what is market share research

How to Do Market Research: The Complete Guide

Learn how to do market research with this step-by-step guide, complete with templates, tools and real-world examples.

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Market research is the systematic process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a specific market or industry.

What are your customers’ needs? How does your product compare to the competition? What are the emerging trends and opportunities in your industry? If these questions keep you up at night, it’s time to conduct market research.

Market research plays a pivotal role in your ability to stay competitive and relevant, helping you anticipate shifts in consumer behavior and industry dynamics. It involves gathering these insights using a wide range of techniques, from surveys and interviews to data analysis and observational studies.

In this guide, we’ll explore why market research is crucial, the various types of market research, the methods used in data collection, and how to effectively conduct market research to drive informed decision-making and success.

What is market research?

The purpose of market research is to offer valuable insight into the preferences and behaviors of your target audience, and anticipate shifts in market trends and the competitive landscape. This information helps you make data-driven decisions, develop effective strategies for your business, and maximize your chances of long-term growth.

Why is market research important? 

By understanding the significance of market research, you can make sure you’re asking the right questions and using the process to your advantage. Some of the benefits of market research include:

• Informed decision-making: Market research provides you with the data and insights you need to make smart decisions for your business. It helps you identify opportunities, assess risks and tailor your strategies to meet the demands of the market. Without market research, decisions are often based on assumptions or guesswork, leading to costly mistakes.
• Customer-centric approach: A cornerstone of market research involves developing a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences. This gives you valuable insights into your target audience, helping you develop products, services and marketing campaigns that resonate with your customers.
• Competitive advantage: By conducting market research, you’ll gain a competitive edge. You’ll be able to identify gaps in the market, analyze competitor strengths and weaknesses, and position your business strategically. This enables you to create unique value propositions, differentiate yourself from competitors, and seize opportunities that others may overlook.
• Risk mitigation: Market research helps you anticipate market shifts and potential challenges. By identifying threats early, you can proactively adjust their strategies to mitigate risks and respond effectively to changing circumstances. This proactive approach is particularly valuable in volatile industries.
• Resource optimization: Conducting market research allows organizations to allocate their time, money and resources more efficiently. It ensures that investments are made in areas with the highest potential return on investment, reducing wasted resources and improving overall business performance.
• Adaptation to market trends: Markets evolve rapidly, driven by technological advancements, cultural shifts and changing consumer attitudes. Market research ensures that you stay ahead of these trends and adapt your offerings accordingly so you can avoid becoming obsolete. 

As you can see, market research empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions, cater to customer needs, outperform competitors, mitigate risks, optimize resources and stay agile in a dynamic marketplace. These benefits make it a huge industry; the global market research services market is expected to grow from $76.37 billion in 2021 to $108.57 billion in 2026 . Now, let’s dig into the different types of market research that can help you achieve these benefits.

Types of market research 

• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research
• Exploratory research
• Descriptive research
• Causal research
• Cross-sectional research
• Longitudinal research

Despite its advantages, 23% of organizations don’t have a clear market research strategy. Part of developing a strategy involves choosing the right type of market research for your business goals. The most commonly used approaches include:

1. Qualitative research

Qualitative research focuses on understanding the underlying motivations, attitudes and perceptions of individuals or groups. It is typically conducted through techniques like in-depth interviews, focus groups and content analysis — methods we’ll discuss further in the sections below. Qualitative research provides rich, nuanced insights that can inform product development, marketing strategies and brand positioning.

2. Quantitative research

Quantitative research, in contrast to qualitative research, involves the collection and analysis of numerical data, often through surveys, experiments and structured questionnaires. This approach allows for statistical analysis and the measurement of trends, making it suitable for large-scale market studies and hypothesis testing. While it’s worthwhile using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research, most businesses prioritize the latter because it is scientific, measurable and easily replicated across different experiments.

3. Exploratory research

Whether you’re conducting qualitative or quantitative research or a mix of both, exploratory research is often the first step. Its primary goal is to help you understand a market or problem so you can gain insights and identify potential issues or opportunities. This type of market research is less structured and is typically conducted through open-ended interviews, focus groups or secondary data analysis. Exploratory research is valuable when entering new markets or exploring new product ideas.

4. Descriptive research

As its name implies, descriptive research seeks to describe a market, population or phenomenon in detail. It involves collecting and summarizing data to answer questions about audience demographics and behaviors, market size, and current trends. Surveys, observational studies and content analysis are common methods used in descriptive research. 

5. Causal research

Causal research aims to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables. It investigates whether changes in one variable result in changes in another. Experimental designs, A/B testing and regression analysis are common causal research methods. This sheds light on how specific marketing strategies or product changes impact consumer behavior.

6. Cross-sectional research

Cross-sectional market research involves collecting data from a sample of the population at a single point in time. It is used to analyze differences, relationships or trends among various groups within a population. Cross-sectional studies are helpful for market segmentation, identifying target audiences and assessing market trends at a specific moment.

7. Longitudinal research

Longitudinal research, in contrast to cross-sectional research, collects data from the same subjects over an extended period. This allows for the analysis of trends, changes and developments over time. Longitudinal studies are useful for tracking long-term developments in consumer preferences, brand loyalty and market dynamics.

Each type of market research has its strengths and weaknesses, and the method you choose depends on your specific research goals and the depth of understanding you’re aiming to achieve. In the following sections, we’ll delve into primary and secondary research approaches and specific research methods.

Primary vs. secondary market research

Market research of all types can be broadly categorized into two main approaches: primary research and secondary research. By understanding the differences between these approaches, you can better determine the most appropriate research method for your specific goals.

Primary market research 

Primary research involves the collection of original data straight from the source. Typically, this involves communicating directly with your target audience — through surveys, interviews, focus groups and more — to gather information. Here are some key attributes of primary market research:

• Customized data: Primary research provides data that is tailored to your research needs. You design a custom research study and gather information specific to your goals.
• Up-to-date insights: Because primary research involves communicating with customers, the data you collect reflects the most current market conditions and consumer behaviors.
• Time-consuming and resource-intensive: Despite its advantages, primary research can be labor-intensive and costly, especially when dealing with large sample sizes or complex study designs. Whether you hire a market research consultant, agency or use an in-house team, primary research studies consume a large amount of resources and time.

Secondary market research 

Secondary research, on the other hand, involves analyzing data that has already been compiled by third-party sources, such as online research tools, databases, news sites, industry reports and academic studies.

Here are the main characteristics of secondary market research:

• Cost-effective: Secondary research is generally more cost-effective than primary research since it doesn’t require building a research plan from scratch. You and your team can look at databases, websites and publications on an ongoing basis, without needing to design a custom experiment or hire a consultant. 
• Leverages multiple sources: Data tools and software extract data from multiple places across the web, and then consolidate that information within a single platform. This means you’ll get a greater amount of data and a wider scope from secondary research.
• Quick to access: You can access a wide range of information rapidly — often in seconds — if you’re using online research tools and databases. Because of this, you can act on insights sooner, rather than taking the time to develop an experiment. 

So, when should you use primary vs. secondary research? In practice, many market research projects incorporate both primary and secondary research to take advantage of the strengths of each approach.

One rule of thumb is to focus on secondary research to obtain background information, market trends or industry benchmarks. It is especially valuable for conducting preliminary research, competitor analysis, or when time and budget constraints are tight. Then, if you still have knowledge gaps or need to answer specific questions unique to your business model, use primary research to create a custom experiment. 

Market research methods

• Surveys and questionnaires
• Focus groups
• Observational research
• Online research tools
• Experiments
• Content analysis
• Ethnographic research

How do primary and secondary research approaches translate into specific research methods? Let’s take a look at the different ways you can gather data: 

1. Surveys and questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires are popular methods for collecting structured data from a large number of respondents. They involve a set of predetermined questions that participants answer. Surveys can be conducted through various channels, including online tools, telephone interviews and in-person or online questionnaires. They are useful for gathering quantitative data and assessing customer demographics, opinions, preferences and needs. On average, customer surveys have a 33% response rate , so keep that in mind as you consider your sample size.

2. Interviews

Interviews are in-depth conversations with individuals or groups to gather qualitative insights. They can be structured (with predefined questions) or unstructured (with open-ended discussions). Interviews are valuable for exploring complex topics, uncovering motivations and obtaining detailed feedback. 

3. Focus groups

The most common primary research methods are in-depth webcam interviews and focus groups. Focus groups are a small gathering of participants who discuss a specific topic or product under the guidance of a moderator. These discussions are valuable for primary market research because they reveal insights into consumer attitudes, perceptions and emotions. Focus groups are especially useful for idea generation, concept testing and understanding group dynamics within your target audience.

4. Observational research

Observational research involves observing and recording participant behavior in a natural setting. This method is particularly valuable when studying consumer behavior in physical spaces, such as retail stores or public places. In some types of observational research, participants are aware you’re watching them; in other cases, you discreetly watch consumers without their knowledge, as they use your product. Either way, observational research provides firsthand insights into how people interact with products or environments.

5. Online research tools

You and your team can do your own secondary market research using online tools. These tools include data prospecting platforms and databases, as well as online surveys, social media listening, web analytics and sentiment analysis platforms. They help you gather data from online sources, monitor industry trends, track competitors, understand consumer preferences and keep tabs on online behavior. We’ll talk more about choosing the right market research tools in the sections that follow.

6. Experiments

Market research experiments are controlled tests of variables to determine causal relationships. While experiments are often associated with scientific research, they are also used in market research to assess the impact of specific marketing strategies, product features, or pricing and packaging changes.

7. Content analysis

Content analysis involves the systematic examination of textual, visual or audio content to identify patterns, themes and trends. It’s commonly applied to customer reviews, social media posts and other forms of online content to analyze consumer opinions and sentiments.

8. Ethnographic research

Ethnographic research immerses researchers into the daily lives of consumers to understand their behavior and culture. This method is particularly valuable when studying niche markets or exploring the cultural context of consumer choices.

How to do market research

• Set clear objectives
• Identify your target audience
• Choose your research methods
• Use the right market research tools
• Collect data
• Analyze data 
• Interpret your findings
• Identify opportunities and challenges
• Make informed business decisions
• Monitor and adapt

Now that you have gained insights into the various market research methods at your disposal, let’s delve into the practical aspects of how to conduct market research effectively. Here’s a quick step-by-step overview, from defining objectives to monitoring market shifts.

1. Set clear objectives

When you set clear and specific goals, you’re essentially creating a compass to guide your research questions and methodology. Start by precisely defining what you want to achieve. Are you launching a new product and want to understand its viability in the market? Are you evaluating customer satisfaction with a product redesign? 

Start by creating SMART goals — objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Not only will this clarify your research focus from the outset, but it will also help you track progress and benchmark your success throughout the process. 

You should also consult with key stakeholders and team members to ensure alignment on your research objectives before diving into data collecting. This will help you gain diverse perspectives and insights that will shape your research approach.

2. Identify your target audience

Next, you’ll need to pinpoint your target audience to determine who should be included in your research. Begin by creating detailed buyer personas or stakeholder profiles. Consider demographic factors like age, gender, income and location, but also delve into psychographics, such as interests, values and pain points.

The more specific your target audience, the more accurate and actionable your research will be. Additionally, segment your audience if your research objectives involve studying different groups, such as current customers and potential leads.

If you already have existing customers, you can also hold conversations with them to better understand your target market. From there, you can refine your buyer personas and tailor your research methods accordingly.

3. Choose your research methods

Selecting the right research methods is crucial for gathering high-quality data. Start by considering the nature of your research objectives. If you’re exploring consumer preferences, surveys and interviews can provide valuable insights. For in-depth understanding, focus groups or observational research might be suitable. Consider using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a well-rounded perspective. 

You’ll also need to consider your budget. Think about what you can realistically achieve using the time and resources available to you. If you have a fairly generous budget, you may want to try a mix of primary and secondary research approaches. If you’re doing market research for a startup , on the other hand, chances are your budget is somewhat limited. If that’s the case, try addressing your goals with secondary research tools before investing time and effort in a primary research study. 

4. Use the right market research tools

Whether you’re conducting primary or secondary research, you’ll need to choose the right tools. These can help you do anything from sending surveys to customers to monitoring trends and analyzing data. Here are some examples of popular market research tools:

• Market research software: Crunchbase is a platform that provides best-in-class company data, making it valuable for market research on growing companies and industries. You can use Crunchbase to access trusted, first-party funding data, revenue data, news and firmographics, enabling you to monitor industry trends and understand customer needs.

• Survey and questionnaire tools: SurveyMonkey is a widely used online survey platform that allows you to create, distribute and analyze surveys. Google Forms is a free tool that lets you create surveys and collect responses through Google Drive.
• Data analysis software: Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are useful for conducting statistical analyses. SPSS is a powerful statistical analysis software used for data processing, analysis and reporting.
• Social listening tools: Brandwatch is a social listening and analytics platform that helps you monitor social media conversations, track sentiment and analyze trends. Mention is a media monitoring tool that allows you to track mentions of your brand, competitors and keywords across various online sources.
• Data visualization platforms: Tableau is a data visualization tool that helps you create interactive and shareable dashboards and reports. Power BI by Microsoft is a business analytics tool for creating interactive visualizations and reports.

5. Collect data

There’s an infinite amount of data you could be collecting using these tools, so you’ll need to be intentional about going after the data that aligns with your research goals. Implement your chosen research methods, whether it’s distributing surveys, conducting interviews or pulling from secondary research platforms. Pay close attention to data quality and accuracy, and stick to a standardized process to streamline data capture and reduce errors. 

6. Analyze data

Once data is collected, you’ll need to analyze it systematically. Use statistical software or analysis tools to identify patterns, trends and correlations. For qualitative data, employ thematic analysis to extract common themes and insights. Visualize your findings with charts, graphs and tables to make complex data more understandable.

If you’re not proficient in data analysis, consider outsourcing or collaborating with a data analyst who can assist in processing and interpreting your data accurately.

7. Interpret your findings

Interpreting your market research findings involves understanding what the data means in the context of your objectives. Are there significant trends that uncover the answers to your initial research questions? Consider the implications of your findings on your business strategy. It’s essential to move beyond raw data and extract actionable insights that inform decision-making.

Hold a cross-functional meeting or workshop with relevant team members to collectively interpret the findings. Different perspectives can lead to more comprehensive insights and innovative solutions.

8. Identify opportunities and challenges

Use your research findings to identify potential growth opportunities and challenges within your market. What segments of your audience are underserved or overlooked? Are there emerging trends you can capitalize on? Conversely, what obstacles or competitors could hinder your progress?

Lay out this information in a clear and organized way by conducting a SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Jot down notes for each of these areas to provide a structured overview of gaps and hurdles in the market.

9. Make informed business decisions

Market research is only valuable if it leads to informed decisions for your company. Based on your insights, devise actionable strategies and initiatives that align with your research objectives. Whether it’s refining your product, targeting new customer segments or adjusting pricing, ensure your decisions are rooted in the data.

At this point, it’s also crucial to keep your team aligned and accountable. Create an action plan that outlines specific steps, responsibilities and timelines for implementing the recommendations derived from your research. 

10. Monitor and adapt

Market research isn’t a one-time activity; it’s an ongoing process. Continuously monitor market conditions, customer behaviors and industry trends. Set up mechanisms to collect real-time data and feedback. As you gather new information, be prepared to adapt your strategies and tactics accordingly. Regularly revisiting your research ensures your business remains agile and reflects changing market dynamics and consumer preferences.

Online market research sources

As you go through the steps above, you’ll want to turn to trusted, reputable sources to gather your data. Here’s a list to get you started:

• Crunchbase: As mentioned above, Crunchbase is an online platform with an extensive dataset, allowing you to access in-depth insights on market trends, consumer behavior and competitive analysis. You can also customize your search options to tailor your research to specific industries, geographic regions or customer personas.

• Academic databases: Academic databases, such as ProQuest and JSTOR , are treasure troves of scholarly research papers, studies and academic journals. They offer in-depth analyses of various subjects, including market trends, consumer preferences and industry-specific insights. Researchers can access a wealth of peer-reviewed publications to gain a deeper understanding of their research topics.
• Government and NGO databases: Government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and other institutions frequently maintain databases containing valuable economic, demographic and industry-related data. These sources offer credible statistics and reports on a wide range of topics, making them essential for market researchers. Examples include the U.S. Census Bureau , the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Pew Research Center .
• Industry reports: Industry reports and market studies are comprehensive documents prepared by research firms, industry associations and consulting companies. They provide in-depth insights into specific markets, including market size, trends, competitive analysis and consumer behavior. You can find this information by looking at relevant industry association databases; examples include the American Marketing Association and the National Retail Federation .
• Social media and online communities: Social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter (X) , forums such as Reddit and Quora , and review platforms such as G2 can provide real-time insights into consumer sentiment, opinions and trends. 

Market research examples

At this point, you have market research tools and data sources — but how do you act on the data you gather? Let’s go over some real-world examples that illustrate the practical application of market research across various industries. These examples showcase how market research can lead to smart decision-making and successful business decisions.

Example 1: Apple’s iPhone launch

Apple ’s iconic iPhone launch in 2007 serves as a prime example of market research driving product innovation in tech. Before the iPhone’s release, Apple conducted extensive market research to understand consumer preferences, pain points and unmet needs in the mobile phone industry. This research led to the development of a touchscreen smartphone with a user-friendly interface, addressing consumer demands for a more intuitive and versatile device. The result was a revolutionary product that disrupted the market and redefined the smartphone industry.

Example 2: McDonald’s global expansion

McDonald’s successful global expansion strategy demonstrates the importance of market research when expanding into new territories. Before entering a new market, McDonald’s conducts thorough research to understand local tastes, preferences and cultural nuances. This research informs menu customization, marketing strategies and store design. For instance, in India, McDonald’s offers a menu tailored to local preferences, including vegetarian options. This market-specific approach has enabled McDonald’s to adapt and thrive in diverse global markets.

Example 3: Organic and sustainable farming

The shift toward organic and sustainable farming practices in the food industry is driven by market research that indicates increased consumer demand for healthier and environmentally friendly food options. As a result, food producers and retailers invest in sustainable sourcing and organic product lines — such as with these sustainable seafood startups — to align with this shift in consumer values. 

The bottom line? Market research has multiple use cases and is a critical practice for any industry. Whether it’s launching groundbreaking products, entering new markets or responding to changing consumer preferences, you can use market research to shape successful strategies and outcomes.

Market research templates

You finally have a strong understanding of how to do market research and apply it in the real world. Before we wrap up, here are some market research templates that you can use as a starting point for your projects:

• Smartsheet competitive analysis templates : These spreadsheets can serve as a framework for gathering information about the competitive landscape and obtaining valuable lessons to apply to your business strategy.
• SurveyMonkey product survey template : Customize the questions on this survey based on what you want to learn from your target customers.
• HubSpot templates : HubSpot offers a wide range of free templates you can use for market research, business planning and more.
• SCORE templates : SCORE is a nonprofit organization that provides templates for business plans, market analysis and financial projections.
• SBA.gov : The U.S. Small Business Administration offers templates for every aspect of your business, including market research, and is particularly valuable for new startups. 

Strengthen your business with market research

When conducted effectively, market research is like a guiding star. Equipped with the right tools and techniques, you can uncover valuable insights, stay competitive, foster innovation and navigate the complexities of your industry.

Throughout this guide, we’ve discussed the definition of market research, different research methods, and how to conduct it effectively. We’ve also explored various types of market research and shared practical insights and templates for getting started. 

Now, it’s time to start the research process. Trust in data, listen to the market and make informed decisions that guide your company toward lasting success.

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Market research is a cornerstone of all successful, strategic businesses. It can also be daunting for entrepreneurs looking to launch a startup or start a side hustle . What is market research, anyway? And how do you…do it?

We’ll walk you through absolutely everything you need to know about the market research process so that by the end of this guide, you’ll be an expert in market research too. And what’s more important: you’ll have actionable steps you can take to start collecting your own market research.

What Is Market Research?

Market research is the organized process of gathering information about your target customers and market. Market research can help you better understand customer behavior and competitor strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide insight for the best strategies in launching new businesses and products. There are different ways to approach market research, including primary and secondary research and qualitative and quantitative research. The strongest approaches will include a combination of all four.

“Virtually every business can benefit from conducting some market research,” says Niles Koenigsberg of Real FiG Advertising + Marketing . “Market research can help you piece together your [business’s] strengths and weaknesses, along with your prospective opportunities, so that you can understand where your unique differentiators may lie.” Well-honed market research will help your brand stand out from the competition and help you see what you need to do to lead the market. It can also do so much more.

The Purposes of Market Research

Why do market research? It can help you…

• Pinpoint your target market, create buyer personas, and develop a more holistic understanding of your customer base and market.
• Understand current market conditions to evaluate risks and anticipate how your product or service will perform.
• Validate a concept prior to launch.
• Identify gaps in the market that your competitors have created or overlooked.
• Solve problems that have been left unresolved by the existing product/brand offerings.
• Identify opportunities and solutions for new products or services.
• Develop killer marketing strategies .

What Are the Benefits of Market Research?

Strong market research can help your business in many ways. It can…

• Strengthen your market position.
• Help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
• Help you identify your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Minimize risk.
• Center your customers’ experience from the get-go.
• Help you create a dynamic strategy based on market conditions and customer needs/demands.

What Are the Basic Methods of Market Research?

The basic methods of market research include surveys, personal interviews, customer observation, and the review of secondary research. In addition to these basic methods, a forward-thinking market research approach incorporates data from the digital landscape like social media analysis, SEO research, gathering feedback via forums, and more. Throughout this guide, we will cover each of the methods commonly used in market research to give you a comprehensive overview.

Primary vs. Secondary Market Research

Primary and secondary are the two main types of market research you can do. The latter relies on research conducted by others. Primary research, on the other hand, refers to the fact-finding efforts you conduct on your own.

This approach is limited, however. It’s likely that the research objectives of these secondary data points differ from your own, and it can be difficult to confirm the veracity of their findings.

Primary Market Research

Primary research is more labor intensive, but it generally yields data that is exponentially more actionable. It can be conducted through interviews, surveys, online research, and your own data collection. Every new business should engage in primary market research prior to launch. It will help you validate that your idea has traction, and it will give you the information you need to help minimize financial risk.

You can hire an agency to conduct this research on your behalf. This brings the benefit of expertise, as you’ll likely work with a market research analyst. The downside is that hiring an agency can be expensive—too expensive for many burgeoning entrepreneurs. That brings us to the second approach. You can also do the market research yourself, which substantially reduces the financial burden of starting a new business .

Secondary Market Research

Secondary research includes resources like government databases and industry-specific data and publications. It can be beneficial to start your market research with secondary sources because it’s widely available and often free-to-access. This information will help you gain a broad overview of the market conditions for your new business.

Identify Your Goals and Your Audience

Before you begin conducting interviews or sending out surveys, you need to set your market research goals. At the end of your market research process, you want to have a clear idea of who your target market is—including demographic information like age, gender, and where they live—but you also want to start with a rough idea of who your audience might be and what you’re trying to achieve with market research.

You can pinpoint your objectives by asking yourself a series of guiding questions:

• What are you hoping to discover through your research?
• Who are you hoping to serve better because of your findings?
• What do you think your market is?
• Who are your competitors?
• Are you testing the reception of a new product category or do you want to see if your product or service solves the problem left by a current gap in the market?
• Are you just…testing the waters to get a sense of how people would react to a new brand?

Once you’ve narrowed down the “what” of your market research goals, you’re ready to move onto how you can best achieve them. Think of it like algebra. Many math problems start with “solve for x.” Once you know what you’re looking for, you can get to work trying to find it. It’s a heck of a lot easier to solve a problem when you know you’re looking for “x” than if you were to say “I’m gonna throw some numbers out there and see if I find a variable.”

How to Do Market Research

This guide outlines every component of a comprehensive market research effort. Take into consideration the goals you have established for your market research, as they will influence which of these elements you’ll want to include in your market research strategy.

Secondary Data

Secondary data allows you to utilize pre-existing data to garner a sense of market conditions and opportunities. You can rely on published market studies, white papers, and public competitive information to start your market research journey.

Secondary data, while useful, is limited and cannot substitute your own primary data. It’s best used for quantitative data that can provide background to your more specific inquiries.

Find Your Customers Online

Once you’ve identified your target market, you can use online gathering spaces and forums to gain insights and give yourself a competitive advantage. Rebecca McCusker of The Creative Content Shop recommends internet recon as a vital tool for gaining a sense of customer needs and sentiment. “Read their posts and comments on forums, YouTube video comments, Facebook group [comments], and even Amazon/Goodreads book comments to get in their heads and see what people are saying.”

If you’re interested in engaging with your target demographic online, there are some general rules you should follow. First, secure the consent of any group moderators to ensure that you are acting within the group guidelines. Failure to do so could result in your eviction from the group.

Not all comments have the same research value. “Focus on the comments and posts with the most comments and highest engagement,” says McCusker. These high-engagement posts can give you a sense of what is already connecting and gaining traction within the group.

Social media can also be a great avenue for finding interview subjects. “LinkedIn is very useful if your [target customer] has a very specific job or works in a very specific industry or sector. It’s amazing the amount of people that will be willing to help,” explains Miguel González, a marketing executive at Dealers League . “My advice here is BE BRAVE, go to LinkedIn, or even to people you know and ask them, do quick interviews and ask real people that belong to that market and segment and get your buyer persona information first hand.”

Market research interviews can provide direct feedback on your brand, product, or service and give you a better understanding of consumer pain points and interests.

When organizing your market research interviews, you want to pay special attention to the sample group you’re selecting, as it will directly impact the information you receive. According to Tanya Zhang, the co-founder of Nimble Made , you want to first determine whether you want to choose a representative sample—for example, interviewing people who match each of the buyer persona/customer profiles you’ve developed—or a random sample.

“A sampling of your usual persona styles, for example, can validate details that you’ve already established about your product, while a random sampling may [help you] discover a new way people may use your product,” Zhang says.

Market Surveys

Market surveys solicit customer inclinations regarding your potential product or service through a series of open-ended questions. This direct outreach to your target audience can provide information on your customers’ preferences, attitudes, buying potential, and more.

Every expert we asked voiced unanimous support for market surveys as a powerful tool for market research. With the advent of various survey tools with accessible pricing—or free use—it’s never been easier to assemble, disseminate, and gather market surveys. While it should also be noted that surveys shouldn’t replace customer interviews , they can be used to supplement customer interviews to give you feedback from a broader audience.

Who to Include in Market Surveys

• Current customers
• Past customers
• Your existing audience (such as social media/newsletter audiences)

Example Questions to Include in Market Surveys

While the exact questions will vary for each business, here are some common, helpful questions that you may want to consider for your market survey. Demographic Questions: the questions that help you understand, demographically, who your target customers are:

• “What is your age?”
• “Where do you live?”
• “What is your gender identity?”
• “What is your household income?”
• “What is your household size?”
• “What do you do for a living?”
• “What is your highest level of education?”

Product-Based Questions: Whether you’re seeking feedback for an existing brand or an entirely new one, these questions will help you get a sense of how people feel about your business, product, or service:

• “How well does/would our product/service meet your needs?”
• “How does our product/service compare to similar products/services that you use?”
• “How long have you been a customer?” or “What is the likelihood that you would be a customer of our brand?

Personal/Informative Questions: the deeper questions that help you understand how your audience thinks and what they care about.

• “What are your biggest challenges?”
• “What’s most important to you?”
• “What do you do for fun (hobbies, interests, activities)?”
• “Where do you seek new information when researching a new product?”
• “How do you like to make purchases?”
• “What is your preferred method for interacting with a brand?”

Survey Tools

Online survey tools make it easy to distribute surveys and collect responses. The best part is that there are many free tools available. If you’re making your own online survey, you may want to consider SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google Forms, or Zoho Survey.

Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis is a breakdown of how your business stacks up against the competition. There are many different ways to conduct this analysis. One of the most popular methods is a SWOT analysis, which stands for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.” This type of analysis is helpful because it gives you a more robust understanding of why a customer might choose a competitor over your business. Seeing how you stack up against the competition can give you the direction you need to carve out your place as a market leader.

Social Media Analysis

Social media has fundamentally changed the market research landscape, making it easier than ever to engage with a wide swath of consumers. Follow your current or potential competitors on social media to see what they’re posting and how their audience is engaging with it. Social media can also give you a lower cost opportunity for testing different messaging and brand positioning.

SEO Analysis and Opportunities

SEO analysis can help you identify the digital competition for getting the word out about your brand, product, or service. You won’t want to overlook this valuable information. Search listening tools offer a novel approach to understanding the market and generating the content strategy that will drive business. Tools like Google Trends and Awario can streamline this process.

Ready to Kick Your Business Into High Gear?

Now that you’ve completed the guide to market research you know you’re ready to put on your researcher hat to give your business the best start. Still not sure how actually… launch the thing? Our free mini-course can run you through the essentials for starting your side hustle .

About Mary Kate Miller

Mary Kate Miller writes about small business, real estate, and finance. In addition to writing for Foundr, her work has been published by The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Bustle, and more. She lives in Chicago.

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What is market research?

What is market research used for? How important is it? And, how do you choose the right type of research for your business?

Sit back, take five, and I’ll explain the different types of research , what tools are best for the job, and how you can leverage them to grow your business and master your market .

Market research definition:

Market research means to systematically collect and analyze data about a target market or defined segment. It’s a multivariate process that uncovers key facts and insights to inform decisions.

