MIS784 – Marketing Analytics Task 3 Assignment Help

Thesis Structure

Submission:You will submit to unit site: – one Word file, with your queries & appendix, and – one Word file, with your written report, 4000 words (+/- 10%)

Grade: 40%

DUE DATE: Friday, 7 February 2025, by 8:00pm (Melbourne time) PERCENTAGE OF FINAL

Description

The assignment requires that you analyse a few data sets, interpret, and draw conclusions from your analysis, and then convey your conclusions in a written report. The assignment must be completed in a group of three students and must be submitted electronically in CloudDeakin by the due date. When submitting electronically, you must check that you have submitted the work correctly by following the instructions provided in CloudDeakin. Hard copies or assignments submitted via email will NOT be accepted.

The assignment uses a data set which can be downloaded from CloudDeakin. The assignment focuses on materials presented up to and including Week 11. Following is an introduction to this scenario and detailed guidelines.

Group Assignment Guidelines

This is a group assignment, and active participation is essential. Each group must consist of three team members. To help you find team members, a group formation discussion forum has been created under “Assessment 3 – Group Formation” (3 students per group). Once you have formed your team, please register your group by navigating to TOOLS, then GROUPS, and selecting an available group number. Please do not enrol in a group without first obtaining permission from the existing team members. Any students not in a group by 9th September will be automatically assigned to a team. If your group has fewer than three members, additional students may be added to your team.

You must actively contribute as a member of your group to submit the assignment and receive a grade. Your team is required to meet (virtually or physically) at least three times before the submission date: once at the beginning of the project, once mid-project for a progress review, and once before the final submission.

Attendance:

All team members are expected to attend and contribute to each meeting. If a member cannot attend, they must provide a valid reason in advance. Failure to attend meetings without a valid excuse may result in a loss of marks. The goal is to keep everyone informed about the team’s progress, identify any issues, and address major concerns quickly. The key requirement is that all members must meet at the same time, whether physically or virtually. This is not about sending individual summaries; the meeting must be conducted at a mutually agreed time.

Meeting Documentation:

It is crucial to document each meeting. A meeting minute template is provided for your reference. This includes recording the following details:

• 1. Date and time of the meeting
• 2. Attendees and absentees (including apologies)
• 3. Action items and deadlines
• 4. Tasks allocated to each team member

Suggested Platform:

It is recommended that you use Microsoft Teams for all communications and meetings.

Suggested Meeting Agenda:

• 1. Each member should report on their completed action items and deliverables.
• 2. Discuss current tasks each member is working on.
• 3. Plan the next steps for each member.
• 4. Identify any roadblocks faced by the group or individuals.
• 5. Develop possible resolutions and reassign tasks if necessary.

Final Report Requirement:

You must provide evidence of your team meetings in the final project report (3 meeting minutes at least and 1 group member contribution form). Include the meeting documents in the report’s Appendix (this will not count toward the 4,000-word limit).

Context/Scenario:

This trimester, we are excited to work with real-world data to analyze and provide insights for a dynamic non-profit organization. For confidentiality, we will refer to this organization as “ImpactConnect.” ImpactConnect is a non-governmental organization focused on tackling pressing global challenges such as combating hunger, improving access to education, and fostering sustainable communities. The organization operates under the principles of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, and SDG 4: Quality Education.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)1 are a set of 17 global objectives established by the United Nations in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development2. These goals are designed to address the most pressing challenges facing our world, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, and peace and justice. The SDGs provide a universal framework for all countries, organizations, and individuals to work collaboratively towards a better and more sustainable future. Each goal is interconnected and emphasizes the need for balanced social, economic, and environmental development. By aligning its initiatives with the SDGs, ImpactConnect is contributing to this global effort, particularly focusing on goals that promote health, education, and economic well-being for all. We highly encourage you to review the SDGs and to understand them deeply, as this will enhance your ability to align your analysis and recommendations with these crucial global objectives.

