Market Research

Interviews are the most basic form of data collection in the market research. Here you directly collect first-hand information from your customers. Interviews are more structured in form and include open-ended questions which require deep and elaborate answers. These can be a group or individual interviews depending on the context and requirements. Interviews are generally time-consuming and require huge human resources to execute.

Surveys are another important method of collecting information in market research. Here, a different set of questions which include both open-ended and close-ended questions is given to the respondents. Surveys can be of types such as in-person surveys, telephone surveys, online surveys, etc. Surveys, particularly telephone and online surveys are relatively less expensive when compared to the interviews. Through surveys, you can collect information from a large pool of respondents and therefore these are more reliable than personal or one-on-one interviews.

Sometimes people’s responses in the interviews and surveys can be different from their actual behaviour for various reasons. Many times people may not actually express their views correctly in the surveys and interviews which are recorded directly, making them sometimes go wrong. This is where personal observations can help you collect genuine data. Instead of directly interacting with your customers through surveys and interviews, you can observe their actions through video surveillance camera footages to analyse their behaviour towards your products or services. Here you will get to know about the real behaviour of the customers as they are not being asked directly to respond to any questions.

Focus groups involve interactions with a previously selected set of people related to your business and target customer segment. This is another effective market research method for collecting reliable information from the customers. Here you will have elaborate and free-flowing discussions on various specific topics and can get in-depth and insightful feedback about the topic in question. Focus groups generally consist of 5-10 members; however, there is no limit for the number of respondents. Focus groups are both cost-effective and less time-taking.

Field trials are the best form of market research to clearly understand the response of the customers. Field trails are mostly used before the actual launch of the product into the market. Here you will place the product to be launched in some selected stores to know how customers respond to it. It helps you to make necessary changes in the product to satisfy the customers. Most of the companies generally do pilot testing of the products through field trials before launching the product. It requires broader collaboration between the brand and local stores that are the first point of contact for the end-users.

Social media measurement refers to assessing the brand image of the company by collecting information from customers through social media channels. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. have proliferated into every segment of society, influencing the lives of people in one way or the other. So, social media can be used in a big way to know about customer behaviour and purchase patterns. Through social media, you can reach out to more customers at the same time in a cost-effective manner. Social media measurement is one of the most popular market research techniques being used by many businesses irrespective of size.

Competitive analysis is a highly strategic market research technique which very different from the aforementioned techniques. It involves the collection of data about your competitors in the market. Proper analysis of customer data concerning their strengths, weaknesses, product, sales and marketing strategies, etc. can help you decide how to take on them and gain a competitive advantage in the market. In fact, competitor analysis is essential to create effective business strategies in today’s competitive market environment.