The CRM Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management

Chapter TwoCRM in Marketing

In the 1960s, the practice of motivational research sought to understand what made people tick. The hope was that company researchers could discover how to better market their products. Motivational research involved everything from scientists showing volunteers a series of advertisements and measuring the subtle physical responses to administering Rorschach tests and extrapolating visceral reactions to conducting traditional focus groups, a practice that endures today in the consumer packaged goods and entertainment industries.

The scope of these efforts remained unwavering in its product focus, however, with the customer acting as an ancillary component of the purchase cycle. Brand was king, as the saying went, ...