A NEWSLETTER FOR SUPPORTERS OF CONSUMER REPORTS - SPRING 2015

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It first appeared in the spring of 1939, when Consumer Reports was barely three years old. The CU Questionnaire (as it was then called) asked CR members for help in improving the content of the magazine and assuring the relevance of its mission. Despite budgetary constraints and a still-evolving identity, that two-page document looked to the future and asked readers about their shopping habits, what products and services they would like to see reviewed, and how technical the magazine’s reports should be.

Now, almost 80 years later, the Annual Questionnaire (or AQ, as it's now called) is still collecting data and playing an indispensable role in the information Consumer Reports provides to its more than seven million subscribers. With almost 800,000 respondents annually, and more than one million submissions on automobile reliability, it’s quite possible that only the U.S. census has a wider reach.

As you would expect, Consumer Reports has been at the forefront of reporting and evaluating the effects that societal changes, marketplace innovations, and new technologies have on consumers. Throughout its history, the survey has reflected that. The first Automobile Reliability survey appeared in 1954; telephone calls were added as a survey mechanism in 1974; questions about computer usage debuted in 1983; and in the late 1990s we asked you about your encounters with lawyers, retail stores, airlines, and HMOs.

The latest survey innovation is taking place this year—the AQ will change from a once-a-year format to more concise quarterly questionnaires that will include more than 50 topics. These more frequent tallies will improve communication with our readers and consistently provide more up-to-date information. We are fortunate that Consumer Reports subscribers can be characterized as “good citizens,” trustworthy and conscientious advocates who are willing to take the time to complete a survey that will add valuable firsthand information to our research and help others choose the best—and avoid the worst—products and services.

Steve Witten, the Director of Survey Research, and his team approach their job with scientific rigor and a keen understanding of human psychology and behavior. That approach is essential when considering the ultimate function of the survey, which hasn’t changed since 1939: “to improve the Reports.” Without the participation of so many loyal CR supporters, that would be next to impossible. In the Consumer Reports tradition of objectivity, the Questionnaires seek, not your opinion, but rather your quantifiable experience with and considered judgment of products and services. Your participation and responses really matter.

Your experiences with product performance and repairs provide essential data that help us determine the reliability of a brand or a product over its lifespan. That chronicle of durability enhances our technical work and expert observations with real and pertinent user information. And all those experiences are pooled and summarized in Reliability Ratings that we publish along with our product reviews.

We also count on you to tell us how you actually use products. Your observations about good and bad features not only speak to the relative value of a product but also help us set test protocols that can simulate real-world use. That makes our lab tests more like real life, and enriches our evaluations. While product specifications, technological features and innovations may be an indicator of how useful a product might be, the experiences of real users help us publish a more complete evaluation.

Most services, of course, can’t be tested in a lab, and what you have to say about those gives us the means to provide credible ratings. Cell-phone carriers, hotels, supermarkets, and Internet providers are just some of the categories where your input helps our editors and writers with their research and enables them to report real-world experience.

Our aim at Consumer Reports is not to tell you what to buy but instead to provide an objective assessment that helps you to determine which product is best suited to your needs and budget. So whether you’re looking for cutting-edge technology or an inexpensive and reliable workhorse, the information we get from our surveys helps you make a decision by providing an added dimension to the testing process.

In a very real sense, the steady evolution of the CU Questionnaire over the years has allowed it to be an interface between Consumer Reports subscribers and our editorial and testing coverage. It has given a voice to any consumer who cares to participate in a meaningful dialogue with our experts, and it has given our experts the opportunity to better understand how the products they test perform in the real world.

Subscribers who have been receiving the CR Questionnaire through the mail can sign up to receive the electronic version by filling out the form at ConsumerReports.org/AQenroll.

