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WRITING THE MARKETING RESEARCH REPORT 1

Writing the Marketing Research Report

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February 4, 2016

Writing the Marketing Research Report

Writing a market research report is a significant part of marketing research as it serves to document the whole process to provide information to clients to make the necessary decisions to solve a marketing problem. This paper describes the importance o the marketing research report in completing the marketing research process, the major descriptions, and differences among the three main sections of a marketing research report, and descriptions of the elements of results, conclusions, and recommendations.

Importance of the Marketing Research Report to the Marketing Research Process

Reporting the findings of research is one of the most relevant aspects of the marketing research process, because in writing the report the research is being translated to words, however, when an inappropriately presented report makes that the effort and resources put into the market research are wasted. Furthermore, the teamwork invested in completing a marketing research usually goes unnoticed for the client and the audience, consequently, the marketing research report presents the work of the whole team to the client. The report needs to be organized and easy to read for the audience to remain enthusiastic to complete reading the report findings and recommendations. Simply put, a well-written marketing research report ensures that the marketing research objectives are fulfilled, and team effort findings, conclusions, and recommendations are read and implemented by the client.

Major Sections of a Marketing Research Report

There are many elements to consider when writing a marketing research report; those elements are grouped into three sections, which are the front matter, body, and the end matter ( Burns & Bush, 2010). By the sections names one can determine that the front matter section comprises all the information that precedes the report, the body contains detailed information about the research, and the end matter includes information complements the marketing report.

The front matter includes the following subsections, the title page that identifies the client the researcher and the date of the presentation. The letter of authorization presents information related to the authorization to do the project for the client. A letter/memo of transmittal describes the nature of the research, serves to remit documents to other areas within and outside of the organization, and identifies the one sending the report. A table of contents is the list of all the information presented in the marketing research organized in headings and subheadings. The list of illustrations is used when marketing research reports contain tables or figures like graphs, charts, maps, or pictures that support the research, by presenting these list users the audience will locate those documents easily. Lastly, the abstract/executive summary comprises the outline of the marketing written report; it is a summary of the relevant information about the report in general including the conclusions and recommendations. (Burns et al., 2010) This section differentiates from the other two sections because it serves more like an introduction to the reader about the research.

Following the body contains the bulk of the report; an introduction to the marketing research report serves to familiarize the audience with the report contents, as it presents a background and statement of the problem, and a briefing about how the research began, and the general purpose of the marketing research report. The introduction is followed by the research objectives. The method follows the research objectives and describes, in as much detail as necessary, how the research was conducted, including a description of the data collection method, questionnaire design, sample plan, sample size, and analysis overview. (Burns et al., 2010)

The next part of this section explains in detail all the methods used to complete this research, including data collection, the research design, sample selection, and an analysis summary. The findings section follows and is regarded as the most relevant part of the report as it contains detail information about the research findings as they related to the research objectives. Another significant part of this section is the limitations as it presents the audience with an honest report in terms of the constraints the report could have. The conclusions are the deductions that inform the audience about the research findings. The recommendations provide the audience with a call to action in terms of the conclusions; the audience wants specific suggestions leading to a problem solution. Despite that, researchers are outsiders to the company, as they are not aware of possible internal financial issues and other internal corporate factors that could affect the implementation of the recommendations, those recommendations should consider the company’s and industry conditions at the time. (Burns et al., 2010) The body section differentiates from the other main sections as it the part that contains the most detailed and relevant aspects of the report in terms of the problem being evaluated.

The end matter includes all appendices that supplement the report with extra information that the reader can benefit from, which is related to the main problem, but not indispensable to reporting within this report. For instance, any further reading that will enrich the audience knowledge about the topic of the current research. (Burns et al., 2010) The last section differentiates from the other two sections as it presents information that supplements the report.

The Elements of Results, Conclusions, and Recommendations

A marketing research report must be a reflection of a well-structured evaluation of a marketing situation; consequently, it should be brief, to the point, while containing all the necessary information. Written reports should comprise elements that make the report more understandable, including, among other components, results, conclusions and recommendations, which are all built upon research findings. Results must be simple, explain the relevance of the presented information using language the audience can understand (Clow & James, 2014, p. 445) Simply put, the message must be tailored to the audience's needs. Since a written report provides the audience with the records of a marketing research, a marketing researcher should consider the audience thinking and expectations to provide them with the proper information that could help them make informed decisions. The best approach is to follow the proper protocol presenting a marketing report in which elements follow an orderly manner; first, the written report should present the results, followed by the conclusions and recommendations.

From the previous statements, one can conclude that each section in a marketing written report should contain specific information, supporting the marketing analysis being made. The results should present the audience with a solution to the posed problem, supported with accurate data, as well as, graphics that demonstrate that the presented information was the result of collected records analysis, and not randomly constructed. Results are to be relevant to the next section, the conclusions.

Next, the conclusions will incorporate all the implications that the findings will have for the client requesting the research in terms of the original problem, and should incorporate information related to the customer behaviors, attitudes, or perceptions about the evaluated issue. The conclusion’s section will cover all subjects and market segments that correlate with the situation. Under the current research, the client for Case 2-A (Honda) is recommended that the most cost effective sampling to determine if the 550 dealers are using the new service program is the simple random one. Additionally, the client is suggested that to obtain information about the dislikes and likes of the dealers about the program the company needs to use stratified sampling which provides that samples be divided into different categories.

Lastly, the recommendations include a call to action for the company in light of the research findings. The marketing research report recommendations should direct the audience to a particular path by presenting the rationale for that decision and the proper support for it (Clow et al., 2014, p. 445). For instance, the market target targets that should select in completing its research. In the current research for the Case2-B it was recommended that the client uses stratified sampling and divide the companies into small, medium and big and conduct the research that will lead to identify how many photocopy machines will be purchase by the firms. The client is even explained how to select the sampling size for each company format. As previously presented the call to action in the Case B mentions the future steps to take to solve the original problem and any other secondary problems resulting from it.

References

Burns, A. C. and Bush, R. F. (2010) Basic Marketing Research: Using Microsoft Excel Data

Analysis, 3rd edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education

Clow, K. E. & James, K. E. (2014) Essentials of Marketing Research: Putting Research Into

Practice. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage