Tools & Techniques

Response models can help you determine which approach most likely will improve profits while you're building alignment in emotionally and politically charged debates.

A brief tutorial on how to use Markov chains to predict market changes.

The numbers are in and the test markets seem to have incremental lift over the controls. But was it really the program driving sales, or just coincidence? Here's a quick approach to being sure.

The Bass diffusion model is a forecasting model that assists in preparing new product forecasts when there is no historical data.

Agent-based modeling can help you smoothly navigate through customer congestion to accelerate sales.

Target market opportunities with this military-inspired tool.

Getting off the treadmill of new features/benefits can be tough in a highly competitive market. A simple Kano model might help improve your ability to find the things that will delight your customers to your advantage.

You may know which customer segments are trending towards growth or attrition, but do you know how fast they are moving? Check out the Velocity Index.

This simple decision tree tool looks at the uncertain economic outcomes of launching a new product versus staying with the current one and asks whether or not more marketing research is a wise investment.

Stuff happens. And when it does, opinions on why often far exceed the available facts. Here's an approach to find the true priorities for improvement.

How do you forecast the demand for a new product with no benchmark sales data to fall back on? This hypothetical case study demonstrates how to use the diffusion curve to make such a forecast.

A demonstration of a simple forecasting process that can be done with easy-to-use desktop software tools.

Check out these 10 questions to ask when choosing a forecasting package, as well as a list of forecasting vendors.

A five-step process for risk-assessing your next project.

A new approach to positioning helps you see the actual economic potential of moving your brand positioning toward (or away from) one or more key attributes.

Next time you're put on the spot for a best-guess number, here's an approach to improve your accuracy without delaying the response.

A spreadsheet tool for determining the potential payback from a hypothetical CRM campaign.

How can you measure the impact of loyalty initiatives when you can't construct clean test/control groups? See our latest T&T for an alternative approach. By Kelvin Taylor

From the people who brought you the Balanced Scorecard, Success Mapping is a step-by-step way to identify the really important things to measure.

This sidebar to the article "Where Are You on the Ladder of Insight?" presents information on how to make the transition from one level to the next.

To learn more about perceptual mapping/positioning analysis and to obtain a working demo version of the tool, download this tutorial from DecisionPro, Incorporated. The tutorial displays a series of screen snapshots that demonstrate each step of the process used to create the mapping models.

The model combines management science techniques with historical data and managerial judgments to calculate the incremental profit associated with changes in resource allocations.

This Forward ROI model demonstrates one way to ascertain the remaining potential of a project which may not have achieved its original objectives.

A well-planned marketing initiative badly misses its mark with lower sales and higher costs. Here's a simple way to decide to stop or keep going.

Here we show you a simple Excel-based tool that can be used to judge the effectiveness of a wide range of marketing programs, including advertising, couponing, tradeshows, and direct mail. See our sample problem and then input your own test and control data.

Be a fly on the wall as a marketing team goes through the process of determining whether they should stay with an older, market-tested product, or replace it with a new one, providing new features and benefits. See how some simple tools can make the complex decision much easier.

Turn a military-inspired tool into your secret weapon for targeting market opportunities.

A major bank is looking at launching a CRM program that should change customer behavior for the better. But will it be profitable?