Comments on NextStage Evolution's Methods and Technology

Ever since I met Joseph several years ago I was always fascinated by his ability to be so attentive to one's thoughts, emotions and physical messages. Since I do more speaking appearances and often meet with executives, I asked if he could coach me a little. The experience was revealing - it allowed me to uncover little things that will help me improve my verbal and non-verbal communication skills and even become more aware of others. - Stephane Hamel, Creator of WAMM, OAMM and Wasp, CardinalPath
Response from Jim Sterne: I actually wondered what sort of breakthrough you had made and, having met Joseph numerous times and learned important lessons from him, I understand.
Joseph doesn't teach a style or a method, he teaches how humans communicate. It's plain that he does it very well!
Thank you for caring about your audience enough to keep learning. And thank you Joseph, for your unique talents.

By chance, I had an opportunity to meet Joseph many years ago at a conference workshop he led. To say that the audience was spellbound captures some of the essence of Joseph's experience and expertise vis-a-vis how people think, respond, and act. With a cunning combination of anthropology, neuroscience, social design, and perhaps just a touch of magic, Joseph is able to work collaboratively with [web] entrepreneurs and provide astute recommendations to achieve the results you hope to achieve to grow your business. I enjoy working with Joseph and would recommend his work in a consultative, research, or lecture/seminar capacity without hesitation. - Eric Porres, CEO, Crowdifi

NextStage Tools, without surveys, provide deeper metrics than the Accenture team and I ever imagined possible, enabling continuous mid-project productivity and satisfaction improvements for any team member on nearly any kind of project. NextStage's Evolution Technology enables measurable ways of improving both business results and team member experience throughout the project lifecycle. It overcomes single process limitations by adapting to each situation and person. It's the best bet I've seen for achieving a world where staff can easily integrate outside resources into their work, multiplying each staff member's effectiveness through combined experience and collaborative innovation. - Adam Laughlin, SaveTheChildren.org

Through NextStage's products and services Joseph has demonstrated that there is more to measurement than simply reporting clicks. Solutions like OnSite, Sentiment Analysis, BlueSky etc are all innovative and highlight a new direction we might all be heading in when it comes to web tools. - Avinash Kaushik, Author, Google Analytics Evangelist

NextStage "provides empirical data about user profiles and reactions, which is difficult to obtain other ways, while protecting anonymity." - Gartner Cool Vendor Report 2010

I am enthralled by the level of insight Joseph brings to understanding the difference between how men and women react to marketing. - Susan Bratton, CEO, Personal Life Media

NextStage's patented technology uses mouse tracking techniques to collect subconscious behaviour, which is mapped to 70+ different personality types derived from traditional psycho and emotional cognitive behaviours from a 100k+ behaviours database. The technology also eliminates the need for first or third party cookies, giving a much more accurate read on unique visitors. It can even tell unique visitors apart on shared computers because the subconscious behaviour is different by user. ... [NextStage's Sentiment Mining technology] can be used in place of traditional qualitative research techniques and quantitative surveys, especially in the area of product development and response to design and communications. - Shaina Boone, Marketing Science Director, Critical Mass

...NextStage has come up with a new and definite success metric for the online economy. We will be taking their findings and working with partners to help them improve the overall effectiveness of their websites. - David Ireland, President OpenEdge Division, SVP Progress Software

To succeed in most marketing endeavors, you need equal parts creative and data - And NextStage, without doubts, provide some really exciting data points... - Dennis R. Mortensen, Entrepreneur, Author and Director of Data Insights, Yahoo

Companies need to start utilizing the ethnographic and sociologic research that NextStage is doing. - Annette Priest, Dell Usability Research Manager

I liked that [NextStage's Evolution Technology] assesses a lot of factors but does not intervene in personal behavior other than observing what people do when making decisions based on what they see (eg, how they navigate a web site) or as reflected in what they write. Also, I liked the way he views his working relationships with people -- see http://www.nextstagevolution.com/principles.cfm. - David Morf, Partner, Senior Regional Economics Advisor, and Founding Member, US Adaptive Health Solutions

