Market Research example essay topic

3 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ITCo has been in business for 6 years and was formed with the intention of being a company that provides innovative marketing database solutions tailored specifically to the marketer. The business started with ad hoc Bureau work using proprietary software that enabled work to be conducted faster than most other Bureaux in the market place. In 1997 we developed a new product that enabled Clients to access and query their data via a secure web link (Quick Counts) and this became a market leader for this type of product. In the years since, many more companies have released their own versions of this type of software that has more functionality than our original product. We have only discovered this when we have attended industry exhibitions or have feedback from our sales force, which has only recently been expanded to three personnel as opposed to one less than 10 months ago. We have recognised that we had not paid attention to the market in the past three to four years and our revenues were suffering as a result.

A five year tactical plan was implemented in 2001 which saw the introduction of a marketing department for the first time in our history. Much of the past 12 months has been devoted to setting up the foundations as well as upgrading our sales collateral and launching our company brand. In 2002 a five year strategy was finalised that includes a theme of "Innovation" where the focus must now be on developing innovative solutions to meet the needs of the market place. Part of the preparation for the Strategy included some unstructured market research that sought to identify our market arena, its potential growth and other markets that we perceived we have some cross over in. 4 RESEARCH PURPOSE In order to fulfil the needs of the company strategy we now need to identify gaps in our current product offering that do not meet current Client and prospect functionality requirements in the Enterprise Marketing Automation (EMA) market. This will enable the marketing department to write an Initial Proposal for our new R & D department that will enable them to re-develop our product offering with the aim of increasing new business sales.

4.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES I. Establish EMA Market size and potential growth for next 2 to 3 years II. Identify target market segments by data volume, decision making unit (DMU) and level of technical expertise.. Understand Client issues in terms of their marketing role and their requirement to meet their company business objectives. IV. Identify Client and Prospect database marketing functionality requirements. V. Examine reasons for lost new business sales and current barriers to new business sales. VI.

Establish need to new channel (i.e. email & sms) integration into required functionality. VII. Compare our current offering to our direct competitors' offering in terms of functionality and look & feel. 4.2 PRESENTATION AND USE OF RESULTS The results should be presented in the form of a written report clearly separating the following sections: I. Market size and growth. To include: - Graphs depicting market growth patterns in EMA, CRM and Data Warehousing markets. - Identification of issues currently being discussed but no figures are available.

- Boston Matrix showing position of ITCo in relation to total market value and key competitors to help validate the need to improve our solution offering in terms in revenue generation. II. Competitive offerings broken down by at least the following criteria: - Web or desktop solution - "Point and Click" or "Drag and Drop" querying (and "Other" if applicable) - Ability to run train of thought queries - Ability to create segments based on queries and apply them to the data set - Ability to save query criteria and results - Graphical display of query results (include types of graphics available) - Ability for user to profile counts against a set universe. - Ability for User to define profiling universe - Ability for user to import modelling code to dynamically apply to data in order to query data - Integration with Client's own databases or need to have vendor's database - Ability to plan, execute and track off-line and on-line campaigns - Ability to extract data - Any other criteria that may come out from research. Market issues - This may include data quality, speed of data turnaround from data receipt to data extraction, cost of solutions, expertise & training required and perception of the EMA software market. - Whatever the issues, themes must be clearly stated.

IV. Market requirements - This must be broken down by the same criteria used to compare competitive offerings as well as any new criteria that is uncovered in the course of the research. Where possible the results must be split down by the market segments established in objective II and if volumes are too small to make results meaningful then this must be made very clear in the presentation. The report must be sent via email to the Marketing Department (mailto: ) by 14th December 2002 and the findings to be presented to the Board by December 20th 2002.4. 3 SPECIAL FACTORS There is no budget available for the purchase of secondary research reports but there is budget for primary field research and all expenses will be paid if this requires travel, subsistence or Client entertainment. This should, however, not exceed lb 1500 in total.

Internal expertise is available for the design and distribution of web enabled questionnaires and any requirement for this must be specified with at least one week's notice. There no other special factors to be considered in this research and we are happy for the ITCo name to be used when discussing any issues with Clients or prospects. We will provide a list of current Clients and any issues we are currently aware of so that the researcher is aware of any sensitive topics of conversation. 5 SURVEY DESIGN In order to achieve the objectives of the research brief the survey design will include two key stages that will make the most effective use of time and resources. The first stage will make use of information that already exists for other purposes and this is known as Desk Research. The second stage will then take the form of work conducted specifically for this research brief and will involve work not done anywhere else to meet the research objectives.

This is called Primary Research. It is also important to re-state the research objectives to ensure that the work conducted fully meets the expectations of ITCo. The objectives are: I. Establish EMA Market size and potential growth for next 2 to 3 years II. IV. VI. VII.

