Why is Market Research important?
Objective knowledge regarding consumer habits, tastes or preferences, rather than mere assumptions, is crucial for all businesses, big or small. Accurate market research focuses on gathering facts rather than making an assumption. Researchers contact the consumers directly and ask them the right questions to collect the needed information. When executed well, market research helps to gain valuable insights that affirm your assumptions, prevent costly mistakes or provide insights for a better alignment with your market. Small groups or One-On-One market researching depth groups or One-On-One workshops can both generate insights.
Where do I start with planning Market Research?
There are numerous ways to perform market research, but the five commonly used basic methods include surveys, focus groups, personal interviews, observation, and field trials. The suitable choice is dependent on the type of data you need and the money you are willing to spend.
1. Surveys
As the name suggests, a survey asks questions to a population sample, either online or in person, to gather insights. In-person surveys are one-on-one interviews usually conducted in crowded areas like shopping malls, where you can present consumers with product samples or advertising and gather immediate feedback. Honest feedback is a must, so questions used in the survey should be skillfully constructed and worded. For example, you are avoiding “leading “questions and ambiguous and confusing words. Pilot testing before going life can help. Surveys are an expensive but reliable method. It uses a larger sample size and has a response rate of more than 90%, thereby making confident decisions based on the data gathered. You can also make use of online tools like survey monkey, Bloomfire or Toluna. Online surveys are a great way to get input from all stakeholders.
2. Focus groups
Focus groups are another qualitative data collection method that provides subjective feedback like customer quotes to support or refine a brand or a product or service release. In this method, a moderator runs the discussion among people by asking them a series of scripted questions. The process is repeated across various customer segments to gather their inputs and translate them into actionable points.
Eight Analysis Types to Identify Market Opportunities
- Consumer segmentation
- Purchase situation analysis
- Direct competition analysis
- Indirect competition analysis
- Analysis of complementary products and services
- Analysis of other industries
- Foreign markets analysis
- Environment analysis
3. Personal interviews
Interviews involve asking unstructured, open-ended questions to gather valuable consumer insights regarding the brand, as in focus groups. Focus groups and personal interviews provide more subjective data than surveys but are not as statistically reliable. Know what you are trying to achieve with market research minimises risk and provides a solid foundation for decision making.
4. Observation
Surveys and focus groups may not capture actual consumer behaviour. Observing consumers in action by videotaping them in stores, at work, or home helps to examine natural consumer behaviour, such as the way they buy or use a brand.
5. Field trials
Trials involve real-life testing of how a consumer reacts to a new product. The input thus obtained can be used to tweak your product.
Ten benefits of using Market Research for your brand
1. Communicate more effectively
The insights obtained from the market research helps you to realign the brand with a compelling message to communicate with your consumers better.
2. Identify opportunities in your marketplace
Research helps identify the market requirements; from this research, facts are help realign your approach and make it more suitable for your consumers. For example, if the investigation finds that the market is not into a new product that you have planned, you can improve the product to suit your customers’ needs.
3. Minimise risks
You are investing a small percentage of your marketing expense into research to help you to unearth some crucial information that can guide your decision making. Both primary research (fieldwork) and secondary research (desk research) help you minimise risks and enhance your confidence in making the right marketing decisions.
Look before you leap and nail that market.
4. Strengthen your position
Data gathered from market research helps you measure up against your competitors, refining your marketing approaches and making them more appealing to your consumers. This way, you can gain an edge over others.
5. Uncover and identifies potential problems
Understanding how consumers react to a new product or service that you are planning to introduce helps you tweak them accordingly.
6. Forecasting
Accurate marketing research helps decision making regarding brand management. For example, research helps estimate the likely sales of a new product, and this information is to allocate the advertisement budget accordingly. The predictions about future market changes allow you to plan.
7. Identify and establish trends
When conducted at regular intervals, research helps you to unearth valuable consumer insights, establish trends, and help you to update before your competitors, thereby giving you an edge. It will also help segment your customers to focus more on segments that promise the best returns.
Use your market research to start to get noticed by your future customers.
8. Establish your market positioning
Knowing your market positioning aids in decision making that helps you take suitable actions to be in tune with the changing markets. Understanding these changes helps to improve your sales and profits.
9. Understand your customers
Adequate knowledge about customer behaviours is what drives profits. Knowing the most and most miniature favoured products of customers helps you to make suitable marketing decisions. Failure to understand customer behaviour can result in your brand completely missing the mark.
10. Quality of decisions
Market research arms you with solid facts that aids in making intelligent decisions regarding crucial matters such as product launch or brand repositioning. Lack of points can result in poor decisions that can prove costly and not maximise your returns. It is best to measure twice and cut once.
Strategy is a forward-looking plan for your brand’s behaviour.
Content helps your company to have unique communication.
UI/UX design gives the appearance above your brand’s behaviour.
Advertising and scale help to have a unique plan for your brand’s life.