Joseph is one of those guys I wish I had more time with because I always glean something new from every conversation. His no-nonsense approach and ability to help better understand and meet the needs of users/visitors online has been very valuable and provides a unique view on the success/failure of your online efforts. - Scott Baldwin, Manager, Web Services at North Shore Credit Union

Having Joseph's and NextStage's input and insight on emetrics.org is extremely valuable. - Matthew Finlay, RisingMedia.com

I just wanted to thank you for what I thought was among the best input at the conference. Very actionable and plenty of take-homes. ... I would travel far for a class like yours. - Ivan Bager, Velux A/S Strategic Marketing

[Joseph's] insights and views are something that a web analyst, marketing managers, site designers and anybody who has anything to do with site layout should be aware of. - Anil Batra on Web Analysis, Behavioral Targeting and Advertising

What you do and the experience you have is invaluable. - Slava Sambu, E-Business Analytics Manager, Vance Publishing Corp

I trust you to keep an open mind and to be as skeptical as I was. You can trust me to give it to you the way I see it. NextStage's ideas and methods are important to website success and indeed, to marketing success. If you are involved in marketing on any level, NextStage is important to you. It can help you be a better marketer, a more successful marketer, with much higher customer satisfaction scores than you are experiencing today. - Jim Sterne, Target Marketing, Emetrics Summit Organizer, WAA Founder

Joseph Carrabis is an intrepid explorer of human behavior. When he shares the wisdom he has accumulated throughout his diverse career; you can be sure I am there to learn. - Bryan Eisenberg, FutureNow, New York Times Best selling author of Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?, Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results and others

[NextStage has] developed a technology that is able to evaluate if a product, a site, a brochure etc.. will work without doing any focus group, testing or anything. How? They have compiled bazillion of data points on the behavior, attitudes, emotions, tastes, preferences of millions of western educated people and have derived a statistical model that allows to do predictive modeling for specific behavior. This is the type of technology that will make marketing leapfrog to neuromarketing. - Pierre Guillaume Wielezynski, Corporate Communications - Online Outreach, The World Bank Group

Software that can make a marketing neophyte Nostradamus with all of their marketing materials. Software that can give you the demographics of your site visitors without any of their personal data. Software that can tell users how to improve their marketing material to reach their intended audience. It is all here... - Investor memo describing NextStage's Evolution Technology

Blogtippee 3: BizMediaScience by Joseph Carrabis
Candor: I enjoy the relaxed and candid tone of this blog. The author engages readers while acknowledging his own quest for quality in the blogosphere as it relates to business. ... People who read the column regularly will have the chance to watch the evolution of the author from reluctant to a professional blogger. Back to the candor, Carrabis is open about his growth and it is quite endearing. For me the development and success of citizen journalism is wrapped in the ability of the blogger on online journalist to present well researched content. Not only is it obvious that Carrabis knows what he is talking about but when he is challenged, he is willing to look deeper in the subject matter and make sure the information presented is accurate and useful. - Kimberlee Morrison, Editorial Assistant, KnowMoreMedia.com

Carrabis' discussion provided fascinating insight to gender- and age-specific design principles-- a unique perspective that marketers should potentially explore more to learn more about the differences between women and men consumers and, ultimately, what makes them loyal customers. - IMedia Agency Summit '06

Interesting story: a while back I did a presentation on corporate blogging for Ziff-Davis. I remember reading a fantastic opinion/analysis paper about measuring value in blogs/wikis as part of my research. Sound familiar? Very, very useful stuff! Kudos on that, by the way, it was a gem compared to the majority of the other research/opinion/cruft that I looked at in preparing for that discussion... - Ed Moyle, SecurityCurve.com

