Areas of Expertise

Research Techniques

Customer Service

Insight. Decisions. Results.

Research is but a means to an end. What's important is what you need to do with it. That's why we'll work with you beyond your study to help develop winning products and services, build powerful brands, create engaging marketing strategies, enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty, improve products and services, and get the most out of advertising.

Using quantitative and qualitative methods, Crux connects organizations with customers in a wide range of industries, including health care, education, consumer goods, financial services, media and advertising, automotive, technology, retail, business-to-business, and non-profit.

Our research areas of expertise include:

• Advertising/Marketing Communications

  “Half of advertising is wasted, but no one knows which half.”
  At Crux, we believe this adage rings true because research has not done a good job evaluating advertising effectiveness. Despite complex modeling and various academic theories, a simple fact remains: most advertisers have no better understanding today if their ad expenditures involve a positive return on investment than they had a decade ago—despite spending considerable amounts of money on advertising research.

  Advertising should be evaluated in relation to its stated objectives. Is your ad communicating your intended message? Is it effective at engendering an attitude or driving a desired behavior?

  “Hurdle” measures, often employed in copy testing, can oversimplify or cloud the issue. Ads need to make emotional connections with consumers and bring the brand message home. How can you measure these elements?

  At Crux, we evaluate and track television, print, outdoor, online, and word-of-mouth advertising. We support creative development by providing consumer feedback at the appropriate stage. And, once your ad is on air, we track its effectiveness.

  Advertising is one of your largest and most important investments. You deserve to know if it is working.

• Awareness and Usage
• Boomer Research
• Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Measurement

  In a world of mass marketing, it can be easy to overlook an important tenet of marketing: organizations that build enduring relationships with their customers are the ones that ultimately thrive.

  Customer satisfaction and loyalty tracking systems are commonplace in many organizations. Measuring satisfaction is a way to judge marketing effectiveness over time, but on its own, customer satisfaction measurement does not yield actionable information.

  At Crux, our approach is to provide “outcomes” measurements of satisfaction and loyalty, and at the same time to dwell on “diagnostic” measures. A meaningful satisfaction and loyalty system needs to show the causes of satisfaction and dissatisfaction and provide actionable insight on areas of customer experience that warrant the most attention. Your resources are limited. Your customer satisfaction system should tell you where to place your effort.

• Polling for Media
• Polling for Parties and Candidates
• Education Research

  Polling for School Districts
  Understanding stakeholders’ opinions and garnering their support is essential to the mission of public education. Crux researchers have done polling work for more than 200 public school districts, providing feedback from students, teachers, staff, parents, and community members. Our work for schools includes customer and employee satisfaction measurement, establishing measurements for Baldridge type self-assessments, polling on budget, levy, or bond issues, and working with improvement teams.

  Survey Research for Higher Education
  

  Higher education marketers have begun to apply private sector marketing insight to the marketing of higher education. Polling can help to evaluate your college’s position in an increasingly competitive market; track your brand; help you attract more qualified applicants; and convince accepted applicants to choose your institution. Crux has considerable experience conducting polls for enrollment managers, retention managers, and alumni directors.

  Studies for Organizations Serving Education Markets
  Selling into education markets has its unique challenges, but also many rewards. Crux researchers are effective at helping education marketers understand the specific needs of educators – and the environments in which they operate. At Crux, we have more experience conducting market research among educators and administrators than any other firm. Decades of working directly in schools and colleges places a perspective on our research you won’t find with any other firm.

• Public Opinion Polling
• Public Relations Research
• Employee Research
• New Product Research
• Youth Research

  Crux contains some of the best minds in the youth research field. Youth research is a core expertise of our firm and where many of our researchers honed their skills.

  Crux researchers have overseen thousands of survey research studies of kids, teens, young adults, their educators, and their parents. We have worked with the best-respected organizations that serve youth, including product marketers, media, agencies, retailers, and non-profit organizations. Crux researchers are widely quoted in the national media on youth issues, present at youth industry events, and regarded as a trusted source of insights into the Millennial Generation. Crux brings more than data collection to youth research and polling – we are often counted on to provide strategic-level consulting to our client base.

Research Techniques

We'll work closely with you to match the best research approach to your unique challenge. We have extensive experience in a broad range of techniques, including:

• Mail Studies
• Telephone Studies
• Omnibus Surveys
• Online Market Research
• Central Location Studies
• Panel Management
• Qualitative Research
• Ethnographic Research
• In-depth Interviewing
• Online Focus Groups and Bulletin Boards
• Traditional Focus Groups
• Global Research

Customer Service

Regardless of what method we use, we'll take careful steps to treat you as if you are our only client as we:

• Evaluate your research needs, in the context of what's going on in your industry and your organization.
• Create a research plan, drawing upon the most advanced research techniques available.
• Fulfill the project efficiently and keeping you abreast of the study's progress.
• Draw clear conclusions that answer your objectives.
• Remain a trusted resource, well after the project is over.