Market Research Blog, Infographics, Custom Research News

Are Millennials On Top of Their Tax Returns?

Posted by Andrea on April 2nd, 2013 | Comments off

Tax Day is right around the corner. In our latest Lab42 study, we conducted research on Millennials, surveying 500 consumers, ages 18-34, who manage their own finances, to determine their habits and preferences when it comes to filing their tax returns.

Are they procrastinators, waiting until the last minute to file or planning to file an extension? With a weak economy and limited disposable income, are their tax refunds burning a hole in their pocket? The results may surprise you.

The survey, conducted from March 18 to 21 2013, found that nearly three-quarters of Millennials surveyed (73 percent) had finished filing their 2012 tax return at the time of the study, suggesting that, as a generation, they may be more financially responsible than people think. Nineteen percent had not finished filing, and 8 percent were not filing 2012 taxes.

Among those filing, they did so with time to spare: 71 percent filed at least one month prior to Tax Day. Just two percent plan to file the day of or day before, and only one percent plan to file an extension.

Many Millennials rely on a self-sufficient solution when it comes to their tax return: 41 percent rely on tax software, and among those, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) use Turbo Tax. Millennials are also brand loyal when it comes to tax software: 85 percent use the same software every year, with many citing access to their previous tax returns as particularly convenient.

When it comes to tax refunds, 89 percent of Millennials surveyed either received or expect to receive one this year. As a group, they prove to be responsible when it comes to putting that refund to good use: the majority (56 percent) plan to save it. What’s more, over a quarter of respondents (26 percent) plan to pay off debts. Just 18 percent plan to spend it.

We’ll be featuring more Millennial money mania later this month. Do they think they are more financially responsible than their friends? Do they follow a budget? Stay tuned!

A Patient Look at Healthcare

Posted by Andrea on March 19th, 2013 | Comments off

In our latest Lab42 market research study and infographic, we spoke to consumers about their current healthcare habits and hiccups. With healthcare costs on the rise, many are forced to weigh several options and decisions, often in an effort to save money.

For example, 43 percent have refused medication prescribed to them because it was too costly, and nearly half of consumers surveyed—45 percent—do not go to the doctor as often as they think they should, with the top reason being that it’s too expensive.

With all these attempts to save, it raises an important question for health insurance companies, providers and consumers: does it cost too much for today’s consumer to receive the best care possible?

Many consumers opt for generic medications as a way to cut costs and still receive the treatment recommended by their doctor. Specifically, 62 percent choose generic every time or most of the time, even when the medication is covered by insurance. That number jumps to 75 percent, when medication is not covered by insurance.

Brand names do matter, however, when it comes to choosing a health insurance company, according to nearly half of consumers surveyed, with Blue Cross Blue Shield topping the list of those providing the best coverage.

Still, 57 percent said they do not fully understand what their insurance covers, and consequently, may not be realizing the full benefit and value offered by their insurance company.

Click on our infographic below to learn more:

Driving Home Car Buyers’ Frustrations

Posted by Andrea on February 26th, 2013 | 3 Comments

Today’s car buying consumers are faced with more decisions than ever: hybrid vs. gasoline; 2 door vs. 4 door; buying vs. leasing; American-made vs. foreign made cars. When you consider tech add-ons, the list grows even longer: keyless entry, GPS, blind spot sensors, rear-view camera, and so on.

In our latest Lab42 study and infographic, we gauged not only the decisions consumers face in the car buying process, but also their biggest frustrations. Confusion at the site of purchase–often at the dealership–only complicates the process further. Fifty-two percent of respondents have not made a firm decision on the make or model they intend to buy when arriving at the dealership, and 81 percent are less likely to buy if the salesperson is aggressive.

So how do car buyers eventually come to a decision? Click on our infographic below to find out.

CLIENT SPOTLIGHT: ZOCALO GROUP

Posted by Andrea on February 20th, 2013 | Comments off

At Lab42, we are incredibly proud of our absolutely awesome clients and all the great work that they do. In this month’s client spotlight, we’re highlighting one in particular: Zócalo Group, a fellow Chicago-based company whose ultimate mission is to help their clients be recommended. Zócalo’s expertise is in helping drive consumer recommendations to their clients’ brands by seamlessly building out fully integrated messaging campaigns.

We love working with Zócalo’s research team because they bring forward-thinking, innovative ideas to their clients. I had the pleasure to connect with one of Zócalo’s lead Research Managers, Jennifer White, to discuss the impact social media has had on market research. Her views on the subject are incredibly insightful.

How has social media played a role in your research innovation efforts?

