Case Studies

These case studies show a selection of the work that Moulton Hall delivers. For the sake of anonymity we have not revealed the names of the clients.

Evaluation of a new service - Public sector

The client wanted to evaluate a pilot service operating in the public sector. The service offered advice and assistance to members of the general public who had a specific need. The purpose of the study was to assess the effectiveness of the service, to explore the views of the users of the service and draw out any conclusions that would be useful in deciding how to take forward its wider remit. The research programme consisted of:

an exploratory stage - visiting the service and interviewing staff
postal and online questionnaires with users
interviews with non-users who were potential targets
follow-up in depth telephone interviews with users
observations of appointments
and face to face and in depth telephone interviews with stakeholders.
Quantitative data was also collected by the service and used in the analysis. The research identified the service had been a success in a number of areas, but it required more effective promotion on a number of different levels; such as promoting the concept to the general public, other advice providers, key organisations and community groups and putting together an effective marketing strategy. A proficient method of filtering users needed to be established so the service could assist appropriate members of the public and direct others to the most appropriate service. The service required a better understanding of the local environment and how the service fitted in with other organisations operating in the locality and in similar sectors. The results were used to aid a future start-up of services and to further developments in this area.

Customer satisfaction of a call centre operation - Financial services

As the main point of contact for both consumer and business customers, the call centre was key to the success of the company. We measured customer satisfaction with both inbound and outbound telephone calls to the company’s call centre, which were handled by a variety of different teams with different job functions. The initial work involved groups with customer-facing staff across the business and face to face interviews with customers and enquirers. From this work we developed a research tool to conduct large scale telephone interviews annually. Initially the work identified problems with the companies’ recording of data - a project team was set up to address the issue and company wide changes were made. The research showed the company was potentially losing millions of pounds in not following up warm leads - the departments concerned received further training. Performance was monitored against each wave of research and several departments who were shown to be performing badly have been restructured. Using regression analysis we were able to identify the key drivers in satisfaction for each of the touch points in the business. Ongoing, the results from the work were used as Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) for the board.

Use and impact of referral arrangements in the legal market place - Regulator

The study was an exploration of the operation of referral arrangements in legal services, specifically personal injury (PI) and residential conveyancing. The aims of the research were to improve understanding of the use and impacts of referral arrangements, how cases were paid for and costs recouped, and how referral arrangements impact on firms, clients and the wider market. Thirty-four face-to-face interviews were conducted with Senior or Managing Partners in different types of firms of different sizes, those paying and not paying referral fees and working in personal injury and/or residential conveyancing. Referral arrangements were far more entrenched in the PI market – most firms operating in this market had relationships with introducers and paid on a “fee per case basis”, those who did not were “picking up what’s left”. In the future firms envisaged the PI market to be dominated by insurance companies, trade unions and a few very large law firms. The market for residential conveyancing was more local, although the role of the high street firm was diminishing as “factory” type operations entered the market. There were mixed views on the future of residential conveyancing. Some firms believe factory firms will drive the market, while others believed there will be a move away from volume processing towards quality service. The main advantage to paying referral fees for clients was easier access to solicitors and the legal market place. Referral arrangements were seen as more disadvantageous, as clients lack freedom in choice of solicitor, solicitors were tied in to introducing particular organisations – not necessarily the ones they would normally recommend and referral arrangements were detrimental to quality of service.

Perception and communication research - Charity

Work was done to assist in the development of communications guidelines for local and national activity of a charity. In particular to understand what information needed to be communicated, imagery and tone to be used and the best vehicles to do this. The work included:

30 telephone depth interviews to understand perceptions and to inform the questionnaire for the quantitative stage
600 quantitative face to face street interviews with a cross section of the GB population. Questions covered awareness and understanding of the charity, funding and views on donating, perceptions of descriptors associated with charities and what marketing tools would reach the audience.

Most were aware of the charity, but allied the charity with one particular aspect of their work. The overall brand and its visual identity were not well known. The charity had positive associations, but there was a complete misunderstanding on how the charity was funded. Research will be conducted to assess whether marketing communications as a result of this work has had an impact on the perception of the charity.

Feasibility of a web based scheme - Education

Views of the decision makers and users of a website based educational scheme were researched. The work aimed to develop new mechanisms and identify motivations for using the scheme in order to increase usage of the scheme. The work consisted of:

Face-to-face interviews with heads of schools or heads of VI forms to understand how the scheme had gone so far, what improvements could be made and to get their initial views on the potential new ideas.
Workshops with users of the scheme to test the new ideas and understand users motivations
200 telephone interviews with decision makers and users of the scheme to establish satisfaction with the scheme, usage, motivation and response to the new ideas

The scheme was viewed positively, but was not meeting its overall objectives - particular areas of improvement were identified. Most of the users were fairly active but were not multi-tasking,a range of improvements to encourage usage were suggested. Most of the new ideas were well received and would increase usage, take-up and promotion of the scheme. Further thought is needed on the mechanics and delivery.

Evaluating pricing and product bundling for a new Europe wide service - Travel and tourism

The client wanted to understand the demand for a new service aimed at the hotel market. The research aimed to evaluate the type of service required by hotels and their guests, establish whether hotel guests would pay and how much they would pay for these services and investigate whether these services would generate revenue, increase the hotels’ efficiency and/or support the hotels’ brand image. The research program consisted of:

Focus groups with hotel business and leisure guests across Europe, including France, Germany, Spain, Italy, UK and Sweden.
Telephone depth interviews with hotel guests, hoteliers, travel agents and corporate decision makers.
1,400 telephone interviews with guests and general managers across Europe. In order to establish the importance of each service element we used a simple trade-off design. For the pricing aspect we used a Van Stendorp approach for each of the services. The work identified bundles of services which would appeal to different hotels, nationality and user segments. Some of the service elements were key to forming the basis of the service package. Other elements, although not key for all guests, were clear potential income generators.

Life stage needs and behaviours research - A market leading publication

The overall aim of the campaign was to grow market share by changing the positioning of the product and packaging different elements of the tangible and augmented product based on seven key life stage needs and behaviours. In order to do this we needed to understand; current views of the product and what the drivers to purchase are, brand values, barriers to more frequent purchase, areas of need and desire particularly around payment options, promotion and delivery and reactions to potential ideas. The research programme included:
Desk research, so as to identify information already available on the seven key life stage groups both in the public domain and to re-analyse previous research the client had commissioned
A brainstorming workshop, where the information was presented to the advertising agency and the client to facilitate the identification of elements of the package which might appeal to each life stage group
Focus groups to identify further needs and to test the ideas formulated at the brainstorming workshop.

For each of the seven life stages we established views of the product, key drivers and barriers to purchase, views of the brand and what were their desires. A number of key choices were generated for each life stage, revolving around positioning of the brand and product; format, price, promotion and delivery of the product.