Marketing Research

Trends in Marketing Research

In recent years the evolution of marketing research has been dramatic with marketers getting access to a wide variety of tools and techniques to improve their hunt for information.  Below we discuss a few important trends shaping the marketing research field:

Gaining an Information Advantage

In its role as the foundation of marketing, marketing research is arguably marketing’s most important task.  Today marketers not only view research as a key ingredient in making marketing decisions they also consider information to be a critical factor in gaining advantage over competitors.  Because organizations recognize the power information has in helping create and maintain products that offer value, there is an insatiable appetite to gain even more insight into customers and markets.  Marketers in nearly all industries are expected to direct more resources to gathering and analyzing information especially in highly competitive markets.  Many of the trends discussed below are directly related to marketers’ quest to acquire large amounts of customer, competitive and market information.

Internet Technologies

To address the need for more information, marketing companies are developing new methods for collecting data.  This has led to the introduction of several new technologies to assist in the information gathering process.  Many of these developments are Internet-based technologies that include:

• Enhanced Tracking - The Internet offers an unparalleled ability to track and monitor customers.  Each time a visitor accesses a website they provide marketers with extensive information including how they arrived at the website (e.g., via a search engine) and what they did when on the website (e.g., what products were investigated).  In many ways the vast data available through Internet tracking has yet to be used by the majority of marketers.  However, as tracking software becomes more sophisticated the use of tracking data will be a routinely used research tool.
• Improved Communication – Not only is the Internet enabling marketers to monitor customers’ website activity, it also offers significant improvement in customer-to-company communication which is vital for marketing research.  For instance, the ability to encourage customers to offer feedback on the company’s products and service is easy using website popup notices and email reminders.  Also, as we discuss in the Planning for Market Research Tutorial, the use of the Internet for conducting online focus group research is expanding.
• Research Tools – A large number of Internet services have added options for conducting research.  These include the ubiquitous search engines, tools for conducting online surveys, and access to large databases containing previous research studies (i.e., secondary research).