Chapter 4: Managing Marketing Information to Gain Customer Insights

Focus Group—Personal Contact Method •Six to ___ people •Trained _____ Challenges §_____ §Difficult to _____ from small group §Consumers not always ____ and honest

10, moderator, expensive, generalize, open

The research plan should be presented in a ...... A _____ is especially important when the research project is large and complex or when an outside firm carries it out. The proposal should cover the management _____ addressed, the _____ objectives, the ____ to be obtained, and ____ the results will help management's decision making. The proposal also should include estimated research ______.

written proposal, problems, research, information, how, costs

______ is the systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors, and developments in the marketing environment.

Competitive marketing intelligence

_____ involves managing detailed information about individual customers and carefully managing customer touch points to maximize customer loyalty.

Customer Relationship Management

______are fresh marketing information-based understandings of customers and the marketplace that become the basis for creating customer value, engagement, and relationships.

Customer insights

______involves making information available in a timely, user-friendly way. •Intranet •Extranet

Information distribution

_____ are collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company network.

Internal databases

_______ (MIS) refers to the 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.

Marketing information system

______ is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization.

Marketing research

Research Approaches •______involves gathering primary data by observing relevant people, actions, and situations. •_____ involves sending trained observers to watch and interact with consumers in their "natural environments."

Observational research, Ethnographic research

Observation, survey, experiment

Research Approaches

_____ is information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose. _____ is information collected for the specific purpose at hand.

Secondary data, primary data

Information gathered in internal databases and through competitive marketing intelligence and marketing research usually requires additional ____. Managers may need help _____ the information to gain customer and market insights that will improve their marketing decisions. This help may include advanced _____ to learn more about the relationships within a set of data. _____ might also involve the application of analytical models that will help marketers make better decisions. Once the information has been _______ and analyzed, it must be made _____ to the right decision makers at the right time. In the following sections, we look deeper into analyzing and using marketing information.

analysis, applying, statistical analysis, information analysis, processed, available

The question of how best to ______ and use individual customer data presents special problems. Most companies are awash in information about their customers. In fact, smart companies capture information at every possible customer ______. Unfortunately, this information is usually scattered widely across the ______. It is buried deep in the separate databases and records of different company departments. To overcome such problems, many companies are now turning to _______ (CRM) to manage detailed information about individual customers and carefully manage customer touch points to maximize customer loyalty.

analyze, touch point, organization, customer relationship management

Good marketing intelligence can help marketers gain insights into how consumers talk about and connect with their _____. Many companies send out teams of trained _______. Companies also need to actively _____ competitors' activities. Firms use competitive marketing intelligence to gain early warnings of competitor _____ and strategies, new-product launches, new or changing ______, and potential competitive strengths and _____. Much competitor intelligence can be collected from: •______ inside the company •_____, resellers, and key _____ •monitoring _______websites •_____ searches of specific competitor names, events, or trends •______ consumer conversations about competing brands and the company's own brands •thousands of online ____ The intelligence game goes both ways. Facing determined competitive marketing intelligence efforts by competitors, most companies are now taking steps to _____ their own information. The growing use of marketing intelligence also raises _____ issues. Some intelligence gathering techniques may involve questionable ethics.

brands, observers, monitor, moves, markets, weaknesses, people, suppliers, customers, competitors internet, tracking, databases, protect, ethical

Implementing the Research Plan •______ the information •____ the information •_____ the information Interpreting and Reporting Findings •Interpret ______ •Draw ______ •_____ to management

collecting, processing, analyzing, findings, conclusions, report

Research Instruments--Questionnaires •Most _____ •In ____, by phone, or _____ •______ •Researchers must be careful with wording and ordering of ____ §Closed-ended §Open-ended •Useful in ________

common, person, online, flexible, questions, exploratory research

The goal of _______ is to improve strategic decision making by understanding the consumer environment, assessing and tracking competitors' actions, and providing early warnings of opportunities and threats. ______ range from: •observing _____ firsthand •quizzing the company's own _____ •benchmarking_______products •_______ the Internet •monitoring ______buzz

competitive marketing intelligence, consumers, employees, competitors, researching, internet

mail, telephone, personal, online

contact method

primary data collection: •Research Approaches •______ •Sampling Plan •_______

contact methods, research instruments

Nonprobability samples: ________- the researcher selects the easiest population members form which to obtain information. _______- The researcher uses his or her judgment to select population members who are good prospects for accurate information. _______- the researcher finds and interviews a prescribed number of people in each of several categories.

