Market Intelligence is about providing a company with a view of a market using existing sources of information to understand what is happening in a market place, what the issues are and what the likely market potential is.
Market Intelligence can be divided into two spheres
Often Market Intelligence relies purely on external data such as analysts reports, but there is often a great deal of untapped information internally that would give you an insight into your market, from sources such as databases and prospect lists, and an holistic view can prove very insightful.
Market Intelligence from External Data
Market intelligence from external data is normally gathered through what is known as Desk Research. This means sourcing and analyzing published information to build a picture of a market and to try and answer some specific commercial questions such as what is the market potential.
A specific form of Market Intelligence is Competitive Intelligence. This is typically undertaken on an on-going basis and involves the collection of news, materials and other information about competitors from a wide variety of sources. Because of its on-going nature, Competitive intelligence is more about putting structures in place than specifically finding one-off pieces of data.
Market Intelligence from Internal Data
Much marketing intelligence information can come from making better use of existing information. For instance by carrying out Database Analysison orders taken it may be possible to understand where you have cross-sale and up-sale opportunities, or to understand what type of customers are your most profitable.
Database information is not the only source of market data. Your website may also include a high degree of valuable information about who is looking for your products and services. Web Site Traffic Analysis can help you understand what customers are looking for and why.
Finally, don't overlook knowledge about customers, markets and competitors that comes from your staff. Often this is a poorly tapped source of information. Collecting and disseminating such information falls into the realms of Customer Knowledge management and making better use of this customer knowledge can help businesses focus far more on what the customer wants and says.
In today’s competitive environment it is essential to deliver outstanding customer service. It’s also critical to ensure that brand procedures and practices are delivered consistently throughout every part of your business. Businesses are increasingly seeing each customer’s not in terms of value of a single transaction but the value of that customer’s business over a lifetime.
Businesses use mystery shopping for two reasons;
- To reinforce frontline expectations.
- To answer crucial questions about the customer’s experience.
Our Mystery Shopping services, processes and systems are designed to eliminate inconsistency and to give you confidence in the business intelligence we gather.