Whether you’re launching a new product , looking for ways to expand a business, or seeking out efficiencies in an existing company, market research is a highly effective way to flesh-out ideas, innovate, and grow. 

Advantages of market research

Market research helps you identify your greatest strengths, threats, and opportunities. It can help you find your way when markets become tough to predict and find efficient ways to grow your business .

• Reduce costs
• Define detailed customer personas
• Make data-driven decisions
• Find new opportunities for growth
• Unpack competitor’s successes
• Develop an informed content marketing strategy
• Identify trends
• Inform market analysis
• Discover the best marketing channels to use
• Find the best ways to communicate with customers
• Benchmark performance against rivals

Online market research can help the whole business at any stage of its life. When practiced consistently and systematically, you can realize its many benefits.

Why is market research important?

Market research helps you identify your greatest threats. And it also gives you a clear picture of opportunities you can capitalize on for greater returns on your business investments, or ROI.

Understanding your specific market on different levels and from different perspectives helps you reach well-informed, data-informed decisions . The process can involve multiple phases. But, if you follow a systematic approach using a market research template , your efforts will pay off.

To skip ahead and start right now, download our free pack of market research templates.

Different types of market research

Market research is a questions and answers game. Once you’ve asked the important questions, you’ll need to choose the right type of research to get your answers. There are four core types of research, each of which can be applied to help you solve a problem or gather insights to inform key decisions.

Primary market research

Primary market research is the first-hand collection of data. It’s data that’s not available to others, and can be obtained in a number of ways. Here are the most common.

• Web Metrics Use analytics software that provides traffic and engagement metrics to understand how audiences behave.
• Observation To observe how users behave and navigate your site, you can install software that records visits and creates heatmaps. Such tools are useful for qualitative research regarding your UX/UI and at the same time, quantify the findings.
• Customer surveys Survey questionnaires and polls can be distributed to any number of customers through email, SMS, your site, or social media. They let you collect both qualitative and quantitative data from respondents using open-ended questions.
• Focus groups You select a small number of people for a group discussion. A moderator leads the session with questions and records the conclusions. This is also a form of qualitative research, and you would use it to get in-depth information.
• Face-to-face interviews Another qualitative assessment method is one-on-one interviews. Consumers representative of your target audience or a segment of it are selected to answer questions about a specific research topic.
• Phone calls To involve a larger number of people and get more answers, you can conduct surveys over the phone. These interviews would be less specific and include fewer questions.

Helpful: A complete guide to doing primary market research

Secondary market research

Secondary research is second-hand data that has already been produced. It’s available to all who wish to consume it. Using this type of data is preferred by those who wish to keep costs low, as it can be quicker and freely available.

• Government reports and census data Annual, quarterly, and other periodic industry reports are a rich data source to tap into. Government organizations publish statistics in areas of trade, ecommerce, and finance.
• Academic papers and educational resources University research is a source of high-quality information. This is useful for in-depth background information on a broad scale.
• Online articles and case studies, public and commercial sources Industry-specific publications can be a valuable source of information for market segmentation, providing you with data and insights on market trends or a specific market segment or niche.

Further reading: A complete guide to doing desk research

Qualitative market research

Qualitative market research is one of the best ways to understand how people think or feel about a brand, product, or service. It takes more time to plan and analyze the results than other market research types. However, with tools like market research surveys , there are quick and effective ways to do it.

As some of the methods are outlined in the primary and secondary research sections, I’ve included a short list of qualitative research methods below.

• Focus groups
• Case study or whitepaper 
• Online forums
• Biometrics 
• Ethnography

Helpful: Read the complete guide to qualitative research and 83 qualitative research questions & examples

Quantitative market research

Quantitative market research is all about numbers. It collects numerical data to help answer specific research questions . The information collected can be easily quantified and analyzed to establish trends, insights, and patterns.

With this type of research, you’ve got three core data collection methods. However, you’ve also got to consider the design of the research, which can impact which method is used.

What is market research used for?

The applications for market research are virtually limitless. Market research can help you unravel the most complex of business challenges to reach data-driven decisions , and when used consistently, it can help you navigate turbulent times, fuel growth, and support your success . Here are just a few examples of what market research is used for, with a few real-world examples thrown in for good measure.

1. Company research

Market research allows you to shine a spotlight on any business and unpack its wins and losses for your own gain. Let’s say you are doing market research for a business plan ; you’ll likely want to evaluate the successes of others in your industry. Doing systematic company research is a proven way to inform a SWOT analysis .

Doing industry analysis can show you who your industry leaders are , along with any emerging players showing exponential growth.

Let’s say I want to find out which companies to research, I would use Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence to analyze an industry. Here, I can see who my top companies to watch are instantly. It also shows me other companies showing rapid growth in my market.

Read More: How to Research a Company: The Ultimate Guide

2. Competitive benchmarking

Most of your relevant data will come from your competition. If you plan to offer something that’s new for you but already exists in the market, learn from other’s mistakes and successes. If your goal is to evaluate and optimize, collect competitors’ data, and compare it to yours. See what works for them, find their weak spots, and improve on them.

What market research gives you here, is the ability to systematically compare each of your rivals. And, it’s not as complex as it sounds either. Simply choose a type of competitive analysis frameworks to use, complete the template for each; then compare the results to uncover relevant insights.

Read More: The Why and How of Competitive Benchmarking

3. Trendspotting

Another objective for market researchers is to forecast upcoming trends. Data collection over time helps you understand the dynamics of the market. Some markets have strong seasonal fluctuations. Increased shopping during December is an obvious example, but often these shifts are not always evident unless you measure and analyze them specifically.

With the data from your historical market research, you can evaluate their impact and the likelihood you will keep seeing these trends. Based on that, you can make predictions about future developments.

4. Audience analysis

Who will find your product most useful and why? 

Examining the size of your audience and the existing demand for your product or services is crucial. Understanding  your target audience allows you to build your product offering and marketing strategy more efficiently. You also want to learn first-hand where people buy this type of product and how much they are willing to spend so that you can estimate your reachable market share .

Here’s a quick example of how we use Similarweb to do effective audience analysis . You can unpack key audience demographics for any site you choose. And get up-to-date stats about gender, age, location, interests, browsing habits, and more.

5. Market segmentation

There are lots of ways to segment a market. Doing this well can deliver higher conversions, reduce costs, redefine marketing strategies, and help you connect with customers on a more personal level. Market research can help you do most types of market segmentation, the most widely adopted of all is demographic segmentation. Here, you look for shared but specific characteristics of a target audience.

Using Similarweb, I can view audience demographics for a website, and compare it side-by-side with rival sites. In this example, I am looking at hotel booking sites to try and spot any difference between the respective audiences of each.

Helpful: Read our complete guide to market segmentation

6. Marketing strategy

Market research can also help you reach the right decision regarding where to advertise or market your business. After analyzing the data, you’ll know which marketing channels are most effective with your target audience. You can also use research to look at the specific keywords and ad creatives that are generating the best responses and ROI.

Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence makes this type of research effortless. Within the marketing channels tab, you can analyze an entire industry or hone in on a specific site of interest. View the various channels across social media, email, direct, organic search, paid search, and display ads to see which channels convert and where the highest channel traffic comes from.

7. Customer experience

Market research is your best way to get information that isn’t naturally visible but that may significantly affect your business. Just think, the fact that your users don’t complain doesn’t necessarily mean they are all delighted with what you offer.

While some customers tend to keep their criticism to themselves, others will be vocal and leave reviews online. Market research is a powerful tool to help inform improvements to services and products alike. Asking for feedback, listening to it, and looking at the feedback left for rivals in your market can uncover telling insights that can shape service offerings, marketing campaigns, and new feature development.

To see what people use market research for and view real-world instances of research in action, head over to our market research examples page.

Tools for market research

When we look at what market research is, the answer is always rooted in data . Over 100 years ago, vehicle manufacturers undertook extensive research to help them develop different models to suit various segments of society. Fast-forward 100 years, and we find similar applications still exist. However, what’s changed are the tools being used and, more importantly, the accessibility of those tools to a far broader audience .

There are more market intelligence tools in existence today than ever before. Here’s a quick summary of a few you can use to collect information for your market research.

• Google Trends Google Trends is a valuable resource for quantitative research data about market tendencies and user behavior.

• Similarweb Research Intelligence Get the freshest digital intelligence from a platform that shows the insights that count. With the ability to analyze an entire market in an instant and unpick competitors’ wins and losses online, you can count on it to help you perform quick and effective market research.
• Hotjar The digital tool lets you observe and record user behavior on your website. It also creates heatmaps of your pages so you can analyze how visitors navigate.
• SurveyMonkey Create your own online survey with this free tool. SurveyMonkey provides templates for questionnaires and lets you distribute them through your various channels, then collect and interpret results.
• YouGov This platform offers its users daily with thousands of data points and statistics on consumer attitudes, opinions, and behavior.
• Pew Research Center This non-profit organization conducts and publishes public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis, and other data-driven social science research.
• Living Facts The site provides current statistics about the American population, including demographics, social and health issues, opinions, and more.

Read this post to see what market research tools are hot right now.

Wrapping up: what is market research

Market research is insight. It gives you information to fuel key decisions in your business. Without it, companies must navigate their market uncertainly and make key decisions based on instinct or outdated data.

Similarweb transforms the way companies do market research . There’s no expensive outlay for prolonged research reports that take an age to produce. The data is the freshest there is; it’s credible and shows traffic trends and comparable performance like no other.

Try using it to answer your next big market research question.

Stop Guessing, Start Analyzing

Get actionable insights for market research here

What are the benefits of market research?

Effective market research helps businesses understand and improve their position while also identifying potential threats and opportunities, while also spotting emerging trends .

What is the main purpose of market research?

The main benefit of market research is insight. It can give you access to the data you need to make decisions in your business. Before you invest money or time in any venture, use market research to inform your decision.  

What’s the difference between primary and secondary market research?

Primary research is research you conduct on your own that uses numbers and metrics, and secondary research is research that was done by someone else with a qualitative focus.

by Liz March

Digital Research Specialist

Liz March has 15 years of experience in content creation. She enjoys the outdoors, F1, and reading, and is pursuing a BSc in Environmental Science.

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What is Market Share? Definition, Formula, Examples

Appinio Research · 15.04.2024 · 35min read

Ever wondered how businesses gauge their success in competitive markets? Market share holds the answer. In the dynamic world of commerce, understanding market share is like having a compass guiding you through the tumultuous seas of competition. But what exactly is market share? Simply put, it's the slice of the pie a company claims within its industry or market segment . It's the percentage of total sales or revenue a company captures compared to its competitors. But why does it matter? Well, imagine you're at a buffet. The dishes with the longest lines? They likely have the largest market share. Market share isn't just about bragging rights; it's about understanding where you stand in the grand scheme of things. It shapes how businesses strategize, invest, and innovate. It's a measure of competitiveness, a tool for growth, and a window into consumer preferences. From mom-and-pop shops to multinational corporations, market share is the compass guiding businesses towards success in the ever-evolving marketplace.

What is Market Share?

Importance of Market Share in Business

Market share plays a pivotal role in guiding strategic decision-making and shaping business performance across various dimensions. Its importance stems from its ability to provide valuable insights into a company's competitive standing, market dynamics, and growth opportunities.

Some key reasons why market share is crucial for businesses include:

• Competitive Positioning : Market share serves as a barometer of a company's competitive strength within its industry. A higher market share indicates a larger share of the market pie and a stronger competitive position relative to rivals.
• Strategic Planning : Market share data informs strategic planning initiatives by highlighting areas of strength and weakness. It helps businesses identify growth opportunities, competitive threats, and areas for improvement, guiding resource allocation and strategic priorities.
• Performance Evaluation : Monitoring changes in market share over time allows businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies and initiatives. It provides a yardstick for measuring performance, identifying trends, and assessing the impact of competitive actions or market dynamics.
• Customer Insights : Market share analysis provides insights into customer preferences, behavior , and market trends. By understanding which products or services resonate with customers and capture market share, businesses can tailor their offerings and marketing efforts to better meet customer needs and drive growth.
• Investor Perception : Market share is often viewed as a key performance indicator by investors, analysts, and stakeholders. A company with a growing market share is seen as more competitive, resilient, and attractive to investors, which can positively impact stock prices, valuations, and investor confidence.

How to Calculate Market Share?

Market share can be calculated based on various factors, such as units sold, revenue generated, or other relevant metrics, depending on the industry and market dynamics.

The formula for calculating market share is typically:

Market Share = (Company's Sales or Revenue/Total Market Sales or Revenue) × 100 Market Share = (Total Market Sales or Revenue/Company's Sales or Revenue)​ × 100

Suppose Company A and Company B are two leading players in the smartphone industry, competing for market dominance. To calculate their respective market shares, we'll use the following data:

• Company A's total smartphone sales revenue: $500 million
• Company B's total smartphone sales revenue: $700 million
• Total smartphone industry sales revenue: $3 billion

Calculating Company A's Market Share:

Company A's Market Share = (Company A's Sales Revenue / Total Industry Sales Revenue) * 100 Company A's Market Share = (500 million / 3 billion) * 100 = 16.67%

Calculating Company B's Market Share:

Company B's Market Share = (Company B's Sales Revenue / Total Industry Sales Revenue) * 100 Company B's Market Share = (700 million / 3 billion) * 100 = 23.33%

Interpretation:

• Company A holds a market share of 16.67%, indicating that it captures approximately 16.67% of the total smartphone industry's sales revenue.
• Company B boasts a higher market share of 23.33%, signifying its larger share of the smartphone market compared to Company A.

Market Share Analysis

Types of Market Share

When discussing market share, it's essential to recognize that there are different types that provide distinct insights into a company's position within its industry.

• Overall Market Share : This type of market share reflects the percentage of total sales or revenue that a company captures within its industry or market. It provides a broad perspective on the company's performance compared to its competitors.
• Segment Market Share : Segment market share focuses on a company's performance within specific segments or niches within the broader market . For example, a company may have a high segment market share in a particular geographic region or product category, even if its overall market share is lower.
• Relative Market Share : Relative market share compares a company's market share to that of its largest competitor. It helps gauge a company's competitive strength within its industry and its ability to command a significant portion of the market compared to its rivals.

Understanding the nuances of these different types of market share allows businesses to gain deeper insights into their competitive positioning and identify opportunities for growth within specific market segments.

Market Share vs. Market Size

While market share and market size are related concepts, they serve different purposes and provide distinct insights into a company's performance and the dynamics of its industry.

• Market Share : Market share represents the portion of total market sales or revenue that a company captures. It indicates the company's relative strength within its industry and its ability to compete effectively against other players in the market.
• Market Size : Market size refers to the total sales or revenue generated within a specific market or industry. It provides an understanding of the overall opportunity available within the market and helps businesses assess the potential for growth and expansion.

Understanding the relationship between market share and market size is essential for strategic planning and resource allocation. While market share indicates a company's competitive standing within its industry, market size provides context for assessing the scale of the opportunity and the potential for capturing additional market share.

Market Share Trends and Patterns

Analyzing market share trends and patterns provides valuable insights into the dynamics of an industry, shifts in consumer behavior, and emerging market opportunities. By tracking changes in market share over time, businesses can identify patterns, anticipate trends, and adjust their strategies accordingly.

• Seasonal Trends : Many industries experience seasonal fluctuations in demand, which can impact market share. Understanding seasonal trends allows businesses to adjust their strategies and resources accordingly to capitalize on peak periods of demand.
• Competitive Dynamics : Monitoring changes in competitors' market share can reveal valuable insights into shifts in competitive dynamics, emerging threats, and opportunities for differentiation.
• Consumer Preferences : Changes in consumer preferences and buying behavior can influence market share trends. By staying attuned to consumer preferences and adapting their offerings accordingly, businesses can maintain or increase their market share.
• Technological Advancements : Technological innovations and disruptions can significantly impact market share within certain industries. Companies that embrace new technologies and adapt their strategies accordingly can gain a competitive edge and capture market share from less agile competitors.

By analyzing market share trends and patterns, businesses can identify growth opportunities, anticipate challenges, and make informed decisions to enhance their competitive position within their industry.

Incorporating Appinio into market share analysis can revolutionize how businesses interpret and act upon market trends. By leveraging real-time consumer insights, companies can uncover hidden opportunities and stay ahead of industry shifts with agility and precision. With Appinio's intuitive platform and comprehensive global reach, conducting market share analysis becomes a seamless and efficient process.   Book a demo today and discover the power of Appinio in unlocking actionable insights for your business!

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Examples of Market Share Analysis

To better understand how market share analysis works in practice, let's explore some real-world examples across various industries:

Technology Sector

Consider the smartphone market, where major players like Apple, Samsung, and Huawei compete for market share. By analyzing sales data, customer preferences, and competitive strategies, companies can gain insights into their market share position and identify opportunities for growth .

For instance, Apple's market share dominance in premium smartphone segments highlights its brand strength and customer loyalty, while Huawei's focus on mid-range and budget-friendly devices has allowed it to capture market share in emerging markets.

Automotive Industry

In the automotive industry, market share analysis is crucial for understanding competitive dynamics and consumer trends. For example, Tesla's disruptive entry into the electric vehicle market has challenged traditional automakers like Ford and General Motors.

By monitoring Tesla's market share growth and innovative product offerings, competitors can adjust their strategies and investments to remain competitive in the evolving market landscape .

Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)

In the FMCG sector , brands like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo fiercely compete for market share in the beverage industry. Through market share analysis, these companies track sales performance, consumer preferences, and market trends to inform product development and marketing strategies.

For instance, Coca-Cola's dominance in the carbonated soft drink market has prompted PepsiCo to diversify its product portfolio and invest in healthier beverage options to capture market share in the growing health-conscious consumer segment.

In the retail sector , e-commerce giants like Amazon and traditional brick-and-mortar retailers like Walmart engage in intense competition for market share. By leveraging data analytics and customer insights, these companies optimize pricing strategies, product assortments, and customer experiences to attract and retain customers.

For example, Amazon's market share dominance in online retail has prompted Walmart to invest heavily in e-commerce capabilities and omnichannel initiatives to compete effectively in the digital marketplace.

Pharmaceutical Industry

In the pharmaceutical industry, companies like Pfizer and Novartis analyze market share data to assess the performance of their drug portfolios and therapeutic areas. By tracking prescription volumes, market penetration, and competitor activities, pharmaceutical companies can identify opportunities for portfolio optimization and strategic partnerships.

For instance, Pfizer's market share leadership in certain therapeutic categories has led to strategic acquisitions and collaborations to expand its market presence and address unmet medical needs.

Benefits of Monitoring Market Share

Understanding the benefits of monitoring market share is crucial for businesses seeking to gain a competitive edge and drive growth. By tracking and analyzing market share data, companies can unlock valuable insights that inform strategic decision-making across various aspects of their operations.

Competitive Positioning

One of the primary benefits of monitoring market share is gaining insights into your competitive positioning within the industry. By comparing your company's market share to that of competitors, you can assess your relative strength and identify areas where you may be lagging behind or excelling.

• Benchmarking : Market share data serves as a benchmark against which you can measure your performance compared to competitors. It provides valuable context for evaluating your market presence and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Competitor Analysis : Monitoring changes in competitors' market share allows you to gauge their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. This insight enables you to adjust your own strategies accordingly, whether it involves fortifying your competitive advantages or capitalizing on competitors' vulnerabilities.
• Market Dynamics : Understanding your competitive positioning within the market helps you anticipate shifts in market dynamics and respond proactively. By staying ahead of the competition, you can maintain or enhance your market share and strengthen your position in the industry.

Identifying Growth Opportunities

Monitoring market share provides businesses with valuable insights into potential growth opportunities within their industry or market segments. By analyzing market share data, you can identify underserved market segments, emerging trends, and areas where you have the potential to expand your presence.

• Market Segmentation : Segment-level analysis of market share data allows you to identify specific market segments or niches where you have the opportunity to gain traction. This insight enables you to tailor your strategies to address the unique needs and preferences of different customer segments .
• Untapped Markets : Market share analysis helps uncover untapped or underexploited markets where you have the potential to increase your presence and capture additional market share. By identifying these opportunities, you can allocate resources strategically to pursue growth in new markets.
• Innovation Opportunities : Understanding market share dynamics can inspire innovation by revealing gaps in the market or unmet customer needs. By leveraging market share insights, you can develop innovative products or services that resonate with customers and differentiate your brand in the marketplace.

Evaluating Marketing Strategies

Market share analysis plays a crucial role in evaluating the effectiveness of your marketing strategies and campaigns. By tracking changes in market share following marketing initiatives, you can assess their impact on your brand's visibility, customer engagement, and market penetration.

• Campaign Performance : Analyzing market share data allows you to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns in driving brand awareness, customer acquisition, and sales. By correlating changes in market share with specific marketing activities, you can identify which strategies are yielding the highest return on investment.
• Competitive Advantage : Market share analysis helps you identify opportunities to gain a competitive advantage through strategic marketing initiatives. By understanding your strengths and weaknesses relative to competitors, you can develop targeted marketing campaigns that capitalize on your unique selling propositions and resonate with your target audience.
• Optimization Opportunities : Market share data provides insights into areas where your marketing efforts may be falling short or underperforming. By identifying areas for improvement, you can refine your marketing strategies, allocate resources more effectively, and optimize your marketing mix to drive better results.

Assessing Product Performance

Monitoring market share is essential for assessing the performance of your products or services within the marketplace. By analyzing changes in market share for specific products or product categories, you can gauge their competitiveness, customer appeal, and overall contribution to your company's success.

• Product Differentiation : Market share analysis helps you assess the degree of differentiation and competitive advantage offered by your products compared to alternatives in the market. By understanding how your products stack up against competitors, you can refine your product offerings to better meet customer needs and preferences.
• Customer Satisfaction : Changes in market share can be indicative of shifts in customer satisfaction and loyalty. By correlating changes in market share with customer feedback and satisfaction metrics, you can identify areas where improvements are needed to enhance the customer experience and drive loyalty.
• Portfolio Management : Market share analysis enables you to evaluate the performance of your product portfolio and make informed decisions about product development, expansion, or discontinuation. By identifying products with declining market share or low profitability, you can reallocate resources to more promising opportunities and streamline your product portfolio for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

In summary, monitoring market share offers numerous benefits for businesses, including insights into competitive positioning, growth opportunities, marketing effectiveness, and product performance. By leveraging market share data, companies can make informed strategic decisions that drive sustainable growth and competitive advantage in their respective industries.

Factors Influencing Market Share

Understanding the various factors that influence market share is essential for businesses seeking to maintain or increase their competitive position within their industry. From product quality and pricing strategies to distribution channels and customer experience, numerous elements can impact a company's ability to capture and retain market share.

Product Quality and Innovation

Product quality and innovation are fundamental drivers of market share. A company that consistently delivers high-quality products that meet or exceed customer expectations is likely to gain market share over competitors offering inferior products.

Innovation plays a crucial role in maintaining relevance and competitiveness in rapidly evolving markets. By continuously innovating and introducing new features or technologies, companies can differentiate themselves from competitors and attract customers seeking innovative solutions.

Pricing Strategy

Pricing strategy directly influences market share by affecting customer purchasing decisions and competitive positioning. A company that adopts a competitive pricing strategy, offering products at prices that are perceived as fair and reasonable relative to their value, is likely to capture a larger share of the market.

However, pricing too low may erode profitability, while pricing too high may deter price-sensitive customers and result in a loss of market share. Strategic pricing decisions should consider factors such as production costs, competitor pricing, and perceived value to customers.

Distribution Channels

Effective distribution channels play a critical role in reaching target customers and increasing market share. Companies with efficient distribution networks can ensure that their products are readily available to customers when and where they need them.

Whether through direct sales, retailers, e-commerce platforms, or partnerships with distributors, choosing the right distribution channels is essential for maximizing market penetration and expanding reach. Additionally, seamless logistics and supply chain management are essential for ensuring timely delivery and maintaining customer satisfaction.

Branding and Marketing Efforts

Strong branding and effective marketing efforts are essential for building awareness, credibility, and preference for a company's products or services. Branding goes beyond logos and visual identity ; it encompasses the overall perception and reputation of a brand in the minds of consumers.

By investing in branding initiatives that communicate value, differentiate the brand from competitors, and resonate with the target audience, companies can increase market share and foster customer loyalty. Similarly, strategic marketing efforts that target the right audience , convey compelling messages, and utilize the appropriate channels can drive customer acquisition and retention, ultimately leading to increased market share.

Customer Experience and Satisfaction

Customer experience and satisfaction are critical drivers of market share. In today's competitive marketplace, delivering exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint is essential for retaining existing customers and attracting new ones. Positive experiences lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy, which, in turn, translate into increased market share through repeat purchases and positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Conversely, poor customer experiences can result in customer churn, negative reviews, and damage to brand reputation, ultimately leading to loss of market share. Therefore, companies must prioritize customer-centricity, listen to customer feedback , and continuously strive to improve the overall customer experience across all interactions.

How to Increase Market Share?

Expanding your market share requires a strategic approach that encompasses various tactics and initiatives aimed at attracting new customers, retaining existing ones, and outperforming competitors. From product development and pricing strategies to market penetration tactics and strategic partnerships, there are numerous methods businesses can employ to increase their market share.

Product Development and Innovation

• Continuous Improvement : Regularly assess customer needs and preferences to identify areas for product enhancement or innovation.
• Research and Development : Invest in research and development efforts to stay ahead of the competition and introduce new products or features that address emerging market trends or customer demands.
• Differentiation : Differentiate your products from competitors by offering unique features, superior quality, or innovative solutions that provide tangible value to customers.
• Customer Feedback : Gather feedback from customers through surveys , focus groups , or social media to understand their preferences and incorporate their input into product development processes.

Pricing Strategies

• Competitive Pricing : Analyze competitors' pricing strategies and adjust your prices to remain competitive while still maintaining profitability.
• Value-Based Pricing : Emphasize the value proposition of your products or services to justify premium pricing and differentiate yourself from lower-priced competitors.
• Promotional Pricing : Offer discounts, promotions, or bundled pricing strategies to attract price-sensitive customers and encourage trial or repeat purchases.
• Dynamic Pricing : Utilize dynamic pricing algorithms to adjust prices in real-time based on demand, competitor pricing, or other market variables to maximize revenue and market share.

Market Penetration Tactics

• Expand Distribution Channels : Increase market penetration by expanding into new geographic regions or distribution channels to reach untapped customer segments.
• Product Bundling : Bundle complementary products or services together to offer greater value to customers and encourage larger purchases.
• Aggressive Marketing : Launch targeted marketing campaigns or promotions to raise awareness, generate interest, and drive customer acquisition.
• Price Leadership : Establish yourself as a price leader in the market by consistently offering the lowest prices or best value proposition, attracting price-conscious consumers.

Strategic Partnerships and Alliances

• Collaborative Ventures : Form strategic partnerships or alliances with complementary businesses or industry stakeholders to leverage each other's strengths and resources.
• Joint Marketing Efforts : Collaborate on marketing campaigns or co-branding initiatives to amplify reach, increase brand visibility, and attract new customers.
• Distribution Partnerships : Partner with distributors, retailers, or online platforms to expand your product's distribution reach and access new markets or customer segments.
• Technology Partnerships : Collaborate with technology partners to integrate your products or services with theirs, offering enhanced value propositions or expanded functionality to customers.

Marketing and Advertising Campaigns

• Targeted Advertising : Utilize data-driven insights to identify and target specific customer segments with personalized advertising messages and offers.
• Content Marketing : Create informative, engaging content that positions your brand as a thought leader in your industry and attracts potential customers through inbound marketing efforts.
• Social Media Marketing : Leverage social media platforms to engage with customers, build brand awareness , and drive traffic to your website or online store.
• Influencer Partnerships : Partner with influencers or industry experts to endorse your products or services and reach their followers with authentic, trusted recommendations.

Implementing a combination of these methods tailored to your business's unique strengths, market conditions, and target audience can help drive sustained growth and increase your market share over time.

Market Share Analysis Tools and Techniques

Analyzing market share requires the utilization of various tools and techniques to gather data, gain insights, and make informed strategic decisions. From traditional market research methods to advanced data analytics and software solutions, businesses have a plethora of options available to conduct comprehensive market share analysis.

Surveys and Market Research

Surveys and market research serve as foundational tools for gathering valuable insights into consumer preferences, behavior, and market dynamics. By collecting data directly from customers or target demographics, businesses can obtain actionable information to inform their market share analysis and strategic planning efforts.

• Customer Surveys : Conducting surveys allows businesses to gather feedback directly from customers regarding their preferences, satisfaction levels, and purchasing behavior. This data provides valuable insights into factors influencing market share and helps identify opportunities for improvement.
• Market Segmentation : Market segmentation studies divide the target market into distinct groups based on demographic , psychographic , or behavioral characteristics. By understanding the unique needs and preferences of different customer segments, businesses can tailor their strategies to effectively target and capture market share within each segment.

When conducting market share analysis, leveraging tools like Appinio for data collection can be a game-changer. By seamlessly integrating consumer feedback into your analysis process, you gain invaluable insights that drive strategic decision-making and bolster your market share. With Appinio's intuitive platform and global reach, unlocking actionable insights has never been easier.

Ready to supercharge your market share strategies? Book a demo today and see the power of real-time consumer insights in action!