convenience sample, judgment sample, quota sample

gathering secondary data: Advantages: •Lower ___ •Obtained ____ •Cannot ____ otherwise Disadvantages: •- data may not be •_____ •Accurate •______ •Impartial

cost, quickly, collect, relevant, current

online contact method: Advantages •Low ____ •_____ •_____ response rates •_____ for hard to reach groups

cost, speed, higher, good

Managing Marketing information: •Companies are forming ______ teams §Include all company _____ areas §Collect information from a wide variety of ______ §Use insights to create more _____for their customers

customer insight, functional, sources, value

The real value of marketing research and marketing information lies in how it is used in the _____ that it provides. Firms are creating customer insights teams, headed by a senior marketing executive with representatives from all of the firm's functional areas. For example, Coca-Cola's vice president of marketing strategy and insights heads up a team of 25 strategists who develop strategy based on marketing research insights. Customer insights groups collect customer and ______ information from a wide variety of sources, ranging from traditional marketing research studies to mingling with and _____ consumers to monitoring ______ conversations about the company and its products.

customer insight, market, observing, social media

Key _____ have helped make social scrapbooking site Pinterest wildly successful with its 70 million users. In turn, more than one-half million brands use Pinterest to engage and inspire their customer communities. Marketing information by itself has little value. The value is in the customer insights gained from the information and how marketers use these insights to make better ______.

customer insights, decisions

CRM analysts develop data warehouses and use sophisticated data mining techniques to unearth the riches hidden in customer data. A data warehouse is a company-wide electronic database of finely detailed customer information that needs to be sifted through for gems. By using CRM to understand customers better, companies can provide higher levels of customer service and develop deeper customer relationships. They can use CRM to pinpoint high-value customers, target them more effectively, cross-sell the company's products, and create offers tailored to specific customer requirements.

data warehouse, understand, value, effectively, requirements

Developing the Research Plan •Outlines sources of existing ____ •Spells out the specific research _______, contact methods, ____, and instruments to gather data

data, approaches, sampling plans

Marketing information has no value until it is used to gain customer insights and make better marketing _____. Thus, the marketing information system must make the information readily ______ to managers and others who need it. In some cases, this means providing managers with regular ______ reports, _____ updates, and reports on the results of _____ studies. But marketing managers may also need non-routine report information for special situations and on-the-spot decisions. Many firms use company ______ and internal CRM systems to facilitate information distribution. These systems provide ready access to research and intelligence information, customer ______ information, reports, shared _____ documents, and more. In addition, companies are increasingly allowing key customers and value-network members to access account, product, and other data on demand through ______. _____, customers, _____, and select other network members may access a company's extranet to update their accounts, arrange purchases, and check orders against inventories to improve customer service.

decisions, available, performance, intelligence, research, intranet, contact, work, extranets, suppliers, resellers

Marketing managers and researchers must work together closely to ____ the problem and agree on _____ objectives. The manager best understands the _____ for which information is needed, whereas the researcher best understands marketing research and how to ____ the information. Defining the problem and research objectives is often the hardest step in the research process. The manager may know that something is _____ without knowing the specific causes

define, research, decision, obtain, wrong

As shown in Figure 4.2, the marketing research process has four steps: The first step is probably the most difficult but also the most important one. It guides the entire research process. It's frustrating to reach the end of an expensive research project only to learn that you've addressed the wrong problem!

defining the problem and research objectives, developing the research plan, implementing the research plan, interpreting and reporting the findings

Discussion Question Consider a local business near campus. . . How would they conduct exploratory research? What might they want to find out in descriptive research? What relationships might they explore in causal research? Students will have the following responses for the above questions: _____ (focus groups, interviews); _______ (who, when, how, why);_____ (price/demand, environment/purchase rate). The objective of ______ is to gather preliminary information that will help define the problem and suggest hypotheses. ______ describes marketing problems, situations, or markets, such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers. ______tests hypothesis about cause-and-effect relationships. The statement of the ______ and research ______ guides the entire research process. The manager and the researcher should put the statement in _____to be certain that they agree on the purpose and expected results of the research.

exploratory research, descriptive research, casual research, exploratory research, descriptive research, casual research, problem, objectives, writing

Discussion Question Ask students the disadvantages of open-ended questions. Students might realize from their own experience that they get tired filling out many open ended questions and that they often lead to hard-to-code information. Questionnaires are very _______—there are many ways to ask questions. Closed-end questions include all the possible answers, and subjects make choices among them. Examples include multiple-choice questions and scale questions. Open-end questions allow respondents to answer in their own words. _______ questions are especially useful in exploratory research, when the researcher is trying to find out what people think but is not measuring how many people think in a certain way. _______questions, on the other hand, provide answers that are easier to interpret and tabulate.

