James Metcalfe
Market research can be a valuable tool for businesses hoping to get an idea of how a new product or strategy might play out when launched to the world. It can, and has proven to be, an invaluable safety net for certain businesses and certain ventures but there is still the age-old question of how much it truly affects business and business leaders in today’s world.
Below is a conversation between business experts from every corner of every field tackling this subject, leaving no stone unturned and no point left unanswered.
Navigate the article
#1 ‘A Critical Component’
I can say market research is a critical component for starting a business, creating a new product, or ensuring your latest feature will satisfy market/customer demand.
Market research at its core identifies who the target audience is, how big or profitable the market may be, if your product meets a current inefficiency in the market, and how much you could effectively charge for licensing or using the product/service you are building.
Contributor: Remy Kouffman from Knockout.ai
#2 An Optimal Result
Market research is by no means a silver bullet, and it's a combination of pure market research and identifying the individual personas or companies that would use your product and why. Market research may tell you where to shine the light, but not always what's there when its illuminated.
However; often times market research is not done at all or thoroughly enough, and can be reduce the chances of delivering an optimal product to market.
Contributor: Remy Kouffman from Knockout.ai
#3 Legitimate Answers
Market research can be a valuable tool, but it is neither the most objective nor the most accurate metric to use when building your business.
While properly conducted market research can help enhance the customer experience and project the viability of new services, you're still depending on people to give you legitimate answers … and sadly, that doesn't always happen.
Contributor: Monica Eaton-Cardone from chargebacks911.com
#4 Limited Data
Sometimes participants don't have enough data to make an informed decision. Sometimes surveys have confusing language, or slant the questions toward the desired outcome. And participants are prone to saying what they feel they SHOULD say, as opposed to what they really believe.
Limited data is better than no data at all, and market research does have its uses. In our experience, however, basing major strategy solely on market research is, at best, risky.
Contributor: Monica Eaton-Cardone from chargebacks911.com
#5 ‘Number One Priority’
Assumptions, intuitions, and hunch feelings should be thrown out the window. Market research should be your number one priority in defining your marketing strategy because this data reveals if people NEED or WILL BUY your product or service. Market research ties into market validation. How do you know your product is in demand? You don't. This is why you need to perform market research to help you figure out where to find those customers.
Contributor: Vicky Llerena from socialvibesmedia.com
#6 Drive The Direction Of Business
Market research is essential to help you understand your target audience, but what's arguably more important is that it can play a crucial role in the development of your product or service. You need to first see if there's a need for your product or service in the market and assess the competitive landscape.
Market research will help you determine how your business will fit in the marketplace and help drive important product decisions. Market trends are increasingly changing which means you need to keep on top of them to stay ahead of your competition by anticipating changes.
Contributor: Britt Armour from kibiiapp.com
#7 Undervalued And Overlooked
Market research is such an undervalued and overlooked aspect of marketing. The key to all good marketing is data - you need data in order to inform your strategy. Sometimes that data is numerical, like how many leads are coming from different marketing channels, which are producing the best conversions, etc. But that data can also be demographic and audience-specific. Without really knowing WHO your audience is, how can you send them effective messaging?
Contributor: Shannon Howard from overit.com
#8 ‘Turns Leads Into Sales’
Consumers are so used to big brands using big data to send personalized messages that when smaller businesses send something generic, they're almost offended by the lack of personalization. They don't feel heard and understood, and they begin to lose trust in your brand, which decreases the likelihood that they will buy from you.
So you can see where market and audience research is so important! It is not only the key to good marketing these days, it's also important in making sure your marketing leads are going to turn into sales.
Contributor: Shannon Howard from overit.com
#9 The Bigger The Decision, The More Important
There are countless ways market research can shape businesses, and the bigger the decision, the more important market research is. The reason why I got into market research is that I saw that there was a lack of upfront work done by founders and company leaders to really understand their customers, competitors, and business plans before making huge decisions that have a heavy financial and potentially emotional weight.
Contributor: Alex Mauritz from magnani.com
This post was created with our nice and easy submission form. Create your post!
