Arlington Research

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Media Frenzy Global is an integrated communications agency focused on B2B technology clients. I am the Marketing Services Director, responsible for strategy and branding initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Arlington Research?

We wanted to understand the how the U.S. market was responding to commercial communications during the COVID-19 pandemic relative to the rest of the world.

This involved identifying prospective respondents worldwide, fielding an online survey, aggregating and segmenting the data, conducting an analysis, and reporting the findings. We relied on Arlington for the survey design, recruitment, deployment, data collection, analysis, and write-up.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on how markets consume and engage with content of all kinds: earned, paid, customer communications, and even internal communications. Our first concern was making sure our clients were getting the services they need to persevere during this extraordinary time.

Many of our clients have international footprints, so the U.S. perspective relative to the rest of the world was important. We also recognized that such information would be of interest to a range of companies. So we were looking for broad and extensible insights that would serve more than just our clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have worked with Arlington in the past and had the best possible experience.

Describe the project in detail.

The survey received responses from 13,000 consumers worldwide, with 2500 in the U.S. alone. It consisted of an online survey of 12 questions with ranked responses, plus respondent profiling.

Due to the timeliness of the project, tabulation and analysis was performed on an accelerated schedule. Arlington also packaged the report for distribution.

What was the team composition?

Our primary interaction was with their Managing Director, while members of his team handled the day-to-day, each of whom was very seasoned and accomplished.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Use of the study in new client outreach drove the highest responses we've seen for paid social. While the topic was of great interest, the scope and detail of the study made it an extremely attractive offer.

It continues to attract a great deal of attention. Because the primary goal of the project was service to existing clients, it's not appropriate to share how this has influenced our work for them. But it has served us very well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was seamless. We enjoyed complete visibility into the process. Any questions we had were answered quickly and completely. And every one of the deadlines was met without fail. Most of the communications were via email, with conference calls at key milestones, and a routine cadence of status reports.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Arlington are not bean-counters or bloodless statisticians. While they are rigorous and detail-oriented in their methodologies, they understand how research findings need to be leveraged. This places their greatest strength in their analysis. They structure their studies to deliver meaningful and actionable results.

They go where the findings lead. And they are able to interpret those findings in ways that serve larger business objectives. They don't conduct research for research's sake. They provide valuable aids to judgment in guiding business decisions. Their ability to identify the data that provides such guidance is truly impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

PFS is the operations business unit of PFSweb, Inc., a leading end-to-end eCommerce provider. Drawing upon 25+ years of experience and innovation in both the B2C and B2B channels, we provide the operational infrastructure, services, and systems to facilitate our clients' eCommerce channels. I am the Director of Marketing for PFS, in charge of all branding, content creation, PR/Media, tradeshows, analyst relations, and sales support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Arlington Research?

We approached Arlington Research to help us conduct first-party research about the eCommerce purchasing behaviors of US citizens as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had done a similar project with them in the UK the month before, and we wanted to follow that up so we could compare/contrast the results between the two countries.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to understand if consumers had changed their buying behaviors due to all of the local restrictions. This included how they shopped by category, brand, channel, etc. We wanted the data to create thought leadership content, to share with our PR firm for media reach out, and to share with our internal client base to consult with them about their business.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had used them in the past due to our relationship with Berkeley Communications being our PR firm of record for a year and a half.

Describe the project in detail.

We commissioned a 10 question survey that was aimed to gather insights about eCommerce purchasing behavior. We wanted to 2-3 identical questions from our UK survey so we could compare apples to apples as much as possible. Once we settled on the key themes, the Arlington team drafted questions for our review.

After a review call we had the survey questions done, and the Arlington team went to work gathering results. We got the initial raw data back in 2 weeks, and then an additional week for the analysis that was presented to us with key findings and recommendations.

What was the team composition?

We had a project manager for day-to-day contact, and the managing director was also involved to give insight and consultation. Also involved was our PR firm, Media Frenzy Global, who helped set everything up and will be composing the thought leadership and media outreach.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

While we are still formulating the thought leadership piece and the overall project is not complete yet, we are thrilled with the work we got back from Arlington. They were thorough and helped us keep to best practices in regards to the research. I was especially grateful for the analysis document they put together (which they did in our template) to help us understand the key highlights and what data was useful. It was worth every penny.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Even though there was a time difference, it was good. You had the client (us), our PR firm (MFG) and Arlington and while that can be a lot of cooks in the kitchen it worked well to get different perspectives.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The analysis document given at the end was exactly what we needed. Going through raw data is hard, but the way they presented it with key themes written out, as well as charts, helped us look at each question from several angles to glean the best insights possible.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Only minor suggestion is since the survey (and the client) was based in the US, we had a few moments where the cultural use of terms was off for the US market. We easily corrected it, but a US-based resource would be ideal in the future to avoid those confusions.