Scout Labs Rolls Out Real-Time Market Research

Want to know what your consumers really think? Track their tweets. For companies that want real-time, real honest feedback, Scout Labs has just rolled out an updated version of its web-based service that scours the Internet in search of the latest buzz around your brand.

Designed for corporate marketing departments or agencies that want to keep tabs on the tweets, blogs, Facebook posts or media articles written about them, Scout Labs delivers all of this on a comprehensive, customized dashboard that can be viewed online or sent via email alerts. Users also receive photos, videos and forum discussions pertaining to their brand. And it’s not just their own product they can track – users also receive recent news articles on their industry and competitor brands.

With the constant flurry of activity on the Internet, keeping up with who said what about your brand could consume hours every day – and even then, chances are pretty high you would miss out on valuable rants, raves, reports, or reviews. With Scout Lab, organizations get the opportunity to know exactly what customers are chatting about almost instantly. You just can’t get any more real-time than that.

The new version allows users to receive email alerts about a tweet and then forward to another employee for action or follow-up. Talk about customer service.  Content is also filtered for spam and porn. Best of all, not only is set-up easier than other forms of market research, it’s cheaper too. Monthly fees range from $199 to $4,499 depending on the number of searched topics or brands and the amount of information needed.

Even at the high end, it’s still a major savings over the traditional – and often inaccurate – focus groups where intimidation or peer pressure can influence what consumers say. On a BlackBerry, however, it’s a different story.