Competitive Intelligence

Competitive intelligence involves gathering and analyzing information about competitors' strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and performance to gain insights and identify opportunities for competitive advantage. By monitoring competitors' market share, product offerings, pricing strategies, and marketing initiatives, businesses can benchmark their performance and develop strategies to outperform competitors and gain market share.

• Competitor Analysis : Conducting thorough competitor analysis allows businesses to assess competitors' market share position, identify areas of vulnerability, and capitalize on opportunities for differentiation. By understanding competitors' strategies and tactics, businesses can refine their own strategies to gain a competitive edge and increase market share.
• Benchmarking : Benchmarking compares key performance metrics, such as market share, sales growth, and profitability, against industry peers or best-in-class competitors. Benchmarking provides valuable insights into areas where a company may be underperforming relative to competitors and informs strategic initiatives to close performance gaps and improve market share.

Data Analytics and Software Solutions

Advancements in data analytics and software solutions have revolutionized market share analysis by enabling businesses to analyze large volumes of data quickly and efficiently, uncovering actionable insights and trends that drive strategic decision-making.

• Market Share Tracking Tools : Market share tracking tools aggregate data from various sources, such as sales data, customer surveys, and industry reports, to provide real-time visibility into market share trends and performance metrics. These tools enable businesses to monitor changes in market share, assess the impact of strategic initiatives, and make data-driven decisions to optimize market share growth.
• Predictive Analytics : Predictive analytics leverages historical data and statistical algorithms to forecast future market trends, customer behavior, and competitive dynamics. By identifying patterns and correlations in market data, predictive analytics empowers businesses to anticipate market shifts, proactively respond to changing conditions, and position themselves for success in the marketplace.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that evaluates a company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to inform decision-making and strategy development. By conducting a SWOT analysis, businesses can assess their internal capabilities, external market conditions, and competitive landscape to identify areas for improvement and opportunities for growth.

Market Share Dashboards and Reports

Market share dashboards and reports provide comprehensive visualizations and analysis of market share data, enabling businesses to track performance, identify trends, and communicate insights effectively across the organization.

• Visualizations : Market share dashboards utilize charts, graphs, and other visualizations to present market share data in a clear and intuitive format, enabling stakeholders to quickly understand trends and performance metrics.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) : Market share dashboards typically include key performance indicators, such as market share by product category, geographic region, or customer segment, to provide insights into performance drivers and areas for improvement.
• Customization : Market share dashboards can be customized to meet the specific needs of different stakeholders, allowing users to drill down into detailed data, compare performance over time, and generate actionable insights tailored to their roles and responsibilities.

By leveraging a combination of these tools and techniques, businesses can conduct comprehensive market share analysis, gain valuable insights into market dynamics, and develop strategies to increase their market share and drive sustainable growth.

Market Share Analysis Challenges

Analyzing market share comes with its own set of challenges and potential pitfalls that businesses must navigate to ensure accurate interpretation and effective decision-making. Understanding these challenges is essential for mitigating risks and maximizing the value derived from market share analysis.

• Data Accuracy and Reliability : Market share analysis relies on accurate and reliable data sources. However, obtaining accurate market share data can be challenging due to factors such as incomplete or outdated data, inaccuracies in reporting, and discrepancies between different data sources. Ensuring data accuracy and reliability requires rigorous validation processes and cross-referencing multiple sources to verify the integrity of the data .
• Interpreting Market Share Changes : Fluctuations in market share can be influenced by various factors, including changes in consumer behavior, competitive dynamics, and market conditions. However, interpreting the reasons behind these changes accurately can be complex and requires careful analysis of multiple factors. Failing to accurately interpret market share changes can lead to misguided strategic decisions or missed opportunities for growth.
• External Factors Impacting Market Dynamics : Market share analysis is influenced by external factors beyond the company's control, such as economic conditions, regulatory changes, and geopolitical events. These external factors can have a significant impact on market dynamics, customer behavior, and competitive dynamics, making it challenging to predict and respond effectively to market shifts.
• Overemphasis on Market Share Metrics : While market share is an important metric for assessing competitive positioning and performance, it should not be viewed in isolation or given undue weight in decision-making. Overemphasizing market share metrics can lead to a narrow focus on short-term gains at the expense of long-term sustainability and profitability. It's essential to consider other key performance indicators, such as profitability, customer satisfaction, and brand equity , in conjunction with market share metrics to gain a holistic view of performance.
• Competitive Response and Counterstrategies : Changes in market share can trigger competitive responses from rivals, such as price adjustments, product innovations, or aggressive marketing campaigns. Anticipating and responding effectively to competitive actions requires proactive monitoring of competitors' strategies and market dynamics. Failing to anticipate competitive responses can undermine the effectiveness of market share initiatives and impede market share growth.

Navigating these challenges requires a proactive approach to market share analysis, leveraging robust data sources, advanced analytical tools, and strategic insights to overcome obstacles and capitalize on growth opportunities. By addressing these challenges head-on and continuously refining market share analysis processes, businesses can enhance their competitive position and drive sustainable success in their respective markets.

Conclusion for Market Shares

Market share isn't just a number; it's a powerful indicator of a company's competitive prowess and market position. By understanding and leveraging market share data, businesses can make informed decisions that drive growth, innovation, and customer satisfaction. Whether it's identifying untapped market segments, refining pricing strategies, or strengthening brand positioning, market share analysis is a cornerstone of strategic planning in today's dynamic business environment. So, as you navigate the ever-changing currents of the marketplace, remember the importance of market share as your guiding compass to success. In the end, market share isn't about simply grabbing the biggest slice of the pie; it's about continuously adapting and evolving to stay ahead of the competition. By embracing market share analysis as a strategic tool, businesses can identify opportunities, anticipate challenges, and chart a course towards sustainable growth and profitability. So, as you embark on your journey in the world of business, let market share be your trusted ally, guiding you toward success in the ever-shifting landscape of commerce.

How to Conduct Market Share Analysis in Minutes?

Introducing Appinio , the real-time market research platform that revolutionizes market share analysis. With Appinio, companies can conduct their own market research in minutes, gaining actionable insights that drive strategic decision-making and enhance their market share.

Here's why Appinio is your ultimate tool for market share analysis:

• Instant Insights : From posing questions to uncovering insights, Appinio delivers results in minutes, ensuring that businesses stay ahead of the curve with real-time data-driven decisions.
• User-Friendly Platform : Appinio's intuitive interface empowers users of all levels to conduct market research effortlessly, without the need for specialized research expertise.
• Global Reach : With access to over 90 countries and the ability to define target groups based on 1200+ characteristics, Appinio enables businesses to gather insights from diverse consumer demographics, ensuring comprehensive market share analysis.

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What Is Market Share?

Calculating market share, formula for market share, benefits of market share, market share impact.

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Market Share Example

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Market Share: What It Is and the Formula for Calculating It

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Pete Rathburn is a copy editor and fact-checker with expertise in economics and personal finance and over twenty years of experience in the classroom.

Market share is the percentage of total sales in an industry generated by a particular company. Market share is calculated by dividing the company's sales over a certain period by the industry's total sales during the same period. This metric is used to give a general idea of the size of a company in relation to its market and competitors. The market leader in an industry is the company with the largest market share.

Key Takeaways

• Market share is the percentage of an industry's total sales over a certain period that a particular company can claim.
• It is calculated by dividing total company sales by total industry sales.
• Market share provides a general idea of the size of a company in relation to its market and competitors.
• Growing market share can be a sign of success, while falling market share may mean the opposite.
• Ways to increase market share include implementing new technologies, generating customer loyalty, and acquiring competitors.

Investopedia / Candra Huff

A company's market share is its portion of total sales in relation to the market or industry in which it operates. To calculate a company's market share, first determine a period you want to examine. It could be a quarter, a year, or multiple years.

Next, calculate the company's total sales over that period. Then, find out the total sales for the company's industry. Finally, divide the company's total revenues by its industry's total sales. For example, if an American company sold $100 million worth of tractors last year domestically, and total tractor sales in the U.S. amounted to $200 million, the company's market share would be 50%.

The calculation for market share is usually done for specific countries or regions, e.g., North America or Canada. Investors can obtain market share data from various independent sources, such as trade groups and regulatory bodies, and often from the company itself; however, some industries are harder to measure accurately than others. It also easier to have sales data of public companies more than private ones.

The challenges to calculating market share are even bigger when companies are not pure players in industries and operate in intersections, as is the case for most big tech companies in the last two decades. In those cases, the market share will be calculated for each product and not companywise.

Market Share = Total Company Sales / Total Industry Sales

Investors and financial analysts monitor increases and decreases in market share  carefully, as this can be a sign of the relative competitiveness of the company's products or services. As the total market for a product or service grows, a company that is maintaining its market share is growing revenues at the same rate as the total market. A company that is growing its market share will be growing its revenues faster than its competitors.

Market share increases can allow a company to achieve greater scale with its operations and improve profitability. A company can try to expand its market share by lowering prices, advertising its products, or introducing new or different products. It can also grow the size of its market share by appealing to other audiences or  demographics .

Gains or losses in market share can have a significant impact on a company's stock performance , depending on industry conditions.

Changes in market share have a more important meaning in the performance of companies in mature and traditional industries, where there is known and steady growth in line with the general economy. In contrast, changes in market share have less importance with companies operating in  growth industries . In these industries, the total pie is still growing, so companies can still be growing sales even if they are losing market share. For companies in this situation, stock performance is affected more by customer and sales growth, as well as profit margins , if applicable, than by market share.

In  cyclical industries , which are highly sensitive to the economy's ups and downs, competition for market share can be brutal. In these industries, companies may be willing to lose money on products temporarily to force competitors to give up or declare  bankruptcy . Once they gain greater market share and competitors are ousted, they attempt to raise prices. This strategy can work, or it can backfire, compounding their losses; however, this is the reason that many industries are dominated by a few big players, such as discount wholesale retail with stores including Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Costco.

How Can Companies Increase Market Share?

A company can increase its market share by offering its customers innovative technology, strengthening customer loyalty, hiring talented employees, and acquiring competitors.

New Technology

Innovation is one method by which a company may increase market share . When a company brings to market a new technology its competitors have yet to offer, consumers wishing to own the technology buy it from that company, even if they previously did business with a competitor. Many of those consumers become loyal customers, which adds to the company's market share and decreases market share for the company from which they switched.

Customer Loyalty

By strengthening customer relationships, companies protect their existing market share by preventing current customers from jumping ship when a competitor rolls out a hot new offer. Better still, companies can grow market share using the same simple tactic, as satisfied customers frequently speak of their positive experiences to friends and relatives who become new customers. Gaining market share via word of mouth increases a company's revenues without concomitant increases in marketing expenses.

Talented Employees

Companies with the highest market share in their industries almost invariably have the most skilled and dedicated employees. Bringing the best employees on board reduces expenses related to turnover and training and enables companies to devote more resources to focus on their  core competencies . Offering competitive salaries and benefits is one proven way to attract the best employees; however, employees in the 21st century also seek intangible benefits such as flexible schedules and casual work environments.

Acquisitions

Lastly, one of the surest methods to increase market share is acquiring a competitor . By doing so, a company accomplishes two things. It taps into the newly acquired company's existing customer base, and it reduces the number of competitors fighting for a slice of the same pie. Shrewd executives, whether in charge of small businesses or large corporations, will have their eye out for a good acquisition deal when their companies are in a growth model.

All multinational corporations measure success based on the market share of specific markets. China, for example, has been an important market for many companies, as it is still fast-growing. Companies like Apple Inc., use their market share numbers in China as a key performance indicator for the growth of their business.

Apple's market share in China's smartphone market has varied over the years, as it vies with domestic companies there. For instance, in Q2 2024, it had 14% of the market, down from 16% in the same quarter a year earlier.

Why Is Market Share Important?

Simply put, market share is a key indicator of a company's competitiveness. A growing market share can translate into greater profitability due to economies of scale , while a shrinking share can have the opposite effect. Market share can significantly affect stock prices, with any marked change in market share signaling strength or weakness to investors.

What Strategies Are Used to Gain Market Share?

Companies can try to gain market share in a variety of ways. For example, they might introduce new technology to attract customers that would otherwise have purchased from a competitor. They might advertise or market their products more aggressively. Or they might acquire one or more competitors to scoop up their share of the market and narrow the field.

How Do You Measure Market Share?

To determine a company's market share, you divide its total sales by its industry's total sales over a given period. For example, if a company sold $2 million worth of dishwashing liquid and the industry's total sales were $15 million, the company would have a market share of 2/15, or 13.3%

What Is a Low Market Share?

A low market share is considered to be less than half of the market share of the industry leader. So if the industry leader has a market share of 40% and another company has a market share of 10%, that company would be considered to have a low market share, as 10% is less than 20% (half of 40%).

Market share is the percentage of total industry sales a particular company has generated and, as such, serves as an indicator of its competitiveness. A rising market share can signal to investors that a company is worth betting on, while a falling one could be a sign of problems.

Canalys. " Local Vendors Dominate Top Five for First Time, as Mainland China Smartphone Market Grows 10% in Q2 2024 ."

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Table of Contents

Everything you want to know about market research.

Nearly 80% of businesses conduct market research to gather targeted insights into their performance, customers, industry, and competition.

While market research offers a variety of benefits, it can be challenging to identify what research to conduct, and when to ensure you get accurate and actionable data for your business decisions.

To cut through information overload and discover how market research can help you, we are breaking down the basics of market research, including what it is, what you can learn, potential benefits, and how to get started.

What is market research?

Market research is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data about your target market, competitors, and industry. Market research spans a wide range of topics, uncovering insights on various elements that can impact a business. 

Some common subjects of market research include:

• Customer needs, preferences, and behaviors
• Market trends, competitors, and growth opportunities
• Brand awareness, perception, and evaluation amongst competitors
• Product performance, strengths and weaknesses, and customer evaluations

Why do companies conduct market research?

There is a wealth of insights   and benefits  provided by market research, but at its core, the purpose and value of market research is that it helps you make informed decisions by:

Understanding the Market

Market research provides in-depth insights, allowing companies to better understand the market, identify customers’ needs and preferences, discover how their brand is perceived in the market, and measure the impact of investments and strategies.

Identifying Opportunities

Market research spots untapped opportunities for companies to focus on, including how to improve their brand status, identify new customer bases and markets to sell to, and provide insights to help senior leadership prioritize investment opportunities.

Uncovering Risks

Market research also reveals potential risks that, if ignored, can cause considerable damage. This includes insight into competitors, the impact of major challenges or economic influences (i.e., COVID-19, heightened regulatory concerns), and negative perceptions of the company and its brands.

What types of companies use market research?

All types of businesses use market research, Including B2B ( 77% of companies ), B2C (82%), and B2B2C (83%). 

While they conduct research at similar rates, the types of questions they ask are driven by the unique challenges each type of business faces. For example, over half of B2B companies conducted a market share analysis last year, while B2C and B2B2C companies’ top project was evaluating customer satisfaction.

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What can you learn from market research?

Anything. One of the biggest values of market research is how you can customize your research to gather the insights you need most. Below are some common examples of insights you can learn through market research.

Understand the Market

• Identify and prioritize markets for exploration and entry.
• Identify and build in-depth comparative profiles for your biggest competitors in the market.
• Understand market dynamics and identify potential factors, innovations, and trends that might impact your company.

Optimize Products and Services

• Generate new product ideas or optimize existing products.
• Develop an optimized pricing strategy.
• Evaluate how customers perceive and use your products and services.
• Identify any sales and service gaps or unmet customer needs.

Strengthen Brand Strategy

• Measure and track the strength of your brand and competing brands.
• Measure and improve brand health.
• Evaluate marketing and sales approaches to align with customer needs and preferences.

Understand Customers

• Understand the needs and preferences of your target customers.
• Identify crucial components of the customer experience. including unmet needs, pain points and levels of satisfaction.
• Differentiate customers into targetable segments based on behavioral, attitudinal, demographic, and psychographic data.

What are the most common market research projects?

The most popular market research projects can vary slightly over time, often reflecting market, economic, and societal shifts that impact company performance. Last year, with a focus on expanding to new markets and obtaining new customers, leading projects were analyzing customer satisfaction and needs , evaluating the market and identifying current and upcoming market trends , and measuring the strength of their brand equity .

This year, with inflation affecting customers’ buying power and increased production and resource costs, companies have expressed increased interest in price sensitivity research , making it the fifth-most common market research project. Increased uncertainty has also prompted companies to evaluate sales and renewal performance with win loss analysis projects increasing by 19%. 

Most Common Research Projects

How do you know you need market research?

With endless possibilities for insights, it can be hard to figure out where to start. To identify the type of market research you need, examine your top business priorities and determine if they could benefit from new data and insights. 

Ask yourself these two questions.

• Do you have the information you need to accomplish your goals?
• Is that data comprehensive and recent?

If the answer to either is no, your strategies will benefit from updated research insights.

Need help convincing your executive team to invest in market research?

You can find more stats on the use and impact of market research in our recent study.

• The State of Market Research

When should you conduct market research?

Companies usually conduct market research for one of three reasons: In response to a triggering event, to evaluate past performance, or to measure changes over time and quickly respond to declined performance.

Market Research Triggers

There are a variety of triggering events that prompt businesses to conduct research. Some common situations include:

• Evaluating the impact of external influences (economic factors, political shifts, etc.,)
• Understanding and adjusting to shifting customer needs
• Entering new markets
• New or increased competition
• Developing new products or features
• Merging or acquiring a new company

Evaluating Past Performance

In addition to conducting research to inform upcoming strategies or overcome pressing challenges, companies also conduct market research to evaluate the success of recent strategies or determine the reason for recent declines in performance. Market research allows companies to measure performance and identify areas of improvement. This can include anything from evaluating the performance of recent product launches, assessing the impact of recent sales and marketing strategies, or measuring the impact of recent pricing or service changes.

Recurring Assessments

The final instance of market research is recurring research. Companies conduct recurring research to ensure data is relevant, to evaluate performance over time, and to quickly identify and respond to changes in performance. For example, some companies periodically measure their brand health including brand awareness, perception, and evaluation against their competitors. By consistently assessing their brand health, these companies have updated insights into their presence in the industry, how customers evaluate them, and potential threats from competitors.

How often should you conduct market research?

How much research you should conduct depends on your unique business needs and strategies. Often, the amount you conduct is determined by the market research triggers we mention above. If you are launching a new product, breaking into a new market or customer base, or have noticed a decline in performance, you should conduct market research to address these needs as they arise.

Most businesses conduct multiple market research projects a year depending on their needs and resources. Over 80% of companies conduct market research frequently, and 79% conduct at least five market research projects a year.

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Value of market research

What roi can you expect from market research.

In addition to successful key initiatives, companies that conduct market research say it provides an ROI of over four times the cost.

What challenges does market research address?

The insights market research provides are directly related to businesses’ biggest challenges. In our State of Market Research report , we asked respondents what their company’s biggest challenges were. In addition, we also asked respondents how their companies have benefited from market research findings. 

We found that the benefits they attributed to market research directly addressed their biggest reported challenges. Even those who did not report having a specific challenge reported market research insights helped them accomplish their goals.

What are the benefits of effective market research?

There are a variety of benefits of market research depending on the specific research you conduct.

Market research can benefit your company by helping you:

Companies that leverage market research insights into their strategies are also able to accomplish their goals at a higher rate than those without market research insights.

Companies that conduct market research are:

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Market research KPIs

Some common KPIs based on the focus of the research can include:

Brand-focused

• Brand recall and recognition
• Brand perception
• Brand preference
• Net promoter score (NPS)

Customer-focused

• Customer retention and churn
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
• Cost per acquisition

Product-focused

• Product appeal
• Willingness to pay
• Future purchase consideration
• Post-purchase satisfaction

Market-focused

• Share of market
• Competitive benchmarks
• Total addressable market
• Market demand

How do you evaluate the success of market research?

Market research is successful if the resulting data is accurate, representative, and informative. Accurate data means the data has been cleaned and is a valid response to the study questions. Representative means that the data reflects the target market and is comprehensive. Finally, informative means the data provides insight and is actionable.

See how market research can help you with these key market research stats.

• Market Research Stats You Need to Know

How to perform market research

What are the common market research methods .

There are four main types of market research.

Quantitative Data Analysis

Data analytics involves collecting and analyzing large sets of existing data to uncover patterns and predict future outcomes. These data sets can include information like customer behavior data or historical sales data that allows companies to analyze their current performance and model potential scenarios and outcomes. 

By leveraging existing data, data analytics provides companies with an objective view of the situation, allowing them to identify gaps and discern trends.

Quantitative Survey Research

Surveys pose a set of questions to a targeted group of people. The survey measures the opinions, preferences, perceptions, and experiences of a desired audience and can collect self-reported demographic and geographic data. 

With surveys, companies get an aggregate but statistically valid picture that they can leverage to make decisions. Surveys also offer the ability to segment and further analyze the answers to determine key drivers of behaviors.

Qualitative Primary Research

Qualitative research focuses on targeted insights around concepts, opinions, and preferences. Unlike quantitative methods, these market research methodologies leverage a smaller set of data and respondents but allow for more in-depth answers.

There are two common types of qualitative primary research: in-depth Interviews and focus groups.

• In-depth Interviews In-depth interviews involve one-on-one conversations between interviewers and those from the target audience. The interview follows a pre-determined set of questions, or guide, to reveal sentiment, decision-making processes, and unmet needs.
• Focus Groups Focus groups are facilitator-led group discussions reveal perceptions of or reception to a concept or idea. While the facilitator guides the meeting, the direction of the conversation is determined by the participants creating organic responses that stem from participant perception and reactions.

Secondary Research

Secondary research, also known as desk research, is leveraging data that already exists to answer questions. It can be used to understand what others in the market are doing, identify potential markets for growth or expansion, or allow companies to compare their organization to others on key performance indicators.

What is the market research process?

There are five stages to the market research process.

• Determine your Area of Focus To determine the focus of your market research, look at your goals objectively and determine if you have accurate and effective data to accomplish these goals.  Once you have identified your goal, the next thing is to determine what you need to learn to support it. This could be anything from external information like market trends and competitors or internal information like customer satisfaction with your brand and offerings.

• Gather Your Data With your focus and methodology determined, the next step is to start collecting data. Each methodology has its own methods of data collection. Methods like surveys and interviews require researchers to gather feedback data from a select sample of their intended audience. Data analysis and secondary research entail gathering existing internal or external data related to the primary research focus.
• Analyze the Results Once the data is collected, the next step is to clean and analyze the results. It is essential that data is verified and accessed to ensure the data is valid and is sufficient to provide accurate results. Once the data has been cleaned it should be reviewed for general findings, evaluated against your initial questions, and benchmarked against past performance or competitors.
• Leverage Findings to Inform Your Business Strategies After conducting your initial research, it’s time to reassess your strategies. Look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that your research has uncovered to see how it might impact your business and existing strategies. Is there a way to enhance your current strategies with the new data? Do you need to alter your strategies and resources to address an uncovered threat? 

Leverage your findings to inform your strategy and determine your next steps, whether they indicate you should stay the course, pivot to tackle a more pressing challenge, or even conduct new research to further understand your recent findings.

Why use both quantitative and qualitative research?

Leveraging both quantitative and qualitative research can provide a more holistic view of a situation. For example, quantitative data analysis offers relevant findings but can sometimes lack context. If it is followed up by qualitative in-depth interviews, companies can gather feedback to understand the factors that lead to the data analysis findings and identify potential solutions or untapped opportunities.

Interviews can help businesses identify customers’ thoughts and opinions and then that feedback can inform a survey that is sent to a wider audience for measurable insights. Companies can also use secondary desktop research to identify market trends and industry benchmarks and combine it with data analysis or surveys to evaluate the company’s performance in the market.

What is a sample in market research?

A sample in research refers to a small but representative group of people whose answers are extrapolated to a larger population.

For example, if a company wants to identify their brand awareness, they will survey a sample of people that have similar characteristics to their target audience. The survey’s findings will then provide a general understanding of how well known the brand is and directions on how to improve their brand’s presence in the market.

Start conducting your own research with this step-by-step guide.

• The Ultimate Guide to Market Research

How companies conduct market research

How can you get market research.

There are three main ways companies can get market research insights.

• Internal non-dedicated research Some companies conduct research with no real dedicated resource, requiring members in the marketing, product, strategy, and business intelligence departments to conduct research themselves. While initially low-cost, this option consumes internal resources and time, can produce incomplete, inaccurate, and biased results, and is often not shared company wide.
• Dedicated internal research team Some companies are big enough or require extensive market research and have therefore invested in building an internal research department. This option produces more accurate and strategic results than the first option. However, it requires a long-term investment and the amount of research and insights you can collect will be limited depending on the amount and expertise of the analysts employed.
• External market research company Many companies partner with an external research company to gain access to research experts, technology, and advice for actionable insights. The price for this option depends on the type and amount of research you do, but it can be less of a burden than maintaining an internal department while still providing the value of research expertise.

What are the types of market research firms?

A market research company is a firm that specializes in conducting research. There are a few different types of market research firms based on the services they provide.

• Custom research providers Custom research companies (like Hanover) design and conduct research centered around client’s unique needs. They often specialize in all four research methodologies to develop research that answers clients’ focus questions and provide findings that connect the data back to the intent of the research.
• Syndicated research providers Syndicated research companies do not conduct client-specific research. Instead, these companies conduct widespread research to offer data such as industry statistics, current best practices, or recent trends. Businesses can then buy this research to gather perspectives on their performance and identify areas where custom research can help provide more insight.
• Self-service platforms Self-service companies provide research technology for companies to conduct their own research. It allows companies to design and administer their own research and analyze and assess the results.

Should you use a market research firm?

Market research companies provide valuable benefits, making them an effective partner for your research needs. In addition to the research they provide, they have added benefits like:

• Removing the influence of preconceived opinions and personal or company bias
• Access to sophisticated analysis software and research methods
• Offering expert insights to help design research that results in accurate and relevant findings
• Offloading time-intensive research and analysis enabling companies to focus internal resources on strategic work
• Access to expert researchers without having to hire a full-time employees

How much does market research cost?

The cost of market research varies based on how you conduct your research. Conducting research in-house vs hiring a research company might be cheaper (but less effective). The type of methodology you use can affect the cost, for example, in-depth interviews can become quite expensive depending on the incentives you offer to participate. Price can also vary depending on the level of service you need, for example some companies will work with you to identify your focus and mythology, conduct the research, and present findings and recommendations while others will only conduct research and deliver the results.

Don’t make the mistake of focusing on costs by itself. Opting for cheaper or quick research can provide you with skewed data that can do more harm than good.

Good research is worth the investment. Over 85% of companies say market research ROI is over four times the investment. The insights and impact market research provides has also led 69% of businesses to increase their investment in market research this year.

Find out how Baltimore Aircoil successfully entered an international market with targeted insights

• Baltimore Aircoil Company Develops HVAC Purchasing Strategy for New International Market

What are some tips for making market research effective?

Market research is instrumental in building effective data-driven strategies. But only if done right. As you begin to plan out your market research and business strategies, keep the following tips in mind.

• Refresh your data to ensure it is accurate and relevant
• Tailor research to your unique needs and challenges
• Use the correct methodology to accurately answer your questions
• Incorporate research findings into your strategies
• Share insights across the company to ensure everyone is operating off the same data
• Leverage outside expertise when you need it

By implementing these tips, you can enhance the quality and effectiveness of your market research efforts, enabling data-driven decision-making and strategic planning that aligns with your business objectives.

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How to do market research: The complete guide for your brand

Written by by Jacqueline Zote

Published on  April 13, 2023

Reading time  10 minutes

Blindly putting out content or products and hoping for the best is a thing of the past. Not only is it a waste of time and energy, but you’re wasting valuable marketing dollars in the process. Now you have a wealth of tools and data at your disposal, allowing you to develop data-driven marketing strategies . That’s where market research comes in, allowing you to uncover valuable insights to inform your business decisions.

Conducting market research not only helps you better understand how to sell to customers but also stand out from your competition. In this guide, we break down everything you need to know about market research and how doing your homework can help you grow your business.

Table of contents:

What is market research?

Why is market research important, types of market research, where to conduct market research.

• Steps for conducting market research
• Tools to use for market research

Market research is the process of gathering information surrounding your business opportunities. It identifies key information to better understand your audience. This includes insights related to customer personas and even trends shaping your industry.

Taking time out of your schedule to conduct research is crucial for your brand health. Here are some of the key benefits of market research:

Understand your customers’ motivations and pain points

Most marketers are out of touch with what their customers want. Moreover, these marketers are missing key information on what products their audience wants to buy.

Simply put, you can’t run a business if you don’t know what motivates your customers.

And spoiler alert: Your customers’ wants and needs change. Your customers’ behaviors today might be night and day from what they were a few years ago.

Market research holds the key to understanding your customers better. It helps you uncover their key pain points and motivations and understand how they shape their interests and behavior.

Figure out how to position your brand

Positioning is becoming increasingly important as more and more brands enter the marketplace. Market research enables you to spot opportunities to define yourself against your competitors.

Maybe you’re able to emphasize a lower price point. Perhaps your product has a feature that’s one of a kind. Finding those opportunities goes hand in hand with researching your market.

Maintain a strong pulse on your industry at large

Today’s marketing world evolves at a rate that’s difficult to keep up with.

Fresh products. Up-and-coming brands. New marketing tools. Consumers get bombarded with sales messages from all angles. This can be confusing and overwhelming.

