Chapter 4 Managing Marketing Information to Gain Customer Insights Marketing Information and Customer Insights AKA Marketing Research Customer insights Fresh understandings of customers and the marketplace derived from marketing information that become the basis for creative customer value and relationships Marketing Information Systems People and procedures dedicated to assessing information needs developing the needed information and helping decision makers to use the information to generate and validate actionable customer and market insights Good Marketing Information Enables Marketers To Gain a competitive edge Reduce financial and image risks Determine consumer attitudes Monitor the environment Gather competitive intelligence Coordinate strategy Measure performance Improve advertising credibility Gain management support for decisions Verify intuition Improve effectiveness Prepare SWOT Be prepared Maximize performance Understand consumer needs in order to create value for customers Developing Market Information Can do this with o Internal Data Internal Databases electronic collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company o Marketing Intelligence Competitive marketing intelligence systematic collection and analysis of publicly available info about consumers competitors and developments in the marketing environment o Marketing Research systematic design collection and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization Steps to Market Research Step 1 Defining the problem and research objectives Exploratory Research gather preliminary info that will help define problems and suggest hypothesis Descriptive Research marketing research to better describe marketing problems situations or markets such as the market potential for a product or the demographic and attitudes of the customer Casual Research marketing research to test the cause and effect relationships Step 2 Developing the research plan for collecting information Types of Data Primary data data observed and recorded or collected directly from respondents Main Types of Primary Data Observational Research Ethnographic Research Survey Research Experiments and Quasi Experiments e g test markets Focus Groups Secondary data data compiled both inside and outside the organization for some purpose other than the current investigation Basically data that already exists you just have to look it up Sources of Secondary Data Internal Internal databases customer comments Financial statements sales reports External Pay someone who already has it Generally go for secondary data if you can then turn to primary data Advantages cost speed if you couldn t get it otherwise Disadvantages current relevant accuracy impartial involves gathering primary data by observing relevant people actions and Research Approaches Observational research situations Watch people in stores Shop alongs In homes Ethnographic research natural environment Consumer anthropologist Qualitative involves sending trained observers to watch and interact with consumers in their Survey Research is the most widely used method and is best for descriptive information knowledge attitudes preferences and buying behavior Flexible e g online by mail in person People can be unable or unwilling to answer Gives misleading or pleasing answers Privacy concerns Experimental research Controlled in the lab Companies also experiment with email and direct mail Called A B tesing is best for gathering causal information cause and effect relationships Focus Groups 6 to 10 people Trained moderator Challenges Expensive Difficult to generalize from small group Consumers not always open and honest One on one depth interviews With and without collaging Collecting primary data online through Internet surveys online focus groups Online market research Web based experiments or tracking consumers online behavior Online focus groups Using a brand s Facebook page for marketing research purposes Test Markets quasi experiments Not a full experiment because you re not comparing it Qualitative words videos collages vs Quantitative numbers data Contact Methods Mail Telephone Personal Interviewing Sampling Plan a segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole How should you contact consumers Mail Telephone Online Personal In home door to door Focus group Customer advisory boards Shopping mall intercept Who should you contact How should you measure consumers responses Questionnaires Mechanical Instruments People meters Checkout scanners Neuromarketing measuring brain activity to learn how consumers feel and respond Eye tracking cameras Types of Survey Questions Open ended What is your current marital status Closed ended What is your current marital status Check one Questionnaire Construction Multiple Choice Question What income group are you in 0 19 999 20 000 59 999 60 000 99 999 100 000 or more Scaled Response I feel comfortable speaking in large classes Strongly Agree 5 Strongly Disagree 4 3 1 6 2 7 Step 3 Implementing the research plan collecting and analyzing the data Step 4 Interpreting Research Findings Statistical Interpretation Analysis of survey data to determine what is typical or what deviates from the average that indicates How widely the responses vary How the responses are distributed Which hypotheses are supported Which hypotheses are rejected Whether construction errors have invalidated the survey s results Take an objective look at survey findings Report deficiencies and reasons for deficiencies Prepare a formal written document Summary and recommendations Short clear and simply expressed for executives Technical report gathered Contains more detailed information about research methods and procedures and important data Customer relationship management CRM managing detailed info about individual customers and carefully managing customer touch points to maximize customer loyalty Customer Touch Points customer purchases sale force contact service and support calls online site visits satisfaction surveys credit and payment interactions market research studies every contact between a customer and a company Other Marketing Information Considerations Marketing research in small business and nonprofit organizations International marketing research Public Policy and ethics in marketing research Intrusions on consumer privacy Misuse of research findings
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