Market Research

Online questionnaires, telephone surveys, third-party data, and targeted interviews come together for Empirical Path to take the pulse of your customers and competitors.  Keep reading for project capsules that illustrate our approach to market research, and contact us to discuss how you can measure and understand your market.

Project Capsule: Hospital


Empirical Path consultants mapped a regional hospital's constituents for its new ad agency.  Leveraged social media interactions, demographic and geographic data, and web analytics data, including page views, search terms, and referring sites, to understand visitor behavior and context.  Identified themes and mapped their relative importance on-site vs. off-site and in search vs. website vocabulary.  Compared visits against the online population in states, DMAs, counties, and cities to highlight potential targets.  Proposed roles for each theme in discovery and exploration of the brand, plus tactical improvements to the site.  Read the full case study.

Project Capsule: Imaging Manufacturer


Empirical Path consultants researched end-user markets and channel partnerships in new product categories for a leading imaging hardware manufacturer.  Estimated market size and share in an unmeasured category by using a publicly traded comparable as a proxy for all competitors, then correcting for their lower reseller penetration.  Forecast growth in an unmeasured accessory category based on hardware sales, installer statistics, and the client’s rate of bundling accessories with hardware.  Detailed competitors’ efforts to develop programs for partnering more closely with resellers.

Project Capsule: Community Website


Empirical Path consultants conceived and delivered a study to benchmark peers and learn best practices for a vertical content and community website.  Interviewed client executives to understand key levers and blind spots in advertising operations and pricing decisions.  Designed invitation, online questionnaire, and incentives to assure participants convenience and anonymity.  Analyzed feedback to reveal natural segments in the market and results within each.  Wrote detailed report to identify variations from best practices in client processes, policies, and metrics.

Project Capsule: Printer Manufacturer


Empirical Path consultants laid out market growth, usage hurdles, and technology partnerships to address the camera phone opportunity for a leading printer manufacturer.  Synthesized camera phone growth projections from IDC, InfoTrends, and other research vendors, then discounted these to forecast images printed based on demonstrated consumer printing of photos from camera phones and of similar resolution.  Described competitor products and alliances to address the new market.  Ranked and detailed potential strategic partners, including handset makers and operators.

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Empirical Path's Market Research Practice is led by Peter Howley, a seasoned consultant, entrepreneur, and manager.  Howley has advised diverse companies, from household names to startups, in publishing, television, not-for-profit, and technology.

Howley developed Empirical Path’s data-driven approach at Bain & Company and Harvard Business School.  He started the Research and Analysis practice at Washington, DC social marketing agency Noral Group International.

Howley led alliance development and market research at washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com, then headed marketing effectiveness products at the largest online ad network.

Contact Peter Howley at (505) 856-6131 or via email.

Empirical Path's Web Analytics Practice is led by Jim Snyder, a veteran of web publishing and technology.  A certified Google Analytics expert, Snyder has led implementation, configuration, and analysis projects for publishers and marketers in Silicon Alley and Silicon Valley.

Snyder built his deep experience in web analytics, content, and marketing in production and research roles with Weather.com, Yale University, and Georgia Tech; he also holds an MBA from the Georgia Tech College of Management.

Snyder began his web publishing career as part of the launch team for CNN.com.  His technical skills include SQL, SPSS, Oracle, SQL Server, PHP, and Java.

Contact Jim Snyder at (203) 804-4509 or via email.