Fellow Research Professionals,

Halloween is right around the corner which can mean many things to different people. For some it might be a time to enjoy dressing up your kids or trying to be the most frighteningly decorated house on the block. But for those of us in the online research world, it might actually be a sign that the end of the year is near and deadlines, budgets and sales quotas hang in the balance like cobwebs in the rafters at the spooky old house at the end of the block. Whether you are 5 years old or 50, October can often be the scariest time of the year!

In the spirit of Halloween, we thought we would share a few horror stories overheard at a recent conference:

Nightmare on Sample Street:
Tammy, a senior account executive, is working hard to meet her client’s deadline, but the sample provider she chose for this study is acting strangely. Without any discussion or explanation she checks her survey one morning only to find even though they have been stuck at 200 completes for 5 days, she suddenly has the full 400 completes needed. To some this would be exciting news but Tammy knows better. What happened last night to cause this rapid increase? Did her provider bring on partners? Who is the partner (s)? What sort of vetting process was in place to select this partner? And will their data be consistent with what had been delivered previously?

Friday the 13th day of fielding:
Bob is anxiously watching his dashboard to see whether any new completes are coming since he needs to close his survey by the end of the week. His partner is out of sample so he will need to bring on additional panel partners ASAP. He is forced to put in a call to his wife to let her know he won’t make it home for tonight’s episode of “Dancing with the Stars”. Bob is stuck at the office scrambling to make calls to other panels to negotiate price/feasibility, begging programmers to stay late to set up new survey versions/redirect links, all while reassuring his client that he will find a way to get it done on time and within budget.

Texas Sample Massacre:
Steve is a busy project manager and walks in to his office one morning only to find the most disturbing message scribbled in red on his desk: “The incidence has dropped!” Now what? He picks up the phone only to see a blinking message in his voicemail ~ his panel partner (who normally gives him ‘double secret’ discounts) has called to tell him that they will only be able to deliver half the completes and his CPI is going to double! Blood curdling Scream………………

Some of these horror stories may sound all too familiar to you. Even EMI has run into our fair share of nightmares in our 11 years working in the online sample space. Each one of these stories highlights an aspect of TRUST that we strive for as an organization at EMI:

Transparency: EMI is honest about who we are engaging for your project, how they were vetted and where we might fall short.
Competence: EMI cares about delivering on our promises in regards to feasibility, timing and quality.
Benevolence: EMI has a bias to our clients first and foremost, not to any individual panel, so we will fight to make sure your project is done on time and in budget.

If we haven’t had the chance yet, we hope to have the opportunity to earn your trust. Let us know how we can help scare the sample skeletons out of your closet!

Sincerely,

The EMI Team

Contact Us

Michael Holmes – President
513.321.5344 Direct Line