Consumer Research

Process
 Learning Objectives

1. To Understand the Importance of Consumer

Research for Firms and Their Brands, as Well as
Consumers.
2. To Understand the Steps in the Consumer
Research Process.
3. To Understand the Importance of Establishing
Specific Research Objectives as the First Step in
the Design of a Consumer Research Project.
 Learning Objectives (continued)

4. To Understand the Purposes and Types of

Secondary Consumer Research That Is Available
for Making Decisions or Planning Future
Consumer Research.
5. To Understand Specific Features and
Applications of Different Research Methods to
Be Carried Out in Consumer Research Studies.
6. To Understand Where Data Analysis and
Reporting of Findings Fit in the Research
Process.
Why Do Marketers Regularly Test Print Ads Like
This One Before They Are Placed in the Media?
To Test the Impact of the Message Before
Spending Large Amounts of Money
 The Importance of the Consumer
Research Process
• Marketers must understand customers
to design effective:
– marketing strategies
– products
– promotional messages

6
The Consumer Research Process
 Developing Research Objectives

• Defining purposes and objectives helps ensure

an appropriate research design.
• A written statement of objectives helps to
define the type and level of information
needed.
 The Consumer Research Process

• Secondary research
• Primary research
– Qualitative
– Quantitative
Secondary Data

• Data that has been

collected for reasons
other than the specific
research project at hand
• Includes internal and
external data
 Types of Secondary Data

Internal Data External Data

• Data generated in-house • Data collected by an outside
• May include analysis of organization
customer files • Includes government,
• Useful for calculating periodicals, newspapers,
customer lifetime value books, search engines
• Commercial data is also
available from market
research firms
Designing Primary Research
 Qualitative Collection Method
Depth Interview
• Also called one-on-one interview
• Usually 20 minutes to 1 hour
• Nonstructured
• Interviewer will often probe to get more
feedback
• Session is usually recorded
Probing Options for Interviews
 Qualitative Collection Method
Focus Group
• 8-10 participants
• Respondents are recruited through a screener
questionnaire
• Lasts about 2 hours
• Always taped or videotaped to assist analysis
• Often held in front of two-way mirrors
• Online focus groups are growing
 Discussion Guides for Research

• Step-by-step outline
for depth interviews
and focus groups
• Interviewers will
often “improvise”
and go beyond the
discussion guide
Focus Group Discussion Guide/screener questionnaire
 Qualitative Collection Method
Projective Techniques
• Research procedures designed to identify
consumers’ subconscious feelings
 Common Projective Exercises

Description
Word The researcher has a list of words, some of them to be studied and some
Associations just as “filler.” The researcher asks the respondent(s) to react, one-at-a
time, to each word by stating or (in a focus group setting) writing on a
pad the first word that comes to mind, and to explain the link.
Sentence The researcher has a series of incomplete sentences that the
Completion respondent(s) needs to complete with a word or phrase.

Photo/Visual The researcher creates/selects a series of photos of consumers, different

for brands or products, range of print ads, etc., to serve as stimuli. The
Storytelling respondents are asked to discuss or tell a story based on their response
to a photo or some other visual stimulus.
Role Playing Is quite similar to storytelling; however, instead of telling a story, the
participant(s) will be given a situation and asked to “act out” the role(s),
often with regard to a product or brand, or particular selling situation.
 Qualitative Collection Method
Metaphor Analysis
• Based on belief that metaphors are the most
basic method of thought and communication
• Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique
(ZMET) combines collage research and
metaphor analysis to bring to the surface the
mental models and the major themes or
constructs that drive consumer thinking and
behavior.
Designing Primary Research
 Data Collection Methods
Observational Research
• Helps marketers gain an in-depth
understanding of the relationship between
people and products by watching them buying
and using products
• Helps researchers gain a better understanding
of what the product symbolizes
 Data Collection Methods
Mechanical Observational Research
• Uses mechanical or electronic device to record
consumer behavior or response
 Data Collection Methods
Experimentation
• An experiment is usually controlled with only
some variables manipulated at a time while
the others are constant
• Test markets are conducted on a single market
area
• Experimentation can be conducted in
laboratories or in the field
 Data Collection Methods

Mail Telephone Personal Online

Interview
Cost Low Moderate High Low
Speed Slow Immediate Slow Fast

Response rate Low Moderate High Depend

Geographic flexibility Excellent Good Difficult Excellent

Interviewer bias N/A Moderate Problematic N/A

 Questionnaires

• A set of questions designed to generate the

data necessary for accomplishing a research
objectives
 Questionnaire Design Elements

• Does each question have the most appropriate form (e.g.,

structured versus nonstructured)?
• Is each question relevant and properly worded to obtain
meaningful, valid responses?
• Are the layout and appearance of the questionnaire
conducive to accurate and easy data collection?
 Question Form

• Nonstructured questions
– Open-ended
• Structured questions
– Fixed-response
 Nonstructured Questions

