How to Conduct Market Research?

Our customers are the heart of our business! So, what exactly is our target market? 

Congrats! You just came up with a great idea and want to grow your business. From promoting our products, building our social media accounts, and making sales, it’s all about going to the right people with the right products. How exactly do we make sure of that? Exactly: by conducting market research. 

Read more to learn what is market research, how to conduct market analysis, and what is the marketing research process. 

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What is Market Research?

Market research is the process of examining customer behavior and industry trends to help our businesses improve our products, services, or processes. We can understand our users using various market research tools and techniques and develop a business strategy that fits their needs. Plus, we can also build products that solve their problems or get feedback from them to improve our existing products or services. 

Depending on our objectives and industry, our market analysis can be primary research or secondary research. Or, in special cases, it could include elements of both.

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Primary Market Research vs Secondary Market Research

The difference between primary research and secondary is all about where we gather our data. 

Primary research represents collecting first-hand data about our market and about the customers within that market. This type of research is perfect when establishing a customer persona and segmenting the market we want to target. For this reason, primary research is represented by internally determined criteria through exploratory research (open-ended questions), followed by specific primary research, where we ask specific questions to solve a suspected problem. 

Secondary research refers to public records and data available regarding our market. For example, trend reports, industry content, market statistics, and other data that we can find online. However, secondary research can also be taken from our previous sales or website insights. This type of market research is beneficial when it comes to analyzing our competition. 

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Market Research Techniques:

Nowadays, with so many advanced market analysis tools, we can gain valuable insights and information into customer behavior and industry trends through multiple marketing research techniques:

• In-depth Interviews
• Focus Groups
• Surveys
• Online Market Research
• Product Usage and Observation-Based 
• Build Buyer Persona
• Competitive Analysis Research
• Campaign Analysis

Regardless of our marketing research method, we must ensure we ask the right questions to gather enough data to meet their needs and preferences. 

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How to Conduct Market Research:

Now that we have established the marketing research process techniques, it’s time to find out how to conduct the market research.

1. Define Customer Persona

To ensure you’re gathering relevant information and the proper feedback, you must know who your end customer is. This is why it’s necessary to create a customer persona – data that can used from secondary research. 

A customer persona (also known as marketing persona) is a generalized and fictional representation related to the characteristics of our ideal customer. You could build a customer persona based on age, gender, geographic location, job title, financial aspects, etc. Even more so, we can also create multiple personas representing various segments of our target audience.

2. Identify Your Persona Group

Once you know your buyer persona, use this information to identify a group of people that fit the characteristics of your persona to help you with your marketing research process. Try to aim for at least 10 participants per customer persona and focus on analyzing one persona per group. Even more so, try to motivate them to spend at least 30 minutes giving you the most insightful feedback. 

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3. Prepare Your Questions

To make sure we get the most out of our group’s insights, we must be prepared – this is a no-brainer. But it’s not enough just to ask what we assume is necessary. Prepare your outline and what points you want to reach, but it’s essential to let them come up with their own answers.

This is why open-ended questions are key in primary research. Avoid "leading the witness" with yes-or-no questions or close-ended questions. Why? These can unintentionally bias our respondents by reflecting our assumptions. Even more so, this also helps us prevent one-word answers  – which, yes, aren’t really helpful either.

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4. List Your Competitors

To conduct market research, preparing a list of all our major competitors is also extremely necessary. Try to go as in-depth as possible. In most cases, it’s not just about Company A vs Company B. Instead, try to focus on different aspects of your company – such as product comparison, price comparison, feature comparison, and so many other elements that you want to analyze. 

So, it’s necessary to identify our strengths and weaknesses, and those of our competitors. This way, you will be able to determine potential opportunities and threats. At the same time, you will also find out what your persona group thinks about you and your competitors, ensuring you understand their preferences and what’s missing from the market. 

5. Summarize Findings

Now that you have analyzed your research and gathered all the information needed, it’s time to summarize your findings in an organized manner. Don’t just copy and paste their responses into your document. Tell a story. Tell their side of the story. Of course, add quotes or parts of their responses, but make sure you add your flair and how it translates into your situation.

These market analysis findings should be understood by everyone – even those who did not actively participate in conducting the marketing research process. For this reason, ensure you highlight everything important in an understandable and comprehensible form. 

6. Implement the Feedback

Congrats! You’ve just completed your marketing research. Now, it’s time to implement this feedback into our process to fit the needs of our customers and potential customers. Plus, don’t forget to continue monitoring your results and gathering feedback even after implementing changes.

Market research is an ongoing process, as it’s necessary to adapt to industry trends and ever-changing customer needs. So, keep conducting market research because this is the key to business growth! 

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Conduct Market Research with Traction Keys

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Are you ready to take your business to new heights through ongoing collaboration? Our dream team focuses on conducting market research that can move mountains. Whether you’re looking to launch your business or rebrand your existing company, we provide top-class solutions that will set you apart from your competition.

Contact us today to get a personalized quote for your business needs, and let’s start building the path to your next level of success together!