of Fame!

1981905_710425518979512_1357359628_nIf you asked me what the biggest consumer trends of the past however-many years would be, I would say cell phones are at the top of the list. I remember in 1985 being fascinated by the ONE guy I knew with a cell phone… it looked like something Radar might use to call Sparky at the 8063rd on M*A*S*H: a big blocky unit, the size of a VCR, with a shoulder strap and a wired handset.

Turns out I am correct – or, rather, one-twelfth correct. Cell phones are on the list, as compiled by the London Globe and Mail. What else is on the list? Lots of things, not just technology but also trends. Here are the highlights…

  • Everyone is a designer: And don’t I know it! For many years, I was a Professional Video Producer. Now, any Joe with a camera and a laptop can make videos that I needed a ROOM full of technology to achieve!
  • Brands are keepers of culture: Sadly true. I was looking at my second-grade class picture. Know what I didn’t see? Nike, Spider-Man, Dora, or Red Bull t-shirts!
  • Everything you need fits in your pocket: See the picture above. A guy from 1990 carries 200 pounds of crap – a camcorder, VCR, TV, telephone, dictionary, road atlas, etc. – in contrast with carrying a smartphone.
  • Life is a project to be optimized.: “I’m living life to the fullest – even with my mild-to-moderate plaque psoriasis!” See also: Viagra.
  •  Technology never sleeps: Oof, I am guilty of this one. Wake up at 3:45am. Hit the bathroom. Then, check the iPhone for emails or texts.
  • Scarcity is something to embrace: Ehh, not so sure about this one. There is a certain stripe of people who think that the itty-bitty SmartCar is cool, but I don’t know any of them.
  • Connectivity is like oxygen: Want to see a super freakout? Tell somebody that the WiFi is down!
  • Nothing is from one place any more: Remember “American Made”? Now it’s “Assembled in America from parts from who knows where”… and we’re OK with that!
  • Crowds know more than experts: Who do you trust to give you the lowdown on that new restaurant – the trained culinary expert, or a bunch of Joes who post on Yelp?

So, those are the highlights. Check out the original piece for further insights. So. what do you think? Are these relevant? Are there other cultural and technological phenomena you would add to the list? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page!

Tracking the Consumer’s Mobile Habits

tabletsareclickingMobile devices and smartphones are changing the way we get our information and entertainment, as well as our shopping habits. This is no shocker; what’s surprising is how quickly these changes are happening, one on top of the other, such that advertisers can hardly keep up!

The constant-flux nature of the digital landscape means that brands must rapidly adapt their marketing strategies to map the shifting consumption habits of consumers. In order to be present where consumers are focusing their attention, brands must be aware of the shifts in real time, as they are happening.  Tnooz.com

Which is pretty much what I just said, dudes! Anyway, Nielsen has released a report that attempts to capture these changes in our mobile consumption habits. Here are some highlights…

We consume 60 hours of content across different devices weekly. Ehh, seems like a lot. I have an iPhone, iPad and a laptop and, yes, I probably do come close to 60 hours a week – but I am a professional social media person! How about in YOUR house?

Each month we spend roughly…

  • 134 hours watching TV, down 3 minutes since 2012
  • 34 hours using browsers/apps on a smartphone, up 10 minutes.
  • 27 hours using the web on a computer, down 2 minutes.
  • 13 hours watching time-shifted TV (DVR, Hulu, etc.), up 2 minutes.
  • 7 hours on a game console, no change
  • 5.5 hours watching DVD or BluRay, no change.

Another fun fact… when we look a retailer up on our smartphone web browser, (somebody we visit a lot), and we find out that they have an app, about 84% of us download it!

So, it seems that the balance between devices is changing – but not that greatly.  It looks like we are simply finding more time to consume more info and entertainment, and we’re using mobile devices to do it! It’s no wonder that the wireless carriers are getting SO DARNED AGGRESSIVE in courting your business – free phones (even the fancy ones!), no contracts, offering to buy out your old contract, etc.

So, what about you? Are you shifting your consumption habits to a more mobile platform? Are you downloading specific apps more often now? Are you doing it because you want to, or because you don’t want to get left behind?  Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Another MindField Difference…

roundabout simple signIf you are a big doer of surveys (known in scientific circles as a “survey-doer”) you may have heard of Routing. Or maybe not – it’s only a few years old and it’s sort of an “inside baseball” term.

Anyway, routing means that, if your survey company works with a larger consortium of survey companies (as MindField does now) then you log in to a certain survey opportunity, then maybe you don’t qualify, and then the big computer in the sky keeps pulling you along to the next opportunity, and the next, until it finds a survey that you qualify for.

Basically, the practice has several benefits for the survey companies and the clients who commission the surveys. For the panelist, maybe not so much. You do eventually qualify for something, but how long will that take? The answer is, it varies between survey companies.

It leads to one of the biggest complaints panelists have about routing: Respondent Fatigue. And it’s a big reason that MindField doesn’t do it!

At MindField, we make our best attempt to target the sample to the needed qualifications and should you not qualify you are finished with that opportunity rather than being passed around until something finally fits.

In the research we conducted, we found routing to be a huge complaint among panelists and something we listened to.

In other news: Email avalanche! One panelist asked, “I’m getting 30 email invites a day! I’m overwhelmed! Is that normal?” Well, going forward, no. This is one reason we are going to the Survey Cloud. With all these new opportunities, you would be bombarded with invites! So, invites are ramping down while Cloud is ramping up – and we are in this temporary “between time” that will end shortly.

So, again, a time of change, growth and increased opportunity. Will we break a few eggs along the way? Probably. We just ask for your continued patience as we build a bigger, better MindField for you!

MindField: Committed to Data Security!

internet_securityWhen it comes to online security, the sad fact is that the good guys have to get it right every single time, but the bad guys have to get it right just once.

What can the good guys do to keep their data – and that of their clients and customers – safe? They have to be PROACTIVE. They can’t just cross their fingers and hope for the best. And, although no system will ever be 120% secure, they have to study their systems with a critical eye, look for any potential weaknesses and then do something about them, BEFORE they become a problem.

By the way, in this scenario we – MindField Online – are the good guys.

Some members have experienced some password, login and cash out problems in the past few days. Some have seen a Client Maintenance prompt, asking them to complete or update security information. Some folks have also had difficulty getting to surveys right away, and that’s frustrating.

The good news is that this system check and upgrade is almost finished. We ask that you provide the info requested, and please be patient. We swear it’s all in the name of a tighter, more secure system that will better protect member data AND provide a more reliable product for our clients.

For more information about MindField Online security, you can visit the security page at our website. And, you are always welcome to contact the helpdesk during regular business hours at [email protected] or 800.969.9235.