This high-security platform for web conferencing is used by fewer than 1% of all accounts. ZoomGov was specifically designed to serve sensitive areas of the US Government. We use this same technology for all our online qual research: online focus groups, virtual IDIs and online dial groups.

Why we use it – Using the same encryption as the Pentagon gives peace-of-mind to our clients. In addition, the video and audio quality is far superior.

How is this different from the standard, commercial web conferencing – ZoomGov is built on a different technology platform, GovCloud, which is used by US intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the CDC, and many more. ZoomGov is also compliant with FedRAMP, HIPAA, & Dept of Defense security guidelines. 

Why it’s good for our clients – Through us, our clients can confidently and securely conduct any form of online research—including for projects which require a high level of security or confidentiality.

• • • • • Sensitive advocacy and political message testing
        • High-profile litigation and jury research
        • Patient healthcare research interviews
        • Pre-release media research (movies, TV pilots, CEO speeches)
        • Testing of sensitive or copyrighted materials

This robust level of security and encryption is your safeguard. It ensures clients and stakeholders that the important content you are testing will remain under your control.

Do you use the commercial version of Zoom? We have some best practices for you to ensure you are leveraging their security features. Check it out here➤

About FedRAMP

FedRamp is the security standard required across the US government for sensitive information.

It is required by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, the CDC, intelligence agencies and the Justice Department.

Learn more about FedRAMP security and encryption compliance.

About Amazon GovCloud

AWS GovCloud  https://aws.amazon.com/govcloud-us/?whats-new-ess.sort-by=item.additionalFields.postDateTime&whats-new-ess.sort-order=desc

Learn More:

➠FedRAMP compliance for online research https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2019/05/07/zoom-achieves-fedramp-moderate-authorization/

➠HIPAA compliance for online research tools https://zoom.us/docs/doc/Zoom-hipaa.pdf

➠DoD SRG (Security Requirements Guide) https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/dod/

➠Zoom security whitepaper https://zoom.us/docs/doc/Zoom-Security-White-Paper.pdf

Dial testing is a key part of Engagious’ research approach. And right now many people are asking “Can we do qual research online?”  Yes. We are in the midst of #coronavirus and yet we all still have research to execute and clients who need insights ASAP. Online research options are your friend. And we’ve got you covered. 

Specific questions? Get in touch and we’ll talk it through: hi@engagious.com

Our Dialsmith group has been in the dial testing game for a long time. As the developer of the Perception Analyzer dial testing tools and services for focus groups and surveys, we support global clients with in-person and online research every day. 

Specific questions? Get in touch and we’ll talk it through: hi@engagious.com

So, without further ado, you might be wondering…

What is Dial Testing?

Here’s the deal; if you’re trying to find out what people are really thinking, memory stinks. Asking someone what they thought, or how they felt, about something is bound to give you all kinds of less-than-reliable results. We’ve studied this and with the help of industry and academic experts have tons of resources for you.

So, how can dial testing help? Dial testing is how you overcome the negative impact of flawed memory and recall bias by capturing what people think in-the-moment. This is done two ways; with hand-held dials in focus groups and with an on-screen slider in surveys.

As participants watch your content (online or in person), such as ads, TV shows, presentations, etc., they use in-person dials or an online slider to give continuous, second-by-second feedback. This gives you real-time, gut reactions that you can then use to probe deeper and refine your content.

The second-by-second results are overlaid on top of the content being tested. Colored lines represent different audience segments. 

So, Dial Testing is Just for Media Testing, Right?

Oh, contraire, my friend. Dial testing is used for a heck of a lot more than that! Yes, what makes dial testing most unique is its ability to to capture moment-to-moment reactions through a dial or slider. But, those same devices can be used to ask all kinds of other questions.

For example, in a focus group, participants can use their dials to answer closed-ended questions. Some may be as simple as a gender question to help segment the moment-to-moment ratings, while others may be Likert scale or attitudinal scale questions to gauge feelings and opinions. Most any closed-ended question can be asked with the dials in a focus group.

 Dial testing results for Attitudinal Scale and Discrete Choice questions

This has the added bonus of eliminating groupthink by allowing each participant to answer privately and individually before opening things up to group discussion. You’re paying every respondent, so why not hear from each of them for every question?

How Do Respondents Answer Questions with the Dials?

Good question! The dials use a 0 – 100 numeric range, but can also use any range in-between. So, for instance, for a gender question, respondents would dial 1 for Female and 2 for Male. For a 5-point Likert scale, respondents would dial between 1-5 for the range of Strongly Disagree-Strongly Agree. For a 5-, or 7-, or 10-point attitudinal scale, respondents would dial to the appropriate number based on the scale labels.

