Link institute

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Link Marketing Services AG
legal form Corporation
founding 1981
Seat Lucerne , Switzerland
management Benedikt Lüthi
( Managing Director )
Sabine Frenzel
(Head of Social Research)
Stefan Reiser
(Head of Marketing Research)
Lukas Theiler
( COO / Head of Services)
Lodovico Simone
( Chairman of the Board of Directors )
Number of employees 118 (2017)
plus 900 interviewers
sales CHF 26 million (2017)
Branch Marketing and Social Research
Website www.link.ch

The Link Institut (spelling LINK Institut, officially Link Marketing Services AG ) with headquarters in Lucerne is an internationally active Swiss market research company . The provider collects representative surveys in the areas for various private companies and for public administration institutions and research institutions marketing research , social research , media research and mobility research. The data is collected through online surveys, CATI telephone surveys, digital data collection, personal individual and group surveys , mystery calling / mystery shopping and written surveys.

The Link institute operates in the German, French and Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland four telephone laboratories for computer-assisted interviews (CATI Center) and other institutions to collect data such as test studios and rooms for interviews for online surveys, the Link Institute claims to be an online -Access the panel with 115,000 participants recruited by telephone from Switzerland.

The shares of the unlisted Link Marketing Services AG are held by investors and the company's management.

history

The company was founded in 1981 by Joseph Stofer and Horst Heidemeyer. In 1984 it was the first Swiss market researcher to use internally developed software for computer-aided telephone interviews (TIP - Telephone Interview Program). In 1986 the TIP CATI system was supplemented by CASO (Computer Aided Sampling Organizer), software for managing deadlines and samples. A branch in Frankfurt was also set up in 1986, followed by the Lausanne location in 1987. The subsidiary Link qualitative AG was founded in 1989 to carry out contracts in the field of qualitative / psychological market and opinion research . In 1998 the institute began online surveys, for which an online panel recruited by telephone was set up.

In 2000 a branch was opened in Zurich and in 2009 another branch in Lugano. In 2011 the company began conducting telephone surveys using smartphones.

On April 23, 2012 Link Marketing Services AG merged with D&S Institute for Market and Communication Research AG . The company's German online panel was sold to Forsa in March 2016 ; the Frankfurt location was closed. In May 2019 the subsidiary Link qualitative AG was integrated into Link Marketing Services AG .

Business activity

The Link Institute divides its activities into the three business areas of marketing research, social research and services, each of which is the responsibility of a member of the executive board.

Marketing research

The marketing research department collects and analyzes data for European companies on the topics of reputation of brands and companies, customer segmentation , product development and pricing , optimization and controlling of marketing strategy , customer satisfaction and customer retention as well as analysis of consumer behavior.

On the basis of this data, the Link Institute provides consulting services that include a. aim to improve the business models of corporate customers, develop market potential and successfully place new products on the market.

The customers in the field of marketing research include the Swiss companies UBS , Swisscom , Credit Suisse , Migros , Coop , Salt Mobile , Ringier and Nestlé , the private media group Tamedia and the German companies Hornbach , DeutschlandCard and Axel Springer .

Next, the company manages on behalf of WEMF the MACH Studies. These are large, coherent surveys on media use ( MACH basic ) and leisure and shopping behavior ( MACH Consumer ) of the Swiss population, which have been carried out continuously since 1990 , and represent an important source of information for the Swiss economy and the media. As part of these investigations, the LINK Institute conducts 19,000 telephone interviews for MACH basic every year and also questions every second participant in writing for MACH Consumer .

Social research

The Link Institute collects data for population studies and surveys, which are commissioned by federal offices and other public administration bodies as well as universities and private organizations. Thematic focus lies in the field of labor market, health, education, politics, media and mobility research.

For example, it has been conducting the follow-up telephone surveys for the Federal Council following all federal referendums as part of the VOTO project since 2016 . A long-term cooperation exists with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, for which the Link Institute has carried out the Swiss Labor Force Survey (SLFS) since 1991 . For the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, it implemented the apprenticeship barometer from 1997 to 2017 (today: interface barometer ), at that time a survey of changes in the Swiss apprenticeship market.

On behalf of the Federal Office for Sport and other cooperation partners, the Link Institute collects data for the “Sport Switzerland” studies on the sporting behavior of the Swiss population, which take place every year. On behalf of the Federal Office of Communication, it took on the field work for the “Medienmonitor Schweiz” study. The Link Institute also collected data for the tobacco monitoring (study on tobacco consumption of the Swiss resident population) carried out by the Psychological Institute of the University of Zurich on behalf of the Federal Office of Public Health from 2001 to 2010.

The Link Institute has been conducting personal interviews for the University of Lausanne and the Swiss Social Sciences Competence Center since 2006 as part of the SHARE study (Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe).

The Link Institute regularly conducts representative surveys on political, social and cultural issues for the Swiss Radio and Television Company , other media organizations and other clients.

