Market Research

We have all come across the term market research before. The most visible kind of research is mystery shopping or people on the high street with tablets asking questions. It can also happen over the phone or online but if you’re a business, how do you identify whether it’s appropriate for you?

Why do you need to carry out research?

The best way to identify if market research would help your business is by asking some qualifying questions. They are questions we would ask at the consultancy stage but it’s important that a business goes through this process, perhaps when setting objectives for the year or if there have been changes:

  • Do you need to know if your staff are happy?
  • Do you want to know if a product will be viable before you market it?
  • How is your brand perceived?
  • What do you want your brand to stand for?
  • Do you want to measure your customer service?
  • Does your business need data on who their market is?
  • How do you move your business forward in the online space?
  • How do you react quickly to reviews and can they help push the business forward?
  • What is fundamental to the business?
  • What are your customers looking for?

What type of market research should you carry out?

Some of these are big questions, that don’t have a short answer, which is where the appropriate market research would be deployed. You could split the questions down into themes or categories such a staff, consumers, brand, product, online engagement and so on. Once these areas have been identified you may then decide which type of research you need to carry out.

Staff Research

Clearly an obvious fit for this is wanting to know if your staff are happy. Of course, this is potentially a can of worms, but you may have more specific goals for these such as restructure or processing system changes. Seeking input from your team really does encourage positive internal communication.

Mystery Shopping

If you have customer facing retail, then this is likely right for your business if you want to measure service in store. It also applies to online shopping with appropriate variances.

Brand Research

Research on brand could take more than one form. You may wish to assess how your brand is perceived by your customers from whatever touchpoint they encounter.

Surveys

These can be carried out online for either your staff or customers depending on what it is you are trying to assess. In the case of staff, you may wish this to be anonymous to get the most honest answers and again with customers, unless you need to measure demographics against the questions.

Panels

Once again this is a format that can be used for either staff or customers once it is decided what information you would like to gather. A group situation can be a powerful way to gain multiple perspectives on the same thing.

Talk to one of our Research Consultants today to find out how we can create a bespoke, cost effective market research programme for your business.

Contact us today for more information!