Research Paves a Smoother Path for Future Growth

As a business owner, the last thing you want to do is get caught off guard by changes in the market you share with countless others. This is where market research comes in handy. By taking stock of your industry’s climate and the needs of your customers, you can make smarter decisions that help your business grow.

What Market Research Is (And Is Not)

Market research is the act of taking a deep dive into data that helps you better understand your customers, your competitors, and your overall industry. Even a quick market research campaign can help you make better decisions. Market research is not just asking random consumers a handful of boring questions. As EMI has discussed before, it’s a strategic, targeted approach to ensuring you have reliable insights for your business decisions.

Market Research in a Nutshell

If you’re new to market research, start by asking yourself what you want to know and who you want to talk to. This can give you and your sample partner a better idea of the goals of your study. You might ask questions about everything from quality to products and the services they would like to see how fair they feel your cost is compared to others.

The Benefits

The benefits of market research are vast, but they include:

• Maintaining a customer approach. Market research helps you better understand your customers, which can put you in a position to build your business around their wants and needs.
• Connecting with your audience. When you get a glimpse into what your customers want, you can best tailor your marketing and outreach campaigns to connect with them at their level.
• Identifying growth opportunities. Market research helps you identify gaps in your industry so that you can pounce on opportunities to add new products and services.
• Reducing risk via concept testing. If you find an opportunity during your research that you think might work but aren’t sure, you can test new products and services before you commit to them.
• Making better decisions. All of the information you gather during your market research helps you make more informed decisions about where to spend your money.
• Becoming more competitive. You’ll uncover information about your competitors that can help you stand out.
• Understanding trends. Market trends come and go, and by researching what’s hot today, you may be able to identify what’s coming in the future so that you can react to a changing market.

Different Types of Market Research

According to the Typeform blog, there are eight different types of market research. These include:

• Brand, which is done in the early days to create and/or manage your brand
• Campaign, which helps you determine if your advertising efforts are reaching the right people
• Competitive Analysis, looks and your competitor’s weaknesses and strengths
• Insight, which tells you about your customers and their behaviors
• Customer Satisfaction, which looks at how your products and services are viewed in the market
• Segmentation divides your customers into more niche groups
• Development is the process for helping you create and improve your service line
• Usability Testing, which helps you better understand how your consumers are using what you have to offer.

At the end of the day, your business goals should never be determined based on hunches alone. Instead, create sustainable growth by getting to know your market. Research helps you do just that, and it begins by listening and talking to your customers, crunching the numbers, and making changes that benefit your business. This is why it’s so important to make sure your data is reliable. You want to make decisions based on data you can trust.

Are you ready to exceed your own expectations?