flexible, open end, closed end

Whereas marketing intelligence involves actively scanning the general marketing environment, marketing research involves more _____studies to gain customer insights relating to specific marketing decisions. In addition to marketing intelligence information about general consumer, competitor, and marketplace happenings, marketers often need _____ that provide customer and market insights for specific marketing situations and _____.

focused, formal studies, decisions

A good MIS balances the information users would like to have against what they really need and what is feasible to offer. Some managers will ask for whatever information they can get without thinking carefully about what they really need. Too much information can be as _____ as too little. Other managers may ___ things they ought to know, or they may not know to ask for some types of information they should have. For example, managers might need to know about surges in favorable or unfavorable consumer discussions about their brands on blogs or online social networks. Because they do not know about these discussions, they do not think to ask about them. The MIS must _____ the marketing environment to provide decision makers with information they should have to_____ understand customers and make key marketing decisions. The company must decide whether the value of insights gained from additional information is worth the ____ of providing it, and both value and cost are often hard to _____.

harmful, omit, monitor, better, decisions, cost, assess

Discussion Questions How do you feel about your privacy with online, phone, in-person, or mail surveys? Are some better than others? When might the questions feel like an invasion of privacy or fraud? Students will mention problems with privacy (______) or fraud (_______questions). They might not mind online as much as telephone research. Just like larger firms, small and nonprofit organizations need market information and the customer insights that it can provide. These organizations often think that marketing research can be done only by in large companies, however, many of the marketing research techniques discussed in this chapter also can be used by _____organizations in a less formal manner and at little or no ____.

health, financial, smaller, expense

The researcher next puts the marketing research plan into action. Researchers should watch closely to make sure that the plan is _____ correctly. They must guard against problems of interacting with respondents, with the _____ of participants' responses, and with interviewers who make ____ or take shortcuts. Researchers must also process and analyze the collected data to _____ important information and insight. They need to check data for _____ and completeness and code it for analysis. The researchers then tabulate the results and compute statistical _____. The researcher should not try to overwhelm managers with _____and fancy statistical techniques. Rather, the researcher should present ______ findings and insights that are useful in the major _____ faced by management. However, interpretation should not be left only to researchers. Although they are often experts in research design and statistics, the _______ knows more about the problem and the decisions that must be made. Thus, managers and researchers must work together closely when interpreting research results, and both must share ______ for the research process and resulting decisions.

implemented, quality, mistakes, isolate, accuracy, measures, numbers, important, decisions, marketing manager, responsibility

Figure 4.1 shows that MIS begins and ends with _____—marketing managers, internal and external partners, and others who need marketing information. First, it interacts with these information users to assess information _____. Next, it interacts with the _____ to develop needed information through internal company databases, marketing _______ activities, and marketing _____. Finally, the MIS helps users to _____ and use the information to develop customer _____, make marketing decisions, and manage customer ______.

information users, needs, marketing environment, intelligence, research, analyze, insights, relationships

To create value for customers and build meaningful relationships with them, marketers must first gain fresh, deep insights into what customers need and want. Such customer ____ come from good marketing ______. Companies use these customer insights to develop a ________. To gain good customer insights, marketers must effectively manage marketing information from a wide range of ____. With the recent explosion of information ______, companies can now generate marketing information in great quantities. Moreover, consumers themselves are now generating tons of marketing information. Far from lacking information, most marketing managers are _____ with data and often overwhelmed by it. This problem is summed up in the concept of ______, huge and complex data sets generated by today's sophisticated information generation, collection, storage, and analysis technologies. Marketers don't need more information; they need _____information. They need to make better use of the information they already have.

insights, information, competitive advantage, sources, technologies, overloaded, big data, better

Marketers obtain information from: •_____ •Marketing intelligence •_____

internal data, marketing research

Many companies build extensive ______, electronic collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company's network. Information in the database may include: •information on customer ______ •______ transactions •___ visits •customer ____ and service records •records of ____, costs, and ____ flows •reports on _____, shipments, and _____ •reports on reseller reactions and ____ activities •point-of-sale _____ data Harnessing such information can provide powerful customer insights and strong _________. Internal databases usually can be accessed more quickly and _____than other information sources. However, the data is often collected for other purposes, so it may be ______ or in the wrong form. Keeping the database current also requires special effort, _______ and techniques.

internal databases, characteristics, sales, website, satisfaction, sales, cash, production, inventories, competitor, transaction, competitive advantage, cheaply, incomplete, equipment