By monitoring market trends, you can figure out the best tactics for reaching your target audience.

Not everyone conducts market research for the same reason. While some may want to understand their audience better, others may want to see how their competitors are doing. As such, there are different types of market research you can conduct depending on your goal.

Interview-based market research allows for one-on-one interactions. This helps the conversation to flow naturally, making it easier to add context. Whether this takes place in person or virtually, it enables you to gather more in-depth qualitative data.

Buyer persona research

Buyer persona research lets you take a closer look at the people who make up your target audience. You can discover the needs, challenges and pain points of each buyer persona to understand what they need from your business. This will then allow you to craft products or campaigns to resonate better with each persona.

Pricing research

In this type of research, brands compare similar products or services with a particular focus on pricing. They look at how much those products or services typically sell for so they can get more competitive with their pricing strategy.

Competitive analysis research

Competitor analysis gives you a realistic understanding of where you stand in the market and how your competitors are doing. You can use this analysis to find out what’s working in your industry and which competitors to watch out for. It even gives you an idea of how well those competitors are meeting consumer needs.

Depending on the competitor analysis tool you use, you can get as granular as you need with your research. For instance, Sprout Social lets you analyze your competitors’ social strategies. You can see what types of content they’re posting and even benchmark your growth against theirs.

Brand awareness research

Conducting brand awareness research allows you to assess your brand’s standing in the market. It tells you how well-known your brand is among your target audience and what they associate with it. This can help you gauge people’s sentiments toward your brand and whether you need to rebrand or reposition.

If you don’t know where to start with your research, you’re in the right place.

There’s no shortage of market research methods out there. In this section, we’ve highlighted research channels for small and big businesses alike.

Considering that Google sees a staggering 8.5 billion searches each day, there’s perhaps no better place to start.

A quick Google search is a potential goldmine for all sorts of questions to kick off your market research. Who’s ranking for keywords related to your industry? Which products and pieces of content are the hottest right now? Who’s running ads related to your business?

For example, Google Product Listing Ads can help highlight all of the above for B2C brands.

The same applies to B2B brands looking to keep tabs on who’s running industry-related ads and ranking for keyword terms too.

There’s no denying that email represents both an aggressive and effective marketing channel for marketers today. Case in point, 44% of online shoppers consider email as the most influential channel in their buying decisions.

Looking through industry and competitor emails is a brilliant way to learn more about your market. For example, what types of offers and deals are your competitors running? How often are they sending emails?

Email is also invaluable for gathering information directly from your customers. This survey message from Asana is a great example of how to pick your customers’ brains to figure out how you can improve your quality of service.

Industry journals, reports and blogs

Don’t neglect the importance of big-picture market research when it comes to tactics and marketing channels to explore. Look to marketing resources such as reports and blogs as well as industry journals

Keeping your ear to the ground on new trends and technologies is a smart move for any business. Sites such as Statista, Marketing Charts, AdWeek and Emarketer are treasure troves of up-to-date data and news for marketers.

And of course, there’s the  Sprout Insights blog . And invaluable resources like The Sprout Social Index™  can keep you updated on the latest social trends.

Social media

If you want to learn more about your target market, look no further than social media. Social offers a place to discover what your customers want to see in future products or which brands are killin’ it. In fact, social media is become more important for businesses than ever with the level of data available.

It represents a massive repository of real-time data and insights that are instantly accessible. Brand monitoring and social listening are effective ways to conduct social media research . You can even be more direct with your approach. Ask questions directly or even poll your audience to understand their needs and preferences.

The 5 steps for how to do market research

Now that we’ve covered the why and where, it’s time to get into the practical aspects of market research. Here are five essential steps on how to do market research effectively.

Step 1: Identify your research topic

First off, what are you researching about? What do you want to find out? Narrow down on a specific research topic so you can start with a clear idea of what to look for.

For example, you may want to learn more about how well your product features are satisfying the needs of existing users. This might potentially lead to feature updates and improvements. Or it might even result in new feature introductions.

Similarly, your research topic may be related to your product or service launch or customer experience. Or you may want to conduct research for an upcoming marketing campaign.

Step 2: Choose a buyer persona to engage

If you’re planning to focus your research on a specific type of audience, decide which buyer persona you want to engage. This persona group will serve as a representative sample of your target audience.

Engaging a specific group of audience lets you streamline your research efforts. As such, it can be a much more effective and organized approach than researching thousands (if not millions) of individuals.

You may be directing your research toward existing users of your product. To get even more granular, you may want to focus on users who have been familiar with the product for at least a year, for example.

Step 3: Start collecting data

The next step is one of the most critical as it involves collecting the data you need for your research. Before you begin, make sure you’ve chosen the right research methods that will uncover the type of data you need. This largely depends on your research topic and goals.

Remember that you don’t necessarily have to stick to one research method. You may use a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. So for example, you could use interviews to supplement the data from your surveys. Or you may stick to insights from your social listening efforts.

To keep things consistent, let’s look at this in the context of the example from earlier. Perhaps you can send out a survey to your existing users asking them a bunch of questions. This might include questions like which features they use the most and how often they use them. You can get them to choose an answer from one to five and collect quantitative data.

Plus, for qualitative insights, you could even include a few open-ended questions with the option to write their answers. For instance, you might ask them if there’s any improvement they wish to see in your product.

Step 4: Analyze results

Once you have all the data you need, it’s time to analyze it keeping your research topic in mind. This involves trying to interpret the data to look for a wider meaning, particularly in relation to your research goal.

So let’s say a large percentage of responses were four or five in the satisfaction rating. This means your existing users are mostly satisfied with your current product features. On the other hand, if the responses were mostly ones and twos, you may look for opportunities to improve. The responses to your open-ended questions can give you further context as to why people are disappointed.

Step 5: Make decisions for your business

Now it’s time to take your findings and turn them into actionable insights for your business. In this final step, you need to decide how you want to move forward with your new market insight.

What did you find in your research that would require action? How can you put those findings to good use?

The market research tools you should be using

To wrap things up, let’s talk about the various tools available to conduct speedy, in-depth market research. These tools are essential for conducting market research faster and more efficiently.

Social listening and analytics

Social analytics tools like Sprout can help you keep track of engagement across social media. This goes beyond your own engagement data but also includes that of your competitors. Considering how quickly social media moves, using a third-party analytics tool is ideal. It allows you to make sense of your social data at a glance and ensure that you’re never missing out on important trends.

Email marketing research tools

Keeping track of brand emails is a good idea for any brand looking to stand out in its audience’s inbox.

Tools such as MailCharts ,  Really Good Emails  and  Milled  can show you how different brands run their email campaigns.

Meanwhile, tools like  Owletter  allow you to monitor metrics such as frequency and send-timing. These metrics can help you understand email marketing strategies among competing brands.

Content marketing research

If you’re looking to conduct research on content marketing, tools such as  BuzzSumo  can be of great help. This tool shows you the top-performing industry content based on keywords. Here you can see relevant industry sites and influencers as well as which brands in your industry are scoring the most buzz. It shows you exactly which pieces of content are ranking well in terms of engagements and shares and on which social networks.

SEO and keyword tracking

Monitoring industry keywords is a great way to uncover competitors. It can also help you discover opportunities to advertise your products via organic search. Tools such as  Ahrefs  provide a comprehensive keyword report to help you see how your search efforts stack up against the competition.

Competitor comparison template

For the sake of organizing your market research, consider creating a competitive matrix. The idea is to highlight how you stack up side-by-side against others in your market. Use a  social media competitive analysis template  to track your competitors’ social presence. That way, you can easily compare tactics, messaging and performance. Once you understand your strengths and weaknesses next to your competitors, you’ll find opportunities as well.

Customer persona creator

Finally, customer personas represent a place where all of your market research comes together. You’d need to create a profile of your ideal customer that you can easily refer to. Tools like  Xtensio  can help in outlining your customer motivations and demographics as you zero in on your target market.

Build a solid market research strategy

Having a deeper understanding of the market gives you leverage in a sea of competitors. Use the steps and market research tools we shared above to build an effective market research strategy.

But keep in mind that the accuracy of your research findings depends on the quality of data collected. Turn to Sprout’s social media analytics tools to uncover heaps of high-quality data across social networks.

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Home Market Research

Market Research: What it Is, Methods, Types & Examples

Would you like to know why, how, and when to apply market research? Do you want to discover why your consumers are not buying your products? Are you interested in launching a new product, service, or even a new marketing campaign, but you’re not sure what your consumers want?

LEARN ABOUT: Market research vs marketing research

To answer the questions above, you’ll need help from your consumers. But how will you collect that data? In this case and in many other situations in your business, market research is the way to get all the answers you need.

In this ultimate guide about market research, you’ll find the definition, advantages, types of market research, and some examples that will help you understand this type of research. Don’t forget to download the free ebook available at the end of this guide!

LEARN ABOUT: Perceived Value

Content Index

Three key objectives of market research

Why is market research important.

• Types of Market Research: Methods and Examples

Steps for conducting Market Research

Benefits of an efficient market research, 5 market research tips for businesses, why does every business need market research, free market research ebook, what is market research.

Market research is a technique that is used to collect data on any aspect that you want to know to be later able to interpret it and, in the end, make use of it for correct decision-making.

Another more specific definition could be the following:

Market research is the process by which companies seek to collect data systematically to make better decisions. Still, its true value lies in the way in which all the data obtained is used to achieve a better knowledge of the market consumer.

The process of market research can be done through deploying surveys , interacting with a group of people, also known as a sample , conducting interviews, and other similar processes.  

The primary purpose of conducting market research is to understand or examine the market associated with a particular product or service to decide how the audience will react to a product or service. The information obtained from conducting market research can be used to tailor marketing/ advertising activities or determine consumers’ feature priorities/service requirement (if any).

LEARN ABOUT: Consumer Surveys

Conducting research is one of the best ways of achieving customer satisfaction , reducing customer churn and elevating business. Here are the reasons why market research is important and should be considered in any business:

• Valuable information: It provides information and opportunities about the value of existing and new products, thus, helping businesses plan and strategize accordingly.
• Customer-centric: It helps to determine what the customers need and want. Marketing is customer-centric and understanding the customers and their needs will help businesses design products or services that best suit them. Remember that tracing your customer journey is a great way to gain valuable insights into your customers’ sentiments toward your brand.
• Forecasts: By understanding the needs of customers, businesses can also forecast their production and sales. Market research also helps in determining optimum inventory stock.
• Competitive advantage: To stay ahead of competitors market research is a vital tool to carry out comparative studies. Businesses can devise business strategies that can help them stay ahead of their competitors.

LEARN ABOUT: Data Analytics Projects

Types of Market Research: Market Research Methods and Examples

Whether an organization or business wishes to know the purchase behavior of consumers or the likelihood of consumers paying a certain cost for a product segmentation , market research helps in drawing meaningful conclusions.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Targeting

Depending on the methods and tools required, the following are the types:

1. Primary Market Research (A combination of both Qualitative and Quantitative Research):

Primary market research is a process where organizations or businesses get in touch with the end consumers or employ a third party to carry out relevant studies to collect data. The data collected can be qualitative data (non-numerical data) or quantitative data (numerical or statistical data).

While conducting primary market research, one can gather two types of information: Exploratory and Specific. Exploratory research is open-ended, where a problem is explored by asking open ended questions in a detailed interview format usually with a small group of people, also known as a sample. Here the sample size is restricted to 6-10 members. Specific research, on the other hand, is more pinpointed and is used to solve the problems that are identified by exploratory research.

LEARN ABOUT: Marketing Insight

As mentioned earlier, primary market research is a combination of qualitative market research and quantitative market research. Qualitative market research study involves semi-structured or unstructured data collected through some of the commonly used qualitative research methods like:

Focus groups :

Focus group is one of the commonly used qualitative research methods. Focus group is a small group of people (6-10) who typically respond to online surveys sent to them. The best part about a focus group is the information can be collected remotely, can be done without personally interacting with the group members. However, this is a more expensive method as it is used to collect complex information.

One-to-one interview:

As the name suggests, this method involves personal interaction in the form of an interview, where the researcher asks a series of questions to collect information or data from the respondents. The questions are mostly open-ended questions and are asked to facilitate responses. This method heavily depends on the interviewer’s ability and experience to ask questions that evoke responses.

Ethnographic research :

This type of in-depth research is conducted in the natural settings of the respondents. This method requires the interviewer to adapt himself/herself to the natural environment of the respondents which could be a city or a remote village. Geographical constraints can be a hindering market research factor in conducting this kind of research. Ethnographic research can last from a few days to a few years.

Organizations use qualitative research methods to conduct structured market research by using online surveys , questionnaires , and polls to gain statistical insights to make informed decisions.

LEARN ABOUT: Qualitative Interview

This method was once conducted using pen and paper. This has now evolved to sending structured online surveys to the respondents to gain actionable insights. Researchers use modern and technology-oriented survey platforms to structure and design their survey to evoke maximum responses from respondents.

Through a well-structured mechanism, data is easily collected and reported, and necessary action can be taken with all the information made available firsthand.

Learn more: How to conduct quantitative research

2. Secondary Market Research:

Secondary research uses information that is organized by outside sources like government agencies, media, chambers of commerce etc. This information is published in newspapers, magazines, books, company websites, free government and nongovernment agencies and so on. The secondary source makes use of the following:

• Public sources: Public sources like library are an awesome way of gathering free information. Government libraries usually offer services free of cost and a researcher can document available information.
• Commercial sources: Commercial source although reliable are expensive. Local newspapers, magazines, journal, television media are great commercial sources to collect information.
• Educational Institutions: Although not a very popular source of collecting information, most universities and educational institutions are a rich source of information as many research projects are carried out there than any business sector.

Learn more: Market Research Example with Types and Methods

A market research project may usually have 3 different types of objectives.

• Administrative : Help a company or business development, through proper planning, organization, and both human and material resources control, and thus satisfy all specific needs within the market, at the right time.
• Social : Satisfy customers’ specific needs through a required product or service. The product or service should comply with a customer’s requirements and preferences when consumed.
• Economical : Determine the economical degree of success or failure a company can have while being new to the market, or otherwise introducing new products or services, thus providing certainty to all actions to be implemented.

LEARN ABOUT:  Test Market Demand

Knowing what to do in various situations that arise during the investigation will save the researcher time and reduce research problems . Today’s successful enterprises use powerful market research survey software that helps them conduct comprehensive research under a unified platform, providing actionable insights much faster with fewer problems.

LEARN ABOUT:  Market research industry

Following are the steps to conduct effective market research.

Step #1: Define the Problem

Having a well-defined subject of research will help researchers when they ask questions. These questions should be directed to solve problems and must be adapted to the project. Make sure the questions are written clearly and that the respondents understand them. Researchers can conduct a marketing test with a small group to know if the questions are going to know whether the asked questions are understandable and if they will be enough to gain insightful results.

Research objectives should be written in a precise way and should include a brief description of the information that is needed and the way in which it will obtain it. They should have an answer to this question “why are we doing the research?”

Learn more: Interview Questions

Step #2: Define the Sample

To carry out market research, researchers need a representative sample that can be collected using one of the many sampling techniques . A representative sample is a small number of people that reflect, as accurately as possible, a larger group.

• An organization cannot waste their resources in collecting information from the wrong population. It is important that the population represents characteristics that matter to the researchers and that they need to investigate, are in the chosen sample.
• Take into account that marketers will always be prone to fall into a bias in the sample because there will always be people who do not answer the survey because they are busy, or answer it incompletely, so researchers may not obtain the required data.
• Regarding the size of the sample, the larger it is, the more likely it is to be representative of the population. A larger representative sample gives the researcher greater certainty that the people included are the ones they need, and they can possibly reduce bias. Therefore, if they want to avoid inaccuracy in our surveys, they should have representative and balanced samples.
• Practically all the surveys that are considered in a serious way, are based on a scientific sampling, based on statistical and probability theories.

There are two ways to obtain a representative sample:

• Probability sampling : In probability sampling , the choice of the sample will be made at random, which guarantees that each member of the population will have the same probability of selection bias and inclusion in the sample group. Researchers should ensure that they have updated information on the population from which they will draw the sample and survey the majority to establish representativeness.
• Non-probability sampling : In a non-probability sampling , different types of people are seeking to obtain a more balanced representative sample. Knowing the demographic characteristics of our group will undoubtedly help to limit the profile of the desired sample and define the variables that interest the researchers, such as gender, age, place of residence, etc. By knowing these criteria, before obtaining the information, researchers can have the control to create a representative sample that is efficient for us.

When a sample is not representative, there can be a margin of error . If researchers want to have a representative sample of 100 employees, they should choose a similar number of men and women.

The sample size is very important, but it does not guarantee accuracy. More than size, representativeness is related to the sampling frame , that is, to the list from which people are selected, for example, part of a survey.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Research If researchers want to continue expanding their knowledge on how to determine the size of the sample consult our guide on sampling here.

Step #3: Carry out data collection

First, a data collection instrument should be developed. The fact that they do not answer a survey, or answer it incompletely will cause errors in research. The correct collection of data will prevent this.

Step #4: Analyze the results

Each of the points of the market research process is linked to one another. If all the above is executed well, but there is no accurate analysis of the results, then the decisions made consequently will not be appropriate. In-depth analysis conducted without leaving loose ends will be effective in gaining solutions. Data analysis will be captured in a report, which should also be written clearly so that effective decisions can be made on that basis.

Analyzing and interpreting the results is to look for a wider meaning to the obtained data. All the previous phases have been developed to arrive at this moment. How can researchers measure the obtained results? The only quantitative data that will be obtained is age, sex, profession, and number of interviewees because the rest are emotions and experiences that have been transmitted to us by the interlocutors. For this, there is a tool called empathy map that forces us to put ourselves in the place of our clientele with the aim of being able to identify, really, the characteristics that will allow us to make a better adjustment between our products or services and their needs or interests. When the research has been carefully planned, the hypotheses have been adequately defined and the indicated collection method has been used, the interpretation is usually carried out easily and successfully. What follows after conducting market research?

Learn more: Types of Interviews

Step #5: Make the Research Report

When presenting the results, researchers should focus on: what do they want to achieve using this research report and while answering this question they should not assume that the structure of the survey is the best way to do the analysis. One of the big mistakes that many researchers make is that they present the reports in the same order of their questions and do not see the potential of storytelling.

To make good reports, the best analysts give the following advice: follow the inverted pyramid style to present the results, answering at the beginning the essential questions of the business that caused the investigation. Start with the conclusions and give them fundamentals, instead of accumulating evidence. After this researchers can provide details to the readers who have the time and interest.

Step #6: Make Decisions

An organization or a researcher should never ask “why do market research”, they should just do it! Market research helps researchers to know a wide range of information, for example,  consumer purchase intentions, or gives feedback about the growth of the target market. They can also discover valuable information that will help in estimating the prices of their product or service and find a point of balance that will benefit them and the consumers.

Take decisions! Act and implement.

Learn more: Quantitative Research

• Make well-informed decisions: The growth of an organization is dependent on the way decisions are made by the management. Using market research techniques, the management can make business decisions based on obtained results that back their knowledge and experience. Market research helps to know market trends, hence to carry it out frequently to get to know the customers thoroughly.

LEARN ABOUT: Research Process Steps

• Gain accurate information: Market research provides real and accurate information that will prepare the organization for any mishaps that may happen in the future. By properly investigating the market, a business will undoubtedly be taking a step forward, and therefore it will be taking advantage of its existing competitors.
• Determine the market size: A researcher can evaluate the size of the market that must be covered in case of selling a product or service in order to make profits.
• Choose an appropriate sales system: Select a precise sales system according to what the market is asking for, and according to this, the product/service can be positioned in the market.
• Learn about customer preferences: It helps to know how the preferences (and tastes) of the clients change so that the company can satisfy preferences, purchasing habits, and income levels. Researchers can determine the type of product that must be manufactured or sold based on the specific needs of consumers.
• Gather details about customer perception of the brand: In addition to generating information, market research helps a researcher in understanding how the customers perceive the organization or brand.
• Analyze customer communication methods: Market research serves as a guide for communication with current and potential clients.
• Productive business investment: It is a great investment for any business because thanks to it they get invaluable information, it shows researchers the way to follow to take the right path and achieve the sales that are required.

LEARN ABOUT: Total Quality Management

The following tips will help businesses with creating a better market research strategy.

Tip #1: Define the objective of your research.

Before starting your research quest, think about what you’re trying to achieve next with your business. Are you looking to increase traffic to your location? Or increase sales? Or convert customers from one-time purchasers to regulars? Figuring out your objective will help you tailor the rest of your research and your future marketing materials. Having an objective for your research will flesh out what kind of data you need to collect.

Tip #2: Learn About Your Target Customers.

The most important thing to remember is that your business serves a specific kind of customer. Defining your specific customer has many advantages like allowing you to understand what kind of language to use when crafting your marketing materials, and how to approach building relationships with your customer. When you take time to define your target customer you can also find the best products and services to sell to them.

You want to know as much as you can about your target customer. You can gather this information through observation and by researching the kind of customers who frequent your type of business. For starters, helpful things to know are their age and income. What do they do for a living? What’s their marital status and education level?

Learn more: Customer Satisfaction

Tip #3: Recognize that knowing who you serve helps you define who you do not.

Let’s take a classic example from copywriting genius Dan Kennedy. He says that if you’re opening up a fine dining steakhouse focused on decadent food, you know right off the bat that you’re not looking to attract vegetarians or dieters. Armed with this information, you can create better marketing messages that speak to your target customers.

It’s okay to decide who is not a part of your target customer base. In fact, for small businesses knowing who you don’t cater to can be essential in helping you grow. Why? Simple, if you’re small your advantage is that you can connect deeply with a specific segment of the market. You want to focus your efforts on the right customer who already is compelled to spend money on your offer.

If you’re spreading yourself thin by trying to be all things to everyone, you will only dilute your core message. Instead, keep your focus on your target customer. Define them, go deep, and you’ll be able to figure out how you can best serve them with your products and services.

Tip #4: Learn from your competition.

This works for brick-and-mortar businesses as well as internet businesses because it allows you to step into the shoes of your customer and open up to a new perspective of your business. Take a look around the internet and around your town. If you can, visit your competitor’s shops. For example, if you own a restaurant specializing in Italian cuisine, dine at the other Italian place in your neighborhood or in the next township.

As you experience the business from the customer’s perspective, look for what’s being done right and wrong.

Can you see areas that need attention or improvement? How are you running things in comparison? What’s the quality of their product and customer service ? Are the customers here pleased? Also, take a close look at their market segment. Who else is patronizing their business? Are they the same kinds of people who spend money with you? By asking these questions and doing in-person research, you can dig up a lot of information to help you define your unique selling position and create even better offers for your customers.

Tip #5: Get your target customers to open up and tell you everything.

A good customer survey is one of the most valuable market research tools because it gives you the opportunity to get inside your customer’s head. However, remember that some feedback may be harsh, so take criticism as a learning tool to point you in the right direction.

Creating a survey is simple. Ask questions about what your customer thinks you’re doing right and what can be improved. You can also prompt them to tell you what kinds of products and services they’d like to see you add, giving you fantastic insight into how to monetize your business more. Many customers will be delighted to offer feedback. You can even give customers who fill out surveys a gift like a special coupon for their next purchase.

Bonus Tip: Use an insight & research repository

An insight & research repository is a consolidated research management platform to derive insights about past and ongoing market research. With the use of such a tool, you can leverage past research to get to insights faster, build on previously done market research and draw trendlines, utilize research techniques that have worked in the past, and more.

Market research is one of the most effective ways to gain insight into your customer base , competitors , and the overall market. The goal of conducting market research is to equip your company with the information you need to make informed decisions.

It is especially important when small businesses are trying to determine whether a new business idea is viable, looking to move into a new market, or are launching a new product or service.  Read below for a more in-depth look at how market research can help small businesses.

• COMPETITION According to a study conducted by Business Insider, 72% of small businesses focus on increasing revenue. Conducting research helps businesses gain insight into competitor behavior. By learning about your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, you can learn how to position your product or offering. In order to be successful, small businesses need to have an understanding of what products and services competitors are offering, and their price point.

Learn more: Trend Analysis

• CUSTOMERS Many small businesses feel they need to understand their customers, only to conduct market research and learn they had the wrong assumptions. By researching, you can create a profile of your average customer and gain insight into their buying habits, how much they’re willing to spend, and which features resonate with them. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, you can learn what will make someone use your product or service over a competitor.

Learn more: Customer Satisfaction Survey

• OPPORTUNITIES Potential opportunities, whether they are products or services, can be identified by conducting market research. By learning more about your customers, you can gather insights into complementary products and services. Consumer needs change over time, influenced by new technology and different conditions, and you may find new needs that are not being met, which can create new opportunities for your business.

Learn more: SWOT Analysis 

• FORECAST A small business is affected by the performance of the local and national economy, as are its’ customers. If consumers are worried, then they will be more restrained when spending money, which affects the business. By conducting research with consumers, businesses can get an idea of whether they are optimistic or apprehensive about the direction of the economy, and make adjustments as necessary. For example, a small business owner may decide to postpone a new product launch if it appears the economic environment is turning negative.

Learn more: 300+ Market Research Survey Questionnaires

Market research and market intelligence may be as complex as the needs that each business or project has. The steps are usually the same. We hope this ultimate guide helps you have a better understanding of how to make your own market research project to gather insightful data and make better decisions.

LEARN ABOUT: Projective Techniques

We appreciate you taking the time to read this ultimate guide. We hope it was helpful! 

You can now download our free ebook that will guide you through a market research project, from the planning stage to the presentation of the outcomes and their analysis.

Sign up now, and download our free ebook: The Hacker’s Guide to Advanced Research Methodologies 

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.css-14us1xl{box-sizing:border-box;margin:0;min-width:0;white-space:pre-wrap;} Market Research

Market research provides an in-depth understanding of consumer sentiment, buying behavior, and demand within the market. Learn how to use market research to stay relevant in your industry.

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• What is market research?

What is the purpose of market research?

Why is market research important, types of market research, how is market research conducted, power well-informed business decisions with ai-driven market insights, all in one unified customer experience management (unified-cxm) platform, .css-1qemmfx{font-weight:700;} what is market research.

Market research is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data about competitors, target markets, or an industry as a whole. Entrepreneurs can use market research to make well-informed decisions, as it takes some of the guesswork out of how to interact with customers and provides ideas for projects that have the most potential.

Companies use market research at various stages of growth for different reasons. Market research can be used to:

Identify new markets . Market research may help you discover a need for your product in markets you’ve never considered.

Stay on top of new market trends . Market research can show new trends and help you determine strategies to adapt to new market conditions.

Determine the demand for a new product or service . Focus groups and surveys can give you an idea of how useful your product will be for consumers.

Find an ideal product-market fit . Market research can help you discover the best time, place, and audience for your product.

Fortify your business . Any problem areas in your business can be identified early to prevent expensive disruptions later.

The main purpose of market research is to learn more about your target audience and get feedback from consumers about their interest in certain products or services. This data can be used for:

Making critical business decisions

Any time your company is faced with an important decision, the more information you have, the better. Information about your competition and market allows you to make the most well-informed business decisions. A lack of information can lead to poor decision-making because these decisions are made based on outdated or otherwise irrelevant information.

Learn more: How AI-powered insights can boost your omni-channel CX strategy

Obtaining investor funding

Securing funds from investors is one of the biggest steps after coming up with a new idea for a company or product. Investors are going to be interested in what you know about the market and how your company or product will add to it. Market research will let them know whether your product will solve a current need in the market.

Identifying business opportunities

Market research can be used to identify new business opportunities. It can show new markets to enter or a need for a product that doesn’t yet exist. This allows you to develop products to meet the needs and wants of consumers and gives you an advantage over your competition.

Preventing company failure

Market research is often viewed as being proactive (i.e., it helps you determine consumer needs or helps find new market opportunities). However, research can also mitigate risk by helping you decide what not to do. Research may tell you that a certain decision could hurt your brand image or cause a loss in revenue. This aspect of market research is often overlooked but plays an important part in helping companies achieve their goals.

Why AI is a “Must-Have” in Digital Research

The most effective way to increase customer satisfaction , reduce churn, and elevate your business is to conduct market research. Market research is essential to any business; here are some reasons why.

Important data . Market research provides valuable information about new and existing products, which can help companies create appropriate product development and marketing strategies .

Customer-focused . Market research can help you determine customer needs. Marketing focuses on the customer and understanding their needs, helping companies create products or services that best benefit them.

Forecasting . Knowing customer needs helps business owners forecast production, inventory, and sales.

Competitive edge . Market research is a crucial tool for conducting comparative studies to benchmark your business against competitors and stay agile in your industry or market.

Market research also provides insights into many things that affect your marketing strategies, including:

Where your current customers and target audience are researching products or services

Which of your competitors your audience is buying from

Trends in the markets

What your target audience is willing to pay for certain products or services

What is influencing your target audience to make purchases

What challenges your target audience is facing

How consumers feel about certain products, services, brands, and topics

Unmet customer needs that could be potential selling opportunities

Market research can be either quantitative or qualitative, depending on the market and the questions you want answered. Quantitative research refers to data that can be counted or measured and is based on numeric data. Qualitative research is about the “why” behind the numbers. It is subjective and based on consumer opinions rather than hard data. It can be difficult to conduct one without the other as they both have advantages and disadvantages and typically complement each other.