Impact Connects operations are funded through a combination of recurring subscriptions from long term supporters and targeted fundraising campaigns for specific projects or emergencies. Recurring contributions are steady monthly pledges, while campaign donations come from diverse audiences motivated by particular causes or events. The organization’s mission is to amplify its reach and effectiveness by engaging with a broader audience, retaining loyal supporters, and continuously refining its resource mobilization strategies.

At its core, ImpactConnect values building meaningful relationships with its donors and stakeholders. This involves sharing impactful stories, hosting interactive events, and providing transparent updates about the outcomes of its initiatives. To sustain and grow its mission, the organization seeks deeper insights into donor behavior, including identifying patterns in giving, guiding future pathways, and addressing challenges such as donor fatigue and attrition.

To advance these goals, ImpactConnect has engaged your team as data experts to explore their dataset, create actionable insights, and apply cutting-edge marketing analytics techniques. Your role includes uncovering trends, segmenting customers/donors based on engagement, and developing analytical models to enhance the understanding of donor retention and fundraising performance.

Following a recent assessment of its outreach initiatives, ImpactConnect is particularly focused on optimizing engagement strategies. They aim to understand the influence of seasonal campaigns and special events on donation behaviors and identify characteristics of donors who contribute significantly to high-impact projects. Additionally, they are eager to explore how digital platforms, social media, and traditional channels compare in driving donor engagement, enabling the organization to prioritize investments in the most effective communication channels. Your task, as a team of marketing analysts, is to provide data-driven recommendations and strategic insights that will empower ImpactConnect to maximize its impact, strengthen donor relationships, and enhance its alignment with the global agenda of achieving the SDGs. This involves leveraging advanced marketing analytics techniques to uncover actionable trends, further investigate donor behaviors, and optimize communication and engagement strategies tailored to the organization’s mission.

The organization is particularly interested in:

• Identifying patterns of donor behaviour: Explore and identify patterns, especially differences between member and non-member donors. This could include analysing donation frequencies, preferred channels of engagement, and overall donation trends.
• Analysing and reducing donor churn: Use the data to develop strategies for locating which donors are at risk of stopping their donations (churn) and suggest interventions to retain these donors
• Guiding future donation activities: Analyse past donation behaviour to guide future donation activities, helping the organization optimize its fundraising strategies.
• Enhancing donor engagement:Provide data-driven insights that will help the organization better engage with donors, particularly through more effective marketing campaigns or personalized outreach.

As part of this assignment, you are encouraged to create and explore various data features: Think about which variables and features could be most useful for analysis. Examples might include different characteristics of donors, flags for active membership, the number and amount of non-membership donations per product, or the primary channel of payment. However, feel free to explore additional features that you believe are relevant.

Some general points:

• 1. Membership is an ongoing monthly donation.
• 2. If a Customer does not have any record on Donation_Patterns table, means they have an active membership product and no history of cancel or donation to one-off donation in the reported time.
• 3. As part of this assignment, you are encouraged to be creative in your approach. You will need to explore the dataset, identify key trends, and develop your own analytical questions and methodologies. The aim is to think critically and strategically about how ImpactConnect can leverage data to achieve its mission more effectively.

You are required to submit both your analysis file and a written report that explains the outcomes of your analysis and includes at least two strategic recommendations. Given that your audience may not have extensive training in data analytics, your report should present the results in plain, straightforward language.

Data description

ImpactConnect collects data from its donors to better understand their behaviour and optimize fundraising strategies. The provided data is contained in four data files named: Customers.csv, Donation_Patterns.csv, Marketing_Campaigns.csv and Campaign_Response.csv. These files include various types of information crucial for analysing donor behaviour and donation patterns. Shamsollahi, A., Chmielewski-Raimondo, D. A., Bell, S. J., & Kachouie, R. (2021). Buyer–supplier relationship dynamics: A systematic review.Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49, 418-436. Contained in the four files are three basic data types:

• 1. Customers:This includes information about the donors, such as their personal details, membership status, and other relevant information.
• 2. Donation:This includes information about the donations made, including the amount, the products, and the timing of each donation.
• 3. Campaign Performance and Marketing Campaigns:These include information about donor engagement with marketing campaigns, such as campaign types, response rates, and engagement levels.