For every question, the moderator, as well as colleagues and clients in the viewing room, can see the results charted in real-time to help drive group discussion. Any of those questions can also be used to segment the results of moment-to-moment ratings so you can see how different subgroups reacted to the content.

How Does Dial Testing Work Online?

Online dial testing is very similar to in-person dial testing except respondents use an on-screen slider instead of an in-person Perception Analyzer dial. Video or audio content gets embedded into a survey and respondents adjust the slider continuously as they watch. There is also an optional hotkey that respondents can click to indicate they would take a particular action.

For example, during a TV show they may click a “tune-out” button if at some point during the show they would stop watching if they could. That moment is recorded and the respondent continues rating the show to the end.

Overview of our online dial testing tools and moment-to-moment reporting. 

Want to Learn More About Dial Testing?

Here’s a short video from our in-house Dialsmith group:

And here’s some additional recommended reading:

Dial Testing Group vs Focus Group: How Are They Different?

10 Ways Dial Testing Will Improve Your Research

Moment-to-Moment Research Playbook

Hope that helps. If you have follow-up questions or want to discuss how dial testing can help with your research, please feel free to hit us up.

It’s been a recurring theme with swing voters these past months, with slight variations:

Most would vote for Trump again; most of them would vote for him over Obama; they like what Trump is doing with the economy; they like that he won’t let other countries push us around.

There’s some embarrassment over his bluster, some fatigue with his drama, some anger that he hasn’t built The Wall yet; but they are mostly pleased with the job he’s done, and think he should be given another four years to keep doing it.

Wilkes-Barre swing voters’ thoughts on the top issues:

Top issues: Health care, immigration, jobs

Iran: It was right to target General Soleimani, but war with Iran would erode support for Trump.

Impeachment: Please stop wasting Americans’ time and money.

Economy: Better off than four years ago.

Trade: Tariffs better not raise prices.

Democratic presidential hopefuls: Be moderate with your policy positions.

Environment: Regulation rollbacks by Trump are very troubling.

What they wish America would resolve for 2020: To be kind.

For video highlights, go HERE

Researchers at Ohio State found that when they gave people accurate statistics on a controversial issue, their memories adjusted the stats to match their own beliefs.

When they passed on these misremembered stats, the information grew more and more different as it was passed from person to person.

Like a game of telephone. But it’s not our hearing that warps the message, it’s our brain.

Memory isn’t a recording device; memory is more like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces, and pieces mixed in from other puzzles, according to the researchers.

https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191225/facts-are-misremembered-to-fit-personal-biases-ohio-state-study-finds

They’re rituals. They’re religious, cultural, and civic. Every society has them. We do them for our families, for our countries, for our teams. (Just try to neglect them: “But we always have monkey bread Christmas morning!”)

Turns out, these rituals aren’t magic; they’re science. And (no surprise) why we have them and perform them is the subject of studies.

Follow the links for the details, but here’s a glimpse of the findings: Pre-task rituals can reduce anxiety and improve performance. Engaging in a sequence of ritualistic movements tricks the brain into thinking it’s in an arena of stability and predictability. Which is calming.

More on point for the holiday season: Rituals unite us. They solidify and sacralize human bonds. They enhance our sense of belonging. They also can enhance our perception of value: A ritual for eating chocolate can make the chocolate taste even better.

So keep up those traditions, as they feed your soul. Start new ones with extended family and business partners. Traditions transcend family bonds. They reach into your community and your work life. And it is all good–for you and others.

Enjoy the season.

How important are the Fall Pilots?

In the current entertainment climate, a show will often sink or swim based solely the performance of the pilot. Thus all the hype around the “New Fall Shows” before they even air. A lot is riding on that first episode. A lot of careers are riding on that first episode. But should it work that way?

Consider this:

• We all know that a show often takes several episodes to find its ‘rhythm’ and its audience.
• A Netflix study this time last year proved that the average viewer isn’t hooked on a series until episode 4.
  By then, 70% of viewers will watch the rest of the season.

So, Netflix has their magic formula. But the variable here is binge-watching. With streaming or on-demand shows, the commitment to watch follow-on episodes seems much lower than on traditional network television. These days, having to wait a week to watch the next episode seems like a commitment worthy of a ring! That’s why, as far as Network TV is concerned, these pilots matter whole a lot more.

Viewers know when you’ve got a winner

Through testing, network executives know that within those first 15 minutes, viewers decide if the show is quality and if it will be a lasting success. Any premiere that loses 30% of its audience by ‘half time’ is on the not-so-short cancellation list. (for more behind-the-scenes info on entertainment research, see our interview with Aaron Paquette, formerly of Vision Critical.)

