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Managing Chapter Marketing Information to Gain Customer Insights
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Chapter 1
The Importance of Marketing Information and Customer Insights
Companies need information about their:
Customers
needs Marketing environment Competition
Marketing managers do not need more
information, they need better information that provides insights, which are useful for decision making.
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Customer Insights
Customer insights:
Fresh
understandings of customers and the marketplace derived from marketing information that become the basis for creating customer value and relationships.
Firms use customer insights to develop
competitive advantage. Customer insight teams are replacing traditional market research departments.
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Marketing Information System
Marketing information system (MIS):
Consists
of 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. Assess information needs Develop needed information Analyze and use information
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The MIS helps managers to:
1. 2. 3.
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Assessing Information Needs
A good MIS balances the information
Sometimes
users would like against what they really need and what is feasible to offer.
the company cannot provide the needed information because it is not available or due to MIS limitations. MIS efforts are costly. Firms must decide whether the value of the insights gained from more information is worth the cost.
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Developing Marketing Information
Internal databases:
Electronic collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company network. Systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors, and developments in the marketing environment. Systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization.
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Marketing intelligence:
Marketing research:
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Marketing Research Process
The marketing research process involves:
Defining
the problem and research objectives. Developing the research plan for collecting information. Implementing the research plancollecting and analyzing the data. Interpreting and reporting the findings.
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Defining Problem and Objectives
Defining the problem is often the most difficult step
of the research project. Research objectives may include:
Exploratory
Gathering preliminary information that will help
define the problem and suggest hypotheses.
research:
Descriptive
Generating information to better describe marketing
problems, situations, or markets.
research:
Causal
Testing hypotheses about cause-and-effect
relationships.
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research:
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Developing the Research Plan
Requires:
Determining the exact information needed. Developing a plan for gathering it efficiently. Presenting the written plan to management.
The research plan outlines:
Sources of existing data. Specific research approaches. Contact methods. Sampling plans. Instruments for data collection.
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Gathering Secondary Data
Secondary data:
Information
that already exists somewhere which has been collected for another purpose. Common sources of secondary data:
Internal databases Commercial data services Government sources
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Secondary Data
Advantages:
Available
Disadvantages:
Needed
more quickly and at a lower cost than primary data. Can sometimes lead to information that an individual firm could not gather itself.
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information may not exist as secondary data. Secondary data must be carefully evaluated for relevancy, accuracy, currency, and impartiality.
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Primary Data Collection
Secondary data rarely provides all of the
necessary information, forcing firms to collect primary data.
Primary data:
Consists
of information collected for the specific purpose at hand. Primary data must be relevant, accurate, current, and unbiased.
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Primary Data Collection
Designing a primary data collection plan
involves making decisions related to the:
Research Contact
approach:
Observation, survey, or experiment
methods: plan: instruments:
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Mail, telephone, personal, or online
Sampling Research
Sampling unit, sample size, and sampling procedure Questionnaire or mechanical instruments
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Observational Research
The gathering of primary data by observing
relevant people, actions, and situations.
Can
obtain information that people are unwilling or unable to provide. Cannot be used to observe feelings, attitudes, and motives, and long-term or infrequent behaviors.
Ethnographic research:
Observation
in the natural habitat Yields richer understanding of consumers
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Survey and Experimental Research
Survey research:
Most
widely used method for primary data collection. Approach best suited for gathering descriptive information. Can gather information about peoples knowledge, attitudes, preferences, or buying behavior.
Experimental research:
Tries
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to explain cause-and-effect relationships.
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Contact Methods
Mail surveys Telephone surveys Personal interviews:
Individual
interviewing Focus group interviewing
Online marketing research:
Internet
surveys and online panels Experiments Online focus groups
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Sampling Plan
Sample:
Segment
of the population selected to represent the population as a whole. is to be surveyed? many people should be surveyed? should the people in the sample be chosen?
Sampling requires three decisions:
Who
Selecting the sampling unit. Referred to as sample size.
How How
Describes the sampling procedure. Probability vs. nonprobability samples.
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Research Instruments
Questionnaire decisions:
What
questions to ask? Form of each question?
Closed-ended Open-ended
Wording? Ordering? meters, checkout scanners, eye tracking devices, neuromarketing.
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Mechanical devices:
People
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Implementing the Research Plan
Collecting the data:
Most
expensive phase Subject to error
Processing the data:
Check
for accuracy Code for analysis
Analyzing the data:
Tabulate
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results
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Interpreting and Reporting Findings
Interpret the findings Draw conclusions Report to management:
Present
findings and conclusions that will be most helpful to decision making.
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Analyzing and Using Marketing Information
Many companies utilize CRM.
Captures
customer information from all sources Analyzes it in-depth Applies the results to build stronger relationships
Companies look for customer touch points. CRM analysts develop data warehouses and
use data mining techniques to find out information about customers. Findings may lead to new marketing opportunities.
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Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Benefits of CRM:
Ability
to offer better customer service and develop deeper customer relationships. Pinpoints and targets high-value customers more effectively. Enhances the firms ability to cross-sell products and develop offers tailored to customers.
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