Know-How Exchange : Research/Metrics

A marketing research function has three types of process. Firstly monitoring a stream of information sources for relevant information - newsfeeds, analyst reports, competitor reports, report publishers. This is essentially collect, store, collate, summarise and disperse.

The second process are the continuous research projects they carry out or buy in data (eg Nielsen or retail sales data - it may also include webanalytics). These are big trend measuring data collection exercises such as customer satisfaction, advertising/brand tracking. External agencies provide the data and are typically reported monthly or quarterly in summary but often used in detail by internal analysts/project managers to track specific issues or answer specific questions.

The third process is for ad hoc or project-based research. This involves defining the business or research problem, inviting tenders, commissioning and project management, then reporting and communication. This is often coordinated with product or marketing development. Some businesses have a set pattern of research as part of the product development process or product lifecycle.

Much of the job of the internal researcher is about acting as a source of information on the one hand, but also as an internal champion of the 'voice of the customer' communicating what the market is doing and trying to anticipate how customers might react.

Saul