Customer Maze Ltd was set up in July 2005 by Bob Carter and Gary Lowthian. Both already manage successful companies, namely Carrier Direct Marketing and Strategic Tourism respectively, and it was from working with clients within these organisations that they recognised a need for a fresh approach to research.

Bob is based in North Devon and set up Carrier Direct Marketing [CDM] in 1992. CDM offers a range of marketing services, but has a mailing house and contact centre at its core.

Gary is based in York and set up Strategic Tourism Ltd [STL] in 2002, after spells at VisitScotland, Cumbria Tourist Board and Yorkshire Tourist Board. STL offers business and marketing consultancy services to the tourism sector.

Both directors have worked together since 1998
on various projects, but it was direct client feedback that convinced them to set up Customer Maze. Put simply, they recognised that clients want straightforward, practical recommendations from research projects that can then be acted on; too often they would find out the ‘what’ or even the ‘why’, but rarely the ‘what should we do now as a result of this research?’.

From our research and mystery shopping programmes, our aim is to offer straightforward, actionable recommendations which can be used to improve the performance of your business.