International marketing research has grown tremendously over the past decade. _____ researchers deal with diverse markets in many different countries. These markets often vary greatly in their levels of _______ development, cultures and customs, and ____patterns. Two major public policy and ethics issues in marketing research are intrusions on consumer ____ and the misuse of research _____. Many consumers feel _____ about marketing research and believe that it serves a useful purpose. Others strongly ____ or even mistrust marketing research. They don't like being interrupted by researchers. They worry that marketers are building huge databases full of personal information about customers.

international, economic, buying, privacy, findings, positive, resent

characteristics of a good MIS : Balancing the information users would ___ to have against what they ____ and what is feasible to ______

like, need, offer

It would be too expensive for Red Bull's marketers to conduct a continuing retail store audit to find out about the _____, prices, and ____ of competitors' brands. Rather than conduct a retail store audit, marketers can buy _____. The InfoScan service from SymphonyIRI Group, which provides valuable information based on scanner and other data from 34,000 retail stores in markets around the nation. Secondary data can also present problems as shown in the disadvantages in the slide. In addition, researchers ____ obtain all the data they need from secondary sources. For example, Red Bull will not find existing information regarding consumer reactions about a new enhanced-water line that it has not yet placed on the market.

market shares, displays, secondary data, rarely

The _______ primarily serves the company's marketing and other managers. However, it may also provide information to external partners, such as suppliers, resellers, or marketing services agencies. For example, Wal-Mart's Retail Link system gives key suppliers access to information on everything from customers' buying patterns and store inventory levels to how many items they've sold in which stores in the past 24 hours.

marketing information system

Companies must design effective ________ that give managers the right information, in the right form, at the right time and help them to use this information to create customer value and stronger customer relationships.

marketing information systems

Mechanical devices 3

people meters, checkout scanners, neuromarketing

Although questionnaires are the most common research instrument, researchers also use _____ instruments to monitor consumer behavior. Nielsen Media Research attaches people ______ to television sets, cable boxes, and satellite systems in selected homes to record who watches which programs. Retailers likewise use checkout _____ to record shoppers' purchases. Other mechanical devices measure subjects' physical responses to marketing offerings. Time Warner's Medialab uses biometric measures to analyze every game that subjects play, every reality show they watch, or every commercial they skip. ______ and recording devices transmit detailed data like heart rate, skin temperature, and facial movements that researchers use to decipher viewer engagement. Still other researchers are applying _______, measuring brain activity to learn how consumers feel and respond.

mechanical, meters, scanners, biometric belts, neuromarketing

Companies use marketing research in a wide variety of situations. For example, marketing research enables marketers to: •gain insights into customer ______, purchase behavior, and _____ •assess market ______ and market ____ •measure the effectiveness of ______, product, ____, and promotion activities Some large companies have their own research departments that work with marketing managers on marketing research projects. In addition, these companies—like their smaller counterparts—frequently hire outside ______ to consult with management on specific marketing problems and to conduct marketing research studies. Sometimes firms simply _____ data collected by outside firms to aid in their decision making.

motivations, satisfaction, potential, share, pricing, distribution, research specialists, purchase

Once researchers have defined the research problem and objectives, they must determine the exact information ______, _______ a plan for gathering it efficiently, and _____ the plan to management. The research plan outlines sources of existing data and spells out the specific research approaches, _____, sampling plans, and _____ that researchers will use to gather new data. Research objectives must be translated into specific ______

needed, develop, present, contact methods, instruments, information needs

Customer insights •Fresh and deep insights into customer ____ and wants •Important but difficult to _____ §Needs and buying _____ not obvious §Customers usually can't tell you ____ and why •Better information and more _____ use of existing information

needs, obtain, motives, what, effective

To meet the manager's information ____, the research plan can call for gathering secondary data, primary data, or both. ______ consist of information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose. _____ consist of information collected for the specific purpose at hand. Researchers usually start by gathering ______. The company's internal database provides a good starting point. However, the company can also tap into a wide assortment of _____ information sources.

needs, secondary data, primary data, secondary data, external

Researchers often observe consumer behavior to glean customer insights they can't obtain by simply asking customers questions. With ______, marketers not only observe what consumers do but also observe what consumers are saying. The observers might be trained anthropologists and psychologists or company ______ and managers. Beyond conducting ethnographic research in physical consumer environments, many companies now routinely conduct _______—observing consumers in a natural context on the Internet and mobile space. Observational and ethnographic research often yield the kinds of details that just don't emerge from traditional research questionnaires or focus groups. Whereas traditional quantitative research approaches seek to test known hypotheses and obtain answers to well defined product or strategy questions, observational research can generate ____ customer and market insights that people are unwilling or unable to ____. It provides a window into customers' unconscious ____ and _____ needs and feelings.

