Market Research

What Is Market Research? Involves the process and methods used to gather information, analyze it, and report findings related to marketing goods and services

The Market Research Process 1. Define the problem 2. Obtain data 3. Analyze data 4. Recommend solutions 5. Apply the results

How is it used? Determine consumers’ attitudes and preferences Test product features Determine market size and growth potential Understand how the company is perceived by the public

Why is it important? To help… Identify marketing opportunities Solve marketing problems Implement marketing plans Monitor marketing performance

Who uses market research? Small businesses Typically done informally by owners, managers and employees May hire an outside service provider Large companies Typically have in-house research departments

What is Database Marketing A process of designing, creating and managing customer lists Collected from… Face-to-face sales Direct mailing responses Telephone or contact Website visits

Marketing lists can be purchased from third-party companies that specialize in selling consumer databases!

How has your data been collected? Bonus/Customer cards Checkout questionnaire Cold calling Mailing surveys

Types of Market Research Attitude and Opinion Market Intelligence Media Research Product Research

Creating Questions Market Research

Validity – survey should include only questions to relate to the issue Reliability – questions should be clear and easy to understand; questions should be consistent for all Validity and reliability

Open-ended questions allow for respondents to construct their own responses Generate a wide variety of answers and are often difficult to evaluate on a small scale Forced-choice questions require respondents to choose from a list of possibilities These are the simplest questions to answer and are also easiest to evaluate Open ended vs. forced choice

Yes/No Filter questions Multiple Choice Make sure options are comprehensive enough – consider ‘other’ as an option to make these more reliable/valid Rating Scale Used to evaluate feelings on an existing element Level of Agreement Based on attitude and/or opinion Types of questions

Keep questions clear and brief Do not ask leading questions – “do you prefer…” Avoid questions that might require respondents to guess the answer Be sure to clearly state directions and keep all answering options consistent Place ‘general demographic’ questions grouped at the end Basic guidelines