Learn the key market research examples for businesses to succeed and understand how each of the 6 examples is used in order to meet various research objectives.
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6 common examples of market research
There are a number of market research methods available, the following are 6 common examples of market research that are often used by businesses to achieve success:
1. Desk research
Desk research otherwise known as secondary research are sources of information that have been previously completed separately by other parties for a different purpose and are accessible via paid or even free sources. This could be reports done by research agencies, online search or financial data made available by companies.
2. Surveys
Surveys can be done via multiple channels such as telephone, pen and paper but online surveys is the most common as they are relatively inexpensive to do and can be done swiftly and efficiently within minutes to be received on mobiles, tablets and computers in providing data in real time. You can create your own surveys or polls using platforms like PickFu, which are really easy to use, intuitive and is flexible in serving a number of different purposes.
3. Ethnography and observation
This is more fly on the wall way of observing and listening to these people in certain situations, where people are examined in a specific environment to understand their behaviour. By doing it this way will allow you to go beyond answers given by individuals through observing their real behaviour, whether that be at home or in a special environment.
4. Depth interviews
These are likely to be direct face to face interviews, where the interviewer can talk at length with individuals at suitable private locations or at their homes. Alternatively, this can be done online using applications like Skype or over the telephone. These environments allow individuals to be comfortable in talking openly especially about sensitive subjects and helps gain further insights this way.
5. Focus groups
This is where people have been specifically chosen based on a set of conditions like those who watch scary films at the cinema or who bought a specific brand of smartphone in the last 6 months to take part in group discussions consisting of 5 to 10 people led by a person moderating the group. These discussions take place at a special location with viewing facilities or an online portal. As you have with depth interviews a discussion guide will also be needed.
6. Social Listening
Social media has integrated so well in our lives, this offers another platform for research to be carried out. Views, thoughts and opinions that people have expressed via social media and the amount of content that has been shared is an invaluable source of information that can be taped into. Using social listening tools such as Awario, you can identify topics of interest and analyse the related posts such as examining the number of brand mentions and what people are saying about the product. Social media analytics can also track the number of likes, shares, impressions and link clicks.
Summary
As you can see there are many marketing research examples in business but its dependent on what you are trying to find out, the questions you want answered and the budget you have. This is also very much based on the stage of where the product or service is at, whether it is a new product to be launched or looking to enter into new markets as part of the company’s expansion.
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