Consumer market research is a fundamental tool for the success of any business. They say information is power, and the person who first said that was absolutely right.
Today, we live in the age of information and new technologies, which has revolutionized absolutely everything. For businesses, this means being able to gather all the information they need to execute their marketing strategy as efficiently as possible.
Market research can help you discover exactly what your audience thinks. How? Find out in this article!
But before diving into topics like the different types of market research and the steps to follow, an important question needs to be answered: why should you do it? The short answer is that it provides, among other things, customer insights.
If that doesn’t suffice, here’s the long answer. First and foremost, regardless of the sector you work in, it’s vital to know which services/products are popular in your market. It can also provide valuable information about your competitors or even reveal untapped opportunities in your niche. All of this translates into reduced risks and costs for your company.
The first and undoubtedly the most important characteristic of good market research is objectivity. It may sound obvious, but it’s crucial to always keep in mind that a market study is conducted to determine the next steps to take, not to justify opinions.
Another essential property of all market research is that it should be systematic. Each step taken, every decision made should have a clear purpose. Additionally, it’s highly recommended to organize and plan the entire process before starting to avoid doubt and improvisation.
Whether you want to conduct qualitative or quantitative market research, all research focuses on the same thing: collecting, recording, and analyzing data. This way, you ensure that your decisions are based on objective data.
There are different types of market research, and you should choose the one that best suits your goals.
Exploratory Market Research: Exploratory research is typically used to get a sense of the market or to explore it, as the name suggests. It’s worth noting that it’s often used as a basis for more specific tests later on. If you want to launch a new product on the market, this is definitely for you.
Descriptive Market Research: As the name suggests, this type of research is used to describe the market. In other words, it’s particularly useful for understanding consumer habits and purchasing intent, creating a company history, or observing users. It’s also very useful for market segmentation.
Causal Market Research: With this type of research, you can make predictions about the impact of changes you want to implement (such as changing your company’s logo) and how your customers will react to them. This way, you can determine whether your plans will be beneficial before you implement them.
Now that we’ve defined the characteristics and different types, how do you conduct consumer market research?
First of all, as in any research, you need to define the objective. What exactly do you aim to achieve? As we’ve seen earlier, the objective significantly influences the type of study to be conducted. Other factors to consider include the product, target audience, among others.
Once you have a well-defined objective, it’s time to shape the research itself. What type of research will you use? Will you use primary, secondary, or both sources of information? Surveys, for example, are an excellent way to gather primary information. When structuring the test, it’s essential to ask specific questions about the information you want to gather.
The next step is to decide who you’re going to ask, or in other words, it’s time to segment your target audience. At this point, you need to define your target’s characteristics in as much detail as possible, from gender and age to behavior, values, and purchasing intent. Fortunately, we have a consumer panel for conducting market research with the segmentation you want. It can be a bit challenging to define your target at first, but, as mentioned earlier, you can conduct initial exploratory market research to use as a basis for more in-depth research.
Consumer market research can also provide information about your competitors, and it should. You’re not alone in the market, and it’s crucial to know what they do well and what they do poorly. This will make it easier for you to differentiate yourself from these competitors, resulting in more sales.
The final and undoubtedly most crucial step is data analysis to draw conclusions. If you’ve reached this point, you’ve already sent the survey to the people you’re interested in and obtained responses. Now it’s time to filter and organize all the information you’ve gathered, and once that’s done, draw conclusions based on that data.
Throughout the article, you’ve probably noticed some of the advantages it brings, but in this section, we’ll delve a bit deeper into the topic.
One of the strongest points of using these tools is that they are a great help in minimizing risks. We can never be certain if a new product will be a resounding success, but thanks to market studies, we can make predictions based on objective data.
Another significant advantage of market research is the coveted customer understanding. While it’s relatively easy to obtain information about your target audience, most of it tends to be somewhat superficial. To truly understand your customers (such as knowing their purchasing intent), you need to conduct more comprehensive research, and that’s precisely what qualitative research is for.
It can also be especially useful for identifying opportunities. In other words, conducting these types of studies is like taking a general overview of the market. So the data you’ve collected may reveal untapped niches in the market that nobody (or not many people) is exploiting.
Finally, consumer market research serves to develop more efficient marketing strategies. We mentioned it at the beginning of the article, information is power.
We specialize in providing the necessary tools for all types of consumer market research. From product/concept testing to brand studies and segmentation studies, with WAT products, you’ll get the information you need to enhance your marketing strategy.
Alternatively, we can also conduct a customized test to meet your needs.
Did we mention that we have our database of over 100,000 users?
Update date 3 April, 2024