“Social media allows us to know more about consumers and how they recommend brands to one another. We work with our clients to help them become the most recommended in their category – and social media fits right in with that goal. Even just six years ago, we never would have dreamed to be able to reach exactly who we’re looking for so easily. We can now help our clients engage more with their consumers on an interesting and relevant level.”

How has social media (or respondents who engage with social entities, i.e. Facebook & Twitter) impacted the speed and quality of the research you conduct?

“We can now reach out directly to our target audience and receive feedback the very same day if necessary. Surveys allow us to directly reach our target – from this gathered information we can create content that is more engaging to our audience and can create deeper connections with our clients’ consumers.”

In the world of 140 character tweets and text messages, do you think infographics are a useful tool in that they similarly act to condense larger messages to be more rapidly digestible?

“At the Zócalo Group, we’re constantly trying to come up with new ways to share data and information in fun, relevant ways for our clients’ audiences. Realizing that text-heavy posts are quickly becoming a thing of the past, infographics are a visual, interesting way to share pertinent information.”

Recently, we worked together on a custom research and infographic project for Blick Art Materials, a leader in providing the best products and service to anyone requiring quality art materials for work or pleasure. In 2009, Blick took it one step further and developed a wonderful initiative called “Art Room Aid” which was created to help raise money to support arts education in diverse ways.

On behalf of the Lab42 team, we hope you enjoy and are inspired by the message behind “The Stroke of Genius” infographic.

http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnfull/20130123/CG46688-INFO

Click to view the Infographic

About the Surveys
Survey results were extrapolated from a national online survey of:
500 Americans who self-identified as artists, either by trade or hobby (Artists’ Inspiration Survey)
1,000 Americans (Art Education Survey)
The surveys were conducted by Lab42 from November 16–21, 2012. The margin of error for national findings is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

About Art Room Aid
Art Room Aid was created in 2009. If you’re an art educator, Art Room Aid provides the tools to easily share your dreams and funding needs without complicated applications or fees that take away from contributions. If you’re an arts advocate, you can quickly locate a project that resonates with you and make a high-quality contribution that will go directly to a project in need.

About Blick Art Materials

Blick Art Materials is one of the largest and oldest providers of art supplies in the United States. Its products cater to the full spectrum of artists — from the youngest child ready to scribble with his or her first crayon to well-known, gallery-represented professionals. The company’s extensive selection, competitive prices, and superior customer service make Blick the choice for professional and amateur artists, art educators, architects, designers, students, hobbyists, or anyone requiring quality art materials for work or pleasure. Visit www.dickblick.com for more information.

Survey Respondents are People, Too

Posted by Jonathan on February 8th, 2013 | Comments off

As an addendum to Sarah’s GREAT post about the ways respondents are reached for market research surveys, I wanted to add a “Part 2” to discuss the various ways respondents are incentivized.

As the VP of Product here at Lab42, I am frequently asked about our methodology as it compares to “traditional online research,” otherwise known as “online panels”.

The fundamental difference between Lab42’s methodology and that of online panels is how survey respondents are reached. Traditional panel companies use web-based email to send surveys out and provide credit-based incentives (such as airline miles, hotel points, and magazine subscriptions), whereas the Lab42 interaction is focused on reaching respondents in real time, in which a respondents earns virtual currency by giving of their time and opinions as they are engaged online with social media, social networking sites, and social applications.

Given that the Lab42 methodology is still perceived as very new and cutting-edge, one question that I often hear is, “are your respondents just taking a survey for the virtual credits?”

A fair question; one that we have investigated thoroughly with parallel tests with panels, and a question that we are able to continue to combat through the continued quality of our respondents’ feedback. However, the bigger question is, why is any respondent motivated to take a survey, be it in-person, on the phone, or online?

At the end of the day, aren’t we all conditioned to want a positive reward for our time and personal opinions?

To help validate my theory on the quality of our respondents, I did as any true market researcher would do – I worked with my team to create a survey to ask our respondents why he or she chose to give his/her time and opinions to complete a survey (kind of meta, huh?).

Not only was the range of respondents (ages, gender, geo, level of education, HHI) interesting to me, but so were their motivations. Here are a few responses that really caught my attention:

What motivated me to take this survey that I needed to try something new to take – a different kind of easy survey that I can understand.
I like to give my input– As a former Psychology major, I know how important it is to have people participate in research!
I enjoy sharing my thoughts with companies that sell products and services so that I can influence what is offered in the future.

As Lab42 continues to grow as a company and our methodology earns the utmost trust through quality data results, I continue to grow and understand human behavior a little more with each and every completed study. At the end of the day, we all care to be valued, and with that, we hope and desire that our individual time and opinions count for something. And remember – if you don’t know, just ask!

A Patient Look at Healthcare

Blog Topics

Tags