5.1 DESK RESEARCH The first stage will take the form of desk research. This will involve using information that has been collected for other reasons but will aid in the build up the information that will enable ITCo to make a decision about what their new product should include in terms of functionality and "look and feel". The benefit of conducting desk research first will help to make the primary research less costly and time consuming as the more information we get from existing sources will mean that the primary research stages will be more focussed and effective. We expect that there will be an even split between internal and external sources of information for this stage. This is due to the fact that the objectives require the investigation of competitors as well as understanding your existing client base and sales issues. The focus of this stage of research will be to obtain the facts and figures required for the purpose of establishing the market position of ITCo in comparison to its competitors as well as obtaining competitor product features.

This stage will also utilise reports collected by the sales and operational departments to gain some understanding of the types of issues faced by ITCo with regard to its product offering. Universities could be used to help perform the desk research as this would be a very cost effective way of achieving this stage of research but due to the time limits involved for setting up the logistics of this type of operation we would recommend that this is not feasible. If ITCo has a regular cycle of reporting then it would be extremely useful to have the last 12 months of Sales Status reports as these will contain sales won and sales lost. A S.W.O. T analysis can then be done to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the product offering as well identify the reasons for lost sales. As stated, the sales department is very new so we may not have much historical written evidence to work with and this will be revisited in the primary stage of research (see section 5.2) if necessary.

It will be of great value to obtain copies of previous Invitations to Tender (ITT) from the past 12 months as this will aid in establishing some of the key themes for the market requirements. This may also help us to understand the profiles of the prospective client base in order to define what market segments you could be selling to. As stated in the background of this project, some market research has already been done so as well as using the final research report it will also be of great use to look at any reports purchased for this project so that the finer detail on the EMA market can be examined. Budget constraints mean that other reports cannot be purchased and this may cause some issues in that the Marketing industry often practices what it preaches and puts a cost on valuable information. There may be, therefore, limitations to the amount of meaningful information we can gather regarding specific growth rates broken down by any sub group, such as vertical markets, at this stage.

There is a huge resource available to utilise for this project and this takes the form of the Web where Competitor information, free industry reports, and industry press articles can be collated and examined to aid in meeting many of the objectives. This, along with any competitor information collected at the exhibitions ITCo staff have attended will provide valuable information on the market, competitor offerings as well as highlight issues being addressed that ITCo may not be addressing. This will also enable us to keep within the budget constraints. This stage will require the co-operation of each department supplying the necessary information so we recommend a short briefing to enable each department to understand our aims to therefore facilitate co-operation.

5.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH ITCo are in the arena of selling Business to Business so this stage will focus more on the understanding of the issues and using techniques to reduce the amount of time respondents need to spend on this project due to demands of their businesses. Again, the budget is very limited so the techniques described below will also need to meet this constraint. 5.2. 1 QUALITATIVE STAGE Qualitative research is most powerful when the aim is to understand without the need to measure. This stage will seek to take any issues we found as a result of the desk research and explore them further directly with the market practitioners to get a richer and more detailed understanding. Firstly, we will need to appreciate what we do not yet know about ITCo, current Clients and the product offering being used. This will involve meetings with internal staff to get a full background of each Client and become conversant in any jargon that may be used, as this will enable more effective communication with the market place.

The objective of this stage of research will be to identify key themes and issues that can then be taken and measured in the final stage (see Section 5.2. 2) and help ITCo to provide a proposal for the R & D department for new product functionality. 5.2. 1.1 Interviews The most effective way to understand anything is to discuss and listen with those directly involved. This will mean interviewing your current Clients and prospects in various forms in order to identify market segments, appreciate what each segment requires in order to do their jobs effectively and their issues they have encountered within their own businesses. Firstly it is imperative to ascertain who uses the ITCo product.

The current product enables any person with a username and password to obtain access to their database so the most in depth interviews should take place with those who use the product most frequently. These users will have explored the product in some depth as well as take the role within their own company as the "expert" users. A list of current users, their job role and statistics on usage will be required in order to identify this target group. We will also include the people that were responsible for purchasing the ITCo product, as these are often not the end users and will have specific issues that can affect what any new product could do for them. Less frequent users may be included at this stage is we do not have enough users to get a rounded view of the above objectives but we expect to interview no more than 10-15 users in depth. The depth interviews will consist of a discussion lasting no more than 1.5 hours and will be conducted by the relevant Account Director or Account Manager as they will have the best relationship with the Clients and will have a better chance of securing their time.

We can also make use of existing recurring meetings such as monthly Service Level reviews or Quarterly Strategic Reviews, whichever comes first, to make sure we can have as many face-to-face interviews as possible. It is appreciated, however, that we will be dealing with Marketers and I.T. staff who, by the nature of their jobs and their industries, will find it difficult to devote huge amounts of time for this purpose. The ITCo Client base is also not concentrated in any particular region of the UK so staff travelling time may also be an issue. With this in mind we will conduct telephone interviews where we are unable to get face-to-face time with interviewees. Proper planning and preparation will be the key for this part of the project as the discussion should take the form of open ended questions and the interviewer should make sure that he or she can keep the discussion on track. As we do not have the budget to use experienced interviewers we will ensure that we have a prepared list of relevant questions to ask to ensure the topics are covered for all "expert" Clients.

