HBNF02 - MARKETING

Lecture 8: Marketing Research

-Data Collection Methods-
• INTRODUCTION
• PURPOSE OF DATA COLLECTION
• DATA COLLECTION
• METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
• SAMPLING
• INTERVIEW
• IMPORTANCE
 INTRODUCTION

• Data collection helps business make informed decisions and analyses, building complete and insightful market
research reports that can drive future product launches, market-entry campaigns, marketing strategies, and
more
• Data collection is the foundational step for various activities that can lead to business growth
• E.g: How Coca Cola Collects Consumer Insights with Creative Campaigns
• Using the data collected to improve product and user experience
• Each individual machine conducts real-time analysis of consumer data, responding in various helpful ways to
improve customer experience.
• In gyms for example, the display screen will focus on performance-based sodas, the promotion of water and
healthier beverages
• Machines in shopping malls will display lively, colorful, trending sodas, and hospital
machines will appear more functional
• Globally, Coca Cola has installed over 50,000 machines, serving over 14 million, 8-
ounce servings of drink per day, creating a gargantuan amount of actionable data
Further reading:
• https://www.linkfluence.com/blog/how-coca-cola-collects-consumer-insights-with-
creative-campaigns
• https://www.adma.com.au/resources/how-coca-cola-uses-data-to-supercharge-its-
superbrand-status
• https://bostinnovation.com/how-coca-cola-use-big-data-to-increase-market-share/
 DATA COLLECTION
• Data collection is the methodological process of gathering information about a specific
subject
• Data is one of today’s most valuable resources in business
• Data collection tools help to understand customers better by collecting their feedback,
opinion, and choices
• They can help to improve their experience by meeting their expectations from the products
and services
• To achieve this, it is necessary that the data is rich enough to be able to extract meaningful
insights from it
• This will help for better market segmentation practices
• There are a variety of methods for collecting data, and it’s hard to choose the best one
• Success of marketing research project depends upon quality and relevance of data
• The collection of data relates to the gathering of facts to be uses in solving the problem
• Data can be primary- collected from the original bases
• Data can be secondary- collected from reports, magazines, articles
• There can be broadly 2 types of sources:
• Internal sources: Existing within the firm itself such as accounting data, sales report
• External report: Exist outside the firm
• Data collection can be made by distributing questionnaires to collect feedback, opinion
• Can also be made through interview session to collect the feedback, opinion
• Choosing how to collect data can be made through sampling method
 PURPOSE OF DATA COLLECTION
• Data collection and analysis into a smart process that improves the business outcomes
• Gone are the times when organizations used to make strategies based on assumptions, instincts,
and possibilities
• Today, business cannot afford to make a mistake or miss a chance and let the competitor win
• Business leaders and analysts rely on data to drive growth and revenue
• It is important to analyze data such that the management executives can make sense out of it
• Helps to improve business understanding of customers behaviour, their interests, and what they
want from organization
• The sample design may make use of the characteristics of the overall market population, but it
does not have to be proportionally representative
 SAMPLING
• Means getting opinions
• From a number of people, chosen from a specific group, in order to find out about the whole group
• It would be expensive and time-consuming to collect data from the whole population of a market
• Therefore, market researchers make extensive of sampling from which, through careful design and
analysis, marketers can draw information about their chosen market
• Sample design affects the size of the sample and the way in which analysis is carried out
• The more precise the market researcher requires, the more complex the design and larger the sample
size will be
• It may be necessary to draw a larger sample than would be expected from some parts of the population:
for example, to select more from a minority grouping to ensure that sufficient data is obtained for
analysis on such groups
• Many sample designs are built around the concept of random selection
• This permits justifiable inference from the sample to the population, at quantified levels of
precision
• Random selection also helps guard against sample bias in a way that selecting by judgement
or convenience cannot
• The first step in good sample design is to ensure that the specification of the target
population is as clear and complete as possible
• This is to ensure that all elements within the population are represented
• The target population is sampled using a sampling frame
• A sampling frame could also be geographical. For example, postcodes have become a well-
used means of selecting a sample
For any sample design, deciding upon the appropriate sample size will depend on several key factors:
❑No estimate taken from a sample is expected to be exact: assumptions about the overall population
based on the results of a sample will have an attached margin of error
❑To lower the margin of error usually requires a larger sample size: the amount of variability in the
population, ie the range of values or opinions, will also affect accuracy and therefore size of the
sample
❑The confidence level is the likelihood that the results obtained from the sample lie within a required
precision: the higher the confidence level, the more certain you wish to be that the results are not
unusual
❑Statisticians often use a 95% confidence level to provide strong conclusions
❑Population size does not normally affect sample size: in fact the larger the population size, the lower
the proportion of that population needs to be sampled to be representative
❑It's only when the proposed sample size is more than 5% of the population that the population size
becomes part of the formulae to calculate the sample size
 INTERVIEW
• Interviews are a market research strategy designed to get insights from consumers about a

