Market research includes a list of techniques that can be crucial for business success. Without it, you won’t be able to identify with your target audience which will lead to a whole bunch of missed opportunities. Today, we will take a look at 6 steps of the Market research process, keep on reading!
What is Market research?
Market research refers to a strategic collection of data about market needs and preferences. It allows to define a target audience, detect their issues, and see if the service/product a brand is offering can be of any help. Apart from the audience, market research can be used to find competitors, and a place among them: see what distinctive features a certain brand possesses and if they offer more than their competitors.
The 6 steps of Market Research
Step #1: Define the problem
First and foremost, you need to clearly state what problem you are trying to solve with your campaign. Why are you conducting research? Later, once you have your issue drawn out, articulate the objectives for the research: What do you want to understand by the time the research project is completed?
Depending on the business stage you are currently at, the problems and objectives can be miscellaneous.
Here is an example for the pre-launch stage:
Issue: we are not sure if the audience needs our product, and is ready to pay money for our services.
Objectives: find out if the idea is liveable, and if not – see what changes need to be done.
Step #2: Draw out the research plan
Now that you know exactly what you need from your market research campaign, time to draw out a more detailed plan. Please, think about what information exactly you need to meet your objectives: is it something about the audience demographics? Do you need to gather opinions? Do you need sales data?
Now, set the time frames and budgets for finding this information. Depending on all that, choose the data collection methods that work for you:
Surveys
Surveys are the most common form of market research that is used all the time. Usually, it is conducted in the form of a series of questions – both open and closed – that are answered by the user.
Interviews
While surveys can be used to gather reliable and even statistical data, interviews provide more subjective knowledge. This type of market research allows for gathering insight into the customer’s attitude, character, and sales decisions.
Focus groups
In this method, a carefully selected group of people is gathered, consisting of the brand’s target audience. Then, a trained moderator uses a series of pre-prepared questions or topics to lead a discussion around the product or services, user experience, messaging, pain points of the user journey, etc.
Customer observation
Customer observation happens as an employee of the brand observes and takes notes while a target customer of the said brand uses their product or a similar one.
Read more on Market research methods
Now pick a way to store and analyze data – see to the tools and responsible team members.
Information: сustomer opinions
Budgets: no out-of-pocket spending
Research type: email surveys
Tools: create and distribute a survey, and gather and analyze data using Checker.
Step #3: Collect information
Now, it’s time to gather data. The process is straightforward enough, just make sure you are collecting all the data and it is of good quality. You won’t have to worry about this issue if you are using good software to gather and store data. For instance, platforms like Checker ensure nothing is lost, and offer a separate data quality assurance process.
Step #4: Analyze the data
Review the data you collected, and determine if that campaign has provided answers to the questions you posed at the beginning. If not – review what this research lacked, and kickstart a new one.
If everything is okay, review the information for meaningful insights and home in on key points that will help inform your marketing campaigns and strategies.
Step #5: Develop a strategy
Based on the collected data, develop a strategy of your further steps. Be ready to introduce changes to your initial concepts, or products, in order to shape them according to your audience’s liking.
Step #6: Act on it
Put your market research data to work. This is the most important step. Act on the data you collected and make sure that the time and money you put into the market research will not go to waste.
Try Checker for your Market research needs
Checker is a professional platform that will allow you to align your market research campaign with your needs. You can run multiple surveys and gather data from multiple channels at once, continuously. The platform will gather all data into adjustable graphs, and make the analyzing process a lot easier.