There are several types of market research, many of which consist of both quantitative and qualitative data. Which type you use depends on your market and any questions you are trying to answer. Here are the most popular types of market research.

In-depth interviews

Interviews provide opportunities for face-to-face conversations, allowing for a more natural flow and exchange of information. They help you design buyer personas as your interviewees answer questions about their age, employment, demographics, and interests. Buyer personas paint a picture of your ideal customer based on the shared traits interviewees discussed. These personas help you develop effective marketing strategies so you can better appeal to your target customers.

Focus groups

Focus groups involve selecting a small group of people to test your product, provide feedback, watch a demo, or answer questions. They help you determine what makes your product or service unique from the competition. By asking your focus group questions about your products, you can gather valuable feedback and make any necessary company or product improvements.

Learn more: How to build a customer-centric product strategy using real-time product insights

Surveys and questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires are used to understand consumers’ perceptions and opinions on certain subjects. Consumers are asked a series of questions related to product feasibility, their needs or interests, and pricing options. Based on these answers, companies can determine if there is a need for their product, if they’re charging the right price, or if any changes or upgrades are needed to make products more appealing.

Market analysis

Market analysis is an in-depth assessment of the market. It analyzes market size, consumer purchase patterns, competitors, and economic conditions. Market analysis provides data on competitors, consumers, and the industry as a whole. You can also get an idea of the demand for certain products in the market. With market analysis, you can assess your current markets or explore new ones to see how suitable your product or services are for these markets.

Learn more: Benchmarking your way from information to action with competitive insights

Market insights

Market insights are the results of deep analysis of a target market, revealing relevant needs and previously unrealized aspects. The goal of market insights is to benefit the consumer while making a profit.

Insight research is used to learn new facts about the market that can be leveraged to increase profits. Market insights can be defined as an attempt to get a deeper understanding of the consumer, their aspirations, and what can be used to encourage growth in the market. Market insights should be credible, actionable, and practical recommendations that will truly benefit the consumer.

Learn more: 5 questions to answer about customer insights

Market share

Market share metrics are used to show the size of a company in a market compared to its competitors. It is the percentage of an industry’s sales earned by a specific company over a certain period of time. The formula is Total Company Sales/Total Industry Sales = Market Share . This metric helps you learn how your sales are doing compared to competitors and what can be done to improve sales and increase your share of the market.

Get the Product Insights Playbook

Market trends

A market trend is what causes markets to move in a particular direction over time. Trend market research involves looking at what’s currently popular in the market to make trend forecasts. Forecasting is used to take a look at today’s popular new products and what is driving your target customers to them. It gives businesses an idea of what will sell in the next several months. Market trend data can be used by businesses to gauge the response in the market to their product or service.

Learn more: 4 ways to maximize social listening and propel your brand with trend analysis

Market segmentation

Market segmentation involves categorizing your target market into groups based on shared characteristics. This helps you understand their needs, pain points, goals, expectations, and more. This information can then be used to create marketing strategies to solve these issues and meet the goals of each segment.

Location analytics

The purpose of location analytics is to add a layer of geographical data to a company’s data assets in order to enhance insights. Market research data often includes information about people, transactions, business assets, or events. Adding a geographic component may unlock new insights that provide more context when discussing different business processes and strategies.

Learn more: Here Are 6 Industries That Need to Use Location-Based Intelligence

Industry research

Industry research is a collection of data about factors that affect the industry, such as economic, market, and political factors. When people look for industry research, they are usually looking for data about a certain industry in order to:

Determine new markets they can enter

Assess industry risk

Create new business plans or marketing strategies

Understand how the industry is growing, and discover opportunities for investment

B2B market research

In B2B marketing research, you survey a representative sample of market participants to gain insight into the B2B industry. These participants could include former, existing, or potential customers and influencers. In competitive employer markets, participants may also include current or potential employees. B2B market research is crucial because it helps businesses:

Understand B2B buyers and create buyer personas

Assess how customer needs are changing

Improve their products or services

Provide buyers with valuable content to aid research

Distinguish themselves from the competition

Sprinklr named a leader in The Forrester Wave, Social Listening Platforms, Q4 2020

There are two ways market research can be conducted:

Primary market research

Primary market research is data you gather yourself. It is the process of going directly to the source (usually existing customers and potential customers in your market) to ask questions and gather information. The cost and time spent on primary research are typically higher than secondary research, but produces more conclusive results. Some examples of primary research include:

Online surveys and questionnaires

Personal interviews

Field trials

Observation

Social listening

When conducting primary research, two types of information are gathered:

Exploratory research . This type of research is used to examine a problem that isn’t clearly defined. Its purpose is to better understand an existing issue but will not provide definitive results.

Specific research . This type of research is more precise and can be used to solve problems found in exploratory research. More structured and formal interviews are required.

Learn more: AI-powered insights to competitive benchmarking: features you need in your social listening tool

Secondary market research

Secondary research is data that has already been collected and analyzed by others. It is best for gathering broad research, while primary research is better for specifics. Secondary research is especially common for small businesses with tighter budgets because it is quicker and less expensive than primary research.

Most secondary research is readily available on the internet. You can enter simple keywords or phrases that are related to the type of information you’re looking for. This research may also be obtained through articles in magazines, industry reports, or through a reference library or industry associations. Government agencies are also great sources of free secondary research. At the same time, data published by private businesses may require permission or fees to access it. When gathering secondary research, ensure your data is not outdated.

Popular secondary research sources included:

Government studies and reports

Trade journals, newspapers, and magazines

Radio and television

Academic papers or other educational sources

Online articles

Case studies

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To learn more about harnessing consumer insight and expressing your brand authenticity, download our strategic brand management handbook today.

Sprinklr Insights gives you a real-time understanding of customer feedback on your brand — plus key insights on your competitors’ offerings and strategies — so you can identify and capitalize on critical market trends and unmet customer needs.

With Sprinklr Social Listening , you can transform data from millions of conversations — including 200 billion historical messages across 30+ digital channels — into actionable insights for your entire business, giving you a single, unified, 360° view of your customers to drive faster, smarter business decisions.

Sprinklr helps accelerate market research strategies by translating real-time, voice-of-the-customer data into actionable insights you can share across your organization to drive innovation. You can use these insights to:

Analyze and search social data without limits — across countries, industries, and audiences — with Quick Search Dashboard and Smart Quick Insights.

Capture valuable customer feedback on specific products or services, leveraging AI to surface actionable insights from surveys, reviews, social channels, or any other data source to identify the perfect product-market fit

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Discover influential audiences and identify key market trends you can capitalize on

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What is Market Research? (Explained With Examples)

Oct 11, 2023

Market research is an essential component of any business strategy. It helps companies understand their target market, identify consumer preferences, and make informed decisions about product development, marketing campaigns, and overall business growth. In this article, we will explore the concept of market research in detail, providing clear definitions, discussing advantages and disadvantages, and providing real-world examples to illustrate its importance

1°) What is Market Research?

Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing relevant data about a target market to gain insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and needs. It involves collecting both qualitative and quantitative data to understand market trends, competitor analysis, and customer satisfaction levels.

Market research plays a crucial role in helping businesses make informed decisions and develop effective strategies. By understanding the market dynamics and customer demands, companies can tailor their offerings to meet the specific needs of their target audience. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also increases the chances of business success.

1.1 - Definition of Market Research

Market research can be defined as the systematic gathering, interpretation, and analysis of data about a specific target market, industry, or product/service. It helps businesses understand market dynamics, customer demands, and competitor strategies, ultimately enabling them to make informed decisions.

Market research involves various methods and techniques to collect data, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation. These methods help researchers gather both qualitative and quantitative data, providing a comprehensive understanding of the target market.

1.2 - Advantages of Market Research

There are several advantages of conducting market research:

Market Insights: Market research provides valuable insights into customer preferences, behaviors, and pain points, allowing businesses to tailor their offerings to meet customer needs effectively. By understanding what drives consumer decision-making, companies can develop marketing strategies that resonate with their target audience.

Competitor Analysis: By conducting market research, companies can gain a comprehensive understanding of their competitors, their strengths, weaknesses, and unique selling propositions. This knowledge helps businesses refine their own strategies and stand out in the market. It enables companies to identify opportunities for differentiation and develop competitive advantages.

Product Development: Market research helps businesses identify potential gaps in the market, enabling them to develop innovative products that satisfy unmet consumer needs. By understanding customer preferences and pain points, companies can create products that address specific challenges or provide unique solutions.

Evidence-Based Decision Making: By collecting and analyzing data, market research eliminates guesswork and supports data-driven decision making, reducing the risk of making costly mistakes. It provides businesses with the necessary information to evaluate market opportunities, assess risks, and make informed choices.

1.3 - Disadvantages of Market Research

While market research offers numerous benefits, it also has certain limitations:

Time-consuming: Conducting comprehensive market research can be a time-consuming process, requiring careful planning, data collection, and analysis. It involves identifying research objectives, designing research methodologies, collecting data, and analyzing the findings. This process can take weeks or even months, depending on the scope of the research.

Costly: Market research can be expensive, especially when involving large sample sizes or advanced research techniques. The costs include expenses related to data collection, analysis, and hiring research professionals. Small businesses with limited budgets may find it challenging to invest in extensive market research.

Accuracy Limitations: Despite efforts to ensure reliability, market research results are still subject to bias, sample error, and respondent inaccuracies. Researchers must carefully design their studies to minimize these limitations, but it is impossible to completely eliminate them. The accuracy of market research findings depends on the quality of data collection, sample representativeness, and the honesty of respondents.

2°) Examples of Market Research

Real-world examples can help illustrate the practical application of market research:

2.1 - Example in a Startup Context

Imagine a startup aiming to disrupt the meal delivery industry. Before launching their service, they conduct market research to identify the preferences and demands of their target audience. Through surveys, focus groups, and data analysis, they uncover that convenience, healthy options, and affordability are essential factors for their target market. Armed with this information, they develop a meal delivery service that meets these needs and differentiates themselves from established competitors.

For instance, during their market research, the startup discovers that their target audience values convenience above all else. They find that busy professionals and families are looking for a meal delivery service that can provide them with quick and easy options for their busy lifestyles. Armed with this insight, the startup decides to focus on developing a user-friendly mobile app that allows customers to easily order meals with just a few taps on their smartphones. This innovative approach to convenience sets them apart from their competitors and attracts a loyal customer base.

In addition to convenience, the startup also uncovers a strong demand for healthy meal options. They find that their target audience is health-conscious and actively seeks out nutritious meals that align with their dietary preferences. To cater to this demand, the startup partners with local farms and suppliers to source fresh and organic ingredients for their meals. They also collaborate with nutritionists and chefs to create a menu that offers a variety of healthy and delicious options. This commitment to providing healthy meals not only meets the needs of their target audience but also positions the startup as a trusted and reliable choice in the market.

Lastly, the startup identifies affordability as a key factor for their target market. They discover that price sensitivity is high among their audience, and they are looking for cost-effective meal delivery options that don't compromise on quality. To address this, the startup adopts a pricing strategy that offers competitive prices while still maintaining the quality and value of their meals. They also introduce subscription plans and loyalty programs to incentivize repeat customers and provide additional savings. This focus on affordability allows the startup to attract price-conscious customers and gain a competitive edge in the market.

2.2 - Example in a Consulting Context

A consulting firm specializing in marketing strategy decides to expand its service offerings. To ensure they align with market demand, they conduct market research to identify the most sought-after services and emerging industry trends. By analyzing market data, interviewing industry experts, and conducting competitor analysis, they identify a gap in the market for data-driven digital marketing strategies. This research helps the consulting firm refine their service offerings and attract new clients.

During their market research, the consulting firm uncovers a growing demand for data-driven digital marketing strategies. They find that businesses are increasingly looking for ways to leverage data and analytics to optimize their marketing efforts and drive better results. Armed with this insight, the consulting firm decides to develop a specialized service that focuses on helping businesses harness the power of data in their marketing strategies.

To deliver this service, the consulting firm invests in hiring data analysts and marketing experts with a strong background in data-driven marketing. They also develop proprietary tools and software that can collect, analyze, and interpret marketing data to provide actionable insights and recommendations to their clients. By offering this specialized service, the consulting firm is able to position themselves as industry leaders in data-driven marketing and attract clients who are seeking innovative and effective marketing solutions.

In addition to data-driven marketing, the consulting firm also identifies an emerging trend in influencer marketing. They find that businesses are increasingly turning to influencers and social media platforms to reach their target audience and build brand awareness. Recognizing the potential of this trend, the consulting firm expands their service offerings to include influencer marketing strategies. They develop partnerships with popular influencers in various industries and create comprehensive influencer marketing campaigns for their clients. This expansion allows the consulting firm to tap into a growing market and provide their clients with a holistic approach to digital marketing.

2.3 - Example in a Digital Marketing Agency Context

A digital marketing agency wants to optimize its client's pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns. They conduct market research to understand consumer behavior and identify effective strategies. By analyzing search data, conducting A/B testing, and reviewing industry case studies, they discover that creating personalized ad copy and optimizing landing pages increases click-through rates and conversions. Armed with this knowledge, the agency produces better results for their clients and improves their overall reputation.

During their market research, the digital marketing agency delves into consumer behavior to gain insights into what motivates users to click on PPC ads and convert into customers. They find that personalization is a key factor in capturing the attention of users and driving conversions. Armed with this insight, the agency develops a strategy that focuses on creating personalized ad copy that resonates with the target audience. They conduct extensive research on the target audience's demographics, interests, and preferences to craft ad copy that speaks directly to their needs and desires. This personalized approach increases the relevance and effectiveness of the PPC ads, resulting in higher click-through rates and conversions for their clients.

In addition to personalized ad copy, the digital marketing agency also discovers the importance of optimizing landing pages in maximizing the success of PPC campaigns. They find that a well-designed and user-friendly landing page can significantly impact the conversion rate of PPC ads. Armed with this insight, the agency conducts A/B testing to identify the most effective landing page design and layout. They analyze user behavior, conduct heat map analysis, and gather feedback from users to refine and optimize the landing pages. This meticulous approach to landing page optimization leads to improved conversion rates and a higher return on investment for their clients' PPC campaigns.

2.4 - Example with Analogies

Imagine a chef who wants to create a new dessert recipe. Before experimenting with ingredients, they conduct market research to gather inspiration and understand current dessert trends. By analyzing popular recipes, studying customer reviews, and experimenting with flavors, the chef can develop a unique and delicious dessert that resonates with their target audience.

During their market research, the chef explores various dessert trends and flavors that are currently popular among consumers. They analyze social media platforms, food blogs, and culinary magazines to identify the latest dessert trends and gather inspiration for their own creation. Armed with this knowledge, the chef experiments with different flavor combinations, textures, and presentation styles to develop a dessert that not only satisfies the taste buds but also captures the attention of their target audience.

The chef also pays close attention to customer reviews and feedback on existing dessert recipes. They analyze the strengths and weaknesses of popular recipes and use this information to refine their own creation. By incorporating customer preferences and addressing common complaints or suggestions, the chef ensures that their dessert stands out from the competition and meets the expectations of their target audience.

Market research plays a pivotal role in understanding consumer needs, identifying market opportunities, and driving business success. Whether you are a startup, consulting firm, or digital marketing agency, conducting market research can provide valuable insights, inform decision-making, and improve overall business performance.

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• UNC Libraries
• Subject Research
• Market Research Basics
• What is Market Research?

Market Research Basics: What is Market Research?

• Accessing Information
• Advanced Web Searching
• Definitions of Source Types
• Industry Codes
• Self-Check #1
• Track Down "Who Cares"
• Finding Trade Publications
• Finding Industry Reports
• Self-Check #2
• Finding Competitors
• Self-Check #3
• How to Size a Market
• Finding Demographic Data
• Finding Psychographic Data
• SimplyAnalytics
• Wrapping Up

Doing market research is like a cross between a scavenger hunt and a jigsaw puzzle.

There's no one magic information source that has all the answers. And sometimes, the information or data you're looking for may not even exist. Don't get discouraged! There are often alternate places to look or ways to search.

What is a market research definition?

Market research is " The process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service; research into the characteristics, spending habits, location and needs of your business's target market, the industry as a whole, and the particular competitors you face " ( source ).

Essentially, it helps you answer some of the following questions:

• What is the size of my market?
• Who are my competitors?
• Which market is best suited for my product or service?
• How much will customers pay for my product or service?
• What are the emerging trends in an industry?

These questions can be roughly divided into two categories, Industry Questions, and Market Sizing & Customer Discovery.

The best market research is a combination of primary and secondary information.

Primary information: research you compile yourself or hire someone to gather for you.

Secondary information : This type of research is already compiled and organized for you. Examples of secondary information include reports and studies by government agencies, trade associations or other businesses within your industry.( source )

This module focuses on secondary research.

The next section defines the information sources you will likely use in researching your market.

Business Research Consultant/Librarian

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• Next: Definitions of Source Types >>
• Last Updated: Jul 17, 2024 11:04 AM
• URL: https://guides.lib.unc.edu/market-research-tutorial

• Login to Survey Tool Review Center
• What Is Market Research?

Summary: Market research is a structured process to identify, gather, and analyze information to support business decisions. Market research can provide insights into the customer journey and guide decisions related to product development, marketing strategy, pricing strategy, and points of sales (online and offline) to create a customer experience that supports customer acquisition and retention.

8 minutes to read. By author Michaela Mora on July 10, 2021 Topics: Relevant Methods & Tips , Business Strategy , Market Research

Market research is a discipline with roots in psychology and sociology and involves the identification, collection, analysis, and use of information to make business decisions.

Market research and marketing research are so connected that the nuances are lost and both terms are used interchangeably in practice. For this article, I’ll use the term market research.

We use market research to identify and solve problems in different business areas, often connected to the four Ps in marketing:

• Place (distribution, point of sale)
• Promotion (advertising)

Overall, these four aspects of any product or service are drivers of the customer experience as customers interact with each of them through the customer journey from product development, pre-sale, point-of-sale, and post-sale.

Market Research to Identify Problems

The use of market research to identify problems aims at the discovery of what we don’t know. It is often called “generative research” in the context of product development as we look for new product ideas. At a very high level is exploratory in its goals and it can use qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques.

We use market research for problem discovery when we design research to:

• Identify unmet market needs and their market potential.
• Size the market share for specific products or services.
• Monitor brand image issues of our brand and competitors.
• Profile market segments.
• Analyze sales trends.
• Forecast future trends.
• Identify business trends.

Market Research to Solve Problems

Once a business discovers market opportunities through an understanding of unmet needs, or issues related to its branding, pricing of distribution that may impact the customer experience, the next step is to generate solutions and validate them.

The solutions may be new products and services, new product features to improve the customer experience, a pricing strategy, a brand positioning, a marketing strategy including customization of marketing messages and content for different marketing channels, a redesign of points of sales (online and offline), an internal reorganization to align systems and employees with the customer experience, etc.

For each need or issue discovered there are many potential solutions limited by resources available to the business. The more limited the resources are, the higher the need to use them effectively. Market research can help design solutions for high business impact.

We use market research to solve problems when we design research to:

• Identify actionable market segments for products or services (digital or physical)
• Develop new products (digital or physical)
• Establish a pricing strategy and identify optimal price points.
• Determine effective ways to advertise products and services and optimize marketing channels.
• Identify distribution issues and barriers to the path to purchase.
• Improve customer experience to support customer acquisition and retention strategies.

The Market Research Process

For any given market research project, the process usually includes six major steps:

• Business problem definition and translation to a research problem
• Development of an approach to the research problem
• Research design selection
• Data collection or fieldwork
• Data processing
• Analysis and reporting

Market Research Design Categories

There are different ways to categorize market research depending on:

• The focus on the problem at hand: Primary vs. Secondary.
• The research design goal: Exploratory vs. Descriptive, vs. Causal
• The type of data and collection methods used: Qualitative vs. Quantitative.

Each of these categories helps us guide how to select different research designs, data collection methods, and analysis techniques to gather the information we need to help solve the research problem and provide insights to support business decisions.

Primary Vs. Secondary

First, we try to determine whether we need to conduct secondary or primary research.

Primary research is based on data collection designed to address specific problems.

Secondary research is based on data that have already been collected for other purposes but may be related to the topic at hand. Secondary research should be a prerequisite to the collection of primary data, which would be appropriate when the secondary data sources have been exhausted or yield minimal returns.

Exploratory vs. Descriptive vs. Causal

Exploratory research designs are used to provide insights into problems we don’t fully understand or have not been discovered yet. This is often the type of research we start with when we use market research to identify problems.

We conduct descriptive market research when we try to describe characteristics of target markets or segments of interest, frequency of certain behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions, market trends, etc.

Causal market research, on the other hand, tries to find evidence of cause-and-effect relationships to understand which variables are the cause of behaviors, attitudes, perceptions , or other phenomena of interest.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative

This categorization helps us separate data collection and analysis methods based on their:

• Objectives.
• Sample design.
• Type of data and analysis they allow.
• Type of decisions they support.

Generally, qualitative research helps us explore and get a deeper understanding of a problem, while we use quantitative research to quantify and validate findings and test hypotheses. The latter may come from qualitative research, secondary research, or just assumptions made by the business.

Note that different combinations of the four criteria mentioned may render a research design qualitative or quantitative. For example, surveys with small samples may provide only directional results more appropriate for qualitative analysis.

Primary Market Research Data Collection Methods

As describe above, once we decide to design research to answer a specific business and research problem, we are on our way to conduct primary research.

We use a myriad of data collection methods in primary market research depending on the research objectives and research design selected.

Ideally, we should combine qualitative and quantitative methods since they provide different types of data and insights.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research is one type of exploratory market research methodology based on semi-structured or unstructured data collection. Data collection methods used in primary qualitative research can be classified as direct or indirect .

Direct methods are those in which we disclose the research objective to participants. These data collection methods include:

• In-depth Interviews (IDIs) – Online , In-person, Phone
• Focus Groups , Online, In-person
• Online bulletin boards
• Diary Studies
• Usability Testing , Online, In-person
• Usability Expert Reviews
• Contextual inquiry
• Shop-alongs
• Ethnographic observation

Indirect methods are those for which the true purpose of the research is not disclosed to participants. These are based on projective techniques, which are unstructured questioning techniques to encourage respondents to reveal underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings regarding particular issues.

These techniques are usually embedded into direct data collection methods and are classified into four major groups:

• Association
• Construction

Quantitative Research

Primary quantitative data collection methods include surveys and observational methods .

Surveys involve the administration of a questionnaire through different modes (online, phone, mail, in-person) to groups of interest. As a best practice, we try to always use qualitative research to design good surveys .

We use the survey format, particularly in the online mode, to implement many different question types that sometimes are considered “research methods” by those new to research, especially in the UX field. Surveys used in online unmoderated, remote usability tests are an example.

These are just surveys with very special question formats for very specific purposes.

Observation, on the other hand, doesn’t include communicating with the people being observed and can be conducted through different structured and unstructured, direct and indirect methods and performed in natural or lab environments.

Quantitative observational methods include:

• Digital transaction/behavior tracking (e.g., sales tracking, web traffic tracking, A/B testing).
• Biometric measurement
• Audit and inventory analysis.
• Content analysis.
• Trace analysis from past behaviors.

Although these data collection methods are very different, they should not be seen as mutually exclusive. Each method has advantages and disadvantages and can be used productively in combination.

Market Research Career

To emphasize the value of market research in supporting business decisions and get away from being mainly associated with data collection, the market research industry went through a rebranding process a few years ago. The American Market Research Association is now called the Insights Association , and many market researchers have changed their titles to “Insights” professionals.

You will find insights professionals in research agencies, like ours, and in nonprofit and profit organizations. The latter group is often referred to as corporate researchers. They often in a group within the marketing department or as independent centralized function serving other departments or functional areas in a company. Nowadays, this group goes by names such as “Customer Insights,” “Insights & Analytics,” “Voice of the Customer,” “Consumer Insights,” and the like.

As of 2021, many digital-first companies don’t have a market research/consumer insight group. These companies tend to be organized around digital products (app, software, online service) and prioritize UX research if any research is conducted at all.

Unfortunately, many don’t understand that UX research is a specific application of market research used to solve a particular set of problems.

Market researchers in agencies or inside organizations are involved with all or some steps of the research process depending on whether they do the work themselves or partner with other research vendors in the market research ecosystem.

Market Research Ecosystem

There are many specialists in the market research echo system offering services in line with different steps of the research process or servicing specific industries.

Overall, the market research ecosystem includes providers in areas such as:

• Participant sample (online panels, phone list, mail lists, qualitative panels)
• Data collection tools for different modes (online survey tools, online qualitative tools, phone surveys, mail surveys, eye tracking, biometrics, usability testing tools)
• In-person interviewing services (for onsite, intercept interviews at public places, stores, etc.)
• Mystery shopping services
• Facilities for in-person research (focus groups, interviews, food testing, product testing)
• Data aggregators (syndicated data services, omnibus services)
• Qualitative moderation (focus group moderators, in-depth interview moderators)
• Analytic software tools (Tools for statistical analyses, crosstabulations, advanced procedures, text analytics )
• Panel and community technology platforms (to create proprietary panels and branded research communities)
• Recruitment services (for qualitative research and hard to reach audiences)
• Open-ended question coding services
• Transcription services
• Data and reporting visualization tools
• Software development for specific applications and methodologies

I hope this summary gives you an idea of what the market research/insights profession is about and how this discipline can be used to find information needed to support business decisions.

Many who are not familiar with the field confuse market research with specific data collection methods (e.g., surveys, focus groups) and tools that facilitate data collection (e.g., online survey tools), but market research is more than its tools.

As researchers, we need to have expertise in research methodology to avoid providing biased insights. This knowledge of methodology is applied in the context of business problems related to product development, customer experience, branding, and financial outcomes. Our goal is to guide decisions that have a business impact.

To read more about how to use market research, check the article 10 Key Pieces of Advice On How to Do And Use Market Research .

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How to Do Market Research (+ Insights to Beat the Competition)

Why bother with market research for your business?

People have ideas all the time.

You may have had one last night in the shower, and you know that it is a billion-dollar idea that you need to build upon right now before someone steals it from you.

It is always exciting when you think of a new product, and spending hours on market research is the last thing on your mind.

You would rather spend your time creating strategies to build and launch your product.

But without proper market research, your product will be doomed even before you start. One of the main differences between successful and would-be entrepreneurs is failing to conduct appropriate market research.

Market research is not an add-on to your business; it is a necessity. It is the backbone of any powerful business strategy.

In this blog, I’ll explain the basic concepts of market research and why it is essential for your business . I’ll also tell you how to do market research and share resources to help you start your marketing research.

What is Market Research?

In simple terms, market research is all about understanding whether or not your idea for a product or service has a future.

With market research, you gain insights into your target audience and understand the motivation behind why they are interested in a particular offer.

Whether you are launching a new product or service or rebranding your business, analyzing risks is critical. Market research helps you reduce the risk involved with any decision.

Analyzing the market helps you develop a revenue forecast to see whether your investment will be justified and how much profit you would earn.

Market research is not just done before you launch a product or service. Successful businesses keep up with their market and continuously optimize their marketing strategy according to their insights.

In the last decade, the global market research industry has gone from $33.15 billion in 2009 to around $73.38 billion in 2019.

This shows how much businesses invest in market research to understand the current market trends accurately.

Market research helps you make an informed decision based on data and statistics instead of feeling and intuition.

How 3D TV failed due to the negligence of market research

Launching a product without market research is a recipe for disaster.

After the 3D movie ‘Avatar’ hit its second billion, companies like LG and Sony decided to strike when the iron was hot. They released 3D televisions backing on how successful the movie was, hoping they would gain the same traction and profit as the 3D movie.

3D TV failed spectacularly because what they didn’t consider was that people didn’t want to watch all their content in 3D.

With 3D TV, there was a lot of sales hype at the beginning, but when the product launched, it didn’t make much in terms of actual sales.

3D television required glasses and caused headaches, nausea, and neck strain.

After the market didn’t react as per their assumptions, 3D TV manufacturing ceased . 3D TV is considered one of the biggest market research failures of all time.

In this scenario, businesses downright neglected to conduct market research. But there are also instances where companies did do their research thoroughly, but their research was done in isolation.

Why Coca-Cola's ‘New Coke' Flopped

When Coca-Cola tested the market for its ‘New Coke,’ they received a hugely positive response. New Coke was a sweeter version of the original, and the results of the comparison were extremely favorable to the New Coke.

In fact, the taste tests showed that people favored the New Coke over both the original Coke and Pepsi.

The result? The product didn’t just fail, it was one of the biggest marketing debacles in history .

But if everything was perfect, why did the market crash when Coca-Cola launched their New Coke?

While consumers favored the New Coke's taste and flavor, what they did not know was that they would eventually have to choose between the original Coke and the New Coke.

Coca-cola didn't factor in people's enormous emotional connection with their original Coke when they launched a new product to replace it.

Though this was a colossal blunder, this fiasco increased their brand loyalty because people started asking for “their Coke.”

And till date, Coca-cola remains the best-selling soda on the planet.

Some of the strongest brands like Colgate , Pepsi , and Microsoft , have fallen prey to poorly researched marketing blunders.

But here is the thing.

These brands have the luxury to take such risks once in a while. For smaller businesses, such blunders can be fatal.

Why is Market Research Important for Business?

