Marketing research methods are numerous and vary in their breadth. To become a sophisticated marketer, you must grasp the various tools available to conduct your research. This article will give you an overview of some of the most common marketing research methods used today and some advice on how to use them successfully.
Marketing Research Methods You Should Try Out
Choosing a marketing research method is a crucial part of conducting business. The wrong marketing research method could lead to the wrong analysis or the wrong recommendation. Therefore, it is always a good idea to learn about all the various methods available and then choose the one that best suits your needs. If you have no idea what marketing research methods are available, here is a brief overview of some of the top marketing research methods.
- Surveys
Surveys are some of the most commonly used marketing strategies. A survey is a specific kind of research in which you ask questions to a group of people, usually your target market, asking them to rank certain statements on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10. Surveys are often quite easy to design and execute in that they are usually easy to understand and can take only a few minutes.
Companies that use surveys regularly are usually in the market for feedback. Typical companies that use surveys regularly are hospitals, online dating sites, restaurants, and hotels.
For example, a hospital might have a patient complaining about the high cost of paying medical bills and they would use a survey to see whether the cost is average or even low. Likewise, a hotel might ask customers if they would stay there when traveling in their area or if they would recommend it to their friends.
Some other questions that you can ask customers through surveys include:
- What are the things that make you shop at this store?
- Do you find this store’s branding appealing?
- How do you feel about the quality of customer service at this store?
- Interviews
Interviews give you a good insight into customers’ opinions and are also an excellent way to get your company’s name out there. However, if you are conducting a survey, then it is unlikely that you will get deep information from your prospects as they’re usually just rating questions and ideas on a scale.
However, with an interview, you can get people to fully express their opinions and their views on your brand or product. This is the best way to get deeper, more meaningful customer information.
- Focus groups
Focus groups are another great way to conduct marketing research. Instead of just asking your customers questions, you are asking them to discuss their opinions and feelings in a group setting. Focus groups usually involve 6-15 people that have been specifically hand-picked for the focus
group. This ensures that they have similar beliefs and opinions that make them ideal candidates for a focus group.
Focus groups are great because they allow customers to speak openly about their views on specific things without fear of retaliation from you or your company. Focus groups allow you to get a lot of information from customers, including their likes and dislikes, their feelings about your brand and your competitor’s brands, how they would react if you were to change a certain aspect of your product or service, etc.
A focus group can be very useful in getting the right marketing research results that will guide you on how to improve your business and expand.
- Observation
Observation is another way to get the right marketing research results that will guide you on how to improve your business and expand. It involves closely examining customers’ behaviors in a very non-intrusive way. You simply watch and study customers as they engage with your product or service.
You might see a lot of details about customers that you normally wouldn’t see. For example, you might notice which colors they are wearing, what they are holding, when they bought their products, etc. You can obtain invaluable information with this method, such as how customers learn about your product or what they think about it. You can also see if certain aspects of your marketing are working or not.
For example, if your product is sold at a kiosk and you want to know if people are looking at the product and then walking away, you can go to the kiosk, see how long people stay at the kiosk and whether they take brochures with them. This kind of research could help you figure out if your customers are interacting with your products in a way that they should be or not.
Conclusion
Marketing research is a crucial part of the business. Being able to choose the right marketing research method will help you get the best results through your marketing research. To choose the right method for your unique needs, it’s essential that you know about the various methods available and then choose the one that best suits your needs.