6 Ways To Research Your Market

There are many ways to find out information about a market and possible customers. Some of these methods are expensive and time consuming and some are cheaper and easier to use than the others. It is these cheaper and easier methods that will be most attractive for a small business or new start up.


Internet Research

This is by using information that has already been published on the internet to gather results and information about a market for a companies proposed products/services.

The advantages of internet research are that it is generally free of charge --although an internet connection and internet device obviously costs some amount of money-- and it gives a quick overview of the market.

Some disadvantages of internet research are that some resources --such as the competitors websites-- may be biased and the information you find may not be the specific information you intended to find out.


Telephone Survey

This is a series of set questions delivered to consumers over the telephone as a method of primary research.

The advantages of a telephone survey is that it is cheap and it allows personal interview to clarify any questions that are unclear.


A big disadvantage to a telephone survey is that your call may be viewed as a nuisance and not wanted.


Questionnaire

A Fill In Questionnaire

The advantages of using a questionnaire for research is that the results back are often rather easy to analyze and that it is a relatively fast way to gather information from a wide range of people.

The main disadvantages of using a questionnaire is that a questionnaire may not give results showing why people behave the way they do; just shows how they behave. Another disadvantage is that the interviewer or questionnaire writer may bias the results by being 'over-friendly'.


Supplier Feedback

This is by gathering information; from companies that supply products or services, on their forecasts for what is likely to happen in the market in the future.

The advantage to using supplier feedback for research is that it may give an insight on future trends in the market --that are not yet visible on the high street-- and by using this method you'll be building a relationship with the supplier.

The only disadvantage to using supplier feedback is that the supplier you use may give a biased view; which will effect your results.


Customer Feedback

This is done by collecting formal or informal responses from the customers of a product/service offered by a specific business (usually in your target market/niche)

Having a real insight as to how to improve the customer experience of your company is a good advantage to using customer feedback for research; after-all your business will evolve around the customer and if you know what they like, what they buy and the standards they have when buying you will have a great insight and the foundations to building your business on successfully.

The disadvantage to customer feedback is that it only gives viable results for people who are either customers already or who are target/potential customers for the future.


Focus Group

A Focus Group Talking About A Product/Service

This is an in-depth discussion with a small group of consumers (8-10) where they give their feeling, thoughts and ideas on and towards a product or service.

A focus group offers an resource of information about consumer attitudes and motives behind purchasing decisions. This can be a great advantage over the other methods for market research.

The downside to a focus group is that it can be very expensive per person questioned and that it is only ever carried out on small samples and thus the results may be unrepresentative.

Have You Conducted Market Research Before? 

What Methods Did You Use?

Leave Your Thoughts Below In The Comments!

Types Of Market Research - Desk and Field Research

Market Research And Analysis

There are two main types of market research. These are desk market research and field market research. Market Research is very important for a business and its power should not be under-estimated. Without doing a sufficient amount of both types of market research a business can easily spend alot of money without getting any benefits back! Market analysis is very important for a marketing campaign and can help you market your business to the right people -- who are intrested in your product or service -- and not the wrong people.

Market research should be an on-going task and you want to get feed back from your customers all of the time! Things to ask your customers are; where they heard about you and your product/service; what they thought about your product/service; and what could be done to improve it.

Types Of Market Research

As I said in the paragraph of this blog post, there are two types of market research; Desk market research and field market research. I shall explain the two types below.

Desk Market Research

Desk Research is where you collect and analyze information that alredy exsists but has not alredy been collected togeather. This information can be found in a variety of informative sources such as the yellow pages. The main purposes of doing desk research is to find out:

• Competitors - Who they are, where they are, and how many of them there are.
• Businesses - How many there are, wether there competition, and where they are.
• Economic trends - Are people buying the products/services you provide?
• Householders - How many of a particular type of householder are there in the area of your business?
• Market trends - Is the market/industry growing or shrinking?

Field Market Research

Field research is done by direct conversation with a -- or group of -- potential customers. This form of research is all about getting out and speaking to you target buyer; you may be able to make a questionaire for the target buyer to fill in and answear the questions you need to know. The main purposes of doing field research is to find out information such as:

• How often do customers purchase the product/service you offer.
• How likey they are to purchase the product/service from you.
• Market price they expect?
• How they decide on a supplier.
• A big enough market; with enough customer, to build a successful business?

So now you know the two types of market research and what there purposes are. If you want to know any more on market research, desk market research or field market research -- or you have any comments on this blog post -- feel free to comment below and I shall get back to you as soon as possible!