x
1. Which of the following is generally not addressed under the umbrella of consumer understanding research?
a. Market mapping
b. Key driver analysis
c. Line optimization
d. Segmentation
e. None of the above, all are included
Answer: c
2. Explain the difference between defining a sampling unit as a consumer and defining a sampling unit as a shopper.
Answer: The shopper is the person who makes the decision about what to buy and makes the actual purchase. The consumer is the person who uses, eats or drinks the product but may or may not make the purchase decision.
3. Which of the following is not likely to show up as an area of questioning in a consumer understanding study?
a. Products purchased in the past
b. Brands aware of
c. Characteristics associated with specific products
d. Category shopping patterns
e. Price considered too expensive for a product
f. How a particular product is prepared and served
g. None, all are likely to be this type of study
h. c and e
Answer: e
4. Which of the following are common roles for attitudinal questions in consumer understanding studies?
a. To make a respondent feel comfortable participating
b. As inputs to key driver analysis
c. To identify potential leads for sales staff to call
d. To profile different segments of the population
e. To provide checks that respondents are reading the questions carefully
f. b and c
g. a and e
Answer: f
5. Explain three main roles of a market landscaping research project.
Answer:
To explain how consumers perceive the marketplace and its products and services.
To prescribe how to deliver against consumer motivations.
To identify where gaps exist that can be exploited through innovation or repositioning.
6. Identify and describe a potential technique that can be used to create a market landscape.
Answer:
Perceptual mapping – spatially represent consumers perceptions of similarities and differences among brands and relative preferences. It uses correspondence analysis to place brands in a two-dimensional space. Those close to each other are judged to be more similar than different.
7. Which of the following is generally not a level in a brand health pyramid?
a. Bought once
b. Recommend to others
c. Regularly purchase
d. Aware
e. Most often brand
f. None, all can be levels
g. b and e
Answer: f
8. Which of the following is generally not included under the umbrella of Innovation Research?
a. Insight screening
b. Line optimization
c. Concept testing
d. Product testing
e. Pricing optimization
f. None, all are included
g. b and e
Answer: g
9. Why is insight screening an important stage for any innovation-focus company?
Answer: It ensures that:
• the insights used as an initial point for innovation are recognized needs for their target audience
• no one else is adequately meeting those needs at the moment
• marketing and product development teams can focus on the most important needs when they begin to innovate
10. What is the role of a concept in innovation research? Why is it so important?
Answer: It is a simple representation of what consumers will encounter when making a purchase decision. It is used in concept screening, concept testing and product testing research as an initial stimulus. Reaction to the concept can identify stronger ideas and serve as a basis to predict how well the product will do when launched.
11. Which of the following are common elements of a concept?
a. A consumer insight
b. An illustration
c. A reason to believe
d. A price
e. All of the above
f. a, b and c
g. b, c and d
Answer: e
12. Explain the difference between monadic concept testing and sequential-monadic concept testing. What are the benefits and disadvantages of each?
Answer:
In monadic concept testing, the sample is divided into distinct cells and each cell sees and reacts to only one concept. This provides the cleanest read and comes closest to replicating an actual in-store exposure. It can be expensive if testing a lot of ideas.
In sequential-monadic design, each respondent sees and reacts to several new ideas, in randomized order, evaluating each one individually, in turn. It is a more cost-effective way of screening a lot of ideas, but risks getting ‘comparative’ measures rather than a clean replication of ‘at shelf’ exposure. A particularly strong idea could suppress the scores for the others.
13. Which of the following best describes volumetric forecasting?
a. Predicting the size of pack that will be most popular
b. Projecting how many units will be sold with the positioning tested
c. Identifying the impact of seasonality on future sales
d. Comparing expected dollar sales to production and distribution costs to forecast profits
e. None of the above
f. b, c and d
Answer: b
14. For product testing, what are the pros and cons of using each of the two main approaches:
Answer:
Central location – Strict controls over how product is prepared, presented and consumed, ensuring respondents are reacting only to differences in the product. But may not be how consumer usually prepares product and doesn’t take into account reaction of others in the household.
In home testing – Takes usage patterns into account. Used as it normally would be in normal environment. Prepared and presented as it would be if bought, rather than as manufacturer thinks best. Measures reaction of the whole household, not just the respondent. Provides an opportunity for repeat purchase. Longer trial gives time for more in-depth reaction. Reaction based on cumulative experience. But: more expensive and time consuming.
