Prepared and presented by:-

Prashant Sakariya
Introduction to Consumer
Research
 Consumer Research is a form of applied
sociology that concentrates on
understanding the
preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of
consumers in a market based
economy, and it aims to understand the
effects and comparative success of
marketing campaigns. The field of
consumer marketing research as a
statistical science was pioneered by
Arthur Nielsen with founding of the
Introduction to Consumer
Research (cont..)
 The consumer research focuses more
on the data collection and relationship
building and strengthening between
the contracted consumer and the
company.
 For the action part, the company
identifies the participants and fixes
their problems.
Evolution of Consumer Research
 The early consumer researchers gave little thought
to the impact of mood, emotion or situation on
consumers decisions. They believed that marketing
was applied economics, and that consumers were
rational decision-makers who actively evaluated
the goods and services available to them and
selected those that gave highest utility at the
lowest cost.
 In 1939, a Viennese psychoanalyst named Ernest
Dichter began to use Freudian psychoanalyst
techniques to uncover the hidden motivation of
consumers which is commonly known as
Motivational research that includes Qualitative and
Quantitative research.
Consumer Research
Paradigms
 Usually customers hesitates to reveal
their reasons or motivational factor which
made them to purchase a product or
service at that time the consumer
researchers use the two different types
of research methodology to study
consumer behavior: quantitative
research and qualitative research.
Quantitative Research
 It is descriptive in nature and this method is used to
predict the consumer behavior. This method always
consists of experiments, surveys techniques, and
observations. The findings are empirical and if
collected randomly this can be generalized to large
populations and the data are quantitative, they lend
to sophisticated statistical analysis.
 Designs used in Quantitative Research
 Observational research
 Experimentation
 Surveys
 Observational research
Here in this method the people
or customers are observed when they
are purchasing the product or using the
product

Mechanical observation
Uses a mechanical or electronic
device to record customer behavior or
responses to a particular marketing
stimulus.
 Experimentation
It is possible to test the relative sales appeal of
many types of variables, such as package designs,
prices promotional offers, or copy themes through
experiments designed to identify cause and effect.

 Surveys

There are various survey methods are there they

are,
 personal interview survey

 telephone survey

 mail surveys

 online surveys
Qualitative research
 This includes depth interviews, focus groups, metaphor
analysis, and projective techniques. Here sample sizes
are necessarily small so we cannot generalized to
larger population they are used to obtain new ideas for
promotional campaigns.

 The important methods of data collection in this

research design are depth interview, focus group,
discussion guides, projective
techniques and metaphor analysis. These techniques
are regularly used the early stages of attitude research
to pinpoint relevant product related beliefs and to
develop an initial picture of consumer attitude.
 Depth interview:
This is a lengthy non structured interview
between a respondent and highly trained
interviewer, who minimizes his own participation in the
discussion after establishing the general subject to be
discussed

 Focus group:
This consist of 8 to10 respondents who
meet with a moderator analyst for a group discussion
“focused” on a particular product or product category.

 Projective techniques:
This is designed to tap the underlying
motives of individuals despite their unconscious
rationalizations or efforts at conscious concealment.
 Metaphor analysis:
In the 1990, a stream of
consumer research emerged suggesting
the most communication is non verbal and
that people do not think in words but in
images.
Combining qualitative and
quantitative research
 Marketers often use a combination of quantitative
and qualitative research to help make strategic
marketing decisions. For Example, They use
qualitative research findings to discover new ideas
and to develop promotional strategy, and
quantitative research findings to predict consumer
reactions to various promotional inputs. The
combined findings enable marketers to design
more meaningful and effective marketing
strategies.
Scope of Consumer Research
 Market Research:
 Determining the size of current and potential
markets;
 Assessing the purchase trends;
 Assessing the strengths and weakness of the
competitors offerings;
 Demand/Sales Forecasting
 Product Research:
 Assessing modifications needed in the product;
 Consumer acceptance/ rejection of the product;
 Comparative study of competitive products.
 Advertising Research:
Testing of:
 Advertising message and appeal;
 Effectiveness and add. Copy;
 Media Related Research;
 Over all effectiveness of the Ad.

 Pricing Research:
 Consumer’s price expectations and reaction to
prices;
 Testing of alternative price strategies.
 Positive Aspects Of Consumer
Research
 Here Both consumers and marketers can
benefit from consumer research.
Consumers generally have better
consumption experiences, and marketers
can learn to build stronger relationships by
paying attention to consumer research:
1. Better Consumption Experiences
2. Potential For Building Customer
Relationships
Negative Aspects Of Consumer
Research
 Consumer research is a very complex
process, with a number of potentially negative
aspects. These include the following difficulties:

1.Tracking Consumer Behaviors In Different

Countries.
• Ex: Focus Group are not appropriate in all
countries or U.S. marketers often put
husbands and wives together in a focus
group to explore attitudes toward products
like furniture. However, this approach would
not work in countries like Saudi Arabia where
women are unlikely to speak freely and are
highly unlikely to disagree with their
husbands.
2.Potentially Higher Marketing Costs.
3.Invasion Of Consumer Privacy.
4.Deceptive Research Practices
• some unscrupulous researchers may engage
in deceptive practices. One such practice is
lying about the sponsor of the research
by, saying it is being conducted by a non-profit
organization when it is really being conducted
by a for profit company.