Market research is vital for businesses to realize whether or not the goals they set can be accomplished. Accurate statistics allows businesses to make the right business decisions that will maximize their profit.

Without research, businesses don't have specific directions to follow and hence, they proceed on intuition and assumptions.

There are many ways in which market research keeps businesses on track.

1. Understand your target audience.

People who are most likely to be interested in your product or service will fit into some typical demographic. Customer research provides answers to variables like age, gender, location, education, employment, and even income level.

Based on factual data and statistics, you can construct a finite build of your ideal customer and determine what triggers them.

Market research helps you identify how customers and prospects might view your business. You can recognize your customers' wants and needs and get to know why they chose your product or service over your competitors.

2. Understand your competitors.

Market research not only helps you keep a tab on your competitors, but also gives you knowledge about how you can stand out, be different, and rise above them.

Understanding their ups and downs will help you create a better strategy to succeed in your business. Analyzing their failures will tell you what pitfalls you should avoid.

A thorough understanding of your competitors will ensure you are always one step ahead in the game.

3. Keep up with market trends.

If you do not stay relevant, surviving will be a challenge.

Nokia was once the world's top mobile phone producer, but it fell because it failed to understand the change in market trends.

While on the other hand, its competitors like Apple and Samsung thrived because they stayed relevant.

You need to have thorough knowledge about where your industry is heading in the future and create strategies to ensure you are on the same path.

4. Determine the viability of a new product or service.

Before you launch anything, obtaining an objective opinion is a necessity. Basing your products on “our-customers-will-love-it” theories never work.

Testing the market before launching a product helps you determine the feasibility of the product.

Not every product can work for every person.

Effective market research can help you narrow down on your target audience and realize how much potential your product holds.

This will help you analyze how customers will connect with your product; what message creates the most impact; and how much value it holds in the real world.

5. Identify business challenges.

Market research helps you identify areas of difficulty in your business.

You can identify problems before they blow out of proportion and predict obstacles that can become an inconvenience for your business.

When you face an issue, more often than not, it has a ripple effect and affects more than just one aspect of your business.

If you do encounter an issue, market research helps ascertain the source of the problem and develop a strategy to overcome it.

6. Identify new opportunities.

Market research will help you identify areas your competitors have not addressed.

Consumers may not voice their opinion when they are satisfied with something, but they will charge without abandon when they are not happy with something.

With market research, you will be able to discover what your competitors are lacking in and target those pain points.

7. Significantly minimize risk and loss.

The data you acquire from market research may not be 100% accurate at all times, but you can significantly minimize risk and loss.

With market research, you can take calculated risks that your enterprise needs to grow. Your promotional campaigns will have a higher rate of success.

Types of Market Research: Primary versus Secondary Market Research

In terms of how you can collect research data, you can categorize market research into two types: primary and secondary.

Primary Market Research

Primary Market research is when you gather information directly from the source, i.e., your prospects and customers.

In this method, you carry out your own personal research and get realistic and personalized results about what will work for you.

You can narrow down your exact target audience and get real-time feedback about what exactly they're looking for.

This information you collect is for you alone and is not shared unless you decide otherwise. This offers your business an “information advantage” as your competitors will not be able to get hold of this inside information.

Primary market research is more time-consuming than secondary market research because you need to develop your own research plan and work on executing it.

This research technique may not be as cost-effective, but it always saves you money in the long run.

The process of collecting information with primary market research can be broken down into two methods.

• Quantitative Data Collection
• Qualitative Data Collection

Quantitative Market Research.

Quantitative market research focuses on the collection of numerical data. This technique offers concrete data that will help you quantify a research problem.

You can collect data in an organized manner using surveys, polls, or questionnaires.

The results obtained from quantitative research can be analyzed mathematically and can curate vital statistics to aid your business.

It is easy to draw conclusions from data collected by this method. You can implement this technique on a large market, and hence, the information obtained is more statistically valid.

There are various methods for obtaining quantitative data. Surveys are one of the most widely used quantitative methodologies in market research worldwide.

There are three main types of primary quantitative market research techniques.

• Questionnaires.
• Interviews.

1. Surveys.

Surveys are incredibly adept at providing data to analyze a large population. This research technique can offer a broad capability that is not provided by any other method.

The data collected via surveys is easy to analyze and interpret to make decisions.

If your survey includes checklists and rating scale type questions, it helps to quantify your audience’s behavior.

Always keep the questions of your survey to a bare minimum. The following statistical display by SurveyMonkey shows the average completion percentage by the number of questions.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you create your survey.

• Ensure your opening question is easy-to-answer.
• Only ask questions you need to be answered.
• Close-ended questions are easy for your audience to respond to.
• Your questions should be short, specific, and straightforward.

2. Questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires are not the same, no matter how much people use these terms interchangeably.

Questionnaires are more focused on collecting information rather than drawing a conclusion.

Questionnaires are done in isolation. You have your audience answer a predetermined set of questions.

You do not look at any kind of bigger picture, try to spot trends, or statistically analyze this data.

You can create questionnaires with the objective of conducting a survey, or you may use a series of standardized questions and other prompts with the purpose of gathering information.

3. Interviews.

You can conduct a market research interview on telephone, video-call, or even face-to-face to collect quantitative and qualitative data.

Quantitative interviews can also be called survey interviews because they have the same standardized survey question-answer format to collect data.

You can contact existing customers and potential customers with information collected by lead generation forms or website analytics.

Qualitative Market Research.

Qualitative market research doesn’t often include data that can be statistically analyzed.

This method of research focuses on understanding why people behave in a certain way. What motivates them to make a particular decision? How will they respond to a new product or service?

While qualitative questions are more close-ended where specific answers can be expected, qualitative questions are more open-ended and give people the space to state their opinions and feelings.

This research produces data that is much harder to analyze. Researchers are required to interpret the gathered information without any numbers and figures.

Among the traditional qualitative research methodologies used worldwide, 58% of respondents said they used focus groups to be their most used method.

After focus groups, the in-depth interviews have been stated to be the most dominant research technique.

There are three main types of primary qualitative market research techniques.

• Focus Groups
• In-depth Interviews.
• Observations

1. Focus Groups.

Focus groups are organized sessions with around six to twelve people who share a common characteristic.

The main objective of conducting these sessions is to comprehend people’s opinions, perceptions, and beliefs about a particular service, product, or concept.

Focus groups can give you an in-depth understanding of how and why people respond to specific topics in a certain way.

Focus groups are not about merely reporting about a discussion; it is a market research technique that can give you powerful insights that reveal something you need.

How to select participants for a focus group?

The most crucial aspect of any focus group is the selection of participants. Randomly selecting participants for your focus group is simply foolish.

For example, if you are conducting a focus group for why people don’t use a vacuum cleaner, the discussion would yield much better results if you select homemakers who clean their own homes.

Clearly define, verify, and recruit people keeping your target audience for the focus group in mind.

2. In-depth interviews.

By conducting in-depth interviews, you can gather extensive information from the respondents.

You can create in-depth questionnaires for this research technique and discuss highly complex or sensitive topics.

While other primary market research methods can give you valuable insights, have you ever poured your heart out in an online survey?

With interviews, you can gain information that would be nearly impossible to attain otherwise.

• You can know how customers really use your product.
• What stops someone from making a purchase.
• What hidden emotions drive your target audience.

How an interview saved Febreze.

The marketing story of Febreze proves how powerful interviews can be.

Procter & Gamble launched Febreze with a strong marketing campaign.

Their message behind the campaign was that their product could eliminate the foulest stenches like smoky bars and the heavy odor caused by house pets and teenage boys.

The result? Their campaign failed drastically.

Their research showed that people often get desensitized to their surrounding smell due to constant exposure. The stench doesn’t bother them as much.

P&G then turned to interview their most devoted users to understand why exactly they used Febreze.

An interview with a woman in Scottsdale was what led to their breakthrough.

She said, “It's nice, you know? Spraying feels like a little mini-celebration when I’m done with a room.”

P&G realized people didn’t use Febreze for proper cleaning; they used it as a reward of sorts.

They had found their “Dopamine hook.”

They revamped their marketing strategy and positioned Febreze as a part of the cleaning routine, restaging it as a reward.

The result? Within two months, the sales of Febreze doubled.

P&G would never have come to this epiphany if not for their decision to conduct interviews.

3. Observations.

This market research technique focuses on observing people’s behavior in a natural or planned setting.

As a researcher, you may observe your customers’ behavior from the sidelines, or you may be an active participant by conversing with people and then observe their reactions.

In a clinical setting, people’s behavior can be influenced by external stimuli. What people say doesn’t always align with what they do.

Qualitative research by observation allows you to see their true self.

But this method is very time consuming and doesn’t allow you any control over the setting or environment.

Secondary Market Research.

Secondary market research is the process of analyzing existing data and statistics that are already available for you to consume for free.

This research method involves gathering information from secondary sources.

Businesses have already collected and compiled information for you, and all you need to do is know how to access this information.

The internet is one of the most apparent sources to conduct your secondary market research, as there are many resources available online for free, as well as in exchange for money.

There are various other resources available for this research, like libraries, colleges, universities, government data, competitor’s data, trade publications, media sources, etc.

Businesses often gather as much information as they can from various sources and put them together to analyze market trends and compile their own reports with this information.

But though there are so many resources available, secondary market research is not always as easy as it may sound.

Limitations of Secondary Market Research.

• It is a time-consuming process. While a vast amount of information helps a lot, not everything you find will be applicable to your goals. It is often a time-consuming task to filter through all this data to find what you are looking for.
• It is not always credible. Finding reliable information for free is exceedingly challenging. It is your responsibility to evaluate whether the data is reliable or not.
• Nature of data. The data you find will not always be specific to your needs. It is pointless if you spend your time and effort and then find information that may not fulfill your requirements.

Not everyone knows how to acquire accurate data and statistics. And knowing how significant gaining this information is, it is even more critical to get this data right!

If you do not evaluate your market research data, it could lead to bad business decisions.

Here are a few things to look for to access the authenticity of data.

Factors you need to consider when you evaluate secondary research data.

• The research provider’s purpose. Many biased reports are published, so it favors them in some way. This data holds their personal interests at heart and may not be entirely accurate.
• The source. Who has published the information plays a significant role. You can always rely on government sources as compared to sources like private companies or websites. If the name is big, they will have a reputation to keep up. Hence, they are much more reliable than other sources.
• When the data was collected. You need to make sure that the information is relevant. Outdated information will do more harm than good, and using this information will only lead to trouble.
• How the information was collected. Methods of data collection can help you analyze the consumer’s mindset. This is especially important when looking at qualitative data, which gives you information about your audience’s beliefs, opinions, and feelings.
• What information was collected. If you have a specific type of information in mind, it will not do if the data you get includes a much broader aspect. For example, if you want to know which mobile company is most popular amongst millennials, it would not help if the data is about the most popular mobile company.
• Cross verify with other sources. If you find a report that says something specific and can’t find any information regarding the same anywhere else, it might be dangerous to trust that information blindly. Or if information regarding the same topic varies from source to source, you need to dig deeper to find the most accurate information. Always check if the data you have is consistent with other sources.

Three ways of accessing secondary market research data.

• Public sources.
• Commercial sources.
• Educational institutions.

1. Public sources.

Public sources are open sources that are available for everyone to access.

Most governments collect and publish information about markets, growth rates, consumer behavior, current trends, economic factors, and other entities. This data is usually available for free for you to access.

Google Public Data Explorer is an excellent source to access public-interest datasets.

It provides public data from several different international organizations including, but not limited to

• ICT Statistics Database
• U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• International Monetary Fund
• U.S. Census Bureau

2. Commercial sources.

Commercial sources are those that offer marketing data and consumer insights for a cost.

They usually include research and trade associations and operate across nearly every industry.

Directory of Associations , National Trade and Professional Associations Directory , Equifax , and Dun & Bradstreet are major commercial data sources in the market.

3. Educational institutions.

Business departments of educational institutions like colleges and universities conduct research on various industries. They are the most overlooked sources for market research.

Right from graduate student projects and theses to faculty-based projects, the research material available is very vast.

To use this data, you may have to subscribe to a specific journal or pay a subscription fee to access their newsletter or website.

How to Do Market Research for Maximum Actionable Insights?

While most businesses understand the significance of market research, they sometimes skip this because they simply don’t know where to look and what to look for.

Compiling data for the sake of market research is one thing, actually doing market research, which will lead to actionable insights, is a different story altogether.

Define Your Buyer Persona.

With business, there is no “one-size-fits-all.” You need to connect with your audience if you want them to take you seriously, and that will not happen if you aim to form a connection with everybody.

If you do not create a personal appeal, people will most likely mark you as spam and move on without giving you a second glance.

This is why you need to build your ideal customer profile.

But who is an ideal customer?

An ideal customer is someone who has their wants and needs met by what you have to offer.

You need to have a detailed description of those who are likely to be interested in your products and services.

What are their goals? What are their backgrounds? What challenges do they face? Do you know what interests them? How old are they? Do they have kids? What does their daily routine look like?

This might seem more specific than you expected, but creating customer profiles that answer such intricate details will help you create much more personalized appeals.

The characteristics you define is what will give way to your business’ buyer personas.

What is a Buyer Persona?

Based on the data and statistics you collect from your potential and existing customers, you can map out a semi-fictional character of your ideal customer. This semi-fictional character is called a buyer persona.

A buyer persona is a generalized representation of your target customers.

Amongst other information, there are a few key characteristics you should specify your buyer persona.

• Their gender
• Geographical location
• Their designation and job role
• Family size
• Annual income
• Major challenges they face

Here is an example of a buyer persona.

Why use a Buyer Persona?

When you create buyer personas for your business, it is much easier for marketers, sales representatives, and designers to optimize their content specific to their wants and needs.

Creating buyer personas can essentially help you get into your customer’s head and understand what makes them tick.

How many Buyer Personas should you create?

It’s very unusual for businesses to have only one category of target audience. If you have a business, chances are that your strategy would aim to target a range of people.

But how many buyer personas you create differs from business to business. Some businesses have as little as one or two personas or go as far as 15 to 20.

But creating too many personas will only lead to chaos.

I would suggest you create no more than four personas.

If you have more, chances are that your personas are very similar to each other. You can create three to four primary personas and categorize others under these primary personas in such cases.

If two personas seem similar to you, don’t hesitate to club them. If you do not have enough information on a persona, scrap it.

Your buyer personas are not set on stone. As you move on, add and remove personas with changing market trends.

Creating content as per your buyer personas will help you pitch the same product in different ways to your audience's categories.

Negative Buyer Personas.

Negative buyer personas are a representation of people you do not want to target. These personas are based on demographics and characteristics of people who are not your ideal customers.

While it is essential to know whom you want to target, it is equally important to know whom you should avoid.

You can create anti-buyer personas to be more accurate with your target audience.

If you know exactly what you do not want, you will stray away from messages that might appeal to the wrong audience.

This will save you money in the long run as you will not waste your resources to market to the wrong people. This helps increase your business’ efficiency and productivity.

How do buyer personas benefit a business?

According to NetProspex’s case study , their following results were observed after they implemented reinforced their buyer personas:

• 900% increase in the duration of visit.
• 46% increase in conversions.
• 111% increase in email open-rate.
• 100% increase in the number of pages visited.
• 171% increase in marketing-generated revenue.

Buyer personas help businesses identify and analyze their target audience’s behavior. You can use this real-time data to ensure your products and services consider your customers' desires.

Buyer personas benefit a business in a number of ways.

• Increase compatibility. Buyer personas bring your target audience to life in a memorable way that will help everyone in your business understand your users better. It will make sure everyone is on the same page and makes it easier to communicate and collaborate while creating strategies.
• Find the right platform. While researching for your buyer persona, you will understand which platform your target audience leans towards. This will help you focus your advertising and marketing strategies on these platforms to increase your reach.
• User-focused. Buyer personas will keep you from wasting your time and resources on products and services that would not interest your target audience. With a clear understanding of your buyer personas, your products and services will be focused on your customers and ensure high efficiency.
• Build product roadmaps. Buyer personas will help you identify what your customers want and use this to create a plan of action to ensure your product’s success.
• Product positioning. With your buyer personas, you will know how to market your product in a way that people will be inclined towards. You will know what campaign message will create the best connection with your audience.

Identify a Portion of That Persona to Engage

Now that you know what a buyer persona is, the next step is to create your buyer persona.

You must already have a rough idea about what you want in your target audience. With that as a guide, identify people whom you want to engage in your research.

This step involves researching your target audience to learn more about what characteristics make up your buyer persona.

How to Research Buyer Personas?

There are many ways of collecting information via primary and secondary market research.

Many businesses create surveys to study their customers’ inclinations.

But to create buyer personas, you need to get into people’s heads, and the most powerful market research technique is to conduct interviews.

You can interview existing customers, potential customers, and even third-party networks who are not in your existing pool of target audience but come close.

The interview should cover necessary demographic information to what triggers them to make purchasing decisions.

You need to dig as deep as you can and gather as much insight about them. The more you know, the stronger your buyer persona will be.

How to find participants for your buyer persona research?

• Existing Customers. These are the easiest people to target. You already have a point of contact, and they are familiar with your products. Interviewing them will help you notice patterns about the things that appeal to them and their challenges. Since they are already connected to your product, you may not need to offer any incentives to get feedback.
• Potential Customers. You typically must have acquired their contact information via lead generation forms or web analytics . These are people who may be interested in what you have to offer but haven’t taken the leap to purchase your products.
• Referrals. If you do not have an existing customer base or any contact information about your market audience, you need to work with your personal network. Reach out to your co-workers, social media contacts, even family members, and find people you can interview. LinkedIn is an excellent place to start if you are lost; type in keywords of your target audience into the search box and filter through your connections to see people you can contact.
• Third-party Networks. You can use platforms like Respondent , UserInterviews , UserTesting and PlaybookUX to find participants for your research.

But using these platforms does not give you a chance for one-on-one interaction. This may make it much more difficult for you to gather information to create your buyer personas.

How to get people to become interviewees?

• Offer Incentives. Of course, there’s always chocolate. And you may not even need to offer that for interviewing people who are already your customers. But while reaching out to people under other categories, you could provide simple gift cards. According to PeoplePulse , there is a 10 to 15% increase in response rate when offered incentives.

You can appeal directly to your social media network and get participants to approach you if your incentive is strong.

• Be honest about your purpose. Be clear at the very beginning that it is not a sales call. Tell them you are calling them because you want to get some information for your research. If you are honest from the beginning, they are more likely to trust you and open up about their lives, feelings, and opinions.
• Be flexible. Work according to their schedule and make it easy for them to say yes. Allow them to give you a time, and make sure you send them a reminder before your call to ensure you don't catch them off guard.

Questions you can ask participants during the interview.

Telephonic or face-to-face interviews can be a little daunting if you don’t know where to start.

This is just a sample list for inspiration to help you get started. You can optimize the questions according to your target audience (in fact, you definitely should.)

Personal Background

Describe your Personal Demographics.

• Marital status.
• What are your interests and hobbies?
• What is your educational background? Where did you complete your education?
• What is your career path? How did you end up where you are today?

Professional Background

• Which industry or industries does your company serve?
• What is the size of your company (revenue, employees)?
• What are the most common challenges in your industry?
• What are the most common objections to your product or service?
• What is your job role? And your job title?
• How many years of experience do you have?
• Whom do they report to? Who reports to them?
• How is your job measured?
• Describe a typical working day.
• Which specialized skills or tools are required to do your job?
• What frustrates you the most about your job?
• What do you enjoy the most about your job?

Goals & Challenges

• What are your biggest challenges?
• What are you responsible for?
• What does it mean to be successful in your role?
• What are your personal goals? Career goals?
• How do you prioritize them?

Decision Making

• Who do you consult with and trust for advice and information?
• What is the most important thing you look for when you buy a product?
• What are your biggest complaints about our product or service?
• What must happen for you to overcome these complaints?

Information Sources

• How do you learn about new information for your job?
• What publications, blogs, or social networks are you interested in?
• How did you find out about our company?

To gain an in-depth insight, the followup question of most of the above questions should be “why?”

Ask open-ended questions and encourage them to talk. The more they talk, the more you’ll understand what motivates them to do something.

How to create your Buyer Persona?

After you have collected all raw data about your target audience, it is time to analyze this information and look for patterns and commonalities.

Here is an example of a B2C buyer persona.

From this buyer persona, you can understand that Rachael has a busy life, and doesn’t spend excessively.

The most effective way to pitch your products to her would be to highlight how easy it would make her life. She would appreciate quick and easy solutions.

Creating in-depth personas with intricate details will help you better visualize your target audience and develop messages that they can instantly connect with.

After you are done with your research, it is time to map out your buyer personas and create a layout.

If you are not sure where to start, I’ve compiled examples, tips, and templates you can use as a guide to creating your buyer persona from scratch.

1. Create 2-4 primary buyer personas.

While you may create as many personas as your business needs, it is not advisable to create more than four.

You may, of course, create more, but you can categorize those personas under the primary personas you’ve created.

2. Highlight brands or products your audience already uses in your industry.

If your customer favors Nike or only uses Apple products, it speaks about your audience’s preferences. You will understand what they value, and this secondary information will help you deduce a lot about your customers.

3. Create a customer journey map

Creating a customer journey map will help you when you try to define your primary buyer personas.

You can categorize your buyer personas by how your audience uses your product or service.

4. Include icons and illustrations.

Visuals like icons and illustrations help add context to your content. You can use them to make complex ideas more straightforward to understand and remember.

5. Have a consistent layout.

A consistent layout for all your personas will help you spot differences better.

You can easily compare information instead of trying to locate things blindly just because your designer was overzealous.

Additionally, you can also highlight fundamental differences between your personas to make your work easier.

7. Create an infographic of your persona guide.

Creating a buyer persona means including as many essential insights as possible, and what better way to illustrate your buyer persona guide other than an infographic?

Infographics are an exciting and powerful way to display information.

You can use free templates offered by websites like Canva , Pictochart , and Venngage to create your infographic.

8. Include an introduction paragraph.

This paragraph will serve the purpose of giving your persona a backstory. Talk about what makes them tick, or it could be a simple narrative that is purely biographical.

9. Use sliding scales to understand your persona better.

You can’t define everyone in extremes; it is never always this or that . Using sliding scales and or other similar visual aids will help you understand your buyer persona better.

Willian is more of an introvert than an extrovert, but labeling him solely as an introvert would not do him justice.

10. Give your personas a real name.

As you would have noticed in the above examples, all the buyer personas have names. This makes them memorable and motivates you to think of them as an actual person rather than research metrics.

This works wonders when working on a campaign, for all you have to think about is to convince “Mike” or “William.”

This keeps your target audience in center focus every time you develop an idea.

11. Use a few keywords that summarize your persona effectively.

You can summarize your buyer persona with a few keywords that practically define them.

Keywords are powerful, and if you happen to use these images as posters around your desk or office, they will cement your target audience's characteristics in your mind.

12. Don’t use celebrity images as your persona.

When you think of Will Smith , what comes to mind?

• His determination and dedication.
• His humble nature even after achieving great heights.
• How he is unapologetically himself.

If you were to use Will Smith's face for your buyer persona, it would be challenging to stop his characteristics from overshadowing your target audience.

Using images of people you don’t know will help you start afresh.

Now that you know the features that would help make your buyer persona, here are a couple of tools to help you design your persona.

Tools to create your buyer personas.

You can use templates offered by Xtensio to create your buyer personas. The software is very user-friendly and also allows you to customize your layout as per your requirements.

Hubspot’s buyer persona tool walks you step-by-step to create your persona. One downside to using Hubspot is you can not add your own persona image and have to choose from a handful of character images offered.

If there are elements you want to add that are not included by default, you can add them using the “Add new section” button.

Engage Your Market Research Participant

One of the biggest challenges of conducting primary market research is finding people willing to participate in your study.

Finding participants seems like an exceedingly tedious task, which doesn’t have to be the case. There are various ways you can recruit people for your market research.

Channels you can use to recruit interviewees.

1. Crowdsourcing.

With crowdsourcing, you can engage a large volume of people in your market research. It is an excellent alternative to traditional human subject pools.

You can use platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk to recruit participants for reasonable rates. The average wage is $1.40 per hour .

Some other platforms you can use to source participants are Respondent and Testing Time .

2. Broadcast email.

Broadcast emails are sent to a large group of people at once. You can take advantage of your email list.

Keep note of people who have participated in your research so you can get in touch with them in the future in a similar scenario.

If you don’t have your own email list, narrow down on your interest group and approach organizations that focus on the same demographic.

Some organizations may be open to sharing their database for a price or some other inducements.

If not, at the very least, you could convince them to share an email containing your market research survey with their audience.

3. Snowball Sampling.

The best way to recruit more participants is to take advantage of your current participants. Word of mouth is one of the most potent tools of marketing.

Offer referral incentives to your current participants, and they will help recruit new people. This is called snowball sampling or chain-referral sampling.

4. Traditional and Internet Media.

You can use press releases and related print or TV/radio reports to recruit participants for your research.

If your research requires a specific pool of people, this may work really well. It does take a while to get a good volume of participants, and it may cost significantly more than other means of recruiting participants.

Another affordable and more effective alternative is to use internet media. You can research web portals and online forums that target your ideal market.

5. Search Engine Marketing (for example Google Adwords).

With online search engine ads, you can reach millions of people looking for information regarding your targeted keyword.

Depending on how strong your incentive is, you can recruit participants quickly using this method.

6. Social Media.

This is one of the best ways to source participants for your research. You can create pages or launch ads to recruit participants.

One of the best parts about using social media is that you can access people’s profiles and find extensive information about them to see if they are the right match for your research.

You can source on LinkedIn by searching for people who fit your criteria and use inMail and 2nd-degree intros to contact them.

7. Online Panels.

An online research panel is a group of selected individuals who have agreed to complete surveys via the Internet.

With online panels, it is effortless to recruit participants, and additionally, it is cost-effective.

I recommend using QuestionPro or Survey Monkey .

One drawback of using these online portals is that you can’t have immediate contact with your participants as most online panels don’t share their audience’s contact details.

8. Craigslist.

Using Craigslist may not be the best method, but you can still use it to recruit participants for low prices.

You can post an ad on Craigslist for free, but many marketers have stopped using this platform for the validity of the information provided is always in question.

Prepare Your Research Questions for Maximum Actionable Learnings

Even after you find the right participants, the most crucial part of the research is the questionnaire.

You can’t just note down questions from the top of your head. You need to ensure that each question you’ve included will help you progress with your research.

But how can you make sure all your questions are important? I’ll tell you how.

How to prepare survey research questions

1. Create a frame.

Before you write a single question, I need you to note down three things.

• The objective of your research.
• What is your desired outcome?
• Characteristics of your target audience.

This is the fundamental part of your research and will help you ground your questions. Cross-referencing your questions with these points will ensure you don’t sway away from the main objective.

2. Brainstorm Questions

You already have a list of questions you are dying to ask your customers, and it would be so convenient to include anything and everything just so you don’t miss out.

But that’s not the way to go. In this step, you write down all questions you have in mind.

Write down the silliest of questions because after you create momentum, you will find that your questions have much more depth.

But one crucial thing is to think about the questions “you already know” answers to.

How do you know the answer? Do you have any research to back your answer, or is it just your gut feeling?

Be wary of these traps where your mind says not to include a question because you already know the answer.

Learn to separate what you know and what you believe to be true.

3. Filter and find the best questions.

After you are done with brainstorming questions, it is time to review it against the frame you created in the first step.

Cross-check if your questions fulfill your objective, discard the questions that don’t, and club questions whenever necessary.

Only pick the best, juiciest questions that will give the most insights. Remember, you need actionable feedback.

Below is the result of a study conducted by Survey Monkey to understand how much time respondents spend on a survey.

It is recommended that your survey should not include more than 12 questions.

You need to hold the respondent’s attention, and for that, the survey should not take more than 5 minutes to complete.

But of course, if the incentive you offer is good enough, you can make the survey longer.

Types of Research Questions

1. Open-ended research questions.

Open-ended questions require the respondent to type in their answer into a comment box. These questions call for more depth and lengthier responses.

While open-ended questions allow the respondents the freedom and space to state their opinions, it is recommended that you don’t include many of these questions.

You can see an example of an open-ended survey question below:

2. Multiple choice research questions.

They are the most popular type of survey questions. They are easy for your participants to answer, and you receive clean data for analysis.

Below is an example of a multiple-choice research question with a multiple-select answer option:

3. Ranking research questions.

These questions help you understand your respondent’s preferences. Keep in mind that this type of question takes longer to answer, so don’t include too many of them.

For instance, in the question below, respondents need to be familiar with each feature and select a corresponding number to rank the features as per their preference.

4. Rating scale research questions.

These questions are used to get responses on a continuous scale to understand how your audience feels about something.

Here’s how a rating scale question can look:

5. Net promoter score research questions.

This is a type of rating scale question where the question has an answer that depicts a range (for example, 1 to 10, or 1 to 100.)

Always remember to give context to these questions. The numbers on the scale would not make any sense if you don’t explain the value of the numbers.

Like in the above example, 0 is ‘very unlikely,’ and 10 corresponds to ‘very likely.’

6. Likert scale research questions.

These are very popular questions for surveys. They help you understand exactly how your customer feels about something.

Below is a typical example of a Likert scale question:

7. Semantic differential scale research question

This is a type of Likert scale question which is extremely effective in quantifying how your audience feels about a particular brand, product, service, or organization.