product or service

• One-to-one interviews are the best ways to dive deep into a person’s opinions about your

brand or a specific product

• However, they can be time-consuming and may require much planning

• Interviews are used to collect data from a small group of subjects on a broad range of topics

• Interviews usually take place face-to-face and in person but the parties may instead be

separated geographically, as in videoconferencing or telephone interviews

• Interviews almost always involve spoken conversation between two or more parties
• An interview is a qualitative research method that relies on asking questions in order
to collect data
• Interviews involve two or more people, one of whom is the interviewer asking the
questions
• There are several types of interviews, often differentiated by their level of structure
• Structured interviews have predetermined questions asked in a predetermined order
• Unstructured interviews are more free-flowing, and semi-structured interviews fall in
between
• Interviews are commonly used in market research, social science,
and ethnographic research
• A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or
participants who have other common traits/experiences
• Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studies
• Focus groups are used to better understand people’s reactions to political issues or participants’
perceptions of shared experiences
• They allow interviewers to study people in a more natural conversational pattern than typically occurs in a
one-to-one interview. In combination with participant observation, focus groups can be used for learning
about group attitudes and patterns of interaction
A focus group may be a good fit for your research if:
• Your research focuses on the dynamics of group discussion or real-time responses to your topic
• Your questions are complex and rooted in feelings, opinions, and perceptions that cannot be answered
with a “yes” or “no.”
• Your topic is exploratory in nature, and you are seeking information that will help you uncover new
questions or future research ideas
 IMPORTANCE
• Collecting data is important to conducting market research
• Organizations connect with stakeholders — such as prospects, customers, competitors, investors, and
employees — to learn more about their target market and how they can better serve them
• The data an organization collects can steer its entire business strategy, so it’s vital for the data to be high-
quality, secure, and relevant
For example:
• The marketing team at Company X is sitting around the table tossing out ideas on how to make their product
more appealing to consumers. As they're considering changing the tagline, making the product packaging
more colorful, and increasing their television commercial frequency, someone suggests doing some market
research
• Market research allows a company to better understand its consumers, which in turn allows the company to
make adjustments to its products as needed
• Market research will allow Company X to find out what their consumers think about the
current packaging and its impact on their purchase decision
• Consumer interviews are one of the most effective tools used in market research
• Interviews provide insightful information about consumers and their buying patterns
• Consumer interviews provide the company with useful data for its marketing tactics;
however, before rushing out to conduct interviews, Company X must spend some time
preparing their questions and overall research objectives
• Data collection is a critical step in the research process, often the primary step
• Can analyze and store essential information about your existing and potential customers
when you collect data.
• This process saves your organization money and resources, as you can make data-driven
decisions
• Data collection also allows you to create a library or database of customers (and their information)
for marketing to them in the future or retargeting them.
• Three main uses of data collection in market research:
• Data collection helps you make informed decisions and analyses, building complete and insightful
market research reports that can drive future product launches, market-entry campaigns, marketing
strategies, and more
• Data collection is the foundational step for various activities that can lead to business growth
• Data collection allows you to build a database of information about your market for future use
While your primary goal might be to create a research report with a specific objective, the data can
still be helpful for future activities
• Data collection allows you to target marketing and outreach more efficiently, thereby allowing your
organization to save money and do more with its resources
Further reading
• https://www.slideshare.net/HimanshiGupta26/ste
ps-in-marketing-research-process
• https://www.fao.org/3/w3241e/w3241e08.htm
• https://www.cfrinc.net/cfrblog/market-research-
sampling
• https://www.tutor2u.net/business/reference/mar
keting-research-
sampling#:~:text=What%20is%20sampling%3F,out
%20about%20the%20whole%20group.
• https://www.fao.org/3/w3241e/w3241e02.htm
• https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/interviews
-research/