Page 2: Marketing
Perhaps the most important ingredient of marketing is market research. Market research is a systematic process which sets out to find out detailed information about the market place and, in particular, to identify the needs and requirements of customers. First Direct carries out extensive market research amongst customers and non-customers on a regular basis. This includes both quantitative surveys (e.g. questionnaires that can be analysed in a quantitative way) and qualitative research (more detailed research with focus groups of both customers and non-customers to find out their opinions and views). First Direct sends out two major questionnaires to find out customer perceptions of the bank.