8. Stapel scale research questions.

This type of rating scale question has an even number range with no neutral point.

For example, the question below has a range of +2 to -2, and your respondent’s answer accurately describes whether they are in agreement or disagreement with something.

9. Constant sum research questions.

In this type of question, the respondent can rate a particular entity, and you can compare the other entities using one as a reference.

This is useful for devising ratio data of different attributes.

10. Matrix table research questions.

Matrix table questions are presented in a grid and are usually easy to interpret for your respondents. This is because the answer options and scales remain consistent across all entities.

This is also highly efficient as you can make use of one question to gather significant data.

11. Image choice research questions.

These questions have images as your answer options. They dramatically increase response rates and also make your survey visually appealing.

I would recommend using this question type in between as they give your respondent a break from reading.

12. Dropdown research questions.

You can use dropdown questions when you have a long list of brief answer options. For example, if you want the respondent to pick their home town or their birth year.

Use them lightly as most people like to refer to the answer options as context when they read a question.

13. Click Map research questions.

If you want direct feedback on a product image or any other visual, this is the best approach.

Click Map question allows the user to click one spot on the image.

For example, the following is a product packaging image. You could ask the survey taker to click on the part of the packaging that appeals the most to them.

14. File Upload research questions.

In case you need supporting documents or images, you can use file upload questions.

Though, it is not recommended as it is tedious for the respondent, you can collect whatever file you require as a PNG, PDF, or Doc file.

Survey Pre-Launch Checklist.

Here is a checklist of things you need to take note of before you launch your survey.

• Ensure that your survey is compatible with all devices.
• Preview and test your survey.
• Check how long the survey takes to complete. The recommended time to finish a survey is 5 minutes.
• Check the structural components of your survey like the navigation buttons, page, and titles, etc.
• Make sure the answer format is in harmony with the question type. If the question requires multiple option selection, ensure the format allows the user to select all options that apply.
• Check the reporting value format. If you have customized your reporting value, check if the format for birth date, age, email address, etc. is set correctly.
• If you’re unsure how you can analyze the results, do a trial run, and familiarize yourself with how the results show up. Also, don’t forget to delete your test responses before you launch the survey.
• Make sure there are no grammatical or spelling errors.
• Ask someone else to cross-check the survey. A second pair of eyes might spot something you missed.

Reminder Emails.

Reminder Emails are an excellent strategy to boost your response rates.

But when do you send your first reminder email? The second? The third? When do you stop?

Survey Monkey recommends sending the first reminder email 48 to 72 hours after you have sent your first survey invite.

Below given table shows how the response rate drops exponentially after the first reminder email.

It is recommended that you send reminders only if necessary and don’t send more than four reminders.

Research Closure.

After you have closed the survey, send an email to all the respondents to thank them for participating in the survey.

Don’t forget to include the top two or three things you have found from the research and how you plan to act on them.

People like to know that their contribution created an impact and that the time they took to respond was worthwhile.

This closes the loop and sets you up with the respondents for the next time you decide to conduct a survey.

Analyze Your Findings and Identify Patterns

You finally have everything you need for your research; your results are in, and all you have to do is analyze everything you’ve found.

This next step is called Data Analysis. In this step, you bring together all the data you’ve collected, identify patterns, and draw conclusions.

You need to keep in mind a few things before you start analyzing your market research data.

• Don’t start analyzing the results before all your responses come in, and the survey is closed.
• Filter the results. There would be many low-quality responses that won’t help your research. These could be
• Incomplete survey responses.
• Responses from people who are not your target audience.
• People who completed the survey with supersonic speed. Yeah, they didn’t really read your questions.
• Unrealistic answers. For example, family size is 4700. Well, really?

Now that you have your data, what are you going to do about it? Read through hundreds of survey responses and interview notes?

The amount of data you receive can be quite overwhelming. To ensure your head doesn’t go spinning while analyzing this data, it is essential to use data organization and data reduction techniques.

These methods will be beneficial to compile and assemble data to interpret and analyze your findings.

You can segment your results to gain in-depth insights. Below are a few samples of segments you can utilize.

Types of Market Segmentation.

• Demographic Segmentation, like age, gender, and marital status.
• Geographic Segmentation, like country, state, and regions.
• Psychographic Segmentation, like personality traits, beliefs, values, lifestyle, opinions, and interests of consumers.
• Behavioral Segmentation, like decision-making patterns such as consumption, purchase, lifestyle, and usage.
• Firmographic Segmentation, like company size and the number of employees.

Online survey portals like Survey Monkey and Questionpro offer in-depth analysis with statistical data and visual charts to draw conclusions for your research.

However, not all platforms may offer such services, and additionally, you may have secondary research data to combine with your survey responses.

Here is a list of data analysis software programs that you can use to integrate your market research data, analyze your findings, and identify patterns.

Quantitative Data Analysis Software

Quantitative Data Analysis focuses on statistical, mathematical, and numerical analysis of data you have collected with market research.

Here is a list of quantitative analysis software programs.

SPSS stands for Statistical Package for Social Sciences. It is the most popular quantitative analysis tool used for editing, analyzing, and presenting numerical data.

With SPSS, you can perform analysis, interpret the results, and make sound statistical decisions.

SPSS is well-suited for all formats used for structured data analysis like Excel, plain text files, and relational (SQL) databases.

STATA is a powerful and flexible general-purpose statistical software package.

It is an interactive data analysis program that runs on a variety of platforms. It is easy to analyze, manage, and produce graphical visualizations of data.

You can use STATA for both simple and complex statistical analyses.

STATA offers several purchase options to fit your budget.

SAS is an acronym for Statistical Analysis System.

With the Market Research Application (MRA) of this software program, you are provided with advanced graphical and statistical data evaluation techniques.

R is a free software to download and use , especially for graphical and statistical computing.

If you are familiar with statistics and computing, you can add your own programs to it.

There are free software programs like JAMOVI and Jasp , both of which require no coding knowledge and are extremely easy and straightforward to use.

While all these tools can help you analyze numerical data and create statistics, they may not be of much help while trying to identify patterns in open-ended survey responses and interview comments.

The aforementioned tools are excellent for quantifiable data, but if you want to break down qualitative data, I have a list of tools to make your life easier.

Please note that most of these tools analyze both qualitative and quantitative market research data.

Qualitative Data Analysis Software.

NVivo is, by far, the largest player in the qualitative software field.

You can analyze the unstructured text, video, audio, and image data, including interviews, open-ended survey answers, focus groups, social media, and journal articles.

You can import text, audio, video, emails, spreadsheets, images, online surveys, web content, and social media from various sources and create a centralized base to conduct in-depth analysis.

NVivo offers a 14-day free trial . The price is variable .

Like NVivo, you can import data from interviews, focus groups, surveys, videos, and even social media from various sources into a simple, intuitive interface.

After you import your data, you can organize your data into different categories. You can even mark specific data and leave notes, and color-code your data for better organization.

MaxQDA offers a 30-day free trial . The price is variable according to your specifications.

Quirkos is designed to help researchers sort, manage, and comprehend large amounts of data. You can code or tag specific sections of data and even compare themes across various sources.

Quirkos does not offer as many extensive features as NVivo; its main focus is to provide simple tools for exploring qualitative data that are flexible and easier to use.

It has an extremely straightforward interface so you can focus on your work and not how to do it.

One of Quirkos’ best features is its text analyzer. This tool helps you find common keywords and phrases within various text documents.

One major drawback is Quirkos does not have support for integrated multimedia and quantitative analysis.

You can choose between a subscription service or a one-off license fee. Additionally, Quirkos offers a free trial of the full version.

With Dedoose, you organize research data in a broad range of formats, including qualitative data such as text, audio, images, or video, and quantitative data such as spreadsheets, surveys, test scores, ratings, or demographics.

It is easy to collaborate as it is a web-based software.

You can also import project data from other software like NVivo, Atlas.ti, MaxQDA, Saturate, HyperResearch, Quirkos, and others.

Dedoose pricing starts from $14.95 Per Active Month for an individual. They also offer plans for small and large groups and have a special package for students.

Regardless of the group size, Dedoose offers the first-month cycle of use is free for all users.

5. Atlas.ti

Atlas.ti is a web-based qualitative data analysis software program that allows you to capture perspectives & insights into primary or secondary research.

It is a powerful tool for efficient and effective work on your research data. You can organize data, add information, and create comments, codes, annotations, categories, and shows relationships among all of them.

Atlas.ti is an excellent tool if you want to analyze large bodies of textual, graphical, audio, and video data.

With Atlas.ti, you can import source materials as DOCX., CSV, PDF, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, and other audio/video formats.

This software program is easy to manage and gives you a lot of freedom to name categories according to your preferences.

Atlas.ti offers a free 14-day trial version . The price is variable according to your specifications.

6. Qualtrics

Qualtrics is an easy-to-use web-based software program that allows users to build surveys, analyze and interpret responses, and generate reports.

You do not require any coding knowledge. Their drag-and-drop interface is extremely simple and straightforward.

From setting up your project, managing it, finding respondents, and reporting on the results, Qualtrics offers all kinds of services.

Qualtrics’ Prediction Analysis tool uses historical and current survey responses to make predictions about customer behavior. This tool helps analyze how the market will react to new products or services you plan to launch.

Qualtrics offers a flexible service so that you can request a quote according to your requirements.

These are some of the best tools available for qualitative analysis.

However, if these tools are a bit pricey for your needs, here is a list of free tools you can use.

Free Qualitative Data Analysis Software Programs:

• Square Feedback
• QDA Miner Lite
• ConnectedText

Now you know the best ways to analyze your market research data and the tools you can leverage to make this process more efficient and systematic.

List Hyper-Specific Action Items and Follow-Up Research Questions to Maximize the Value from Your Market Research

Market Research helps you identify your customer’s requirements and expectations.

With research, you can benchmark yourself against your competitors and ensure you have a leading advantage.

One of the best ways to gain a better perspective is through follow-up questions.

Interviews via telephone or face-to-face and emails are your principal follow-up marketing tools.

After your customer fills out your survey, you already have their attention. You could ask them almost any question related to your product or service, and they would probably answer it.

You might choose to stay anonymous during your original survey to avoid the respondent to be influenced by your brand. So, in the follow-up section, you can ask your audience everything you want them to answer about your brand.

You also have the freedom to include as many open-ended questions as you like, for it gives them space to share how they feel directly.

Here is a list of follow up questions to find additional information specific to your brand and business.

• What could we do to increase your score by just one mark?
• If you could change one thing about our product, what would it be?
• What three of these features would you most like to see in the product’s future?
• Which of these words best describes our product?
• What problem would you like to solve with our product?
• How would you rate the value for money of the product?
• How easy is it to navigate on our website?
• Were you able to find the information you were looking for on our website?
• How did this effort compare to your expectations?
• How responsive have we been to your feedback about our products?
• Why did you choose our product rather than a competitor’s?

You may get answers to some of these questions in your original survey, but the follow-up survey gives your audience the chance to open up.

When you allow your customers to go deeper and speak about their experience and feelings, it builds a foundation for trust and loyalty.

This happens only when you take their responses into account and improve your products to meet their needs and wants.

Most people take surveys and never hear back apart from a stale, thank you note. They don’t know how their contribution helped; if the business did anything with the information in the first place.

Be sure to drop an email after your market research analysis to thank them sincerely. Additionally, include the top 2 or 3 three conclusions you have drawn from their surveys and how you plan to implement them.

People like to know how their contributions helped create an impact and assure your audience that they didn’t waste their time with you.

When you engage them in your research process, they will distinctly remember your brand and be more open to participating in your future research.

Best Market Research Methods for Small Businesses on a Low Budget.

Spending an outrageous amount of money is not the only way to do market research.

I’ll give you five cost-effective market research strategies that you can implement to gain actionable data.

1. Research Product Reviews on Amazon.

Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer.

Amazon accounts for 13.7% of worldwide e-commerce sales . In the United States, Amazon is projected to account for more than half of the local e-commerce market.

Amazon is the fastest and easiest way to uncover what your customers are looking for and what they are actually buying.

What people say and what they do can sometimes be miles apart, and amazon shows you their actions.

You can check out your competitor’s products and head over to the review section to know what people have to say regarding the product.

You can know exactly what products are working, and the positive reviews will tell you what aspects of the product people are benefitting from.

But what will help you the most is finding what people are complaining about.

Viola! You found their pain point.

Suppose your company manufactures helmets. You scroll through your competitor’s products on amazon and navigate to the customer reviews.

There’s your pain point!

Your competitor’s product does not offer proper gear to shield people’s nose from dust.

If your product works to satisfy those customers, you can effectively steal your competitor’s audience!

2. Use Quora for Your Market Research

Quora has over 300 million unique visitors each month.

Quora is an information-focused platform to ask questions, get answers, and share your knowledge on topics you are familiar with.

Quora’s online community is an excellent place to find views, opinions, advice, standpoints, beliefs, explanations, and answers to everything you want to know.

If you think you may not find what you need at Quora, you should note that there are over 400,000 topics on Quora right now.

Quora is a platform for real people seeking answers. There is no third party involved, and you can know what people want in their own words.

It is an excellent place to conduct your research.

How to use Quora for market research?

You can sign up for Quora using your Google or Facebook account, and you can start following topics you are interested in.

Quora also gives you relevant suggestions when you type in specific topics or keywords in the search bar.

Quora has a feature where you can follow topics you are interested in.

When you follow a topic, Quora will optimize your home page news feed to show you the latest activity within topics you are interested in.

You can also note topics related to your search result on the right section of the page.

When people post questions tagging topics you follow, Quora will notify you.

You can also get the latest questions sent to you via email.

Go to the Settings option and then navigate to Email and Notifications to optimize settings according to your preference.

You will be able to track relevant topics with notifications and learn about what people in your industry are saying and what your audience has to say about your industry.

To gain more insights about a topic, click on the meatballs menu button, and select Manage.

Quora will give you information about common misspellings, alternative names, and standard abbreviations for your chosen topic.

On Quora, very similar topics are merged. You can find topics that have been integrated with the subject you are interested in.

On the right section of the page, Quora gives you information about your chosen subject's parent topics and child topics .

When you look for a particular question , Quora ranks the answers based on the number of Upvotes a response received. This feature will help you understand customer pain points.

Use Quora for your product research.

Quora also has brand-based topics. If your business has products, you can use Quora to see what people have to say about your products or services.

You should follow topics and questions specific to your business and answer queries people might have about them.

Joining in on conversations where your products or services are involved will help you gain a deeper understanding of how people perceive your products.

You can use websites like QuestionsPro to find relevant questions and track your answers.

3. Look at Your Google Analytics Data and Email Marketing Data

Google analytics.

Google Analytics is an exceptional tool for market research that is available for free.

At first glance, Google Analytics can be quite daunting.

There is way too much data presented to you, and if you are not familiar with the tool, you will keep going around in circles and walk away with a spectacular headache.

To make your life easier, here is an overview of the features of Google Analytics that can help you with your market research.

Google Analytics has eight main sections: Dashboards, Shortcuts, Intelligence Events, Real-Time, Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversions.

Out of all these, there are four sections you need to pay close attention to — Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversions.

1. Audience Section

This section gives you detailed insights about your users.

In this section, you can find information regarding the gender, age, and location of visitors to your website.

To find this information, focus on sub-sections Demographics and Geo .

The Demographics section will give you information regarding your website visitors’ age range and gender.

To know where your website visitors are from, click on the Geo Dropdown, and select Location.

If you want more specific information, you can click on individual countries to know which states in those countries your visitors are from.

Furthermore, you can select individual states to obtain a list of cities.

This will help you create strategies for your campaigns to drive better results.

2. Acquisition Section

Do most of your visitors come from Google? Instagram ? Facebook ? Quora? Website referrals?

This section will give you detailed information about how people come to your website.

You can analyze where most of your traffic comes from and find keywords your visitors used to navigate them to your website.

But this Keywords tool of Google analytics may not always be useful because of Google’s decision to encrypt keyword data.

If you would like to obtain data about Google's organic search keywords, you can use Google Webmaster Tools (Go to Search Traffic, then select Search Queries. )

3. Behavior Section

This section will provide a rich understanding of how your audience interacts with individual pages on your website.

Google Analytics Behavior section includes nine sections and tools .

These tools will help you learn about your user behavior. You can know which is the most visited page on your website and what actions people are taking while visiting your website.

4. Conversion Section

If you have an online store , the Conversion section will give you insights regarding your leads and conversions.

This section provides eCommerce Analytics to get information regarding how your products are performing and how many sessions or days it takes before your prospects convert.

Email Marketing

People don’t give their personal information without reason, and if used right, your email list can develop a profound connection with your customers.

You have contact details of people interested in what you have to say and have directly interacted with your business by providing their contact information.

So why not make the best of it?

In 2020, roughly 306.4 billion emails were sent and received each day.

Social Media platforms come and go with changing market trends, but email has been an integral part of our daily lives for ages.

This is because, with emails, you have the freedom to reach out to your audience with no restrictions. There is no third-party who can impact how, when, or why you reach out.

As of 2020, there are over 4.03 billion email users worldwide.

That is more than half of the world’s population. So, if you are looking for a way to connect with people, email is the perfect place for you.

Many marketers have used email marketing to generate sales , but if you look at email marketing in terms of only leads and sales, you lose out on a lot.

One hidden capability of email marketing is market research.

Though it isn't as full-blown as other research tools, email marketing does help with market research and has advantages over cost-effectiveness and reciprocation speed.

Using Email Marketing Data for Market Research

Any email with a call-to-action gives insights to help your research.

If you have sent an email offering seven products to your subscribers, you can analyze which product has done the best and which hasn’t.

But this isn't only limited to knowing your product's popularity; you can gain a deeper understanding by analyzing who purchased which product.

Based on past purchases or demographics, you can see which customers like a certain kind of product.

Email marketing does have its limitations.

It does not offer anonymity, meaning your customers will know who has sent them the survey. So, if they choose to take up the survey, their answers could be influenced by how they perceive your brand.

So, how can you make the most of a survey delivered by email?

• Offer Incentives. When you offer a promo code or a gift card to someone in exchange for a few minutes of their time, they will be more inclined to help you out than if you just ask them to fill a survey.
• Survey Questionnaire. The survey you send via email to your subscribers can't include the same questions as your other surveys. You need to keep in mind that they already know who you are, including questions like, “According to you, who is the best brand in the XYZ industry?” will not be useful.
• Type of questions. Your questions should be clear and straightforward. Don’t include too many open-ended questions; make it as easy-to-answer for your audience as possible.
• Compare survey analysis. You can get deeper insights if you compare survey results according to specific categories like geographical location. This will provide you with information about which type of your audience favors what.

How to build your email list?

To build your email list, you need people to subscribe. As we have already established that people don’t give out their personal information for free, you could create lead magnets.

Types of lead magnets:

• Online Courses
• Whitepapers
• Reports or Studies
• Infographics

Email Marketing Tools

Using an email marketing service is tremendously important. These software programs help you optimize and personalize your emails.

I would suggest you choose either Getresponse or Convertkit .

They are simple to use and offer a variety of features that you can leverage to create email marketing campaigns.

Even if you do not have a technical bone in your body, you can create, personalize, and customize your emails by yourself.

These tools ensure that all your emails are optimized to display perfectly over all devices and give you detailed engagement analytics.

How to Use Competitor Research for Market Research

Why are your competitors doing better than you are? What is their marketing strategy? Who are they targeting? What keywords are bringing traffic to their website?

If you are not aware of what your competitors are doing, how do you expect to outrank them?

This is the reason why you need to conduct a competitor analysis.

What is competitor analysis?

Competitor Analysis (or competitive research) is the process where you identify your major competitors and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.

The goal of conducting a competitor analysis is to replicate their successful strategies and exploit their weaknesses.

When you know what entities your competitors are targeting, you can develop strategies to target the same entities and generate better results.

These weaknesses could be a particular market they’re overlooking or even keywords that they’re not targeting to get traffic to their website.

Competitive Analysis in Marketing

Competitor analysis will:

• Help you create full-proof marketing strategies.
• Identify gaps in the market and opportunities that your competitors are overlooking.
• Replicate your competitor’s strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses.
• Help you make informed decisions for future investments.

How to conduct your competitive analysis?

1. Identify your major competitors.

Determining who you are competing with is an essential first step.

Social media and search engines have made market research a much easier process. You are only a search result away from knowing who the major competitors in your industry are.

What products or services do they offer?

Understanding what your competitors offer and its features are essential. Here are a few questions you can answer to understand your competitor better.

• What is the price range of their products?
• Who are their ideal customers?
• What is their primary customer demographic?
• How do they stand out from their competitors?
• How are they marketing their products or services?
• What are its most popular features?

You need to assess the market to identify both the major players and those steadily on the rise.

Porter’s Five Forces Model allows you to analyze the competition in the marketplace and helps you identify your standing among competitors.

Porter’s industry analysis method recognizes the following five fundamental for

• Competitive rivalry. How many firms compete, and how much is the market growing?
• Threat of substitute products. How likely is it for customers to switch to other firms?
• Bargaining power of buyers. How much power do customers have?
• Threat of new entrants. How easy is it to establish a new firm?
• Bargaining power of suppliers. How much power do suppliers have?

This market research analysis technique will give you a better understanding of your industry’s competitive landscape.

2. Acquire Competitors’ Credit Reports.

Business credit scores rank the creditworthiness of a business.

You can get access to your competitor’s credit reports online for free. While personal credit scores are not available online, business credit scores can be accessed by anyone.

Additionally, it is vital to create your business’ credit report to determine and prove your credibility.

According to a study published by The Wall Street Journal , around 25% of business credit reports you find online may contain errors or lack critical information.

Trusted Sources to Get a Free Business Credit Report.

• Nav You can gain access to free credit report services, including a summary of business credit reports from D&B , Equifax , and Experian . The business credit report also includes a letter grade with the credit-score range.
• Creditsafe . You can sign up at CreditSafe to gain a free credit report for your own business. After you fill out an online request, you have to talk to a Creditsafe representative to activate your business credit report.
• Dun & Bradstreet Credit Signal It is a free business credit reporting service provided by D&B. Credit Signal offers free monitoring service so you can be instantly notified of changes in your business’ D&B credit scores and ratings.

Sources for Paid Business Credit Reports.

• Dun & Bradstreet It is one of the oldest credit reporting companies in existence. For every business you research, D&B provides a credit summary, a credit score, and a financial stress score. With D&B, you can also check out payment comparisons between different businesses in an industry.
• Equifax This tool will give you access to public records information like bankruptcy and a business failure score, which is a forecast of how likely it is for a company to crash in the next year. Along with a business failure score, Equifax business credit reports also include possible reasons for failure. You can also gather information about other companies associated with your chosen business and even their business demographics and payment history.
• Experian It is one of the newest key players in the credit reporting industry. Their business credit reports are incredibly detailed, including information right from the basics to risk alerts, risk indicator ratings, and even business verification. You can gain as many credit reports on your targeted business and be notified whenever new information is updated.

Analyzing these reports can tell you if the businesses are financially stable and how much risk there is in the industry.

3. Analyze and compare competitor’s content.

Familiarize yourself with the kind of content your competitor is publishing. Take note of the type of content that is receiving the most engagement.

What kind of content are you publishing, and how is it different from their content? Are you making use of all formats, or are you missing out on opportunities?

What is your competitor's primary focus on content marketing?

Here is a list of content formats you should take note of:

• White papers
• Case studies
• Newsletters
• Press releases

Compare the quality of content and analyze how frequently they are publishing. Determine their content strategy and see how you can build about that to gain better results.

4. Analyze their Website.

98% of businesses have rated a competitor’s website as a valuable resource and the best source for obtaining competitive intelligence data.

What are consumers searching for? Why are your competitors outranking you in SERPs? What strategies are they using to do so?

An essential aspect you need to know is what keywords they are ranking for.

Let’s assume McDonald’s to be your competitor brand.

For your market research, you should, of course, consider a wide range of brands. I’m only considering one brand for the purpose of learning how to do competitor analysis.

Use Google Ads Keyword Planner to analyze your competitor market.

Go to Keyword Planner and paste your competitor’s website URLs.

Be sure to select Use the entire site for the keyword planner to analyze their entire site.

When you click on Get Results , the keyword planner will give you a list of keywords that your competitor’s website ranks for.

But as you can see, most of the results won't help you as they are specific to your competitor's brand.

You can exclude their brand name by

• Clicking on Filter.
• Select Keyword.
• Choose Does not contain from the drop-down menu.
• Enter your competitor’s brand name.

Now you can see a much more relevant list that you can target.

You can now do this individually for all your competitor brands and see what they rank for and which keywords they have in common.

Note: Google Ads Keyword Planner is a free tool that is primarily for advertisers, not SEOs. You can use SEO specific tools like SEMrush , Moz , and Ahrefs to gain in-depth insights about your competitor’s SEO.

Your main objective is to try and outrank your competitor in SERPs .

Once you know what keywords your competitor is ranking for, analyze where they are using these keywords.

• URL architecture
• Meta description
• Heading tags
• Content Body
• Inbound links
• Image alt text
• Social media

Additionally, also take note of the following:

• Page Speed Insights
• Domain Authority
• Root linking domains
• Sitemaps – HTML, image, XML, video
• Backlinking strategy
• Website responsiveness (Mobile and Desktop)

Analyze what keywords your competitor is ranking for that you are not. This is called keyword gap analysis.

Analyze how they are ranking for those keywords and build upon their strategy to give Google better content to consider.

5. Look at their social media engagement.

The next step is to analyze your competitor’s social media and see how they integrate it into their marketing strategy.

• Which social media platform are they focusing on?
• Where do they receive the most engagement?
• What kind of content are they posting?
• Which content format is working the best for them?
• How often do they post?
• What kind of profile pictures and cover images are they using?
• Check out their social media bio. What points have they mentioned in their overview section?
• What is their growth rate?
• Who are they following?
• How proactive are they? How well are they addressing consumer complaints?
• How are they interacting with their customers and brand advocates?
• What are their weaknesses? Is their response rate poor? Is it irregular posting? Spelling or grammatical errors? Lack of engagement? Poor imagery?

Find out areas you can exploit and use their social media strategies to successfully build your online presence.

6. Sentiment Analysis.

Sentiment Analysis is interpreting how customers feel about your business.

This is something that is often overlooked by businesses. It is crucial to track how the audience feels about your brand when compared to your competitors.

There are various free and paid tools that can help you assess the sentiment behind customer behavior.

Sentiment Analysis Tools.

• Quick Search
• Critical Mention
• Social Mention
• Sentiment Analyzer
• Social Searcher
• MonkeyLearn

Use these insights to gain the upper hand over your competition. And though you won't take the lead overnight, it is essential to track your progress with tools like Google Analytics , SEMrush , Moz , and Google Webmasters .

Analyze what is working and what isn’t, and optimize your strategy accordingly.

Ask Your Audience with Online Surveys

Conducting an online survey is probably the most effective means of getting direct feedback from your customers.

It is a straightforward, reliable, and affordable way of obtaining data.

You do not need any coding knowledge to conduct an online survey. You simply need to register on an online survey portal and create your survey.

These are hundreds of online survey platforms you can choose to conduct your market research. Each of them has its unique features, and it is important to filter through to find the one that fits your requirements.

I have compiled a list of leading SaaS online survey platforms for you to choose from.

Online Survey Platforms.

1. Typeform .

Typeform offers over 150+ survey templates for you to choose from. You can easily optimize them as per your specifications.

Many people abandon their surveys because they get bored. With Typeform, you can choose to project one question at a time to keep your audience engaged.

The free version of Typeform, nicknamed the CORE plan, offers various features.

• 3 typeforms.
• 10 questions per Typeform.
• 100 responses per month.
• Reports and metrics.
• Email notification when someone completes your Typeform.
• Embed your Typeform on a web page.

Price: Typeform plans start from $35 per month.

2. SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is one of the leading online survey platforms in the market.

It is incredibly user-friendly, and you can get reports of your market research survey in minutes.

If you do not have a source of participants for your research, with SurveyMonkey, you can find people who fit your criteria from their global panel of respondents.

SurveyMonkey Basic (Free) plan features:

• 10 questions or elements per survey
• View either 40 or 100 responses per survey (depending on when you created an account and your billing location.)

Responses over your plan’s limit are hidden and will be deleted after 60 days unless you upgrade to a paid plan.

3. QuestionPro

With QuestionPro, you can not only create surveys but analyze your qualitative and quantitative research data.

As far as free survey tools go, you won’t find another that delivers as much value as QuestionPro’s free trial version.

Here are a few features of QuestionPro’s Essential (Free) plan :

• Unlimited surveys.
• Unlimited questions‪ per survey.
• Unlimited responses (however, each survey is limited to a maximum of 1000 responses.)
• 25+ question types‪.
• Add your own logo to the survey.
• Shareable dashboard reports‪.
• Customized thank you page‪.

Price: QuestionPro plans start from $85 per month

These are the best online survey platforms available. A few other notable survey platforms you should consider are:

• Google Forms
• Zoho Survey
• ProProfs Survey Maker
• Client Heartbeat
• Survey Gizmo
• Survey Planet

All the survey tools mentioned above have their advantages and limitations. Which platform you choose ultimately depends on your business requirements.

If you are not able to come to a conclusion, I would recommend starting with SurveyMonkey or QuestionPro .

