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How to Do Market Research: The Complete Guide

Learn how to do market research with this step-by-step guide, complete with templates, tools and real-world examples.

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What are your customers’ needs? How does your product compare to the competition? What are the emerging trends and opportunities in your industry? If these questions keep you up at night, it’s time to conduct market research.

Market research plays a pivotal role in your ability to stay competitive and relevant, helping you anticipate shifts in consumer behavior and industry dynamics. It involves gathering these insights using a wide range of techniques, from surveys and interviews to data analysis and observational studies.

In this guide, we’ll explore why market research is crucial, the various types of market research, the methods used in data collection, and how to effectively conduct market research to drive informed decision-making and success.

What is market research?

Market research is the systematic process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a specific market or industry. The purpose of market research is to offer valuable insight into the preferences and behaviors of your target audience, and anticipate shifts in market trends and the competitive landscape. This information helps you make data-driven decisions, develop effective strategies for your business, and maximize your chances of long-term growth.

Why is market research important? 

By understanding the significance of market research, you can make sure you’re asking the right questions and using the process to your advantage. Some of the benefits of market research include:

• Informed decision-making: Market research provides you with the data and insights you need to make smart decisions for your business. It helps you identify opportunities, assess risks and tailor your strategies to meet the demands of the market. Without market research, decisions are often based on assumptions or guesswork, leading to costly mistakes.
• Customer-centric approach: A cornerstone of market research involves developing a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences. This gives you valuable insights into your target audience, helping you develop products, services and marketing campaigns that resonate with your customers.
• Competitive advantage: By conducting market research, you’ll gain a competitive edge. You’ll be able to identify gaps in the market, analyze competitor strengths and weaknesses, and position your business strategically. This enables you to create unique value propositions, differentiate yourself from competitors, and seize opportunities that others may overlook.
• Risk mitigation: Market research helps you anticipate market shifts and potential challenges. By identifying threats early, you can proactively adjust their strategies to mitigate risks and respond effectively to changing circumstances. This proactive approach is particularly valuable in volatile industries.
• Resource optimization: Conducting market research allows organizations to allocate their time, money and resources more efficiently. It ensures that investments are made in areas with the highest potential return on investment, reducing wasted resources and improving overall business performance.
• Adaptation to market trends: Markets evolve rapidly, driven by technological advancements, cultural shifts and changing consumer attitudes. Market research ensures that you stay ahead of these trends and adapt your offerings accordingly so you can avoid becoming obsolete. 

As you can see, market research empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions, cater to customer needs, outperform competitors, mitigate risks, optimize resources and stay agile in a dynamic marketplace. These benefits make it a huge industry; the global market research services market is expected to grow from $76.37 billion in 2021 to $108.57 billion in 2026 . Now, let’s dig into the different types of market research that can help you achieve these benefits.

Types of market research 

• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research
• Exploratory research
• Descriptive research
• Causal research
• Cross-sectional research
• Longitudinal research

Despite its advantages, 23% of organizations don’t have a clear market research strategy. Part of developing a strategy involves choosing the right type of market research for your business goals. The most commonly used approaches include:

1. Qualitative research

Qualitative research focuses on understanding the underlying motivations, attitudes and perceptions of individuals or groups. It is typically conducted through techniques like in-depth interviews, focus groups and content analysis — methods we’ll discuss further in the sections below. Qualitative research provides rich, nuanced insights that can inform product development, marketing strategies and brand positioning.

2. Quantitative research

Quantitative research, in contrast to qualitative research, involves the collection and analysis of numerical data, often through surveys, experiments and structured questionnaires. This approach allows for statistical analysis and the measurement of trends, making it suitable for large-scale market studies and hypothesis testing. While it’s worthwhile using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research, most businesses prioritize the latter because it is scientific, measurable and easily replicated across different experiments.

3. Exploratory research

Whether you’re conducting qualitative or quantitative research or a mix of both, exploratory research is often the first step. Its primary goal is to help you understand a market or problem so you can gain insights and identify potential issues or opportunities. This type of market research is less structured and is typically conducted through open-ended interviews, focus groups or secondary data analysis. Exploratory research is valuable when entering new markets or exploring new product ideas.

4. Descriptive research

As its name implies, descriptive research seeks to describe a market, population or phenomenon in detail. It involves collecting and summarizing data to answer questions about audience demographics and behaviors, market size, and current trends. Surveys, observational studies and content analysis are common methods used in descriptive research. 

5. Causal research

Causal research aims to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables. It investigates whether changes in one variable result in changes in another. Experimental designs, A/B testing and regression analysis are common causal research methods. This sheds light on how specific marketing strategies or product changes impact consumer behavior.

6. Cross-sectional research

Cross-sectional market research involves collecting data from a sample of the population at a single point in time. It is used to analyze differences, relationships or trends among various groups within a population. Cross-sectional studies are helpful for market segmentation, identifying target audiences and assessing market trends at a specific moment.

7. Longitudinal research

Longitudinal research, in contrast to cross-sectional research, collects data from the same subjects over an extended period. This allows for the analysis of trends, changes and developments over time. Longitudinal studies are useful for tracking long-term developments in consumer preferences, brand loyalty and market dynamics.

Each type of market research has its strengths and weaknesses, and the method you choose depends on your specific research goals and the depth of understanding you’re aiming to achieve. In the following sections, we’ll delve into primary and secondary research approaches and specific research methods.

Primary vs. secondary market research

Market research of all types can be broadly categorized into two main approaches: primary research and secondary research. By understanding the differences between these approaches, you can better determine the most appropriate research method for your specific goals.

