MARKETING RESEARCH ESSENTIALS WITH DATA ANALYSIS IN EXCEL AND SPAA McDaniel │ Gates │ Sivaramakrishnan │ Main Chapter Nine: Online Marketing Research

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Understand the online world as it applies to marketing research Explain how to use the Internet to gather secondary data for marketing research. Understand the popularity and types of online focus groups. Describe how survey research is conducted on the Internet. Understand the importance of panel management in maintaining data quality. Describe mobile marketing research and outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of this research method. Chapter Nine: Online Marketing Research

The Online World 30% of the world’s population is online 80% of North Americans are online Popularity of online research continues to grow

Online Secondary Data Resources imshealth.com arbitron.com synovate.com idpa.com npd.com abtassociates.com irwonline.com marketstrategies.com icrsurvey.com knowledgenetworks.com walkerinfo.com liebermanresearch.com vanderveer.com

Online Secondary Data Resources US Small Business Administration US Bureau of Labor Statistics US Federal Statistics US Census Bureau

Online Secondary Data Resources Newsgroup: A website where people can read and post messages devoted to a specific topic. They are a primary means of communicating with other professionals and special-interest groups on the Internet is through newsgroups. With an Internet connection and newsreader software, you can visit any newsgroup supported by your service provider.

Online Secondary Data Resources Blog: A website where companies can communicate directly with their customers and other businesses. Blogs continue to grow as a great tool in the exploratory research stage of many formal survey projects. Companies talk to customers and other businesses via their blogs, and may even receive feedback and interact with customers in “comments.”

Online Qualitative Research Traditional format Online bulletin boards

The Popularity of Online Focus Groups Advantages: 1.Lack of geographic barriers 2.Lower costs 3.Faster turnaround time 4.Increased openness of the respondents 5.Efficient moderator-client interaction 6.The ‘natural talker’ neutralized 7.Access to the hard-to-reach target population

The Popularity of Online Focus Groups Disadvantages: 1.Group Dynamics 2.Nonverbal inputs 3.Client involvement 4.Exposure to external stimuli 5.Role and skill of the moderator 6.The ‘natural talker’ neutralized 7.Access to the hard-to-reach target population

Web Community Research Web Community: A carefully selected group of consumers who agree to participate in an ongoing dialogue with a corporation. Engage customers in a space where they are comfortable. Uncover “exciters” and “eureka moments” and drive customer-derived innovations. Establish brand advocates who are emotionally invested in a company’s success. Offer real-time results, enabling your clients to explore ideas that normal time constraints would prohibit. Create a forum in which natural dialogue allows customers to initiate topics important to them.

Online Survey Research Advantages: Rapid deployment, real-time reporting – surveys are potentially broadcasted to thousands and results are viewed instantly by corporate clients Reduced costs – low data collection costs; solicitations can grow in volume with little added cost Ready personalization – results in only pertinent questions being asked High response rates – take less time than other forms of surveys; surveys are taken at the respondents’ convenience Ability to contact the hard-to-reach – allows for busy professionals to take surveys on their own time Simplified and enhanced panel management – are built and maintained at less cost and time than traditional panels

Online Survey Research Disadvantages: Misrepresentation – Cannot be used in all countries Unrestricted Internet sample – Anyone who wishes to complete the questionnaire may do so; problems arise if the user can access the questionnaire over and over Too broad – Difficulty may occur in gathering data for smaller/local companies; this data might not be possible to collect on the Internet Lack of “callback” – there is no way to clarify open-ended responses Programming errors – can cause problems when taking the questionnaire or processing data collected Lack of bandwidth – some respondents cannot download photos or complete the survey in a timely fashion

Online Surveys Methods Web Survey Software Gaining Survey Completions –Be conversational –Be honest about the time requirement –Provide open-ended questions –Do not use “other” as an option often –Keep the survey less than 20 minutes and provide a progress bar –Use graphics and interaction –Share information about a product –Provide future updates to participants. Web Hosting Sites

Commercial Online Panels Panel Management Issues: –Traditional panel recruitment –Open online panel recruitment –Closed online panel recruitment –Respondent cooperation –Controlling the panel

Mobile Marketing Research: The Next Step Over 75% of all Canadian consumers have Internet access on their mobile devices, and about one-third of those use it. Mobile technology creates new opportunities for marketing research such as point-of-sale customer satisfaction queries, continuous real-time event feedback, brand and advertising tracking and feedback, and live product concept testing.

Mobile Marketing Research: The Next Step There are still some disadvantages to this form of research: –Profile may not reflect the average consumer –Questionnaires must be short –Question types and length of questions are limited –Higher incentives must be offered to remove the financial burden of receiving and completing mobile surveys from the respondent

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted by Access Copyright (the Canadian copyright licensing agency) is unlawful. Requests for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his or her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The author and the publisher assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages caused by the use of these files or programs or from the use of the information contained herein. Copyright