Information types, decision making & commissioning research (MR, unit 1)

Types of information (DCDP)

• Descriptive – e.g. which products are being bought and where
• Comparative – e.g. how good is our after-sales support v. competitor
• Diagnostic – intended to explain customer behaviour e.g. why buying less product A
• Predictive – attempts to determine outcome of marketing actions e.g. how would customers respond if product available in larger sized packs?

Information & decision making
Information’s required for all levels of decision making in an org, whether strategic, tactical or operational

• Strategic: product/market decisions, product life cycles, product development, entry into new markets, investing in technology to provide better info., database development
• Tactical: short-term pricing, discounting, promotional campaigns, advertising, distribution, product service levels, customer service levels, packaging, planning sale territories
• Operational: pricing, competitor tracking, customer & consumer research, distribution channels, sales and market budgets, database management

What to specify when commissioning research: (RBTOMR)

1. Rationale – how need arose, what intend to do with
2. Budget – benefits should outway collection costs
3. Timescale – impacts of scale and type of research
4. Objectives – precise information required, as clear as possible
5. Methods – outline only, sets out scale of search, segments, mixture of qualitative and quantitative
6. Reports – final presentation: style, charts, graphs