In addition to the broad-based population studies, there are other focal points of the activity in resident surveys on behalf of municipalities, cities, districts or cantons as well as employee surveys.

Services

The Services division provides services for marketing and social research. The Analytics department accompanies survey projects with regard to the creation of questionnaires, methodology of field work, data analysis and presentation of the results.

Methods

The Link Institute conducts telephone, internet, written and personal surveys. The range of methods also includes surveys that combine several of these approaches (mixed mode) as well as psychological-qualitative test procedures in individual and group settings.

CATI (computer-aided telephone interviews)

Computer-assisted telephone surveys are the Link Institute's main data collection method. According to the company, a total of around 600 telephone interviewers work at the locations in Lucerne, Zurich, Lausanne and Lugano. Due to the increasing number of households that no longer have a landline connection, the surveyors also use random digit dialing ( RDD ) to contact mobile phones in order to continue to show a representative cross-section of the population in the surveys.

According to the company, a short telephone survey on multiple topics is carried out every week . The sample of the so-called Link Swiss Trend phone comprises 500 interviews in all language regions of Switzerland.

For telephone surveys, the in-house software for computer-assisted telephone surveys TIP (Telephone Interviewing Program) as well as the internally developed software for the management of samples and appointments CASO (Computer Assisted Sample Organizer) are used.

Online surveys

For online surveys, Link Institut can use the participants in an online panel ( Link Internet Panel ). The company claims to have recruited 115,000 panelists phone to the representativeness to ensure. Online surveys are also conducted on mobile devices .

The Link Institute also states that it conducts a multi-topic survey with 1000 interviews in German and French-speaking Switzerland every week , the so-called Link Swiss Trend online .

Personal interviews

According to its own information, the Link Institute carries out personal surveys - also in the form of computer or tablet-based surveys ( CAPI ) - for customers who want location-based data collection, for example directly at the sales or event location. The company employs around 300 on-call interviewers throughout Switzerland for such surveys.

According to its own description, the Link Institute also conducts individual interviews and group discussions ( focus groups ) in its own business premises . In addition, simulated sales (shelf tests), concept, packaging and product tests can take place at all locations.

Written surveys

The Link Institute designs, prints and sends questionnaires according to its own design for its clients and records and processes the returned data. The digitization of the manually filled out paper questionnaires is usually done by machine reading, but can also be done in combination with personal computer-aided recording. For this, the company states that it uses external cooperation partners.

Mystery shopping

In order to record the customer experience in the retail and service sector, the Link Institute carries out mystery shopping projects (test purchases) for its clients, again according to its own information. The company recruits and trains suitable test persons who act as test buyers or test customers in advisory situations. In addition, it offers support in planning the examination and takes over the evaluation and presentation of the results.

public perception

The Link Institute is known to a broader public primarily through surveys for the Swiss federal administration. These represent an important decision-making basis for shaping the policy in the relevant areas.

According to a report in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung from 2004, the so-called silent monitoring is practiced in the telephone laboratories of the Link Institute, a method in which ongoing conversations are monitored by the supervisors for quality and training purposes. The income of hourly and on-call employees also depends in part on factors that they can hardly influence. In addition to a fixed gross hourly wage and bonuses for long-term employment relationships, the interviewees - mostly schoolchildren, students and re-entrants , but also employed people in secondary employment - receive a bonus that depends, among other things, on the number of so-called objectors, i.e. the number of people contacted by telephone who do not want to take part in the survey.

The Link Institute is confronted with a high fluctuation of part-time interviewers, even if their average employment period of three years is about twice as long as in classic call centers. A study carried out by the University of Zurich in 2019 on behalf of the company on factors that influence job satisfaction and the termination behavior of employees in the institute's own CATI center resulted in the Link Institute having a "dashboard" with quantitative and qualitative performance data that can be viewed by all interviewers introduced, institutionalized regular employee appraisals and made adjustments to the recruiting strategy and the salary model.

Memberships

The Link Institute is a member of the Association of Swiss Market and Social Research (vsms) . According to the rules and regulations, the members of the industry umbrella organization undertake, among other things, not to conduct any interviews for advertising or sales purposes, to adhere to data protection guidelines and to use scientifically proven methods in data collection and analysis.

