Chapter

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3:

3rd edition Marketing Research and Customer Insight
 Learning Outcomes

• Define the terms market research, marketing research

and customer insight
• Describe the role of marketing information systems in
the insight process
• Explain the role marketing research and list the range of
possible research approaches
• Discuss the importance of ethics and the adoption of a
Code of Conduct in marketing research
• Note the concept of equivalence in relation to obtaining
comparable data
• List the problems arising when coordinating international
marketing research

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

 Case Insight – MESH Planning

• Organizations seldom able to get data they needed from traditional campaign
evaluation. There was a tendency to believe that because advertising
effectiveness questions were added to brand health monitoring that
advertising caused changes in brand health when this is often not the case.
• MESH data shows that usage most influential touchpoint for most categories
of offering. They develop a research process to measure touchpoint
effectiveness using real-time experience tracking (RET).
• Gatorade, another client, decided to re-position its offering from being in the
sports drink category to sports nutrition.
• How could research be designed to determine whether or not if someone
experienced an experiential touchpoints that having this experience
impacted positively on their perceptions of the brand?
 Definitions of Research in Marketing I

• The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)/European

Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR) multipart
definition of marketing research stresses that:

‘Market research, which includes social and opinion research, is

the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about
individuals or organizations using the statistical and analytical
methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain
insight or support decision making. The identity of respondents
will not be revealed to the user of the information without explicit
consent and no sales approach will be made to them as a direct
result of their having provided information’ (ESOMAR, 2008)

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

 Definitions of Research in Marketing II

• The Market Research Society (MRS), in the UK,

defines market research as:

‘‘The collection and analysis of data from a sample or

census of individuals or organizations relating to their
characteristics, behaviour, attitudes, opinions or
possessions. It includes all forms of market, opinion
and social research such as consumer and industrial
surveys, psychological investigations, qualitative
interviews and group discussions, observational,
ethnographic and panel studies’. (MRS,2010).

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

 Definitions of Research in Marketing III

• Smith, Wilson and Clark define customer insight as:

‘Customer insight is knowledge about customers which

meets the criteria of an organizational strength; that
is, it is valuable, rare and difficult to imitate and which
the organization is aligned to make use of.’ (Smith,
Wilson and Clark, 2006).

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

 Marketing Information Systems and
Information Requirements
• Aggregated marketing information in quarterly, annual summaries;
• Aggregated marketing information around product/markets (e.g. sales
data);
• Analytical information for decision models (e.g. SWOT, segmentation
analyses);
• Internally focused marketing information (e.g. sales, costs, marketing
performance indicators);
• Externally focused marketing information (e.g. macro and industry
trends);
• Historical information (e.g. sales, profitability, market trends);
• Future-oriented marketing information (e.g. environmental scanning
information);
• Quantitative marketing information (e.g. costs, profit, market share);
• Qualitative marketing information (e.g. buyer behaviour, competitor
strategy information) (Ashill and Jobber, 2001).

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

 Rules for Building an MkIS

Axelrod (1970) suggests adherence to the following 14 basic rules for

building a MkIS:

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

 Contents of the Research Brief
• Background summary –Brief introduction and details about the
company and its products and/or services that the
organization offers.
• The management problem –Statement of why the research
should be undertaken and which business decisions are
dependent upon its outcome.
• The marketing research questions – List of the information
necessary in order to make the decisions outlined above.
• The intended scope of the research - The areas to be covered,
which industries, type of customer, etc. should be provided.
The brief should give an indication of when the information is
required and explain why that date is important.
• Tendering procedures – The client organization should outline
how agencies are to be selected as a result of the tendering
process. Specific information may be required such as CVs
from agency personnel to be involved in the study, and referee
contact addresses.

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

The Marketing Research Process
Problem Definition
Marketing Research Proposal
A Continuum of Research Techniques
 Sources of Secondary Data
• Government sources: including export databases, government
statistical offices, and social trend databases.

• The internet: sources identified using search engines, blogs and

discussion groups.

• Company internal records: information housed in a marketing

information system or published reports where they exist, or
sales reports, marketing plans, research reports previously
commissioned.

• Professional bodies and trade associations: frequently have

databases, often available online.

• Market research companies: these organizations frequently

undertake research into industry sectors or specific product
groups and can be highly specialized, e.g. Mintel and
Euromonitor.
Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition
 Categories of Research Design

1. Exploratory research - used when little is

known about a particular management
problem and to discover the general nature
of the questions that might relate to it.
2. Descriptive research focuses on accurately
describing the variables being considered.
3. Causal research is used when there is a
need to determine the nature of a
relationship between two or more variables.

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

Qualitative and Quantitative Compared
 The Major Components of Research
Design

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

 Types of Sampling Approaches

Probability methods include:

The Pros and Cons of Online Research
 Marketing Research and Ethics
The MRS key principles outline that researchers shall (MRS, 2010: 4):

1 Ensure that participation in their activities is based on voluntary informed consent.

2 Be straightforward and honest in all their professional and business relationships.
3 Be transparent as to the subject and purpose of data collection.
4 Respect the confidentiality of information collected in their professional activities.
5 Respect the rights and well-being of all individuals.
6 Ensure that their respondents are not harmed or adversely affected by their
professional activities.
7 Balance the needs of individuals, clients, and their professional activities.
8 Exercise independent professional judgment in the design, conduct, and reporting
of their professional activities.
9 Ensure that their professional activities are conducted by persons with appropriate
training, qualifications, and experience.
10 Protect the reputation and integrity of the profession.

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition

International Marketing Research
Types of Semantic Equivalence II
Types of Equivalence
Types of Equivalence II
 Summary
• Defined the terms market research, marketing research and customer
insight.

• Described the role of marketing information systems in the insight

process.

• Explained the role marketing research and list the range of possible
research approaches.

• Discussed the importance of ethics and the adoption of a Code of

Conduct in marketing research.

• Noted the concept of equivalence in relation to obtaining comparable

data.

• Listed the problems arising when coordinating international marketing

research.

Baines & Fill: Marketing, 3rd edition