Exam 4: Managing Marketing Information to Gain Customer Insights

Brad works with a reputed retailer and leads a team that collects market information from a wide variety of sources ranging from marketing research studies to monitoring online conversations where consumers discuss Brad's firm or its products. Brad's team uses this information to arrive at a better understanding of consumer behavior and their buying motives. This, in turn, allows Brad's firm to successfully generate more value for consumers. Brad leads the ________ team.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following question(s). Jason West, owner of A1 Cleaning, started his enterprise in 2001. Jason's primary focus had been on office cleaning for large corporations. But in recent months, Jason has seen a decline in demand for his office cleaning services. Surprisingly, the competitive environment appeared relatively stable with no new competitors. However, Jason knew that office cleaning was a high-frequency service that is usually performed daily; therefore, competitors must have been doing something to attract his customers. Building a competitive advantage seemed to be the only option to offset competition. But as Jason pondered over his dilemma, he realized that prior to building his competitive advantage he needed to better understand how customers assessed service quality and what they look for in a superior cleaning service. Jason developed a research plan. First, he gathered information about his competitors, primarily through pamphlets and Web sites, as well as through a few phone calls in order to find out exactly what the competitors offered in their cleaning packages. In addition, Jason obtained from the Chamber of Commerce an updated list of local corporations. He planned on sending written questionnaires to them. Though the list of corporations contained 141 local company names, Jason chose to survey 75 of them. To better understand customer service expectations between both small and large corporations, Jason divided his surveys into two categories. The survey questions were designed to extract specific data from respondents with regard to service quality expectations in correlation to service frequency and price. Jason awaited the results. Though his primary focus had been on large corporations, he was flexible and would aim his efforts differently if needed. -External databases are electronic collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within a company's network.

In collecting primary data, marketing researchers have a choice of two main research instruments, ________.

Refer to the scenario below to answer the following question(s). Jason West, owner of A1 Cleaning, started his enterprise in 2001. Jason's primary focus had been on office cleaning for large corporations. But in recent months, Jason has seen a decline in demand for his office cleaning services. Surprisingly, the competitive environment appeared relatively stable with no new competitors. However, Jason knew that office cleaning was a high-frequency service that is usually performed daily; therefore, competitors must have been doing something to attract his customers. Building a competitive advantage seemed to be the only option to offset competition. But as Jason pondered over his dilemma, he realized that prior to building his competitive advantage he needed to better understand how customers assessed service quality and what they look for in a superior cleaning service. Jason developed a research plan. First, he gathered information about his competitors, primarily through pamphlets and Web sites, as well as through a few phone calls in order to find out exactly what the competitors offered in their cleaning packages. In addition, Jason obtained from the Chamber of Commerce an updated list of local corporations. He planned on sending written questionnaires to them. Though the list of corporations contained 141 local company names, Jason chose to survey 75 of them. To better understand customer service expectations between both small and large corporations, Jason divided his surveys into two categories. The survey questions were designed to extract specific data from respondents with regard to service quality expectations in correlation to service frequency and price. Jason awaited the results. Though his primary focus had been on large corporations, he was flexible and would aim his efforts differently if needed. -Competitive marketing intelligence is the systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors, and developments in the marketplace.

Customer relationship management (CRM) helps ________.

Jaime Gonzalez owns a small publishing company in Utah and has a very restrictive budget for the market research he currently needs to conduct. He requires a large sample size for his research in order to arrive at insightful conclusions. Additionally, he wants to have excellent control over his sample. Keeping in mind his restrictive budget and other specifications, which of the following methods of contact would you advise Jaime to use?

Jake Adams works for a marketing research firm and is currently conducting research for a company that wants to investigate multiple international markets for the possibility of expansion. Internet-based survey research would be the most attractive research option for Jake if his client ________.

What are some of the limitations of observational research?

Which of the following contact methods is the most cost-effective?

Describe the major contact methods used to collect information from respondents in market research.

Observation is best suited for ________ research.

A(n) ________ is a segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole.

What is the most common CRM mistake?

Which of the following is the final step of the marketing research process?

Netnography research involves observing consumers in a natural context on the Internet.

Which of the following is an advantage of telephone interviews?

Explain the common problems that international marketing researchers encounter.

The research plan ________.

Maria Ramirez is conducting research to determine consumers' personal grooming habits. Because of the personal nature of many of the survey questions, Maria wants to select the contact method that is most likely to encourage respondents to answer honestly and that will allow her to easily collect large amounts of data. Which of the following is best suited to meet Maria's requirements?

To overcome problems in focus group interviewing, some companies employ small groups of consumers who interact directly and informally with product designers without a focus group moderator present. Such groups are known as ________.