Best Sites for Market Research Reports, Finding Users to Interview, and Surveying

Throughout the blog, I’ve mentioned several websites and software programs you can use for various stages of your market research.

In this section, I am going to list additional tools (free and paid) that will make your life much easier while conducting market research.

1. U.S Census Data Tools

U.S. Census Bureau data tools are excellent for conducting secondary market research.

It provides various market research tools and free industry research reports.

You can access economic, demographic, and population data and gain valuable insights for your research.

In fact, you can segment the user data by age, race, ethnicity, and even housing status and compare this information with other locations side by side.

Price: Free.

2. Pew Research Center

This is another excellent website for obtaining free industry reports and datasets.

Pew Research Center gathers data and creates reports based on public opinion polls, demographic analysis, content research, and other social science data-driven research.

Its Download Datasets page lists the direct links to access the datasets available.

By creating an account , you can download survey reports and be notified if there are any changes made to datasets you’ve previously accessed.

3. Statista

Statista is one of the largest statistics portals in the market. The site provides datasets for over 80,000 topics.

Statista conducts market research using a broad range of specialist tools and is excellent at transforming qualitative data into statistics.

Price: You can register to create a free basic account. However, the features offered are minimal. The pricing plans start from $39 per month for a single account.

4. Google Trends

Google Trends is one of the best tools available for market research.

With Google Trends, you can determine what consumers are searching about competing brands.

You can analyze the popularity of one search term in comparison with other terms simultaneously.

You can also use filter features like region and category to gain insights according to your specifications.

With Feedier, you can effectively engage your participants, export your data, and run insight reports for your market research.

Here are a few features of Feedier’s free trial version , also called Essentials.

• 100 monthly responses
• 1 Feedback Form
• Interactive Form builder
• 12+ question types (NPS)
• Participant actions
• Visual data insights

Price: Feedrier plans start from $150 per month.

6. Think With Google – Market Finder

Think With Google is another terrific research tool to uncover the latest marketing trends.

Think With Google’s Market Finder helps you gain insights based on in-depth national and global data and consumer insights.

7. SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurship Education Resources

SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurship Education provides access to various resources and business and economic statistics.

There is a variety of tools, reports, and resources available for conducting your market research analysis.

8. Social Mention

With billions of people using social media all over the world, it is challenging to analyze what is being said and done on these platforms.

Social Mention is a search engine that analyzes content across various social media platforms.

With Social Mention, you can enter a specific keyword and get a list of mentions related to your search term. You can filter your search results by source, date, and even location.

Social Mention also provides a score for sentiment, strength, reach, and passion with respect to your search term.

9. Testing Time

One of the biggest challenges of conducting primary market research is finding participants for your research.

With Testing Time, you can find participants by specifying your target audience's characteristics like their location and demographics. You can even include additional criteria specific for your research like, “must own a car.”

Price: Their pricing options depend on the number of test users and the test method.

10. Respondent

Most survey portals that provide a source for participants do not allow direct contact with the audience.

With Respondent, you can conduct video calls, phone calls, in-person discussions, or online research. It's up to you.

You decide on how much you are willing to pay per participant according to your budget.

Price: Respondent charges a 50% service fee per participant.

Market Research FAQ

There is no one size fits all when it comes to market research.  Four primary factors that define your market research cost: 1. The type of research to fulfill your specifications and the cost associated with it. 2. The number of participants you need for your research. 3. Incidence rate, i.e., the percentage of people who fit your target audience criteria. 4. Data collection method and the incentives you offer The average cost for Top-level reports: $100 to $1,000. These reports will provide basic insights into your industry. The average cost for Full-market reports: $1,500 to $8,000 (most commonly $3,500 to $4,000). These reports will be extremely detailed and cover various metrics about your industry from current market trends to future projections. But if you are willing to put in the effort and cut down labor costs, and conduct most of your research online, you can gain insightful data for $300 to $1,500.

The truth is, you can undoubtedly conduct your market research in-house, but it is incredibly tedious to try to do everything on your own. Extending your research by making use of market research firms and online marketing tools will make this process much smoother for you. While you may not want to outsource your entire research, there is too much work that goes into market research, and handing out a few tasks makes your research much more efficient.  Hiring a freelance researcher may be the best course of action for small-scale field research. Most marketing agencies do not undertake projects with a budget below $4,000. Before hiring a freelancer, run a thorough background check to analyze their credibility. Ensure they fit your business and have enough authority to conduct the research.

While conducting secondary market research, there are thousands of sources available online for free and a cost.  While it may be tempting to leverage free research reports, it is imperative to ensure that the source is credible.  Use government sources to access free reports that give basic insights about your industry. Statistics that will have a direct impact on your business decisions should be handled with caution. For example, economic projections or subjective analysis reports. To obtain accurate data for such statistics, the information must come from multiple credible sources. So, here is the baseline.  If the data is free, verify it. If you can’t verify it on your own, purchase it from a reputed and unbiased publisher. 

Ready to Understand Your Market Better Than Your Competitors?

When it comes to understanding your customers better than your competitors, you can’t rely on assumptions or feelings. You need hard numbers.

Market research may seem incredibly daunting at first glance.

It is time-consuming and tedious, but you wouldn’t be unnerved by conducting market research if you know the exact process.

In this blog, I’ve systematically broken down the entire market research process step-by-step, so you can conduct your research to attain maximum actionable insights.

You now know how to find gaps in the market and exploit your competitor’s weaknesses.

What market research methods you can use if you are on a budget.

How to understand your competitors’ strategies and build upon them to attain better success.

I’ve also listed several market research tools that you can use to conduct your research much more efficiently.

All you have to do is follow everything I’ve mentioned in this blog to understand the market and your consumers better.

Was This Article Helpful?

Anastasia belyh.

Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.

9 Best Marketing Research Methods to Know Your Buyer Better [+ Examples]

Published: August 08, 2024

One of the most underrated skills you can have as a marketer is marketing research — which is great news for this unapologetic cyber sleuth.

From brand design and product development to buyer personas and competitive analysis, I’ve researched a number of initiatives in my decade-long marketing career.

And let me tell you: having the right marketing research methods in your toolbox is a must.

Market research is the secret to crafting a strategy that will truly help you accomplish your goals. The good news is there is no shortage of options.

How to Choose a Marketing Research Method

Thanks to the Internet, we have more marketing research (or market research) methods at our fingertips than ever, but they’re not all created equal. Let’s quickly go over how to choose the right one.

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• SWOT Analysis Template
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1. Identify your objective.

What are you researching? Do you need to understand your audience better? How about your competition? Or maybe you want to know more about your customer’s feelings about a specific product.

Before starting your research, take some time to identify precisely what you’re looking for. This could be a goal you want to reach, a problem you need to solve, or a question you need to answer.

For example, an objective may be as foundational as understanding your ideal customer better to create new buyer personas for your marketing agency (pause for flashbacks to my former life).

Or if you’re an organic sode company, it could be trying to learn what flavors people are craving.

2. Determine what type of data and research you need.

Next, determine what data type will best answer the problems or questions you identified. There are primarily two types: qualitative and quantitative. (Sound familiar, right?)

• Qualitative Data is non-numerical information, like subjective characteristics, opinions, and feelings. It’s pretty open to interpretation and descriptive, but it’s also harder to measure. This type of data can be collected through interviews, observations, and open-ended questions.
• Quantitative Data , on the other hand, is numerical information, such as quantities, sizes, amounts, or percentages. It’s measurable and usually pretty hard to argue with, coming from a reputable source. It can be derived through surveys, experiments, or statistical analysis.

Understanding the differences between qualitative and quantitative data will help you pinpoint which research methods will yield the desired results.

For instance, thinking of our earlier examples, qualitative data would usually be best suited for buyer personas, while quantitative data is more useful for the soda flavors.

However, truth be told, the two really work together.

Qualitative conclusions are usually drawn from quantitative, numerical data. So, you’ll likely need both to get the complete picture of your subject.

For example, if your quantitative data says 70% of people are Team Black and only 30% are Team Green — Shout out to my fellow House of the Dragon fans — your qualitative data will say people support Black more than Green.

(As they should.)

Primary Research vs Secondary Research

You’ll also want to understand the difference between primary and secondary research.

Primary research involves collecting new, original data directly from the source (say, your target market). In other words, it’s information gathered first-hand that wasn’t found elsewhere.

Some examples include conducting experiments, surveys, interviews, observations, or focus groups.

Meanwhile, secondary research is the analysis and interpretation of existing data collected from others. Think of this like what we used to do for school projects: We would read a book, scour the internet, or pull insights from others to work from.

So, which is better?

Personally, I say any research is good research, but if you have the time and resources, primary research is hard to top. With it, you don’t have to worry about your source's credibility or how relevant it is to your specific objective.

You are in full control and best equipped to get the reliable information you need.

3. Put it all together.

Once you know your objective and what kind of data you want, you’re ready to select your marketing research method.

For instance, let’s say you’re a restaurant trying to see how attendees felt about the Speed Dating event you hosted last week.

You shouldn’t run a field experiment or download a third-party report on speed dating events; those would be useless to you. You need to conduct a survey that allows you to ask pointed questions about the event.

This would yield both qualitative and quantitative data you can use to improve and bring together more love birds next time around.

Best Market Research Methods for 2024

Now that you know what you’re looking for in a marketing research method, let’s dive into the best options.

Note: According to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing report, understanding customers and their needs is one of the biggest challenges facing marketers today. The options we discuss are great consumer research methodologies , but they can also be used for other areas.

Primary Research

1. interviews.

Interviews are a form of primary research where you ask people specific questions about a topic or theme. They typically deliver qualitative information.

I’ve conducted many interviews for marketing purposes, but I’ve also done many for journalistic purposes, like this profile on comedian Zarna Garg . There’s no better way to gather candid, open-ended insights in my book, but that doesn’t mean they’re a cure-all.

What I like: Real-time conversations allow you to ask different questions if you’re not getting the information you need. They also push interviewees to respond quickly, which can result in more authentic answers.

What I dislike: They can be time-consuming and harder to measure (read: get quantitative data) unless you ask pointed yes or no questions.

Best for: Creating buyer personas or getting feedback on customer experience, a product, or content.

2. Focus Groups

Focus groups are similar to conducting interviews but on a larger scale.

In marketing and business, this typically means getting a small group together in a room (or Zoom), asking them questions about various topics you are researching. You record and/or observe their responses to then take action.

They are ideal for collecting long-form, open-ended feedback, and subjective opinions.

One well-known focus group you may remember was run by Domino’s Pizza in 2009 .

After poor ratings and dropping over $100 million in revenue, the brand conducted focus groups with real customers to learn where they could have done better.

It was met with comments like “worst excuse for pizza I’ve ever had” and “the crust tastes like cardboard.” But rather than running from the tough love, it took the hit and completely overhauled its recipes.

The team admitted their missteps and returned to the market with better food and a campaign detailing their “Pizza Turn Around.”

The result? The brand won a ton of praise for its willingness to take feedback, efforts to do right by its consumers, and clever campaign. But, most importantly, revenue for Domino’s rose by 14.3% over the previous year.

The brand continues to conduct focus groups and share real footage from them in its promotion:

What I like: Similar to interviewing, you can dig deeper and pivot as needed due to the real-time nature. They’re personal and detailed.

What I dislike: Once again, they can be time-consuming and make it difficult to get quantitative data. There is also a chance some participants may overshadow others.

Best for: Product research or development

Pro tip: Need help planning your focus group? Our free Market Research Kit includes a handy template to start organizing your thoughts in addition to a SWOT Analysis Template, Survey Template, Focus Group Template, Presentation Template, Five Forces Industry Analysis Template, and an instructional guide for all of them. Download yours here now.

3. Surveys or Polls

Surveys are a form of primary research where individuals are asked a collection of questions. It can take many different forms.

They could be in person, over the phone or video call, by email, via an online form, or even on social media. Questions can be also open-ended or closed to deliver qualitative or quantitative information.

A great example of a close-ended survey is HubSpot’s annual State of Marketing .

In the State of Marketing, HubSpot asks marketing professionals from around the world a series of multiple-choice questions to gather data on the state of the marketing industry and to identify trends.

The survey covers various topics related to marketing strategies, tactics, tools, and challenges that marketers face. It aims to provide benchmarks to help you make informed decisions about your marketing.

It also helps us understand where our customers’ heads are so we can better evolve our products to meet their needs.

Apple is no stranger to surveys, either.

In 2011, the tech giant launched Apple Customer Pulse , which it described as “an online community of Apple product users who provide input on a variety of subjects and issues concerning Apple.”

"For example, we did a large voluntary survey of email subscribers and top readers a few years back."

While these readers gave us a long list of topics, formats, or content types they wanted to see, they sometimes engaged more with content types they didn’t select or favor as much on the surveys when we ran follow-up ‘in the wild’ tests, like A/B testing.”  

Pepsi saw similar results when it ran its iconic field experiment, “The Pepsi Challenge” for the first time in 1975.

The beverage brand set up tables at malls, beaches, and other public locations and ran a blindfolded taste test. Shoppers were given two cups of soda, one containing Pepsi, the other Coca-Cola (Pepsi’s biggest competitor). They were then asked to taste both and report which they preferred.

People overwhelmingly preferred Pepsi, and the brand has repeated the experiment multiple times over the years to the same results.

What I like: It yields qualitative and quantitative data and can make for engaging marketing content, especially in the digital age.

What I dislike: It can be very time-consuming. And, if you’re not careful, there is a high risk for scientific error.

Best for: Product testing and competitive analysis

Pro tip:  " Don’t make critical business decisions off of just one data set," advises Pamela Bump. "Use the survey, competitive intelligence, external data, or even a focus group to give you one layer of ideas or a short-list for improvements or solutions to test. Then gather your own fresh data to test in an experiment or trial and better refine your data-backed strategy."

Secondary Research

8. public domain or third-party research.

While original data is always a plus, there are plenty of external resources you can access online and even at a library when you’re limited on time or resources.

Some reputable resources you can use include:

• Pew Research Center
• McKinley Global Institute
• Relevant Global or Government Organizations (i.e United Nations or NASA)

It’s also smart to turn to reputable organizations that are specific to your industry or field. For instance, if you’re a gardening or landscaping company, you may want to pull statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

If you’re a digital marketing agency, you could look to Google Research or HubSpot Research . (Hey, I know them!)

What I like: You can save time on gathering data and spend more time on analyzing. You can also rest assured the data is from a source you trust.

What I dislike: You may not find data specific to your needs.

Best for: Companies under a time or resource crunch, adding factual support to content

Pro tip: Fellow HubSpotter Iskiev suggests using third-party data to inspire your original research. “Sometimes, I use public third-party data for ideas and inspiration. Once I have written my survey and gotten all my ideas out, I read similar reports from other sources and usually end up with useful additions for my own research.”

9. Buy Research

If the data you need isn’t available publicly and you can’t do your own market research, you can also buy some. There are many reputable analytics companies that offer subscriptions to access their data. Statista is one of my favorites, but there’s also Euromonitor , Mintel , and BCC Research .

What I like: Same as public domain research

What I dislike: You may not find data specific to your needs. It also adds to your expenses.

Best for: Companies under a time or resource crunch or adding factual support to content

Which marketing research method should you use?

You’re not going to like my answer, but “it depends.” The best marketing research method for you will depend on your objective and data needs, but also your budget and timeline.

My advice? Aim for a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. If you can do your own original research, awesome. But if not, don’t beat yourself up. Lean into free or low-cost tools . You could do primary research for qualitative data, then tap public sources for quantitative data. Or perhaps the reverse is best for you.

Whatever your marketing research method mix, take the time to think it through and ensure you’re left with information that will truly help you achieve your goals.

Don't forget to share this post!

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International market entry strategies for businesses.

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Salvador Ordorica is the CEO of The Spanish Group LLC , a first-class international translation service that translates over 90 languages.

In today's interconnected world, businesses are constantly seeking ways to broaden their horizons and enter new markets. Business leaders cannot deny the allure of international expansion, but they often encounter challenges and uncertainties on the path to success.

I’ve been running an international translation company that started operating in Irvine, California, and now we’ve entered into over 18 foreign countries. So, I will share what I’ve learned over the years, exploring the essential components of international market entry strategies, the pivotal role of cultural intelligence and some real-world case studies of companies that have triumphed on the international stage.

Market Entry Strategies

Before embarking on the journey of international expansion, businesses must first carefully assess their motivations and goals. Market entry is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor; rather, it demands a customized approach based on factors such as the industry, target market and available resources.

Are you looking to tap into new customer bases, reduce dependence on a single market or take advantage of cost-efficiency in other countries? Each objective requires a tailored market entry strategy.

1. Exporting

Exporting is a market entry strategy where a business sells its products or services to foreign customers. It typically involves shipping goods or delivering services across international borders, often through intermediaries or distributors. Exporting is a relatively low-risk option for entering international markets, as it allows companies to leverage their existing products or services without making significant investments in foreign operations.

2. Licensing And Franchising

Licensing allows businesses to grant foreign entities the right to use their intellectual property, such as trademarks or patents. Franchising involves replicating a successful business model in foreign markets. These options offer a quicker market entry but require careful management .

3. Joint Ventures And Partnerships

This strategy allows businesses to share the risks and costs associated with expanding into foreign markets. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement where both parties work together to achieve common goals while maintaining a degree of independence. However, successful execution requires careful negotiation, clear agreements and effective cooperation to navigate cultural differences and ensure the venture's success.

4. Acquisitions And Mergers

Market entry via acquisition or merger with foreign businesses offers speed and access to established customer bases and distribution networks. But it brings integration, cultural and stakeholder challenges. It's high-risk, high-reward, demanding thorough due diligence and post-acquisition management for international success.

5. Wholly-Owned Subsidiaries

This represents a market entry strategy where a company establishes complete ownership and control of its operations in a foreign market. In this approach, the business sets up a new entity or company in a foreign country, fully owned by the parent company. While this gives the parent company maximum autonomy and decision-making power, it also entails significant financial investment and higher risks. Wholly-owned subsidiaries are ideal when a business seeks tight control over operations, brand consistency and long-term market presence in the foreign market.

The Role Of Cultural Intelligence

In working with international markets, I've learned that one of the key challenges is navigating the cultural diversity of global markets.

Cultural intelligence , often referred to as cultural quotient (CQ), is the ability to understand and to be able to adapt to different cultural contexts effectively. In international business, cultural intelligence plays a pivotal role in the failure or success of market entry strategies.

• Understanding The Local Market

Cultural intelligence helps businesses understand the values, customs and preferences of the local population. Adapt services to resonate with locals to gain local market understanding, enhancing your success in market entry.

• Building Trust And Relationships

Establishing trust with local partners and customers is paramount. Hire local people to understand the culture of each place. This makes you prioritize cultural intelligence, respecting customs and etiquette, exemplified in successful partnerships worldwide.

• Effective Communication

Language barriers can be a significant hurdle in international business. Cultural intelligence involves effective communication strategies that transcend linguistic differences. To achieve this, prioritize cross-cultural training for your team, hire local experts and foster a culturally sensitive work environment.

• Adaptation And Innovation

Successful market entry often requires adapting products or services to meet local needs and preferences. Cultural intelligence implies innovation and adaptation in response to cultural insights.

To achieve a successful market entry through cultural intelligence as a company, I have focused on adapting services to local customs, languages and trends. Simultaneously, we encourage innovation in translation technology to maintain a competitive advantage across diverse markets.

Case Studies: Companies That Successfully Entered The International Market

Now, let's dive into some case studies, drawing inspiration from companies that have successfully entered international markets.

I think Apple's gradual but well-calculated entry into various international markets exemplifies "market entry success factors." Their localized approach to product launches and marketing is a masterclass in tailoring strategies to diverse audiences.

2. McDonald’s

We can see that McDonald's excels with franchising as a market entry strategy. Their ability to adapt their menu to local tastes while maintaining a consistent brand image is impressive.

3. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola's global success underscores the significance of adapting to diverse drinking cultures. In the 1970s , the "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" campaign and the unforgettable jingle propelled international expansion. Coca-Cola maintained a consistent product while allowing room for cultural taste adjustments. Meticulous adaptation in advertising, promotions, distribution and pricing cemented its global triumph.

Today, international market entry is not just an option; it's a necessity for businesses seeking growth and sustainability. Expanding into international markets is a transformative experience that can propel a company to new heights. By leveraging the right strategies and a global mindset, businesses can unlock the door to global success and write their success stories in the international market.

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Have questions about buying, selling or renting during COVID-19? Learn more

Sellers lose their advantage, but lower rates may revive market competition (July 2024 Market Report)

Competition for homes and price appreciation tapered off faster than normal in July as high housing costs continued to stymie shoppers. But recent drops in mortgage rates should spur more competition as we head into fall. 

Sellers lose the upper hand

Sellers gave up an advantage over buyers in July on the national scale, as the Zillow market heat index moved into neutral territory for the first time since December. This marks the first July the national market has been neutral since 2019 – in each of the past two years, the market moved into neutral ground in October. 

One sign of decreased competition is homes taking longer to sell. Homes that went pending in July typically did so after 18 days on the market. That’s almost a week longer than last July. 

Inventory continues to accumulate, and now stands nearly 25% above last year’s levels, marking the eighth straight month the year-over-year inventory gap has widened. The inventory shortfall compared to pre-pandemic norms shrank a bit and is now down 31.5%, the smallest deficit since October 2020. 

More options for buyers means less intense competition for each home. That’s evident in the growing share of home sellers cutting their prices. More than 26% of homes on Zillow received a price cut in July, the highest share for any July since at least 2018, when the dataset began. 

What happens next? 

If this relief from mortgage rates holds, we should see more buyers re-starting their hunt for a home. By the end of July, lower rates made a new homeowner’s mortgage payment on the typical home just under $200 more than it would take to rent the same kind of property. That’s shrunk from a $247 gap as recently as April. Now, lower rates in August are making buying even more attractive by comparison. 

Lower rates aren’t likely to encourage a comparable wave of current homeowners to sell. Zillow surveys show 80% of recent sellers were influenced by major life events, such as a change in their household size or working situation. New listings typically surge in spring and then taper off as homeowners aim to sell, buy another house, and be moved in before school and the fall holidays begin. 

More demand without a corresponding increase in supply would likely mean competition ramping back up, or at least a delay in the usual post-summer cooldown. 

Home values

• The typical U.S. home is worth $362,156. 
• The typical monthly mortgage payment, assuming 20% down, is $1,900. That is up 3.4% from last year and has increased by 111.1% since pre-pandemic.
• Home values climbed month over month in 34 of the 50 largest metro areas in July. Gains were biggest in Providence (1%), New York (0.9%), Hartford (0.9%), Buffalo (0.9%) and Cleveland (0.8%).
• Home values fell, on a monthly basis, in 13 major metro areas in July. The largest monthly drops were in San Jose (-0.4%), Austin (-0.4%), Phoenix (-0.3%), San Francisco (-0.2%) and Pittsburgh (-0.2%).
• Home values are up from year-ago levels in 44 of the 50 largest metro areas. Annual price gains are highest in San Jose (10.6%), Hartford (9.1%), San Diego (7.8%), Providence (7.4%) and New York (6.8%).
• Home values are down from year-ago levels in four major metro areas: New Orleans (-5.3%), Austin (-4.6%), San Antonio (-2.9%) and Birmingham (-0.7%).

New listings & total inventory

• New listings decreased 6.3% month over month in July.
• New listings increased 6% compared to last year.
• New listings are 24.7% lower than pre-pandemic levels.
• Total inventory (the number of listings active at any time during the month) increased 1.3% month over month in July. 
• There were 24.6% more listings active in July compared to last year.
• Inventory levels are 31.5% lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Price cuts & share sold above list

• 26.2% of listings in July had a price cut. That is up 1.8 percentage points (ppts) month over month.
• There are 4.5 ppts more listings with a price cut compared to last year.
• 35.4% of homes sold above their list price last month. That is up 0.2 ppts month over month.
• 5 ppts fewer homes sold above their list price compared to last year.

Newly pending listings

• Newly pending listings decreased by 1.2% in July from the prior month.
• Newly pending listings increased by 1% from last year.
• Median days to pending, the typical time from the initial list date to moving to pending status for homes that went under contract, was at 18 days in July. That is up three days from the month before and up six days from last year. 

Market heat index

• Zillow’s market heat index shows the nation is currently a neutral market.
• The strongest sellers markets in the country are Buffalo , Hartford, San Jose, Boston and San Francisco.
• The strongest buyers markets in the country are New Orleans, Miami, Austin, Memphis and Jacksonville.
• Asking rents increased by 0.4% month over month in July . The pre-pandemic average rent growth for this time of year is 0.6%.
• Rents are now up 3.4% from last year.
• Rents fell, on a monthly basis, in one major metro area: Austin (-0.2%).
• Rents are up from year-ago levels in 48 of the 50 largest metro areas. Annual rent increases are highest in Hartford (7.9%), Cleveland (7.3%), Providence (6.7%), Louisville (6.6%) and Richmond (6%).
• Zillow Counts: Mid-month Update in Zillow’s Existing Home SalesNowcast (July 2024)
• Zillow Home Value and Home Sales Forecast (July 2024)
• One-Third of Property Managers are Offering Concessions as Rental Market Cools

Price Cuts Abound as Home Sellers See Inventory Piling Up (June 2024 Market Report)

• July 2024 Housing Starts: Housing Starts Fall, Single Family Starts At Lowest Level Since April 2023
• Support Growing for Middle Housing
• Mortgage Rates Fell Again This Week On Positive Inflation News
• Mortgage Rates Fell This Week On Exaggerated Recession Fears
• Mortgage Rates Fell This Week As Wage Inflation Moderates More Than Expected
• Luxury Home Values Are Rising Faster Than Typical Homes for the First Time in Years
• A $1 Million Starter Home is the Norm in 237 Cities

Investors are missing gains by passing on the market's least-loved stocks, investing legend Rob Arnott says

• Stocks kicked off the top indexes tend to outperform, Research Affiliates wrote.
• A portfolio of stocks booted from indexes would make an investor 74 times wealthier between 1991 and 2023, the research said.
• Authors Rob Arnott and Forrest Henslee announced the creation of NIXT, a fund that tracks deletions.

Stocks kicked off top indexes could offer surprisingly lucrative returns for investors willing to bet on them, according to new from Research Affiliates .

The firm's founder and investing legend Rob Arnott and vice president Forrest Henslee wrote that stocks dropped by an index outperform for at least five years with remarkable persistence. After being deleted from an index, nixed stocks can outdo the market by an average of 5% a year.

"Absent fees, taxes, spending, and other charges, an investor in a broad deletions portfolio for the five post-deletion years would be 74-times wealthier at year-end 2023 than in January 1991," the authors wrote. "Only a Nasdaq-100 investor would fare as well, albeit with higher volatility and the harrowing drawdown of the dot-com crash."

To test this thesis in the decades ahead, Research Affiliates announced the release of the NIXT index. The fund will buy rejected stocks and hold them through the five-year timeframe.

So what is it about these unloved stocks that generates such consistent outperformance?

When an index decides to remove an asset, it's essentially creating excessive selling momentum, Arnott wrote.

"Deletions experience massive selling pressure since index fund investors must unload their shares; as a result, the market clearing prices of dumped stocks are often much lower than what they would have attracted before the deletion decision," the note said. "This sets the stage for an impressive rebound."

Meanwhile, the authors found that firms that replace nixed companies on an index have much less to brag about.

Replacements will often underperform modestly in the subsequent year on average, the research said. For instance, S&P 500 additions lagged the market by 1%-2% from 1990 to 2020.

Now is also an opportune time to consider a deletions portfolio, as these names could achieve further outperformance in the coming decade, Arnott said. That's as the current growth-dominated bull market will eventually peter out, he argued, allowing small caps and value stocks to climb higher.

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New Nvidia research shows AI can predict local weather

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Nvidia’s research division recently published an AI weather model that scientists expect will improve weather forecasting at a regional level for short-term weather events. It’s a step forward in the evolving landscape of atmospheric science, where machine learning is playing a greater role.

While scientists around the world are still learning the complex physics of clouds and storms, AI is increasingly helping us fill in some of the blanks.

“AI is completely changing how we simulate the atmosphere,” said Nvidia researcher Mike Pritchard.

Solving physics equations about future weather events is usually done by huge, costly supercomputers, he said. “Which limits how high resolution forecasts can be and how many we can make. But now AI is proving to do as good, if not better, a better job than physics equations at similar predictions.”

And the new research released this week by Nvidia presents a new model for quickly predicting local weather events, like thunderstorms, down to the kilometer.

“It certainly does help with the timeliness of information,” said Maria Molina with the University of Maryland.

The machine learning model can compute more efficiently so you can run predictions more often, she said.

Compared to supercomputers used by richer countries, once machine learning models are trained “they are much cheaper to run, and that is what opens doors for access,” Molina added.

Access for countries with fewer resources to predict severe weather events like derechos and hurricanes.

This is a step toward “a very, very accurate weather forecast, a kilometer scale — weather forecast across the world, which will be game changing in terms of saving lives,” said technologist Peetak Mitra. “Like, you know, predicting drought sooner, predicting heat waves sooner, predicting cold snaps sooner.”

That could make better use of disaster response resources.

“Studies like this, or techniques like this, would open up a lot of opportunities where the relief could be sent to the right place at the right time — beforehand, instead of just spreading it too far, too thin,” said Mitra.

And down the road, he said we could see storm warning systems improve in different parts of the world.

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