Over the past several months W3-3, a nondescript meeting room on the third floor of CR’s headquarters in Yonkers, has been transformed from an occasionally used place for routine staff functions into an exciting hub of activity and innovation. The recently organized “Rebuild” team has semi-permanently decamped there and over the course of a typical ten-hour day they meet and engage with an assortment of CR experts. Their mandate is significant: bringing a better and more interactive Consumer Reports to you. Walking by, we’ve gotten used to seeing a couple of dozen animated people, some standing, some sitting; at computers or feverishly writing on whiteboards; conversing and arguing; or deep in thought.

Their ultimate goal is to make sure that we provide the most up-to-date information and best possible user experience for every CR user. It’s an unprecedented effort to apply our legendary product knowledge and testing ability to address the real concerns of our constituency. Whether you consider yourself an average consumer, something of a techie, or a full-fledged geek, we have what you are looking for. The team’s challenge has been to combine CR’s marketplace wisdom and decades-old product-testing experience with the personalized service that consumers expect in the digital age. We are ensuring that the values espoused in our first issue of May 1936, to empower consumers with the knowledge to protect themselves and ensure a safe marketplace, will stay relevant for whatever high tech developments the future holds.

Cara Determan, Director of User Experience, and project leader says, “We are at a crossroads. We need to reimagine the CR experience in light of what consumers really want. What we are accomplishing with Rebuild. Reboot. will make us the best in a rapidly changing and highly competitive marketplace.”

Taking the journey together

On any given day in the Rebuild Room you may find an electronics engineer, web developer, software specialist and TV expert sitting next to and learning from one another. This cross-functional approach results in incredible collaborative effort and cooperation. The experts are all in the same room and on the same page, having the same conversation in real time, and trying to find the best solutions to your problems so we can respond to your needs as quickly as possible.

The project is initially focusing on cellphones, TV’s and computers, all rapidly and constantly evolving products essential to the pace of modern life. Unfortunately, those devices can be inscrutable to the uninitiated or casual user, both in terms of which product to buy and how to use it when you take it home. Rather than guess what you want or presume what you ought to know, the rebuild team adopted a new approach. Dubbed “walk a mile,” it has made the team more empathetic with consumers and better equipped to present CR information in a more meaningful and informative way. It’s a simple but mindset-altering concept that begins as a listening exercise.

Getting to know you

Here’s one example of how it works: After interviewing scores of customers about their experiences with cell phones, we were able to determine the “pain points” in the customer’s journey. Confusion and anxiety arose from numerous sources including the overwhelming variety and complexity of cell phone features, to difficulty in understanding and comparing usage plans.

Equipped with this first-hand knowledge the team then left the comfort of their offices and ventured into the mystifying world of electronics retailers. Their mission: to buy products just as you would. Despite their pre-shopping research using the latest CR information—and the insights they’ve gleaned from working in the very building where the products are tested and the experts are embedded—they felt like the typical consumer: befuddled and bullied by fast-talking salesmen and bewildering product specs. So when the time came to actually buy a phone, they were unsure of what product would best suit their needs. Smart shopping was a much more difficult and less enjoyable endeavor than anticipated.

Those humbling excursions reinforced the realization that we need you, our readers and supporters, to help us become better. Once the staff “walked a mile in your shoes,” their approach to the best way to present information to consumers was transformed. They understood the importance of matching our research with pageyour needs. They realized the futility of trying to figure out what your problem might be. Lab work is essential but so is the input of real consumers. We are listening to what you say because you are telling us how we can help you. You are asking the questions and pointing out the problems, so we can find the answers. That means staying with you through your research and shopping, and then helping you use and maintain the product.

This project was the genesis for a new app called CrowdSignal that sources user reviews of cell phone carriers and enables consumers to share information and experiences that can be enriched by CR’s expertise. Ultimately, this approach and redesign will increase the relevancy and utility of all of our product ratings. In the short term, similar projects are planned for other electronics (we are currently working on TV’s) and what we learn will help us redesign our product assessments and the way information is presented in our reporting.