NextStage has developed a capability for measuring user thought patterns and responses. Using their technology, two users can access the same file and the information could be presented in formats uniquely tailored to suit each user. That means the computer no longer treats all users in the same way, but can distinguish and adapt to user Bob versus user Sue dynamically. No longer do we have to learn how to use the computer, but the computer will have to start learning how to be used by us.- Jayson Lee, Sr. Developer, Mitre Corp

Marketing research methodologies that rely on questionnaires and standard surveys are inherently loaded with biases and errors related to the sampling frame, the survey instruments, the interviewers and the fact that the respondents know that they are being evaluated. NextStage is truly a non-biasing research tool with a lot of validity and reliability because it is based on non-conscious responses to information. This methodology offers a lot of advantages over traditional methods to evaluate the appeal and the benefits of a web site. - Eric Drouart, Former VP, International Operations, Bristol-Myers Squibb

A very interesting analysis indeed! ...I do believe that you have identified some quick wins for us. - Christian Schulze, Brand Communication & Services, Global BU Women's Healthcare, Bayer Schering Pharma AG

Recently I worked with a client on her website, which was overwhelming and confusing. We went to a 2 page format and her business inquiries and sales have increased dramatically. This supports your theory that people tune out with too much info. In her case, our mission was to communicate the flavor of her business and trust that curiosity would prompt action. It has indeed! ... Keep up the great work. - Adrienne Meredith, Publisher, Luxurious Weddings and Luxurious Weddings UK

What sold me on NextStage's Evolution Technology was calling NextStage one day while I was navigating a site they monitor and being asked, 'So what question did you have on the site?' before posing my question or telling them what I was doing!
Lots of people use caller ID to answer with personal greetings. But when Evolution Technology identifies my browsing patterns in seconds and informs NextStage I'm visiting a site they monitor as I'm doing it, I know this technology works! - Charles Wentworth, President, Shalmanezer.com

NextStage Evolution is doing things that months ago, we could not dream of and doing them REALLY well. 'Innovative' is not a strong enough term for what NextStage Evolution has done to the field of Internet marketing research. The ideas are revolutionary; the implications staggering. - Dave McCullough II, Marketing Analyst, WincoID

NextStage Evolution has repeatedly saved us time and money during contract negotiations and the interviewing process. It's ability to find hidden meanings in what people write has always helped us win the upper hand. - John Scullin, Director, Board of Health, Stoneham, MA

NextStage works at the intersection of business intelligence and web analytics and pulls amazing information out of data. - Robbin Steif, CEO, Lunametrics

...useful, quick primary research with a solid, actionable conclusion. I used persona modeling to redesign sites with some expensive consultants at prior jobs. Your work here would've stood on its own for my part. - Judah Phillips, Director of Web Analytics, {a very large but shy company}

What a concept: designing websites to workwith human beings the wayhumans interact naturally with the world about them! - Mark DeYoung, Principal Systems Engineer, Performance Engineering Specialist, HP

This is the closest thing to a crystal ball I've ever seen. - Rob Graham, ClickZ New Media columnist and Director, LearningCraft.com

I am a fan of yours and have incorporated your article on building a super sticky homepage into my recommendations for ManiaTV.com. You might be happy to know we have implemented a couple. Our site duration is at 39 minutes. - Jason Damata, Communications Manager, ManiaTV.com

I've worked with Joseph for three years and still find myself surprised by his truly unique perspective and insight. At the recent iMedia Brand Summit, his workshop was a big hit-- both enlightening and entertaining the participants. - Brad Berens, CCO and EIC, IMediaConnection

I think it is always interesting to watch how humans walk around a large space like a college campus. While sidewalks define the space in some ways, it is the paths worn in the grass that tell how people really walk around.
Traditional analytic tools are most comfortable measuring what's happening on the sidewalks. They measure force loads on predefined spaces.
Your tools don't really care about that. Your tools really are measuring the intersection of the the visitor and the true space they are navigating. - Matt Van Wagner, CEO, FindMeFaster