Customer insights
Fresh understandings of customers and the marketplace derived from marketing information that become the basis for creating customer value and relationships.
Marketing information system (MIS)
People and procedures for assessing information needs, developing the needed information, and helping decision makers to use the information to generate and validate actionable customer and market insights.
Internal databases
Electronic collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company network.
Marketing intelligence
The systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors, and developments in the marketing environment.
Marketing research
The systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization.
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.
Secondary data
Information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose.
Primary data
Information collected for the specific purpose at hand.
Commercial online databases
Computerized collections of information
Observational research
Gathering primary data by observing relevant people, actions, and situations.
Ethnographic research
A form of observational research that involves sending trained observers to watch and interact with consumers in their "natural habitat.
Survey research
Gathering primary data by asking people questions about their knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior.
Experimental research
Gathering primary data by selecting matched groups of subjects, giving them different treatments, controlling related factors, and checking for differences in group responses.
Focus group interviewing
Personal interviewing that involves inviting six to ten people to gather for a few hours with a trained interviewer to talk abou.t 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 focus groups
Gathering a small group of people online with a trained moderator to chat about a product, service, or organization and gain qualitative insight about consumer attitudes and behavior.
Sample
A segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole.
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Managing detailed information about individual customers and carefully managing customer "touch points" in order to maximize customer loyalty.
When to do Marketing Research
Value versus cost: consider value of information versus the cost of conducting research;
low value = tweaking an old product;
high value =a new product with major investment;
Uncertain about Results: research should provide insight, not be used to justify
Define the Problem
Must define what questions the research is to answer;
should be done before conducting research;
are you asking the right questions?
Developing the Research Plan
Questions, objectives, define results (what does a 70 mean? good or bad)
Secondary data
Data which was collected for another reason:
Internal - previous research, customer data, etc;
External - demographics, census, Nielsen data
Primary data
Data collected specifically for the research;
Research approaches;
Contact methods;
Sampling;
Research instruments;
Primary data research approaches
1. Observation;
2. Panel and single source data systems;
3. Surveys;
4. Experiment;
Primary data research approaches: Observation
cheap,
tells what but not always why people do something
Primary data research approaches: Panel and single source data systems
group discussion over time;
single source - data collected from a single person (Nielsen)
Primary data research approaches: Surveys
must be well designed;
a) Traditional: online, comment cards, in person;
b) Motivational research: ask "what someone else would do", write stories, take pictures, hypnosis;
Primary data research approaches: Experiment
a) Field: test markets, individual changes - then combined;
b) Lab: fake grocery store;
Primary data contact methods
1. Mail: anonymous; can use pictures, diagrams;
2. Telephone:quick; not good for personal issues;
3. Personal Interview: "mall intercept"; can use video; small sample but high cost; good for exploration;
4. Focus groups: 6-8 people, can be long-term;
5. O
Primary data sampling
1. probability:
everyone has the same chance of being chosen;
start with list, then randomly choose to limit bias;
small sample size is cheaper;
2. nonprobability: ask people who walk by;
Primary data research instruments
1. questionnaire: surveys, registration cards ;
2. mechanical instruments: Nielsen box, track eye movement
Implementing the Research Plan
must be objective and well design; hire a professional
Interpreting and Reporting the Findings
Make decision rules before getting results;
independent firms would not be invested in results = impartial
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
focus on customer
Customer Needs Assessment
A. Focus Groups;
B. In-depth interviews: expensive;
C. Customer satisfaction surveys;
D. Observation: watch someone use product;
E. Customer advisory groups: important customers;
F. Ghost (mystery) shopping: cheap
Marketing Research in small businesses
use inexpensive techniques;
observation, focus groups, interviews
International Marketing Research
difficult to conduct;
secondary data may not be reliable
Ethics in Marketing Research
customer privacy: filter out personal data;
leading questions: push polls - pretending to be researcher, then ask questions