EMBIRC Information

Erickson McKinnon Business Intelligence Research Company (EMBIRC) is a market research firm specializing in the collection of online information for use in strategic business decisions. The Problem: Traditional methods of market research are subject to both sampling and non-sampling error. There are methods to control sampling error, but traditional methods of overcoming non-sampling error have shown to be costly and time consuming. Non-sampling errors are a product of numerous causes, such as participant misrepresentation due to their awareness of surveillance and observation. The Challenge: Online forums are largely untapped, overlooked repositories of true consumer opinion and behavior. The difficulty of collecting, organizing and analyzing forum data makes the use of forums unattractive in the marketing context. The Solution EMBIRC’s source of data is derived from communication between correspondents who give opinions and demonstrate behavior as if they were not being observed for marketing purposes. This reduces non-sampling error, making EMBIRC data more representative of true consumer opinion and behavior. Through the use of its innovative software technology, EMBIRC helps marketing departments understand consumer behavior and true product opinion and evaluation through direct measurement. Marketers can more effectively emphasize desired product characteristics and can more accurately allocate marketing expenditures.