Lec 19- Marketing Research: From Customer Insights to Actions-1

Summary

This course segment delves into marketing research essentials, outlining its significance in reducing risk and enhancing decision-making. It introduces a five-step marketing research process: defining the problem, developing a research plan, collecting information, analyzing findings, and executing marketing actions. The lecture discusses challenges like researching new products, consumer reticence, and aligning intentions with behavior. It also touches on data collection methods, including secondary and primary data, and the use of observations and questionnaires.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Marketing research is a systematic process to define marketing problems and opportunities, collect and analyze information, and recommend actions to improve marketing decisions.
• 💡 Marketing insights are crucial as they provide diagnostic information about market effects and guide successful marketing strategies, such as the case with Tropicana's packaging redesign.
• 📊 Challenges in marketing research include conducting research for new products where consumers are unaware, unwillingness to share personal information, and the gap between stated intentions and actual behavior.
• 🛠️ The five-step marketing research process involves defining the problem, developing a research plan, collecting information, developing findings, and taking marketing actions.
• 🎯 Setting clear research objectives is essential to guide the marketing research and ensure the value of the research outcomes leads to actionable marketing strategies.
• 📈 Specifying constraints, identifying necessary data, and determining data collection methods are key steps in developing an effective research plan.
• 📚 Secondary data includes internal and external information already recorded, offering time and cost efficiencies but may be outdated or not specific enough for the research.
• 👀 Primary data is newly collected for the project and can be obtained through observation, questionnaires, and other sources, providing more tailored insights for marketing decisions.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Observational data can be collected mechanically, personally, or through neuromarketing methods, offering insights into consumer behavior in various contexts.
• ❓ Questionnaire data involves asking consumers about their attitudes and behaviors, using various question types like open-ended, closed, and scales for precise responses.
• 📘 The module concludes with the importance of marketing research, the five-step process model, and a brief introduction to primary data collection methods, setting the stage for further discussion in the next module.

Q & A

What is the definition of marketing research according to the script?

Marketing research is the process of defining a marketing problem and opportunity, systematically collecting and analyzing information, and recommending actions.

Why is marketing research important for marketers?

Marketing research is important for generating insights that provide diagnostic information about how and why certain effects are observed in the marketplace, which helps marketers make informed decisions.

What was the consequence of Tropicana's redesign of its orange juice packaging without adequate consumer testing?

Tropicana's redesign led to a disastrous drop in sales by twenty percent, and they had to reinstate the old package design after only a few months.

What are the three main challenges faced by marketers when conducting marketing research as mentioned in the script?

The challenges include conducting research for a new product where consumers are unaware, unwillingness of people to reveal personal information, and the discrepancy between respondents' stated intentions and actual behavior.

Can you describe the five-step marketing research process outlined in the script?

The five-step process includes defining the problem, developing the research plan, collecting relevant information, developing findings, and taking marketing actions.

What are the key elements in defining a marketing problem in the research process?

The key elements are setting research objectives and identifying possible marketing actions.

Why is it necessary to specify constraints in the research plan development step?

Specifying constraints helps in setting limitations on time and money available to solve the problem, which is crucial for the feasibility and focus of the research.

What is the difference between secondary and primary data in marketing research?

Secondary data are facts and figures already recorded prior to the project, while primary data are newly collected for the project.

How does the script differentiate between internal and external secondary data?

Internal secondary data comes from inside the firm and includes budgets, financial statements, etc. External secondary data comes from outside sources like government reports or market research companies.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data in marketing research?

Advantages include time-saving, low cost, and greater level of detail. Disadvantages include potential outdatedness, incorrect definitions or categories for the project, and lack of specificity for the research purpose.

Can you explain the two principal ways of collecting primary data as mentioned in the script?

The two principal ways are observational data, which involves watching people's behavior, and questionnaire data, which involves asking people about their attitudes, awareness, intention, and behavior.

What are the different methods of collecting observational data mentioned in the script?

The methods include mechanical observation like TV ratings, personal methods like mystery shopping and ethnographic research, and neuromarketing methods that study brain activity in relation to marketing.

How does the script describe the process of asking people questions to gather primary data?

It involves using questionnaires to collect data through idea generation methods like individual interviews and focus groups, and idea evaluation methods that use conventional questionnaires for a large sampling of consumers.

What types of questions are used in questionnaires according to the script?

Open-ended questions allow respondents to express themselves freely, while closed or fixed alternative questions require respondents to select from a set of predetermined choices, often using different types of scales.