How should I start with my market research?
It doesn’t matter whether you are brand new in the business or a well-known and respected brand when you are launching a new product or maybe a service. You always have to get insight into what it is your customers want and need. Try to get your customers’ opinions right from the very beginning. Starting with when you hatch an idea up until you have turned your idea into reality. By sending out market research questionnaires to your target market you can easily and swiftly find out if there is a need for your new product. If people like your new idea, and if your product/service is good enough or needs improvement in order to meet your customers’ needs. Find some quick tips to get you started in this intro to market research.
The term “market research” is often used interchangeably with “marketing research,” but there is quite a difference!
“Market research” applies to markets, while “marketing research” refers to the marketing process. Market research is a very important component of any company’s business strategy. Therefore, it is a key factor for maintaining a competitive edge over its competitors. This is where you find an excellent use for a survey!
The questionnaire is a type of survey that consists of a series of questions, often designed for statistical analysis of the feedback. Questionnaires as a research instrument is a tried and true method historically; it was invented already in 1838 by the Statistical Society in London. The great advantages with questionnaires, as opposed to telephone surveys or face-to-face interviews, are that they are cheap to conduct and they do not require staff to call or approach people.
How should you sequence your questions?
As a general rule, they should flow logically from one question to the next. Starting with the least sensitive to the more sensitive ones, from generic to more specified. This is a clever way to achieve better response rates than if you hit your respondents with the “hard” questions right away. It is better to warm up your respondents by asking what they are looking for in this kind of product. As well as, if they have found something that meets their needs before you ask them if they would buy your product, “yes or no”.
And don´t forget the basics
Remember to use clear and understandable wordings so that any respondent, regardless of educational level, can understand the question. Make sure that you have used correct spelling grammar and punctuation – ask someone to proofread before you publish your survey. Grammatical errors look unprofessional and we don’t want that, do we? Of course, not, you are a professional – that is why you are about to conduct market research!