Customers.csv Variables:

• • Customer_ID: A unique identifier assigned to each donor for tracking purposes.Age: Age of the donor.
• • Age: The age of the donor in years.
• • Gender: The gender of the donor, categorized as “Male,” “Female,” or “Unknown” (for missing values).
• • Occupation: The profession or job role of the donor.
• • Income_Level: The income category of the donor. Categories are “High,” “Medium,” or “Low.”
• • Location: The state or territory in Australia where the donor resides.
• • City: The city in that state or territory.
• • Family_Size: The number of people in the donor’s household.

Donation_Patterns.csv Variables:

• • Customer_ID: Unique identifier linking to the donor.
• • Donation_ID: Unique identifier for each donation.
• • DonationDate: Date the donation was made.
• • DonationEndDate: Relevant only for the product “Membership.” If filled, it indicates that the membership was cancelled on that date; if ‘NA,’ the membership is still active.
• • DonationAmount: Total amount received from the donation for that specific product.
• • Product: Type of product or service associated with the donation.
• o Membership: A recurring monthly donation made by the donor, supporting ongoing initiatives or causes.
• o Membership_TopUp: An additional contribution made on top of the regular monthly membership donation, either as a one-time or periodic enhancement.
• o General Donation: A flexible, one-off donation that may include monetary contributions, items, or services provided by the donor.
• • Channel_Pay: The primary method of payment used for the donation (e.g., online, bank transfer, credit card).

Campaign_Reponse.csv Variables:

• • Customer_ID: Unique identifier linking to the donor.
• • Campaign_ID: Unique identifier for each campaign.
• • Response: Indicates if the donor responded to the campaign (e.g., donation, registration).
• • ClickThroughRate: The percentage of times donors clicked on a campaign link.
• • Duration: The duration of the campaign.
• • Engagement Frequency: How often the donor engaged with the campaign (e.g., number of clicks, responses).

Marketing_Campaigns.csv Variables:

• • Campaign_ID: Unique identifier for each campaign.
• • CampaignType: The type of campaign (e.g., email, social media, TV).
• • CampaignDate: The date the campaign was launched.
• • CampaignBudget: The budget allocated for the campaign.
• • TargetAudience: The audience targeted by the campaign (e.g., age group, gender, location).

The dataset you will be working with in this assignment is compiled from real interactions of ImpactConnect, offering authentic data and insights directly relevant to the operations of a modern charity. It is specifically curated by the MIS784 team at Deakin Business School to be used for educational purposes in the Marketing Analytics unit.

Specific Requirements

The assignment consists of two parts: Data Analysis and Written Business Report. You are required to submit both the business report (approx. 4000 words) and analysis part (query & results are put in the appendix). The report should be written based on your analysis.

Part 1: Business Report

Having analysed the data (refer to Part 2: Appendix – Data Analysis), you are required to provide a formal business report. Given that your audience may not have training in marketing analytics, your report must present the results in plain, straightforward language. The audience will only be familiar with broad, generally understood terms (e.g., Average, Correlation, Causality). They will need you to explain more technical terms.

There is no requirement on the report format, and you can use any format that best presents your work. One of the many ways to structure the report is shown below for your information, but please note that you do not have to follow this structure.

• ➢ Executive Summary
• ➢ Understanding the Consumers
• ➢ Methodology (analysis conducted)
• ➢ Evaluating the Performance
• ➢ Strategic Recommendations
• ➢ References
• ➢ Appendix (Data Analysis and group documents to be put in another file)

Your business report and recommendations should be based on the analysis conducted in this assignment and any additional relevant analysis that enhances the impact of your recommendations and also backed up with relevant academic theories and research. Ensure that both recommendations are directly informed by your data analysis. Avoid including any commentary not supported by your data analysis. Highest marks will be awarded to students who draft distinct recommendations, and whose recommendations consider a broad range of data-supported considerations.

