Principles of Marketing

Seventeenth Edition

Chapter 4

Managing Marketing Information

to Gain Customer Insights

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
❖Customer insights ❖Observational Research
❖MIS ❖Ethnographic Research
❖Marketing Research ❖Survey Research
❖Exploratory research ❖Experimental Research
❖Descriptive research ❖Focus Group
❖Causal research ❖CRM Touchpoints
❖Secondary Data
❖Primary Data
Learning Objectives
4-1 Explain the importance of information in gaining insights about
the marketplace and customers.
4-2 Define the marketing information system and discuss its parts.
4-3 Outline the steps in the marketing research process.
4-4 Explain how companies analyze and use marketing
information.
4-5 Discuss the special issues some marketing researchers face,
including public policy and ethics issues.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Learning Objective 1
Explain the importance of information in gaining insights about the marketplace
and customers.
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Customer insights are fresh marketing
information-based understandings of customers
and the marketplace that become the basis for
creating customer value, engagement, and
relationships.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Information and Customer Insights
Customer insights
• Fresh and deep insights into customer needs and wants
• Important but difficult to obtain
▪ Needs and buying motives not obvious
▪ Customers usually can’t tell you what and why
• Better information and more effective use of existing information

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Information and Customer Insights
Managing Marketing Information
• Companies are forming customer insights teams
▪ Include all company functional areas
▪ Collect information from a wide variety of sources
▪ Use insights to create more value for their customers

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Information and Customer Insights
Managing Marketing Information
Marketing information system (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.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Information and Customer Insights

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Learning Objective 2
Define the marketing information system and discuss its parts.

Assessing Marketing Information Needs

A marketing information system (MIS) provides information to the

company’s marketing and other managers and external partners such as
suppliers, resellers, and marketing service agencies.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Developing Marketing Information
Marketers obtain information from:

Internal data

Marketing intelligence

Marketing research

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Developing Marketing Information
Internal Data
Internal databases are collections of consumer and market information
obtained from data sources within the company network.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Developing Marketing Information
Competitive Marketing Intelligence
Competitive marketing intelligence is the systematic collection and
analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors, and
developments in the marketing environment.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Learning Objective 3
Outline the steps in the marketing research process.

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

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Defining the Problem and Research Objectives
Exploratory research
- gather preliminary information that will help define the problem and suggest
hypotheses

Descriptive research
- describes marketing problems, situations, or markets, such as the market
potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers

Causal research
- tests hypothesis about cause-and-effect relationships

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan Management
• Outlines sources of existing data problem
• Spells out the specific research Research objectives
approaches, contact methods,
sampling plans, and instruments to
gather data Information needed

How the results will help

management decisions

Budget

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan

Secondary data is information that already exists somewhere, having been

collected for another purpose.
Primary data is information collected for the specific purpose at hand.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 Marketing Research
Gathering Secondary Data

Disadvantages
Advantages
- data may not be

Lower cost Relevant

Obtained quickly Accurate

Cannot collect Current

otherwise
Impartial

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection
Research Approaches
• Observational research involves gathering primary data by observing
relevant people, actions, and situations.
• Ethnographic research involves sending trained observers to watch and
interact with consumers in their “natural environments.”

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection
Research Approaches
• Survey research involves gathering primary data by asking people
questions about their knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying
behavior.
• Experimental research involves gathering primary data by selecting
matched groups of subjects, giving them different treatments, controlling
related factors, and checking for differences in group responses.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Research Approaches
- Focus Group—Personal Contact Method
• Six to 10 people
• Trained moderator
• Challenges
▪ Expensive
▪ Difficult to generalize from small group
▪ Consumers not always open and
honest

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Online Contact Methods

Advantages
• Low cost
• Speed
• Higher response rates
• Good for hard to reach
groups

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection
Sampling Plan
A sample is a segment of the population selected for marketing research to
represent the population as a whole.
• Who is to be studied?
• How many people should be studied?
• How should the people be chosen?

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection

Research Instruments--Questionnaires
• Most common
• In person, by phone, or online
• Flexible
• Researchers must be careful with wording and ordering of
questions
▪ Closed-ended
▪ Open-ended
• Useful in exploratory research

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection
Mechanical Research Instruments

Checkout
scanners
People Neuro-
meters marketing

Mechanical
devices

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketing Research

Implementing the Research Plan

• Collecting the information

• Processing the information
• Analyzing the information

Interpreting and Reporting Findings

• Interpret findings
• Draw conclusions
• Report to management
Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Learning Objective 4
Explain how companies analyze and use marketing information.

Analyzing and Using Marketing Information

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM involves managing detailed information about individual customers and
carefully managing customer touch points to maximize customer loyalty.

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Analyzing and Using Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management
CRM Touchpoints

Service and Web and

Customer Sales force
support social
purchases contacts
calls media sites

Credit and Marketing

Satisfaction
payment research
surveys
interactions studies

Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Learning Objective 5
Discuss the special issues some marketing researchers face, including public
policy and ethics issues.

Other Marketing Information Considerations

Marketing Research in Small Businesses and
Nonprofit Organizations

International Market Research

Public Policy and Ethics

• Customer privacy
• Misuse of research findings
Copyright © 2018, 2016, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.