Take a journey through the evolution of marketing from quantitative to qualitative analysis through the years.
What is Market Research?
Process of determining whether or not a product or service is viable in the current time period through research conducted directly with potential customers
Timeline of Market Research
Quantitative Questionnaire Era – 1900s-1940s
- “Understanding the Masses”
- 1920s, man named Daniel Starch theorized that advertising had to be seen, read, believed, remembered & acted upon in order to be considered effective
- George Gallup developed theory of aided recall prompted people interviewed to recall an ad seen in a publication without actually showing it to them, used to measure effectiveness
Qualitative Consumer Era – 1940s-1960s
- “Understanding the Individual”
- The term “consumer” became much more prevalent; this led to businesses understanding their market on deeper and more personal levels
- Ernest Dichter created a new form of research: Motivational Research believed that consumer’s held hidden realm of desires, taboos, repressions, and secrets in their minds
- His advice to the advertisers was to understand the personality of the product, which leads to understanding how to market it
- Relied on “Depth interviews” – therapy sessions used to observe consumers interacting with products in simulated or real environments
Refining the Process – 1960s-1980s
- “Understanding Consumers Mindsets”
- Qualitative methods returned due to incorporation of new technology such as computers, phone systems, and the Internet
- Researchers focused on the experiential part of being a consumer; Both the process of buying and the actual experience of owning and consuming a product/service
- Role of emotions, feelings, moods, and other affective aspects of consumption were used in order to understand customers
The Digital Era – Present
- “Understanding Context”
- Since technology is so advanced in today’s world, this allows market research agencies to pull from a large ecosystem of methodologies and tools that provide a more accurate view of consumers.
- The Internet has allowed us to conduct surveys on much larger scales, such as:
- Research
- News
- Communications
- Culture
- Create hyper-segmentations
From quantitative measuring to the advancements of AI (Artificial Intelligence) the way we
research is rapidly evolving. Connecting with people on the most organic levels has become as
easy as clicking a button. As much as marketing and advertising evolves, the way that
marketers connect stays the same-real engagements.
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