Some of the preparation will also involve identifying Clients that may be at risk from not co-operating due to their lack of willingness or ability to discuss issues in depth. Here the task will be use projective and enabling techniques that will encourage these Clients to take part and supply the information we need. We will seek to ask questions that shed light on what your Clients' greatest challenges are in their job, what they find most useful about the ITCo product and what they find least useful. We will also make sure issues surrounding Web use and marketing software in general are addressed and that specific issues of their experience of the ITCo product are rolled in to ensure all topics are covered. Care must also be taken to not discuss other Clients as part of this project as there may be confidentiality issues so a confidentiality agreement will be drafted for Clients to sign to make it clear that no part of their discussions will become public. Should ITCo want to release any findings then we will seek their explicit permission to use data collected as part of this research.

It is also with this in mind and time constraints that we have ruled out the use of Group discussions. We have considered the use of Focus groups where a group of people are brought together to discuss specific topics facilitated by a skilled interviewer, but there is no budget to employ a skilled interviewer and it may be difficult to secure respondents' time for this activity. This technique has therefore been ruled out for this project. There is also an option to use sponsored surveys where ITCo could commission specific research from a companies such as Data Monitor but these require a lot of resources, especially money, to set up and run effectively so this has been ruled out for this project. It is recommended, however, if time and budget are available to set up User Groups to test your product on an ongoing basis as this could form the basis for innovative on-going product development that solely meets the needs of your market. Results from this stage of research will be collated and key themes will be documented to take forward to the quantitative stage. 5.2.

2 QUANTITATIVE STAGE This stage of research will be used to take the issues and themes uncovered by the desk and qualitative research to the broader audience for measurement of importance and weighting. This is because some product requirements that were identified as significant to a few interviewees may not be as significant to a wider audience. Doing this will enable ITCo to include the core functionality requirements in the R and D proposal as a priority. 5.2. 2.1 Sampling Frame It is at this stage that we will include the less frequent Client users of the ITCo product as well as the expert users. In order to widen the measurement base even more prospects that are already in communication with ITCo will be included at this stage. These users will be stratified into groups based on their vertical market, job role and technical expertise where known.

The marketing database market place involves a lot of third party participation by Below the Line Agencies as they are often regarded as key advocates in the selling process. It is for this reason that we will include this group as part of our research. Due to the sheer number of Agencies that we could poll we will take a sample for this group although we will use all Clients and prospects, as these are small in number in comparison to the Agencies. In order to simplify the measurement process due to time constraints we will have a total quota sample size of 50 Agencies (taken from the Top 100 agencies and to include existing Client agencies) with the aim on contacting two personnel within each agency. If possible and the department exists we will question at least person per agency in the Data Planning department as they are mainly responsible for Marketing Database pitches and data related work for their end Clients. We expect the total size of the respondents to be approximately 100 people.

To clarify we have three main groups as follows: - Clients - split by vertical market, job role and technical expertise - Prospects - split by vertical market and job role (and technical expertise where known) - Agencies A web-enabled self-completion questionnaire will be sent out to all of these groups covering the topics drawn out as a result of the first two stages of research. The reason for it being web-enables is to make it consistent with the company Brand and values. ITCo is an IT company that targets marketers and IT personnel to sell web-enabled database marketing solutions so with this in mind the questionnaire should be sent to promote this as well enable the questionnaire design to be as flexible and easy to navigate as possible. The questionnaire will have three main sections that address their attitudes to and requirements for their ideal database marketing software.

Due to the characteristics of the groups we are addressing, the questionnaire will be structured to allow users to answer only those questions that are relevant to them and their sphere of expertise as quick and effective filters and routing can be applied for web-enabled questionnaires. There will a an issue with getting the level of response needed to make this part of the quantitative stage meaningful so the questionnaire will be used as a template for a fully structured interview. The Account Managers and Sales force can again be utilised to obtain answers where we are not getting a response. The questionnaire can also be incentivised but this will be dependent on available "client entertainment" budget. There is the possibility of making further use of this type of research by having a Diary Panel who can complete short and relevant questionnaires on their usage of the product for a set period of time so that attitudes and usage patterns can be assessed. Due to time constraints this cannot be done for this project but we recommend that it is used as a part the ITCo on-going assessment of their product portfolio.

If the people resources were to become available then an Observation could be done with current users of the ITCo product so that Client tasks can be monitored and measured but, again, available Client time makes this problematic to set up and run. 6 CONCLUSION The result of this survey will be a full report where all key issues & themes are identified and discussed and a number of metrics that will state what functionality is most important to the User. The measurements will include: - Usage of various functionality (as stated in the Research brief) - Attitudes to that functionality in terms of ease of use, benefit to business and efficiency. - Attitudes to look and feel of software - Attitudes to cost issues Where possible the results will be broken down by market segments identified as part of the research and will also be ranked by importance. This will enable ITCo to design their new product development requirements to meet the needs they consider most appropriate to their market..