4
Conducting
Marketing Research and
Forecasting Demand
Marketing Management, 13th ed
Chapter Questions
• What constitutes good marketing
research?
• What are good metrics for measuring
marketing productivity?
• How can marketers assess their return
on investment of marketing
expenditures?
• How can companies more accurately
measure and forecast demand?
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What is Marketing Research?
Marketing research is the systematic
design, collection, analysis, and
reporting of data and findings relevant
to a specific marketing situation facing
the company.
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Types of Marketing Research Firms
• Syndicated service
• Custom
• Specialty-line
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The Marketing Research Process
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Define the problem
Develop research plan
Collect information
Analyze information
Present findings
Make decision
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Step 1: Define the Problem
• Define the problem
• Specify decision alternatives
• State research objectives
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Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
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Data sources
Research approach
Research instruments
Sampling plan
Contact methods
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Research Approaches
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Observation
Ethnographic
Focus group
Survey
Behavioral data
Experimentation
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Research Instruments
• Questionnaires
• Qualitative Measures
• Technological Devices
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Questionnaire Do’s and Don’ts
• Ensure questions are
free of bias
• Make questions simple
• Make questions specific
• Avoid jargon
• Avoid sophisticated
words
• Avoid ambiguous words
• Avoid negatives
• Avoid hypotheticals
• Avoid words that could
be misheard
• Use response bands
• Use mutually exclusive
categories
• Allow for “other” in fixed
response questions
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Question Types - Dichotomous
In arranging this trip, did you contact
American Airlines?
 Yes  No
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Question Types – Multiple Choice
With whom are you traveling on this trip?
 No one
 Spouse
 Spouse and children
 Children only
 Business associates/friends/relatives
 An organized tour group
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Question Types – Likert Scale
Indicate your level of agreement with the
following statement: Small airlines generally give
better service than large ones.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
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Question Types – Semantic Differential
American Airlines
Large ………………………………...…….Small
Experienced………………….….Inexperienced
Modern……………………….…..Old-fashioned
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Question Types – Importance Scale
Airline food service is _____ to me.
 Extremely important
 Very important
 Somewhat important
 Not very important
 Not at all important
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Question Types – Rating Scale
American Airlines’ food service is _____.
 Excellent
 Very good
 Good
 Fair
 Poor
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Question Types –
Intention to Buy Scale
How likely are you to purchase tickets on
American Airlines if in-flight Internet access
were available?
 Definitely buy
 Probably buy
 Not sure
 Probably not buy
 Definitely not buy
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Question Types –
Completely Unstructured
What is your opinion of American Airlines?
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Question Types –
Word Association
What is the first word that comes to your mind
when you hear the following?
Airline ________________________
American _____________________
Travel ________________________
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Question Types –
Sentence Completion
When I choose an airline, the most important
consideration in my decision is:
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
__________________.
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Question Types –
Story Completion
“I flew American a few days ago. I noticed that
the exterior and interior of the plane had very
bright colors. This aroused in me the following
thoughts and feelings.” Now complete the story.
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
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Question Types –
Picture (Empty Balloons)
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Qualitative Measures
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Word association
Projective techniques
Visualization
Brand personification
Laddering
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Technological Devices
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Galvanometers
Tachistoscope
Eye cameras
Audiometers
GPS
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Sampling Plan
• Sampling unit: Who is to be surveyed?
• Sample size: How many people should be
surveyed?
• Sampling procedure: How should the
respondents be chosen?
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Table 4.2 Types of Samples
Probability Samples
• Simple random
• Stratified random
• Cluster
Nonprobability Samples
• Convenience
• Judgment
• Quota
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Contact Methods
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Mail questionnaire
Telephone interview
Personal interview
Online interview
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Pros and Cons of Online Research
Advantages
• Inexpensive
• Fast
• Accuracy of data,
even for sensitive
questions
• Versatility
Disadvantages
• Small samples
• Skewed samples
• Technological
problems
• Inconsistencies
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What is a
Marketing Decision Support System
(MDSS)?
A marketing decision support
system is a coordinated collection of
data, systems, tools, and techniques
with supporting hardware and software
by which an organization gathers and
interprets relevant information from
business and environment and turns it
into a basis for marketing action.
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Barriers Limiting the Use of
Marketing Research
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A narrow conception of the research
Uneven caliber of researchers
Poor framing of the problem
Late and occasionally erroneous
findings
• Personality and presentational
differences
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Table 4.3 Characteristics of
Good Marketing Research
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Scientific method
Research creativity
Multiple methods
Interdependence
Value and cost of information
Healthy skepticism
Ethical marketing
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What are Marketing Metrics?
Marketing metrics are the set of
measures that helps marketers
quantify, compare, and interpret
marketing performance.
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Table 4.4 Marketing Metrics
External
Internal
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Awareness
Market share
Relative price
Number of complaints
Customer satisfaction
Distribution
Total number of
customers
• Loyalty
Awareness of goals
Commitment to goals
Active support
Resource adequacy
Staffing levels
Desire to learn
Willingness to change
Freedom to fail
Autonomy
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What is Marketing-Mix Modeling?
Marketing-mix models analyze data
from a variety of sources, such as
retailer scanner data, company
shipment data, pricing, media, and
promotion spending data, to understand
more precisely the effects of specific
marketing activities.
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Marketing Dashboards
• A customer-performance scorecard
records how well the company is doing year
after year on customer-based measures.
• A stakeholder-performance scorecard
tracks the satisfaction of various
constituencies who have a critical interest in
and impact on the company’s performance
including employees, suppliers, banks,
distributors, retailers, and stockholders.
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Table 4.5 Sample Customer-Performance
Scorecard Measures
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% of new customers to average #
% of lost customers to average #
% of win-back customers to average #
% of customers in various levels of satisfaction
% of customers who would repurchase
% of target market members with brand recall
% of customers who say brand is most
preferred
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Common Measurement Paths
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Customer metrics pathway
Unit metrics pathway
Cash-flow metrics pathway
Brand metrics pathway
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The Measures of Market Demand
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Potential market
Available market
Target market
Penetrated market
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Vocabulary for Demand Measurement
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Market demand
Market forecast
Market potential
Company demand
Company sales forecast
Company sales potential
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How Can We Estimate
Current Demand?
• Total market potential
• Area market potential
• Market buildup method
• Multiple-factor index method
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Estimating Future Demand
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Survey of Buyers’ Intentions
Composite of Sales Force Opinions
Expert Opinion
Past-Sales Analysis
Market-Test Method
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