Marketing Essentials

Chapter 28: Marketing Research

Chapter Summaries

Section 28.1

• Marketing information is used to identify marketing opportunities, solve marketing problems, develop and implement marketing plans, and monitor marketing performance.
• A marketing information system is a set of procedures and methods that regularly generates, stores, analyzes, and distributes marketing information for use in making marketing decisions.
• Database marketing, also known as customer relationship management (CRM), involves using database software to store and sort information about customers. Businesses can use this information to understand their customers better and to offer them special programs and services.

Section 28.2

• Marketing research is usually divided into two broad types: quantitative and qualitative. Marketing research methods include attitude and opinion research, market intelligence, media research, and product intelligence.
• The highly competitive marketplace has made research into product quality and customer satisfaction particularly popular.
• Marketing research has limitations. Time and money can limit how much information a company can collect and evaluate. In addition, what customers tell researchers and what they do when making buying decisions do not always match.