observational research, researchers, Netnography research, fresh, provide, actions, unexpressed

_____ usually costs much less than research conducted through mail, phone, or personal interviews. Using the Internet eliminates most of the _____, phone, _____, and data-handling costs associated with the other approaches. Moreover, sample size has little impact on costs. Once the questionnaire is set up, there's little difference in cost between 10 respondents and 10,000 respondents on the Internet. Its _____ puts online research well within the reach of almost any business, large or small. In fact, with the Internet, what was once the domain of research experts is now available to almost any would-be researcher. Even smaller, less sophisticated researchers can use online survey services such as Snap Surveys (www.snapsurveys.com) and SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com) to create, publish, and distribute their own custom surveys in minutes. _______ also tend to be more interactive and engaging, easier to complete, and less intrusive than traditional phone or mail surveys. As a result, they usually garner higher _____.

online research, postage, interviewer, low cost, internet-based surveys, response rates

Discussion Question Ask them to put themselves in the role of the moderator and ask them what problems they might have when running the focus group. A partial list might include: •____-participants •____ participants •Keeping the group on ____ •Meeting the _____ of the client • Group _____consists of inviting six to ten people to meet with a trained moderator to talk about a product, service, or organization. Participants normally are paid a small ____for attending. A moderator encourages free and easy _____, hoping that group interactions will bring out actual feelings and thoughts. At the same time, the moderator "f_____" the discussion—hence the name focus group interviewing

over, quiet, track, needs, interviewing, sum, discussion, focuses

Research studies can be powerful ______ tools, however, many research studies appear to be little more than vehicles for pitching the sponsor's products. Few advertisers openly rig their research designs or blatantly misrepresent the findings—most abuses tend to be more _____ "stretches.." Recognizing that surveys can be abused, several associations—including the American Marketing Association, the Marketing Research Association, and the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO)—have developed codes of research _____and standards of _____.

persuasion, subtle, ethics, conduct

developing the research plan: •Management _____ •Research _____ •______ needed •How the results will help management _____ •_____

problem, objectives, information, decisions, budget

CRM Touchpoints: •Customer _______ •Sales _______ •Service and ______ •Web and ________ •Satisfaction _____ •Credit and ______ interactions •______ studies

purchases, force contacts, support calls, social media sites, surveys, payment, marketing research

Secondary data provides a good starting point for research and often help to define research problems and objectives. In most cases, however, the company must also collect primary data. Designing a plan for primary data collection calls for a number of decisions on _____, contact methods, the ____, and research instruments.

research approaches, sampling plan

questionnaire, mechanical instrument

research instruments

The problem isn't finding information; the world is bursting with information from a glut of sources. The real challenge is to find the _____—from inside and outside sources—and turn it into customer insights.

right information

Sampling Plan A_____ is a segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole. •___is to be studied? •How ____ people should be studied? •How should the people be _____?

sample, who, many, chosen

sampling unit, sampling size, sampling procedure

sampling plan

Probability samples: _________- every member of the population has a known and equal chance of selection. ____________- the population is divided into mutually exclusive groups(such as age groups) and random samples are drawn from each group. ________- The population is divided into mutually exclusive groups (such as blocks) and the researcher draws a sample of the groups to interview.

simple random sample, stratified random sample, cluster sample

Marketing researchers usually draw conclusions about large groups of consumers by studying a _____ of the total consumer population.

small sample

A marketing information system (MIS) provides information to the company's marketing and other managers and external partners such as _____, resellers, and ______.

suppliers, marketing service agencies

Research Approaches •_______involves gathering primary data by asking people questions about their knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior. •_____ involves gathering primary data by selecting matched groups of subjects, giving them different treatments, controlling related factors, and checking for differences in group responses.

survey research, experimental research

________, the most widely used method for primary data collection, is the approach best suited for gathering descriptive information. A company that wants to know about people's knowledge, attitudes, preferences, or buying behaviors can often find out by asking them directly. The major advantage of survey research is its ______; it can be used to obtain many different kinds of information in many different situations. However, survey research also presents some problems. Sometimes people are unable to answer survey questions or _____ to respond to unknown interviewers or about things they consider private. Respondents may answer survey questions even when they do not know the answer just to appear smarter or more informed. Or they may try to help the interviewer by giving pleasing answers. Finally, busy people may not take the time, or they might resent the intrusion into their privacy. ______ is best suited for gathering causal information.

survey research, flexibility, unwilling, experimental research