The Link Institute is also a member of the Swiss Marketing SMC , the German Society for Online Research ( DGOF ) and the international European Society for Opinion and Market Research ( ESOMAR ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Homepage Link Institute. The institute - management. link.ch, accessed on December 16, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Entry by Link Marketing Services AG . Commercial register of the Canton of Lucerne, accessed on December 16, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Services. Link Institute, accessed on January 18, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Sabine Hedwig-Mohr: "We invest in technologies and the core business". Interview with Benedikt Lütt, CEO Link. In: Planning & Analysis. April 13, 2018, accessed January 25, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Pirmin Schilliger: Market research: data collector in the clinch. In: Handelszeitung (Ringier Axel Springer Schweiz AG). January 14, 2003, accessed March 19, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Homepage link institute. link.ch, accessed on August 5, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b Homepage Link Institute. The institute - references from our customers. link.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Homepage link institute. Methodology overview. link.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  9. ↑ a b c Homepage Link Institute. Services - survey methods. link.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  10. ↑ a b Homepage Link Institute. Test studios. link.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Homepage link institute. Online surveys - Link Internet Panel. link.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  12. ↑ a b Homepage Link Institute. The institute - history. link.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  13. ↑ a b Link Institute for Market and Social Research. (PDF) bw digitronic has been the IT security partner since 1996. bwdigitronik.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b c d e f Alexandra Wachenfeld: In search of representativeness. Online - offline or what works and what doesn't. Presentation at the GOR (General Online Research) Conference 2014. gor.de, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Commercial register data. Link qualitative AG. moneyhouse.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Link's survey division goes to forsa. horizont.net, March 18, 2016, accessed September 5, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Commercial register data. Link Institute for Market and Social Research GmbH, Bad Homburg vd Höhe. northdata.de, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Homepage link institute. Marketing research. link.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Homepage Do studies. mach-studien.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Marcel Korner: Positioning potentials of national daily newspaper brands (dissertation) . swissdigiprint GmbH, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-8381-1506-1 , The MACH research system ( [1] ).
  21. ^ Voto studies. The project participants. voto.swiss, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  22. ↑ a b Swiss Labor Force Survey (SLFS). bfs.admin.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Interface barometer - educational decisions after compulsory schooling. State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI, accessed on September 13, 2019 .
  24. ↑ a b Archive apprenticeship barometer. 2005-2017. sbfi.admin.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Sport Switzerland. lssfb.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Homepage Medienmonitor Schweiz. Study design and methodology. medienmonitor-schweiz.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Homepage Tobacco Monitoring Switzerland. Partner. tabakmonitoring.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  28. ^ Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe. Frequently Asked Questions - Who is behind this study? unil.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Link study for SRW examines attitudes towards handling data on the Internet. link.ch, November 21, 2018, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  30. ↑ SRG SSR (ed.): Population survey on climate change . October 2017 ( [2] [PDF]).
  31. ↑ Link-Institut conducts a survey on behalf of SRG on the trend for the National Council and Council of States elections. srf.ch, July 20, 1995, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Media usage in Switzerland: Netflix is ​​going off, Facebook is getting older and everyone is watching TV. watson.ch, November 21, 2018, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  33. ↑ That's what the Swiss fear. Tagesanzeiger.ch, July 31, 2015, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Joy and sorrow at work. nzz.ch, April 23, 2003, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  35. ↑ Retirement provision: The Germans are afraid, the young have no idea. finanzen.net, November 2, 2018, accessed on August 6, 2019 .
  36. ^ Daniela Baumann: Representative survey: Should Christmas be abolished? jesus.ch, November 29, 2018, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  37. ^ Dieter Liechti: Trend towards electric cars and hybrid vehicles. Lower CO2, April 18, 2018, accessed January 25, 2020 .
  38. ↑ Homepage link institute. Employee survey. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Homepage link institute. Survey of residents. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Link Analytics. (PDF) Depth of knowledge for your research questions. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  41. ↑ Homepage link institute. CATI surveys. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Environmental Survey - Technical Report. (PDF) ethz.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  43. ↑ Mobile Research. (PDF) Online surveys via mobile devices. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  44. ↑ Homepage link institute. Face-to-face. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  45. ↑ Homepage link institute. Link qualitative. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  46. ↑ Homepage link institute. Written surveys. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  47. ↑ Mystery Shopping. (PDF) Recording of the real customer view of the sales and consulting services at the point of sale. link.ch, accessed on September 6, 2019 .
  48. ↑ Homepage link institute. The institute - case studies. link.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  49. ^ Matthias Wilke, Eberhard Kiesche: New forms of surveillance in call centers: On the admissibility of voice analysis and "keyword spotting" . In: Computer and Work . No. 4, 2012.
  50. ↑ Jennifer Jahnke, Georg Rabbe: Praxishandbuch Call Center . Ed .: Call Center Academy NRW. 2001, ISBN 3-8311-1056-5 , Supervision and Coaching - Hand Tools , p. 90 ( [3] ).
  51. ↑ a b Rebekka Haefeli (Author abbreviation: ekk): "May I ask you a few questions?" In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. December 9, 2004, accessed February 29, 2020 .
  52. ↑ a b More motivation in the CATI center. Horizon, April 17, 2019, accessed February 29, 2020 .
  53. ↑ Homepage Association of Swiss Market and Social Research. Institutes. vsms-asms.ch, accessed on September 5, 2019 .
  54. ^ Corporate Members. dgof.de, accessed on September 7, 2019 .
  55. ↑ Benedikt Lüthi. esomar.org, accessed September 7, 2019 .

Web links