15. What are some of the situations when you would want to undertake product testing?
Answers:
• Formulation has changed and you want to understand if consumers notice
• New product appears on the market and you want to understand how consumers compare it to yours
• Positioning is changing and you want to know if product will live up to it
16. What is a simulated test market? Describe the role that it plays in marketing research?
Answer: A mathematical model that uses consumer reaction to a concept (and product) in a marketing research test to predict future sales. It is helpful in identifying potential problems before significant investments are made in product development, manufacturing, packaging, distribution and listing fees. This reduces the risk (and cost) of failure. It can also use alternative modelling scenarios to determine how much would have to be spent on marketing to achieve the desired level of sales and profits.
17. Which of the following are key stages in the survey that collects data for a simulated test market for a product test?
a. Initial exposure to a concept
b. Purchase decision
c. Product trial
d. Repurchase decision
e. Product replacement
f. All of the above
g. a, b and e
Answer: f
18. Which of the following describes what a triangle test does?
a. Determines the best package shape
b. Measures whether or not respondent can detect a difference between products
c. Identifies the degree of ‘false’ differences
d. Measures reaction to three groups of three concepts in rotated order
e. Maps products on a 2-dimensional space using multi-dimensional scaling
f. None of the above
g. b and c
h. a and d
Answer: g
19. Describe the complementary roles of copy testing and ad tracking.
Answer: Copy testing optimizes advertising material before it is released while ad tracking tracks how effective it is after it is launched.
20. Which of the following is an ad effectiveness measure that is used to determine when an advertisement should be replaced?
a. Wear out
b. Uniqueness
c. Purchase intent
d. Likely to recommend
e. None of the above
Answer: a
21. Describe the difference between product-oriented, competition-oriented and market-oriented pricing methods. Which ones can marketing research help with?
Answer: Product-oriented pricing focuses on what it costs to put the product on a shelf and adds a profit margin (cost plus). Competition-oriented pricing establishes the price for a product based on the price of similar products currently on the shelf. Market-oriented pricing focuses on the value that consumers will place on the product and what they are willing to pay for it. Marketing research generally focusses on competition- and market-oriented pricing.
22. What are the six key questions used in a Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter survey?
Answer:
At what price is the product too expensive for you to consider buying?
At what price is it expensive but you would consider buying it?
How likely would you be to buy it at this price?
At what price is it a real bargain?
How likely would you be to buy it at this price?
At what price is it so cheap that you would not consider it worth buying?
23. Which of the following is not one of the main outputs of the Van Westendorp Pricing Sensitivity Meter?
a. Range of acceptable price points
b. Break-even price point
c. Optimal price point for penetration
d. Optimal price point for revenue
e. None, all are outputs
Answer: b
24. When would you feel comfortable using a virtual packaging test and when would you feel you needed to use a ‘hands-on’ packaging test?
Answer: Virtual is fine when testing the look of a package, colours, flashes, branding etc. You would need to do a ‘hands-on’ test when functionality is important (e.g. easy to open, resealable, new size, shape or hand fit).
25. What approach might you use to understand if a new package design will stand out on a store shelf?
Answer: eye-tracking
26. How can you ensure you have the right line-up of products on the shelf?
Answer:
Line optimization.
TURF – Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency
Purchase intent and frequency for each product in the line
27. What are some of the important considerations that make conducting research with specialized professionals (e.g. doctors, lawyers, senior business leaders etc.) different from other types of research?
Answers:
Hard to find sample (use specialized lists, referrals)
Willing to use smaller samples (smaller, more homogeneous population)
More technical vocabulary in questionnaire
Need skilled interviewers with sector knowledge
Higher incentives and costs
28. When might the legal profession use marketing research?
Answer:
Claims support – (e.g. support superiority claim)
Copyright infringement – (e.g. prove there is confusion)
Libel, defamation – (e.g. prove that population thinks less of a person/organization)
Test jury trials – (e.g. test out arguments before putting them before a real jury)
29. Describe some common uses for polling?
Potential Answers:
Politicians and parties to see how they and their leaders are perceived by voters; to test policy alternatives to see which has the most support.
Governments to help them make decisions that the public will support
Advocacy groups to influence public policy decisions by showing the public is on their side.
Companies who need to keep track of their corporate reputation and understand how their actions may impact the way the public perceives them
Media to attract readers and listeners, to create entertainment value.
