There are many different types of market research to help you learn more about your target market and make better business decisions. In this article, we’ll be delving into these and suggesting some of the ways to collect data.
There are two types of data you’ll be collecting when conducting market research, which are exploratory data and conclusive data.
Exploratory data analysis is intended to investigate something that is not clearly actionable. Essentially, it’s intended to give you a better understanding of a problem you’re facing. Conclusive data can then be collected to help you solve a problem identified with exploratory research.
What is market research?
Market research describes the different ways businesses seek to understand their customers and competition. By understanding the different types of market research available to you, you can choose the method that best suits your needs.
Now, let’s get stuck into the different types of market research.
What are the different types of market research?
There are several different types of market research, and each one has its own benefits and drawbacks.
Primary research
Primary research is the process of collecting first-party data, which is information collected from data subjects themselves.
This is the most simple type of market research to perform. It provides you with accurate data, as it comes straight from the source. It’s also very cost-effective, as you don’t have to allocate a budget for sourcing second or third-party data.
The methods for collecting primary research data can be time and resource intensive. You’ll need to find data subjects and take the time to collect the data yourself.
Here are some of the ways you could conduct primary research:
- Surveys: A set of pre-written questions is distributed with customer or prospects.
- Interviews: A single person or small group takes part in a question and answer session, usually in person.
- Focus groups: A small group of specialists or people who’re representative of different customer segments are asked a set of questions.
- Observations: An event is observed by an impartial party, where there is no interaction between the observer and those being observed.
Surveys are by far the most time and cost effective methods, you just need to find free survey software. Market research surveys are easy to create and can be distributed in multiple ways to reach your audience, e.g. via email, embedded on your website, targeting respondents.
As your data is collected in real time, there’s no waiting around to start analyzing your results.
Conducting your survey online also allows you to use features like question logic and text piping to personalize experiences. This will a long way in increasing your response rates, which means more data for you to analyze.
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Secondary research
Secondary market research is the practice of gathering data from sources other than the data subject. For example:
- Published research
- Government records
- Media (newspapers, magazines, blogs)
This type of market research is less time-consuming than primary research. But, it can be more limited in scope because it doesn’t involve speaking to people directly.
However, performing secondary research on a topic can be a great way of building questions for primary research. Having a solid understand of a topic before writing questions is best-practice, so it’s important to consider this.
Quantitative research
Quantitative research is used to gather data in a systematic way. This type of market research is good for measuring the size, shape, and changes in trends of markets. Quantitative data is excellent for benchmarking changes over time and drawing conclusions based on statistical analysis.
This be conducted using any primary or secondary research method, as long as the data can be ‘quantified’ in some way.
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a type of market research that uses interviews and questionnaire responses to gather data. Qualitative data is usually collected using open-ended questions, which allow participants to given free-form answers.
These responses are used to gain insight into your audience’s opinions and feelings in more depth.
This research works well in tandem with quantitative research, as it can give you perspective on why respondents selected certain answers.
For example:
Qualitative question
“On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague?”
Qualitative question
“Could you explain why you chose the above rating?”
Brand research
Brand research is used to investigate how people perceive your brand. The aim of this is to improve brand positioning and create more effective marketing campaigns.
The data you collect should be in reference to the following areas:
Brand awareness: Determine whether people have heard of your brand and where they may have learned about you.
Brand perception: Learn how people feel about your brand, your mission, values, imagery, and activities.
Brand positioning: Discover how people feel about your brand in comparison to your competitors.
Product research
Product research is used to determine how customers perceive the features, benefits, and usability of a product. This type of research can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your products.
Here are some of the ways you can use market research to improve your products:
Product feature testing: Collect feedback on the usability and accessibility of a new features in your app. This information can be used to improve this feature and give you insight on how to deploy future features.
Concept testing: Gauge how customers feel about a new product idea before product launch or before you’ve even started creating it.
Product development: Improve your product by surveying customer experience and and competitor analysis.
Product marketing: Analyze the effectiveness of your product marketing campaigns and identify whether your product was memorable and why?
Usability testing: Ask customers how easy it is to use your products to identify areas for improvement.
Customer research
Customer research is used to learn about the needs and wants of customers. This type of market research can help businesses identify new products or services, and determine how best to market current products.
There are many types of customer research, but here are a few examples:
Customer satisfaction research
Customer satisfaction research is used to measure customer satisfaction with a product or service. This type of research can help businesses determine how well their products are performing, improve customer service, and increase retention.
Customer segmentation research
Customer segmentation research is used to identify different groups of customers that have different needs and wants. This can help you find new markets to target, and find the best way to market your products to those groups.
Customer exit interview research
Exit interview research is used to gather information from customers who’ve cancelled a subscription or no longer intend to purchase products. This type of market research can help you understand why customers are leaving. This could be a problem they had with your product, or even that the support wasn’t up to their standard.
Whatever the problem is, it’s best that you identify it quickly and solve it for other customers.
Competitor research
Marketing campaign effectiveness research is used to determine how well a business’s marketing campaigns are working. Any campaign will incur some cost to your business, it’s essential to identify the strategies which have the best ROI.
Here are some examples:
- Do your paid advertizing campaigns have a positive return.
- What ad content/ offering has the highest conversion rates.
- What language resonates the most with your audience.
- Which sources have the highest referrals to your website (e.g. social media, email campaigns, etc.).
By tracking the above, you can gain the competitive advantage and grow your business faster.
Marketing campaign effectiveness
Marketing campaign effectiveness research is used to determine how well a business’s marketing campaigns are working. Any campaign will incur some cost to your business, it’s essential to identify the strategies which have the best ROI.
Here are some examples:
- Do your paid advertizing campaigns have a positive return.
- What ad content/ offering has the highest conversion rates.
- What language resonates the most with your audience.
- Which sources have the highest referrals to your website (e.g. social media, email campaigns, etc.).
The best ways to determine the effectiveness of a marketing campaign is to measure the amount of sales gained. Then you can run follow up surveys to find out why a campaign led to more sales, e.g. what did customers find compelling?
Website optimization research
Website optimization research is essential to improving search engine rankings and generating leads. By understanding how people browse and search for products and services, you can create effective marketing campaigns to attract new customers.
Content research
Content research is used to determine what content is most effective for a business’s marketing campaigns. By identifying the topics that resonate with customers, you can create content that is both engaging and informative.
Take a look at competitor content, which includes the topics they cover and the form that content takes. Here are a few ways you can do this:
- Review competitor blogs to identify their best performing articles.
- Subscribe to competitor newsletters and draw inspiration from what they share.
- Take part in webinars to find out what they define as valuable content.
Doing so keeps you plugged in to any trends that might have passed you by.
Of course, you can also go straight to your customers and ask them what they’re struggling to find good sources of information for. This can be more time-consuming, but it goes a long way in building relationships when you deliver a piece of content inspired by them.
Keyword research
Keyword research is essential for any business that wants to improve its online presence and increase sales. By identifying the right keywords, businesses can create effective campaigns that target specific markets and attract new customers.
The real focus here is increasing visibility for your posts and pages, which is to say ranking higher in search engines. But you really need to follow this up with high-quality content to keep people coming back to your site.
Wrapping up
There you have it, the many types of market research available to you as a business. We can’t stress how important it is for you to be conducting this kind of research with your customer.
If we’ve missed anything, or if you have any ideas, get in touch and we’ll improve this article together.
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