• Consider the following illustrative questions

How old are you?___________________
What do you like most about owning your own
home? _____________
Will you please describe your thoughts about a
person who shoplifts items from a grocery store to
keep from going hungry?
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
____
 Structured Questions

• In which of the following categories does your

age fall?
_______ Less than 18
_______ 18 to 30
_______ 31 to 45
_______ 46 to 60
_______ Over 60
 Structured Questions:
Dichotomous Questions
• Do you smoke cigarettes?
___Yes ___No
• Have you ever watched CNN News?
___Yes ___No
 Multiple-Category Questions

• In your opinion, which product category is the most suited for

making purchases on the Internet?
____Automobiles
____Books
____Electronic Items (TVs, video cameras, VCR and
DVD players, etc)
____Videos, CDs
____Computer-related items
____Travel (airlines, car rental, hotel reservations, etc.)
 Multiple-Category Questions (Cont’d)

• What do you like about Bank of America’s

online banking service?
____24 hour service
____Transaction privacy
____No need to travel – do it from home
____Paying bills online– no need to mail bills
____Other ____(please specify)
 Response Category Sequence

• Approximately how many long-distance

telephone calls do you make per week?
______ 0 to 1 call
______ 2 to 3 calls
______ 4 to 5 calls
______ 6 to 7 calls
______ More than 7 calls
• The response categories in this question
follow a natural sequence
 Response Category Content

• Response choices should be

– Collectively exhaustive
• taken together
– Mutually exclusive
• not overlap
 Response Category

• The response choices are collectively exhaustive but not

mutually exclusive
• On the average, how many cans of cola do you drink per week
____0 to 3 cans
____3 to 6 cans
____More than 6 cans
• Changing the 3 in the second category to a 4 will make the
response choices mutually exclusive
 Response Category (Cont’d)

• What do you like about Bank of America’s online banking

service?
____24 hour service
____Transaction privacy
____No need to travel – do it from home
____Paying bills online – no need to mail bills
____Other ____(please specify)

• What is wrong with this question ?

 Response Category (Cont’d)

• Modify the question to read, "Which of the

following do you like most about Bank of
America’s Online Banking Service?"
• With this revision each respondent would, or
should, check only one response category
• What do you like about Bank of America’s
Online Banking Service? (Please check as
many categories as apply.)
Question Relevance and Wording

Can the research

Yes objective(s) be No
fulfilled without
asking this question?

The question may still be

question should be a candidate for revision
deleted or deletion and must be
further examined
 Can the Respondent
Answer the Question?
• In your opinion, how many students in your
marketing courses will become potentially
successful marketing managers?
Ten percent ______
Twenty percent ______
Thirty percent ______
______percent ______
 Can the Respondent
Answer the Question? (Cont’d)
• Consider the following question taken from a
questionnaire used by a marketing research
firm in conducting a face-to-face survey of
female household heads
– How much has your family spent in the last 12
months on cookware? Rs _______
 Double-Barreled Questions
• Suppose the following question is to be used in conducting a survey of the
general public
– Do you feel firms today are concerned about their employees and
customers?
_____ Yes _____ No _____ No opinion
• A “no” response can be interpreted three different ways
– The respondent feels firms are concerned about neither employees
nor customers
– The respondent feels firms are concerned about employees but not
customers
– The respondent feels firms are not concerned about employees
although they are concerned about customers
 Avoiding Double-Barreled Questions

• This revision is usually accomplished by breaking one question

into several questions
• Thus our illustrative question can be reworded as two
separate questions
– Do you feel firms today are concerned about their employees?
___ Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
– Do you feel firms today are concerned about their customers?
___ Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
 Leading Questions

• Don't you think offshore drilling for oil is

environmentally unsound?
___Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
• Do you think the quality of products on the
market today is as high as it used to be ten
years ago?
___ Yes ___ No ___ No opinion
 Avoiding Leading Questions

• The two leading questions we saw earlier can

be modified for neutrality as follows
– What is your feeling about the environmental
impact of offshore drilling for oil?
___ Offshore drilling is environmentally sound
___ Offshore drilling is environmentally unsound
___ No opinion
 Avoiding Leading Questions (Cont’d)

• How do you feel about the quality of products on the market

today compared with the quality of products on the market
ten years ago?
___Product quality is better now than ten years ago.
___Product quality is worse now than ten years ago.
___Product quality is the same now as ten years ago.
___ No opinion.
 Unbalanced Questions

• How important is price to you in buying a new

car?
___More important than any other factor
___Extremely important
___Important
___Somewhat important
___Unimportant
 Balanced Questions

• How important is price to you in buying a new

car?
___Very important
___Relatively important
___Neither important nor unimportant
___Relatively unimportant
___Very unimportant
 Avoiding Questions with Implicit
Assumptions
• Do you drink coffee while watching football, baseball, and so
on?
____ Yes ____ No
• The above question can be reworded as
– During which of the following activities do you drink coffee?
(Check as many as apply.)
___ Attending ballgames
___Attending sporting events other than ballgames
___Watching ballgames on TV
___Watching sporting events other than ballgames on TV
 Sequencing of Questions

