Lecture 4

Managing Marketing Information

to Gain Customer Insights
Learning Objectives

1 Explain the importance of information in gaining insights about the

marketplace and customers.
2 Define the marketing information system and discuss its parts.
3 Outline the role of marketing research and the steps in the marketing
research process.
4 Explain how companies analyze and use marketing information.
Learning Objective 1

Explain the importance of information in gaining insights about the

marketplace and customers.
P&G: Customer Insights
and Creating Irresistibly Superior
Experiences
Customer insights are fresh marketing information-based understandings of customers and
the marketplace that become the basis for creating customer value, engagement, and
relationships.
To gain deep customer insights, P&G employs a wide range of marketing research approaches
—from traditional large-scale surveys and small-scale focus groups to real- time social media
listening, mobile surveys, and big data analytics.
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Customer insights
• Fresh and deep insights into customer needs and wants
• Companies use customer insights to develop a competitive
advantage
• Insights can be difficult to obtain; marketers must manage
marketing information from a wide range of sources
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Marketing Information and Today’s “Big Data”
• Big data is the huge and complex data sets generated by today’s
sophisticated information generation, collection, storage, and analysis
technologies
• Big data comes from marketing research, internal transaction data, and
real-time data flowing from its social media monitoring, connected
devices, and other digital sources
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Managing Marketing Information
• 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
• A 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.
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights

Figure 4.1 The Marketing Information System

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.
Assessing Marketing
Information Needs

Characteristics of a Good MIS

Balancing the information users would like to have against what

they need and what is feasible to offer
• User’s Needs
• MIS Offerings
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketers obtain information from:
• Internal data
• Marketing intelligence
• Marketing research
Developing Marketing
Information
Internal Data Internal data: Through skillful
customer database development
Internal databases are
and use, Stitch Fix has built
collections of consumer and high levels of customer
market information obtained satisfaction and loyalty.
from data sources within the
company network.
Developing Marketing
Information
Competitive Marketing Intelligence
Competitive marketing Competitive marketing intelligence:
intelligence is the systematic Mastercard’s digital intelligence command
collection and analysis of publicly center—called the Conversation Suite—
available information about monitors, analyzes, and responds in real time
consumers, competitors, and to millions of brand-related conversations
developments in the marketing across 43 markets and 26 languages around
environment. the world.
Learning Objective 3

Outline the role of marketing research and 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.

Figure 4.2 The Marketing Research Process

Marketing Research

Defining the Problem and Research Objectives

• Exploratory research
• Descriptive research
• Causal research
Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan A decision by Chick-fil-A to add
vegan “chicken” would call for
marketing research that provides
• Outlines sources of existing lots of specific information.
data
• Spells out the specific research
approaches, contact methods,
sampling plans, and instruments
to gather data
Marketing Research

Defining the Problem and Research Objectives

Written proposal
• Management problem
• Research objectives
• Information needed
• How the results will help management decisions
• Budget
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.
Marketing Research

Gathering Secondary Data

• Advantages
– Lower cost
– Obtained quickly
– Cannot collect otherwise
• Disadvantages: Data may not be
– Relevant
– Accurate
– Current
– Impartial
Marketing Research

Primary Data Collection

• Research Approaches
• Contact Methods
• Sampling Plan
• Research Instruments
Marketing Research

Table 4.1 Planning Primary Data Collection

Research Contact Sampling Plan Research
Approaches Methods Instruments

Observation Mail Sampling unit Questionnaire

Survey Telephone Sample size Mechanical
Experiment Personal Sampling instruments
Online procedure
Marketing Research

Primary Data Collection Ethnographic research: Under Intuit’s “follow me

home” program, teams of Intuit employees visit
Research Approaches customers in their homes or offices to watch them use
• Observational research involves the company’s products in real life.
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.”
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.
Marketing Research

Experimental Research: Online experiments can be simple and

inexpensive. For example, an online “A/B test” for Microsoft’s Bing
search engine formatting yielded performance-enhancing results in only
hours.
Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection: Contact Methods

• Mail, telephone, and

New focus group designs: The Mom Complex uses
personal interviewing “Mom Immersion Sessions” to help brand marketers
– Mail questionnaires understand and connect directly with their “mom
customers” on important brand issues.
– Telephone interviewing
– Personal interviewing
• Individual
interviewing
• Group interviewing
• Focus Group Interviewing
Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection:
Contact Methods

Online marketing research

• Internet and mobile
surveys
• Online focus groups Online focus groups: Focus
• Consumer tracking Vision’s InterVu service lets
• Experiments focus group participants at remote
locations see, hear, and react to
• Online panels and brand each other in real- time, face-to-
communities face discussions.
Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection
Online behavioral and social tracking and targeting
• Behavioral targeting
• Online listening
• Social targeting
Marketing Research
Table 4.2 Types of Samples
Probability Sample
Simple random sample Every member of the population has a known and equal
chance of selection.
Stratified random sample The population is divided into mutually exclusive groups
(such as age groups), and random samples are drawn from each
group.
Cluster (area) sample The population is divided into mutually exclusive groups
(such as blocks), and the researcher draws a sample of the groups
to interview.
Nonprobability Sample
Thesample
Convenience sample Judgment researcher selects the easiest population members from which to obtain information.
Quota sample The researcher uses his or her judgment to select population members who are good prospects for accurate informa
The researcher finds and interviews a prescribed number of people in each of several categories.
Marketing Research

Primary Data Collection

Research Instruments
• Questionnaires
– Open-ended
questions
– Closed-ended Biological and neurological measures:
Online travel giant Expedia’s
questions “Usability Lab” uses biometrics and
• Mechanical instruments observation to learn about the deep-
down tensions and delights customers
experience during their trip-planning
journeys.
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
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.
Analyzing and Using
Marketing Information
Big Data, Marketing Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence
Marketing analytics involves analysis tools, technologies, and
processes by which marketers dig out meaningful patterns in
big data to gain customer insights and gauge marketing
performance.
Some analytics employ artificial intelligence (AI), technology by
which machines think and learn in a way that looks and feels
human but with a lot more analytic capacity.
References

KOTLER, P. and ARMSTRONG, G. (2018) Principles of Marketing, 17th edition. London:

Prentice Hall.