This morning, I happened to click my way to an interesting article on www.marketwatch.com discussing somewhat of a breakthrough into the customer insight sector. The USA’s largest privately held company, Merkle, announced an interesting new piece of technology involving customer insight and market research – the merkle monitor.
Essentially, this monitor provides insight into consumer behaviour and is an interesting solution to primary market research. Using a survey format, it acquires information pertaining to consumer perception, consideration, as well as buying behaviours regarding insurance & wealth management services.
It’s very interesting that something like this is considered to enable “actionable marketing strategies.” While it’s great to gather a general overview of how customers perceive Merkle’s services, the monitor is overlooking many important market research aspects affecting consumer behaviour such as cultural, social, and personal factors. Merely basing strategies on what some survey questions provide you with seems like questionable action on Merkle’s part.
I see the Merkle Monitor as an amazing tool, aiding the advancement of consumer behaviour understanding in its respective field; however, it’s findings should not suffice when planning out marketing strategies. More in-depth research covering many other aspects other than general consumer perception should be taken into account!