Reference no: EM132189107

Please respond to this discussion post based off marketing.

When it comes to developing a strong marketing strategy that enhances the overall experience and image of a company’s product or brand, market research becomes extremely valuable. Thus, when conducted effectively, market research provides companies with the chance to make better marketing decisions. The market research process consists of four critical points: defining a problem a firm is experiencing and the research objectives of the firm, developing a research plan, implementing a research plan, and interpreting and reporting the findings. However, when it comes to the final piece of the process, firms run into the issue of capturing research data effectively. To eliminate such issues, more firms are incorporating Customer Relationship Management, also known as CRM, into their businesses. The CRM system manages detailed information about individual customers, as well as customer touch points—every contact between a customer and a company—to increase customer loyalty. Through the combination of complex software and analysis tools, CRM systems analyze important data collected from other companies, such as Microsoft and Oracle, and use the results to build stronger relationships with customers. Many firms integrate CRM into their general business practices, so that they not only are able to provide higher-levels of customer service, but find and target high-value customers effectively. For instance, MetLife, a large American life insurance company, utilizes their own CRM system referred to as the “MetLife Wall”. The CRM system provides a platform for customer information that is easily accessible and readily available to sales and service reps. In this regard, by using a “Facebook-like interface, [the wall] draws customer data from 70 different MetLife systems containing 45 million customer agreements and 140 million transactions [into one single record]”, and provides sales and service reps with a complete view of every possible customer touch point (Kotler, 117). As a result, MetLife has been able to boost its customer service and cross-selling efforts, and has simultaneously seen a significant increase in overall customer satisfaction.