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SheSpeaks taps into female intuition for product testing |
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Written by research.
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Former AmEx exec Aliza Freud launches all-female product testing community US-- A former marketing executive for American Express has set up a research and marketing agency with a difference – all of its respondents are women.
Aliza Freud launched SheSpeaks earlier this year and now claims 35,000 members on the firm’s all-female product testing panel.
The agency, based in and around New York, combines research with word-of-mouth marketing by encouraging women to share their experiences with product manufacturers, and each other, through online discussion boards.
Freud told Research: “We don’t really call it a research panel, we call it a community of women, and what those women are looking to do is have a voice in how products and services are created.”
Membership has seen 50% growth each month since it was set up, with minimal advertising, says Freud. “SheSpeaks isn’t finding members – they’re finding us,” she said.
Clients include brands that specifically target women such as TV network Oxygen and the Jonathan Product haircare range, as well as companies targeting male and female consumers such as AOL.
A password protected discussion board is set up for each test, and the site also has open areas where members can discuss anything they like.
“Our clients can get some of the richest feedback as part of that online community,” says Freud. “The women feel that it’s a place for people like them, so they feel much more comfortable.”
The firm is currently recruiting community members in the US only, but Freud says there is high demand from other English-speaking countries including the UK, Canada and South Africa.
Author: Robert Bain
Published on the 31st August 2007 |