We find the number of Fall pilot fails very interesting. Dear Network Executives, If the average viewer can tell you in 15 minutes then…. couldn’t you have tested it in advance? Wouldn’t that have saved you a lot of time? Yes, of course you can and yes, it would.  We’ve done our share of dial testing focus groups to test pilots for every major network at one time or another. (editorial comment: clearly, they need to be doing a lot more of this.)

Pilot Season 2019

All the research in the world can not forecast the intangible. The viral nature of a hit. (Game of Thrones type chatter through social media and word of mouth.) These types of Megahits are few and far between, and they are even harder to accomplish in the comedy category. A perfect comedy seems like some combination of potions that, when poured together, produce lightning in a bottle.

For example, look at the run that Veep and Modern Family have had—both in the ratings and at the Emmy’s. Beyond the quality writing, they are also standouts due to the lack of competition.

When is a “pilot” not really a pilot?

That is why one of the most talked about new shows in years was the RETURN of Will & Grace.  With how challenging it is to come up with a winning comedy, you can certainly understand the appeal of going back to a sure thing. Not sure this really qualified as a ‘pilot’, however.

Let the ratings begin.

Get more on that Netflix study here.

Photo courtesy of NBC

Here are my Top 10 recommendations for How to Hire a Messaging Agency.

Do Your Homework: Keep a running list of agencies and campaigns that impress you.
At least you will have a starting place.

Be Honest with Yourself: How much bandwidth can you commit to managing an outside team?
Know this going into it.

Get Specific: Every agency has a specialty.
Know what you need (advocacy messaging? advertising messaging?) and find the right match.

Find the Right Size: Make sure the agency’s size matches your expectations. You don’t want to be the smallest client, making it easy to relegate your projects to the B-Team.

Go With Experience: If you are looking for a real partner, find a team that has related experience in your field. If you need messaging for B2B, find a team that has done B2B.

Secure Top Talent: Know who will be managing your account. That individual is your lifeline– and can sink a project if they are not strong or experienced enough.

Know Your Status: Know who their big clients are and what % of their bandwidth they occupy. You don’t want to be playing second fiddle to them for the duration.

Be Smart With Money: It’s a major factor and often an agency will cut a deal on the first job. But know that going in so you can prepare
for future projects.

Trust Your Gut: At the end of the day you are choosing a group of humans that you need to work with. Are they switched on? Do they have that sparkle in their eye?

Pull The Trigger: Your final decision will likely involve a leap of faith. If you’ve been diligent, odds are good you will end up with a partner you can work with.

In the end, your success depends a lot on your own preparation. I have faith in you; You can do this! We’re with you all the way.

If you need help with brand messaging or customer insights, we’ve got those chops. So put a check mark in our “been there, done that” column and give us a shout. Happy to talk through whatever you need.

See more of my blog posts here.

In our latest episode of “How to Woo and Win a Swing Voter,” there was a plot twist. Maybe you saw it coming:

Swing voters in different segments of the Midwest do not always fall for the same pickup lines.

In Wisconsin, Ohio, and now Iowa, we’ve had conversations with swing voters—people who voted for Obama, and then Trump; or Romney, and then Clinton. And while they’re all flavors of Midwest, we’re learning to distinguish some of the subtler flavor differences.

Engagious is partnering with Focus Pointe Global to hold monthly focus groups in swing districts across the United States. It’s only a couple of hours in an evening, but it’s a way to see the faces and hear the voices of the nebulous and coveted “swing voters.” It’s kind of an exercise in discomfort and vulnerability: They let us pick their brains and share their thoughts with the country; and we (and anyone who follows this project) let them assail our assumptions and biases.

On May 6, in Sioux City, Iowa, Engagious met with 11 swing voters. All 11 respondents voted for Obama in 2012, and Trump in 2016. As in Wisconsin and Ohio, we asked about President Trump, the Mueller report, Democrats running for president, the economy, and other issues in the news. As in Wisconsin and Ohio we heard that what’s really important to the news outlets isn’t always deeply important to the news receivers. They didn’t recognize most of the Democratic candidates for president. They think Congress should move on from the Mueller investigation. They didn’t know about Medicare for All or the Green New Deal.

But there were differences. For instance, in Ohio, most of the respondents voted against “the other guy” in 2016. In Iowa, more than half of the respondents voted for Trump, not against Clinton. In Ohio most of our respondents would vote for Obama in 2020 if the Constitution allowed it. In Iowa all but one of our respondents would vote for Trump over Hillary Clinton, and eight of 11 would take Trump over Barack Obama if there were an election tomorrow and those were the choices.