You must include 4 to 6 charts, graphs, or tables in your report to visually represent your data analysis and support your findings. These visual aids should be clearly labelled, easy to interpret, and directly related to the key points in your analysis. Using visual elements will enhance the clarity of your report, making it easier for your audience to understand the data-driven insights and recommendations you are presenting.

When presenting your recommendations, it is essential to back them up with relevant academic theories and research from recent articles. Using up-to-date academic sources will provide a stronger foundation for your analysis and ensure that your suggestions are informed by proven concepts from fields such as marketing, data analytics, and donor behaviour. A minimum of 5 academic sources are required, and all sources must be cited and referenced using the APA 7th edition referencing style. Be sure to provide in-text citations for any ideas, data, or theories you reference, and include a full reference list at the end of your report (this will not count toward the 4,000-word limit).

When exploring data, we often produce more results than we eventually use in the final report, but by investigating the data from different angles, we can develop a much deeper understanding of the data. This will be valuable when drafting your written report.

You are allowed approximately 4,000 words (3,600 to 4,400 words) for your report. Remember you should use font size 11 and leave margins of 2.54 cm.

Please consider the following points:

• • Your report should be a stand-alone document.
• • Use simple English and clear explanations. Avoid technical statistical jargon and focus on presenting your analysis in easy-to-understand language.
• • Include 4 to 6 charts, graphs, or tables in your report.
• • You must include at least 5 academic citations.
• • Marks will be deducted for including irrelevant material, poor presentation, disorganized content, poor formatting, or exceeding the word limit.

When you have completed drafting your report, it is a useful exercise to leave it for a day, and then return to it and re-read it as if you knew nothing about the analysis. Does it flow easily? Does it make sense? Can someone without prior knowledge follow your written conclusions? Often when re reading, you become aware that you can edit the report to make it more direct and clearer.

<4>Part 2: Appendix – Data Analysis & Team Contribution

Your data analysis must be performed on the provided four data files. When conducting the analysis, you need to apply techniques from marketing analytics, using Google Cloud Platform (e.g., BigQuery, Looker Studio). Poorly presented, unorganised analysis or excessive output will be penalised.

Ensure that your group member contributions and meeting minutes are included as part of the appendix. Templates have been provided for your reference. You must include evidence of your team meetings in the form of detailed meeting minutes within the report, with no word limit applied to this section.

Learning Outcomes

This task allows you to demonstrate your achievement towards the Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) which have been aligned to the Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs). Deakin GLOs describe the knowledge and capabilities graduates acquire and can demonstrate on completion of their course. This assessment task is an important tool in determining your achievement of the ULOs. If you do not demonstrate achievement of the ULOs you will not be successful in this unit. You are advised to familiarise yourself with these ULOs and GLOs as they will inform you on what you are expected to demonstrate for successful completion of this unit.

The learning outcomes that are aligned to this assessment task are:

Unit Learning Outcomes (ULO)

• ULO1:Explain marketing analytics concepts and methodologies.
• ULO2:Analyse real-world marketing problems and propose appropriate marketing analytic solutions.
• ULO3:Deploy marketing analytic solutions using a contemporary analysis tool.
• ULO4:Prepare written reports that effectively communicate your solution to marketing problems.

Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLO)

• GLO1:Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
• GLO1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
• GLO5:Problem solving
• GLO1:Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities
• GLO3:Digital literacy
• GLO2:Communication

Submission

You must submit your assignment in the Assignment Dropbox in the unit CloudDeakin site on or before the due date.

