Marketing

CH4: Marketing Research

Topic Outline

Assessing Marketing Information Needs

Developing Marketing Information
Marketing Research
Analyzing Marketing Information
Distributing and Using Marketing Information
Other Marketing Information Considerations

Marketing Information and Customer Insights

Marketing Information
Consumer needs and motives for buying are difficult to determine.
Required by companies to obtain customer and market insights
Generated in great quantities with the help of information technology and online sources
Customer Insights are:

Fresh and deep insights into customers needs and wants

Difficult to obtain
Not obvious
Customers unsure of their behavior
Not derived from more information but better information and more effective use of
existing information
Companies are forming customer insights teams
Include all company functional areas
Use insights to create more value for their customers
Customer controlled could be a problem
Marketing information system (MIS): consists of people and procedures for:
Assessing the information needs
Developing needed information
Helping decision makers use the information to generate and validate
actionable customer and market insights
Assessing Marketing Information Needs MIS provides information to the companys
marketing and other managers and external partners such as suppliers, resellers, and
marketing service agencies

Characteristics of a Good MIS Balancing what the information users would

like to have against what they need and what is feasible to offer
-Users Needs
-MIS Offerings

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CH4: Marketing Research

The Marketing Information System

Developing Marketing Information

Marketers obtain information from

Internal databases are electronic collections of consumer and market

information obtained from data sources within the company network
Advantage: Information can be accessed quickly and economically.
Disadvantages: Data ages rapidly and may be incomplete. Maintenance and
storage of data is expensive.

Marketing intelligence is the systematic collection and analysis of publicly available

information about consumers, competitors, and developments in the marketplace
Advantages: Gain insights about consumer opinions and their association with the
brand Gain early warnings of competitor strategies, new product launches or changing
markets, and potential competitive strengths and weaknesses Help firms to protect their
own information
Disadvantage: May involve ethical issues

Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of

data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization
Approaches followed by firms: Use own research departments Hire outside research
specialists Purchase data collected by outside firms

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The Marketing Research Process

1-Defining the Problem and Research Objectives

Exploratory research
Descriptive research
Causal research
Exploratory research
Marketing research to gather preliminary information that will help
define problems and suggest hypotheses.
Descriptive research
Marketing research to better describe marketing problems,
situations, or markets, such as the market potential for a product or
the demographics and attitudes of consumers.
Causal research
Marketing research to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect
relationships.

2-Developing the Research Plan

Outlines sources of existing data

Spells out :the specific research approaches, contact methods, sampling plans, and
instruments to gather data
Should be presented in a written proposal

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Written Research Plan Includes:

Secondary data consist of information that already exists somewhere, having been collected
for another purpose
Sources: Companys internal database Purchased from outside suppliers Commercial
online databases Internet search engines

Primary data consist of information gathered for the special research plan
Planning Primary Data Collection

Research Approaches
Observational research involves gathering primary data by observing relevant people, actions,
and situations
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Ethnographic research involves sending trained observers to watch and interact with
consumers in their natural environment
Survey research is the most widely used method and is best for descriptive information
knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior
Flexible
People can be unable or unwilling to answer
Gives misleading or pleasing answers
Privacy concerns
Experimental research is best for gathering causal informationcause-and-effect
relationships

Contact Methods
Mail, Telephone, and Personal Interviewing
Mail questionnaires are used to collect large amounts of information at a low cost per
respondent. Telephone interviewing gathers information quickly, while providing flexibility.
Personal interviewing methods:
Individual interviewing Group interviewing

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Focus Groups
Six to 10 people with a trained moderator
Challenges
Expensive
Difficult to generalize from small group
Consumers not always open and honest
Focus group interviewing
Personal interviewing that involves inviting six to ten people to gather for a few
hours with a trained interviewer to talk about a product, service, or organization.
The interviewer focuses the group discussion on important issues.
Online marketing research
Collecting primary data online through Internet surveys, online focus groups,
Web-based experiments, or tracking consumers online behavior.

Online marketing research

Internet surveys
Online panels
Online experiments
Click-stream data
Online focus groups

Gathering a small group of people online with a trained moderator to chat about a
product, service, or organization and gain qualitative insights about consumer
attitudes and behavior
Online Research
.

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Sampling Plan
Sample is a segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the
population as a whole
Who is to be surveyed?
How many people should be surveyed?
How should the people be chosen?

Research Instruments In collecting primary data, marketing researchers have a choice of two
main research instruments: the questionnaire and mechanical devices.
Questionnaires

Most common
Administered in person, by phone, or online
Flexible
Watch working and ordering of questions
Closed-end questions include all possible answers, and subjects make choices among
them
Provide answers that are easier to interpret and tabulate
Open-end questions allow respondents to answer in their own words
Useful in exploratory research

Mechanical Instruments. Although questionnaires are the most common

research instrument, researchers also use mechanical instruments to monitor
consumer behavior.
Mechanical devices
People meters
Checkout scanners
Neuro-marketing
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3-Implementing the Research Plan The researcher next puts the marketing research
plan into action. This involves:

4- Interpreting and Reporting

Responsibilities of the market researcher: Interpret the findings Draw conclusions
Report findings to management
Responsibilities of managers and researchers: Work together closely when interpreting
research results Share responsibility for the research process and resulting decisions

Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Managing detailed

information about individual customers Carefully managing customer
touch points to maximize customer loyalty
Consists of software and analytical tools that:
Integrate customer information from all sources Analyze data in depth
Apply the results

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Customer Relationship Management Touchpoints

Distributing and Using Marketing Information MIS must make information readily
available for decision-making.
Routine information for decision making Non-routine information for special situations
Intranets and extranets facilitate the information sharing process.

Other Marketing Information Considerations

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-Marketing Research in Small Businesses and Nonprofit Organizations

-International Market Research

-Public Policy and Ethics
Customer privacy
Misuse of research findings
Misuse of Research Findings Few advertisers rig their research designs or deliberately
misrepresent the findings.
Solutions: Development of codes of research ethics and standards of conduct
Companies must accept responsibility to protect consumers best interests and their own.
International Marketing Research
The problems faced include: Dealing with diverse markets Finding good secondary data
in foreign markets Developing good samples Reaching respondents Handling differences
in culture, language, and attitudes toward marketing research The cost of research is high
but the cost of not doing it is higher.
Intrusions on Consumer Privacy
Failure to address privacy issues results in: Angry, less cooperative consumers
Increased government intervention Best approach for researchers: Asking only for the
information they need Using the information responsibly to provide customer value
Avoiding sharing the information without the customers permission

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CH4: Marketing Research
Marketing Research in Small Businesses and Nonprofit Organizations

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