Unlike Ohio (and Wisconsin), our Iowa swing voters had a longer list of “likes” than complaints about President Trump. Negative press about Trump isn’t going to sway their vote. What will sway it is how the country is doing, and how they personally are doing. They also indicated that far-left policies promoted by Democratic candidates would push them to vote for Trump.

Our Iowa respondents scored 6.7 out of ten that the U.S. is headed in the right direction, but only a 5.2 for Iowa’s direction. Was it a case of “national prosperity isn’t trickling down to the local level”? Maybe. But one respondent said, “I like what Republicans are doing on the national level, but I don’t really like what they’re doing here in Iowa.” So maybe they don’t like Iowa’s leadership. (Hard to say what “right track/wrong track” means to each individual. Economy? Culture? Security? Environment? Something else?)

They didn’t articulate what socialism is, but they don’t want it: “Socialism is going to give us Venezuela.”

As in Ohio, Iowa respondents want President Trump to encourage renewable energy. Wind has been good for Iowa, they observed. And while we usually demand a belief in climate change in order to do something about it, one of our respondents effectively dismissed that notion with this comment: “ I don’t believe that climate change is the big affair that people make it out to be. . . . But I do think Trump should do his best to encourage affordable, sensible, renewable energies.” The other respondents agreed.

Want more? Check the scores and watch the highlights. The drama continues next month, when Engagious travels to Erie, Pennsylvania. What will we find in this former manufacturing and steel powerhouse? Tune in June 3. (Yes, we mixed the sports and telenovela metaphors, and no, we’re not sorry.)

That’s what we’ve been telling our clients for nearly two decades. And even though they know that—of course they know that—they are almost always surprised at what outside-the-Beltway testing turns up.

Getting close to their issues is our clients’ job. They’re policy experts. They need to know every in, out, and upside down. That’s what they and their colleagues think, read, write, and talk about. It’s the air they breathe.

Most people outside the Washington metro area are not immersed in the details of these issues—sometimes they’ve never even heard of the issues.

It’s also important to recognize that life experiences outside the Beltway can be very different, so the concerns can be different: employment and unemployment rates, income levels, blue collar or white collar, religion (a lot or none), political attitudes, and attitudes toward politics. Communities vary from densely urban to intensely agricultural, with their own neighborhood values. What works in DC might not work in Chicago and Seattle, and probably won’t work in Worcester, Mingo Junction, and Tupelo.

But if they’re your audience, you need to verify that you’re speaking their language.

And the best way to do that is to test it with them. See their reactions. Hear their thoughts.

Again, our clients know all this. But they still—regularly—say things like, “I did not expect that to tank”; “I am really surprised none of the respondents have heard of that”; “I didn’t realize our language was so full of jargon until this dial test.”

And we especially like: “Good thing we tested this!”

Some Washington, D.C., facts and comparisons:

—Bigger salaries: highest per capita income in the country ($75,569; the national average is $49,571)^[1] with an annual growth rate of 4.5% (vs. 3.6% national average)^[2]

—Educated: 55% of the population 25 years or older has at least a bachelor’s degree (29.3% nationally);^[3] 31% have an advanced degree (11.2% nationally)^[4]

—Expensive housing: median value of a house is $460,700 ($163,900 nationally)

—Lower rate of home ownership: 40.4% own their own homes (63.7% nationally)

—High crime: 6,408.6 crimes per 100,000 people (3,295.0 nationally)^[5]

^[1] http://www.courant.com/business/hc-per-capita-income-connecticut-20170328-story.html
^[2] https://wtop.com/business-finance/2017/03/dc-per-capita-income-25-percent-higher-national-average/
^[3] https://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/50states
^[4] https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_15_5YR_S1501
^[5] https://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/50states

NewMarket Group is really, really good at direct marketing.

Company president Melissa Young wanted it to be even better. She turned to Engagious to find out how.

Rich Thau took a research team to Orlando, Florida, to meet with current NewMarket customers in two focus groups. Melissa and her team were there as well, to observe and occasionally to generate new material as needed.

Rich showed headlines and copy to the customers, then observed and probed their reactions: Which word caught your eye? Why do you trust this and dismiss that? Why wouldn’t you follow that link? He asked questions that Melissa’s team can’t ask in everyday customer interactions, and found answers that a customer survey won’t.

Melissa and her team took the findings, tweaked their offerings . . . and watched their revenue jump 10%, with returns at least three times (or more) the amount they invested in research. Not to mention the time savings. Melissa calls it “invaluable.”

NewMarket Group is a Baltimore-based publishing and supplement company, a division of The Agora, a global network of companies focused on health, finance, and lifestyle.