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!