Market Research

The Role of Marketing Research

What is Marketing Research?

● Marketing Research - the process of defining a marketing problem and opportunity,
systematically collecting and analyzing information and recommending actions
○ Can reduce risk of - and thereby improve - marketing decisions

The Challenges in Doing Good Marketing Research

● How can marketing research determine if consumers will buy a product they have never
seen, and never thought about, before?
● How can marketing research obtain answers that people know but are reluctant to reveal
● How can marketing research help people accurately remember and report their interests,
intentions and purchases
5 Step Market Research Approach

1. Define the Problem/Issue/Opportunity

● Objectives - specific, measurable and achievable goals
Identify Possible Marketing Actions
● Measures of success - Criteria or standards used in evaluating proposed solutions to
the problem
2. Develop the Research Plan
Information Requirements
● Collect information that is interesting but not relevant to the task at hand
Collection Methods
● Determining the way in which data will be collected, methodology, cost, efficiently and
accuracy of results are important considerations
Sampling
● Sampling - the process of gathering data from a subset of the total population rather
from all member of that particular group
● Probability Sampling - selecting a sample so that each element of a population has a
specific known chance of being selected
● Non-probability sampling - selecting a sample so that the chance of selecting a
particular element of a population is either unknown or zero
3. Collect Relevant Information

● Data - Facts and figures related to the project that are divided into two main parts
● Secondary Data - facts and figures that have already been recorded by a third party
● Primary Data - data that is original and specifically collected for a project
Secondary Data
● Page 98 Figure 4-3, Market research sources
Secondary data: Internal
● Internal data - exists within a company and can include data derived from data analytics
● Secondary data can be broken up into two parts
1. Marketing input data - relate to the effort expended to make sales
2. Marketing outcome data - relates to the results of the marketing efforts
Secondary Data: External
● External data - comes from published source outside the organization
● Syndicated panel - data economically answer questions that require consistent data
collection over time
Primary Data
1. Secondary data may be out of date
2. Definitions of categories of preexisting data may not be right for the product
3. Data may not be accurate or specific to the study

Qualitative Primary Research

Focus Groups
● Focus Groups - usually 6 -10 people meet for a few hours with a trained moderator to
discuss predetermined areas

In-Depth Interviews
● In-depth interviews - Research questions and individual at alengt in a free- flowing
conversational style in order to discover information that may help solve a marketing
problem

Online Research Communities

● Online research communities - the use of consumer groups, brought together
privately in an online environment to answer questions, respond to ideas and collaborate
with researchers in real time

Online Research Bulletin Boards

● Online research bulletin boards - private online static forums without real time
dialogue where respondents can post their response to questions posted by reachers

Social Listening
● Social listening - monitors public online consumer conversations and images on social
media sites

Quantitative Primary Research

 1. Observational Research
● Observational research - obtained by watching how people behave in person or
by suing a machine to record the event
2. Surveys
● Questionnaire - obtain information by posting standardized questions through
surveys that can be conducted in person through the mail, telephone or internet
● Syndicated Studies - a hybrid of primary and secondary research where the
cost of a research study is shared among clients and made available at a price to
interested parties
● Panel - large sample of respondents that voluntarily complete questionnaires on
a regular basis so that researchers can assess changes in behaviour and
attitudes
● Omnibus Survey - voluntary participation of respondents in routing research
surveys that allow marketers to add a small number of questions to an existing
survey to receive cost effective data
● Collect Relevant Information
○ Personal Interview
○ Telephone Survey
○ Mail Survey
○ Internet Survey
● Mistakes to Avoid when writing survey questions
1. Leading or loaded questions
2. Non-specific questions
3. Missing options
4. Asking two questions at one time
5. Confusing wording
3. Experiments
● Experiment - changing a variable involved in a a customer purchase to find out what
happens
● Test Market - An in market localized approach, or short-term online destination, used to
test the success of promotional offers, new services or new product launch
○ time-consuming costly and visible to the competition
○ Simulated or in-market test markets

4. Develop Findings
 ● After data has been collected, it has to be compiled, analyzed and summarized so that it
can be turned into actionable information
Metrics
● Metrics - numerical data that is collected and grouped to track performance
○ Easy to understand
○ Available on a regular basis
○ Actionable and impact the business
● Key performance indicators - types of metrics that are used to evaluate performance
● Market share - % of sales volume for a product, relative to the entire sales volume of the
category in which it competes
● Brand development Index (BDI) - index that shows how well a brand's sales are
developed in a region relative to the region's population.
Analyze the Data
Big Data, Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence
● Big Data - large amounts of data collected from a variety of sources and analyzed with
an increasingly sophisticated set of technologies
 ● Information technology - Includes all the computing resources that collect, store and
analyze data
Data Mining and Predictive Modeling
● Data mining - process of large amounts of data using sophisticated software to find
insightful correlations and patterns that lead to better business decisions
● Predictive Modeling - based on statistical models that use data morning and
probability analysis to foretell outcomes
Analytics
Descriptive Analytics
● Descriptive analytics - type of analytics that focuses on what has happened
● Web Analytics - the measurement and analysis of website data, looking at elements
such as page views, time on site, bounce rate, new visitors, returning visitors and refer
all traffic
● Social analytics - social media analytics
● RFM Analysis
○ Recency - where purchased
○ Frequency - how often purchased
○ monetary - dollar value of transaction
Predictive Analytics
● Predictive analytics - the combination of data from varied sources to reveal patterns
that are modeled to predict what might happen in the future \
● Data can be combined from
○ CRM databases
○ Social media Analytics
○ Marketing program metrics
○ Customer service database
○ Purchased data

5. Step Marketing Actions

Evaluate the Results
● 2 aspects of this evaluation process
1. Evaluating the decision itself
2. Evaluating the decision process used
The Future of Market Research
● Ethically and legally, privacy should be top-of-mind
○ Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
○ Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)
○ Canadians Marketing Association (CMA)
○ Privacy Commissioner of Canada
○ Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA)