Chapter 6: Online Marketing Research

  1. Do you think that eventually all marketing research will be done on the Internet? Why or why not?

Online marketing is a fast growing approach where different companies conduct their marketing research on the internet. Looking at the current internet usage statistics, it can be said that there will be a time when all marketing research will be done on internet. The reason behind it is that conducting marketing research on internet is easy and the data can be collected without any complication (McDaniel & Gates, 2013).

  1. Explain the relationship between blogs and marketing research.

Blogs play an important role in marketing research. Different blogs which address the topic of marketing and have different previous research findings listed on them, such blogs can be used by the researchers to collect the secondary data form these websites. Besides, it is also easy to conduct a marketing research and to spread its objectives using a blog.

  1. How can a researcher evaluate the quality of a Web page?

A researcher can evaluate the quality of a webpage by looking at the available data on it. A researcher needs to assess if a webpage has a relevant data available for his research and if it has, the quality of webpage can easily be evaluated.

  1. How can a company benefit from building an internal database from its Web site visitors? Is there an advantage that a Web retailer might have over a traditional store?

A company can benefit from building an internet database form its website visitors in different ways. Building such a database can be used by that company later to conduct a research study and to collect data more easily. There are definitely some advantages that a web retailer has over a traditional store which includes to create such a database. A traditional store cannot create such a database of its customers.

  1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online focus groups.

The advantages of the online focus groups include to record the opinion of participants easily and to access them at their convenience. While the disadvantages include the connectivity issues and to gather them online at once.

  1. Explain the differences between real-time focus groups and asynchronous focus groups.

The asynchronous focus groups are used when different factors such as time, access or cost to participants can make conducting the face to face research difficult. While a real time focus group addresses the face to face research in an effective manner and where there no such factor impacts it (Stewart & Williams, 2005) (Callegaro & DiSogra, 2008).

  1. Do you think that a company such as Caterpillar could benefit from Web community research? Ford? American Airlines?

That totally depends upon the aims and objectives of research for which it is being conducted for. There can be certain web community researches that can benefit these companies while some other studies might not go an additional mile for them.

  1. Discuss the popularity of online survey research. Why is it so popular?

Online survey research is really easy to conduct and it is time and cost effective. The data can be collected easily using this research method and this is why, it is popular among market researchers and different companies.

  1. What are some techniques for increasing survey completion rates?

There are various methods used for increasing survey completion rates. Some of them can include to attract more participants for recording their data using the online web portals, using random sampling strategies and to reward the participants.

  1. Describe some ways to recruit for online panels.

Recruitment for online panels can be done using the blogs, social media advertisement and other forms of sourcing the job. In addition, the recruited individuals can be asked to conduct a sample online survey research which would help the recruiter to assess their capabilities. Besides, both the open and closed recruitment strategies can be used for it.

  1. How does one avoid professional survey takers with online panels?

The online panels can take care of professional survey takers by panel recruitment and the respondent cooperation program. These online panels must have effective ongoing management which can help someone to avoid the professional survey takers. Additional, these panels should also continuously see if their participants have positive experience or not.

  1. Is panel management a critical task for a quality online panel?

Panel management is a critical task for a quality online panel. Among all other components, the good penal management includes the frequency controls that is necessary for the quality online panel.

Bibliography

Callegaro, M., & DiSogra, C. (2008). Computing Response Metrics for Online Panels . Public Opinion Quarterly, 72(5), 1008-1032.

McDaniel, C., & Gates, R. (2013). Online Marketing Research. In Marketing Research Essentials (pp. 128-151). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Stewart, K., & Williams, M. (2005). Researching online populations: the use of online focus groups for social research . Qualitative Research, 5(4), 395-416.