• Position of Demographic and Sensitive

Questions
• Arrangement of Related Questions
• Skip Patterns
 Position of Demographic and
Sensitive Questions
• Respondents' personal or demographic
characteristics, i.e., age, education level, or
income are placed at the end of the
questionnaire
 Arrangement of Related Questions

• Cluster questions that focus on the same topic

– In a survey of business executives
• Views on the economy
• Competition
• Employee turnover
• Grouping questions into meaningful clusters can increase
respondents' ease in answering the questions and reduce the
chance of response errors
 Skip Patterns

• Proper sequencing of questionnaire items is

essential to avoid complicated skip patterns
that may confuse interviewers and
respondents
Questionnaire Appearance And
Layout
• Version 1
– How old are you?
___Less than 18 ___18 to 25 ___26 to 40 ___Over 40

• Version 2
– How old are you?
___Less than 18
___18 to 25
___26 to 40
___Over 40
 Pretesting

• Pretesting is administering a questionnaire to

a limited number of potential respondents
and other individuals capable of pointing out
design flaws
Reliability & Validity of Questionnaire

• Reliability is the property by which consistent

results are achieved when we repeat the
measurement of something
• Validity is the property by which a
questionnaire measure what it is supposed to
measure
Attitude Scales
 Likert Scale

• Please record the number that best describes

the extent to which you agree or disagree
• 1) Strongly Agree 2) somewhat Agree 3) Neither
Agree nor Disagree 4) Somewhat Disagree 5)
Strongly Disagree
• ……………Its fun to shop online
• ……………I am afraid to give my credit card
number online
 Behavior Intention Scales

• How likely are you to continue using Bank X’s

online banking for next six months?................
1) Definitely will continue
2) Probably will continue
3) Might or might not continue
4) Probably will not continue
5) Definitely will not continue
 Rank-Order Scales

• Please rank the following banking methods by placing

a “1” in front of the method that you prefer most, a
“2” next to your second preference, and continuing
until you have ranked all the methods
• ………….Inside the bank
• ……………Online Banking
• …………….Banking by Telephone
• ……………..ATM
• ……………….Banking by email.
Customer Satisfaction Measurement

• Customer Satisfaction
Surveys: It measures
how satisfied the
customers are with
relevant attributes of
the product or service,
and the relative
importance of these
attributes
Customer Satisfaction Measurement
• Mystery Shoppers:
• Mystery shoppers are
professional observers who
pose as customers and
interact with and provide
unbiased evaluations of the
company’s service
personnel in order to
identify opportunities for
improving productivity and
efficiency
 Marketing-Mix Models

• 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.
• Estimate causal relationship and measure how
marketing activity affects outcomes
 Customer Performance Record

• A customer-performance scorecard records

how well the company is doing year after year
on customer-based measures.
 Stakeholder-Performance Scorecard

• 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.
Sample Customer-Performance Scorecard Measures

• % of new customers to Average no of customer

• % of lost customers to Average no of customer
• % of customers in various levels of satisfaction (Very
Dissatisfied, Dissatisfied, Neutral, Satisfied, & Very
Satisfied )
• % of customers who say they would repurchase
• % of target market customers who have brand
awareness or recall
Customer Satisfaction Measurement

• Customer Complaint
Analysis: A good
complaint analysis
system should
encourage customers
to complain and
provide suggestions for
improvements in
service and products.
 Sampling and Data Collection

• Samples are a subset of the population used

to estimate characteristics of the entire
population.
• A sampling plan addresses:
– Whom to survey
– How many to survey
– How to select them
• Researcher must choose probability or
nonprobabililty sample.
 Probability Sampling

• Simple Random Sampling

• Systematic Random Sampling
• Stratified Random Sampling
• Cluster Sampling
 Simple Random Sampling

• Every member of the population has a known

and equal chance of being selected
 Systematic Random Sampling

• A member of the population is selected at

random and then every nth person is selected
 Stratified Random Sampling

• The population is divided into mutually

exclusive groups (such as age groups), and
random samples are drawn from each group
 Cluster Sampling

• The population is divided into mutually

exclusive groups (such as blocks), and the
researcher draw a sample of the groups to
interview
 Non Probability Sampling

• Convenience Sampling
• Judgment Sampling
• Quota Sampling
 Convenience Sampling

• The researcher selects the most accessible

population members from whom to obtain
information
 Judgment Sampling

• The researcher uses his or her judgment to

select population members who are good
sources for accurate information
 Quota Sampling

• The researcher interviews a prescribed

number of people in each of several
categories
Data Analysis and Reporting Findings

• Open-ended questions are coded and

quantified.
• All responses are tabulated and analyzed.
• Final report includes executive summary,
body, tables, and graphs.