Your submission will comprise of two files:

1. A Microsoft Word document containing your business report (Part 1).

2. A Microsoft Word document containing your analysis queries & team contribution relevant materials. (Part 2)

When uploading your assignment, your submission files should be named:

Word file 1: MIS784_A3_YOURStudentID_Report.doc (or .docx).

Word file 2: MIS784_A3_YOURStudentID_Query.doc (or .docx), and

Submitting a hard copy of this assignment is not required. You must keep a backup copy of every assignment you submit until the marked assignment has been returned to you. In the unlikely event that one of your assignments is misplaced you will need to submit your backup copy.

Any work you submit may be checked by electronic or other means for the purposes of detecting collusion and/or plagiarism and for authenticating work.

When you submit an assignment through your CloudDeakin unit site, you will receive an email to your Deakin email address confirming that it has been submitted. You should check that you can see your assignment in the Submissions view of the Assignment Dropbox folder after upload and check for, and keep, the email receipt for the submission.

Marking and feedback

The marking rubric indicates the assessment criteria for this task. It is available in the CloudDeakin unit site in the Assessment folder, under Assessment Resources. Criteria act as a boundary around the task and help specify what assessors are looking for in your submission. The criteria are drawn from the ULOs and align with the GLOs. You should familiarise yourself with the assessment criteria before completing and submitting this task.

This is the final assessment task in MIS784. Students who submit their work by the due date will receive their marks and feedback on CloudDeakin after the unit results are released.

Extensions

Extensions can only be granted for exceptional and/or unavoidable circumstances outside of your control. Requests for extensions must be made by 12 noon on the submission date using the online Extension Request form under the Assessment tab on the unit CloudDeakin site. All requests for extensions should be supported by appropriate evidence (e.g., a medical certificate in the case of ill health)

Applications for extensions after 12 noon on the submission date require University level special consideration and these applications must be must be submitted via StudentConnect in your DeakinSync site.

Late submission penalties

If you submit an assessment task after the due date without an approved extension or special consideration, 5% will be deducted from the available marks for each day after the due date up to seven days*. Work submitted more than seven days after the due date will not be marked and will receive 0% for the task. The Unit Chair may refuse to accept a late submission where it is unreasonable or impracticable to assess the task after the due date. *’Day’ means calendar day for electronic submissions and working day for paper submissions.

11 An example of how the calculation of the late penalty based on an assignment being due on a Thursday at 8:00pm is as follows:

• • 1 day latesubmitted after Thursday 11:59pm and before Friday 11:59pm– 5% penalty.
• • 2 days latesubmitted after Friday 11:59pm and before Saturday 11:59pm – 10% penalty.
• • 3 days late:submitted after Saturday 11:59pm and before Sunday 11:59pm – 15% penalty.
• • 4 days late:submitted after Sunday 11:59pm and before Monday 11:59pm – 20% penalty.
• • 5 days late:submitted after Monday 11:59pm and before Tuesday 11:59pm – 25% penalty.
• • 6 days late:submitted after Tuesday 11:59pm and before Wednesday 11:59pm – 30% penalty.
• • 7 days late:submitted after Wednesday 11:59pm and before Thursday 11:59pm – 35% penalty.

The Dropbox closes the Thursday after 11:59pm AEST/AEDT time.

Support

The Division of Student Life provides a range of Study Support resources and services, available throughout the academic year, including Writing Mentor and Maths Mentor online drop ins and the SmartThinking 24 hour writing feedback service at this link. If you would prefer some more in depth and tailored support, make an appointment online with a Language and Learning Adviser.

Referencing and Academic Integrity

Deakin takes academic integrity very seriously. It is important that you (and if a group task, your group) complete your own work in every assessment task Any material used in this assignment that is not your original work must be acknowledged as such and appropriately referenced. You can find information about referencing (and avoiding breaching academic integrity) and other study support resources at the following website:

Your rights and responsibilities as a student

As a student you have both rights and responsibilities. Please refer to the document Your rights and responsibilities as a student in the Unit Guide & Information section in the Content area in the CloudDeakin unit site