Primary market research 

Primary research involves the collection of original data straight from the source. Typically, this involves communicating directly with your target audience — through surveys, interviews, focus groups and more — to gather information. Here are some key attributes of primary market research:

• Customized data: Primary research provides data that is tailored to your research needs. You design a custom research study and gather information specific to your goals.
• Up-to-date insights: Because primary research involves communicating with customers, the data you collect reflects the most current market conditions and consumer behaviors.
• Time-consuming and resource-intensive: Despite its advantages, primary research can be labor-intensive and costly, especially when dealing with large sample sizes or complex study designs. Whether you hire a market research consultant, agency or use an in-house team, primary research studies consume a large amount of resources and time.

Secondary market research 

Secondary research, on the other hand, involves analyzing data that has already been compiled by third-party sources, such as online research tools, databases, news sites, industry reports and academic studies.

Here are the main characteristics of secondary market research:

• Cost-effective: Secondary research is generally more cost-effective than primary research since it doesn’t require building a research plan from scratch. You and your team can look at databases, websites and publications on an ongoing basis, without needing to design a custom experiment or hire a consultant. 
• Leverages multiple sources: Data tools and software extract data from multiple places across the web, and then consolidate that information within a single platform. This means you’ll get a greater amount of data and a wider scope from secondary research.
• Quick to access: You can access a wide range of information rapidly — often in seconds — if you’re using online research tools and databases. Because of this, you can act on insights sooner, rather than taking the time to develop an experiment. 

So, when should you use primary vs. secondary research? In practice, many market research projects incorporate both primary and secondary research to take advantage of the strengths of each approach.

One rule of thumb is to focus on secondary research to obtain background information, market trends or industry benchmarks. It is especially valuable for conducting preliminary research, competitor analysis, or when time and budget constraints are tight. Then, if you still have knowledge gaps or need to answer specific questions unique to your business model, use primary research to create a custom experiment. 

Market research methods

• Surveys and questionnaires
• Focus groups
• Observational research
• Online research tools
• Experiments
• Content analysis
• Ethnographic research

How do primary and secondary research approaches translate into specific research methods? Let’s take a look at the different ways you can gather data: 

1. Surveys and questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires are popular methods for collecting structured data from a large number of respondents. They involve a set of predetermined questions that participants answer. Surveys can be conducted through various channels, including online tools, telephone interviews and in-person or online questionnaires. They are useful for gathering quantitative data and assessing customer demographics, opinions, preferences and needs. On average, customer surveys have a 33% response rate , so keep that in mind as you consider your sample size.

2. Interviews

Interviews are in-depth conversations with individuals or groups to gather qualitative insights. They can be structured (with predefined questions) or unstructured (with open-ended discussions). Interviews are valuable for exploring complex topics, uncovering motivations and obtaining detailed feedback. 

3. Focus groups

The most common primary research methods are in-depth webcam interviews and focus groups. Focus groups are a small gathering of participants who discuss a specific topic or product under the guidance of a moderator. These discussions are valuable for primary market research because they reveal insights into consumer attitudes, perceptions and emotions. Focus groups are especially useful for idea generation, concept testing and understanding group dynamics within your target audience.

4. Observational research

Observational research involves observing and recording participant behavior in a natural setting. This method is particularly valuable when studying consumer behavior in physical spaces, such as retail stores or public places. In some types of observational research, participants are aware you’re watching them; in other cases, you discreetly watch consumers without their knowledge, as they use your product. Either way, observational research provides firsthand insights into how people interact with products or environments.

5. Online research tools

You and your team can do your own secondary market research using online tools. These tools include data prospecting platforms and databases, as well as online surveys, social media listening, web analytics and sentiment analysis platforms. They help you gather data from online sources, monitor industry trends, track competitors, understand consumer preferences and keep tabs on online behavior. We’ll talk more about choosing the right market research tools in the sections that follow.

6. Experiments

Market research experiments are controlled tests of variables to determine causal relationships. While experiments are often associated with scientific research, they are also used in market research to assess the impact of specific marketing strategies, product features, or pricing and packaging changes.

7. Content analysis

Content analysis involves the systematic examination of textual, visual or audio content to identify patterns, themes and trends. It’s commonly applied to customer reviews, social media posts and other forms of online content to analyze consumer opinions and sentiments.

8. Ethnographic research

Ethnographic research immerses researchers into the daily lives of consumers to understand their behavior and culture. This method is particularly valuable when studying niche markets or exploring the cultural context of consumer choices.

How to do market research

• Set clear objectives
• Identify your target audience
• Choose your research methods
• Use the right market research tools
• Collect data
• Analyze data 
• Interpret your findings
• Identify opportunities and challenges
• Make informed business decisions
• Monitor and adapt

Now that you have gained insights into the various market research methods at your disposal, let’s delve into the practical aspects of how to conduct market research effectively. Here’s a quick step-by-step overview, from defining objectives to monitoring market shifts.

1. Set clear objectives

When you set clear and specific goals, you’re essentially creating a compass to guide your research questions and methodology. Start by precisely defining what you want to achieve. Are you launching a new product and want to understand its viability in the market? Are you evaluating customer satisfaction with a product redesign? 

Start by creating SMART goals — objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Not only will this clarify your research focus from the outset, but it will also help you track progress and benchmark your success throughout the process. 

You should also consult with key stakeholders and team members to ensure alignment on your research objectives before diving into data collecting. This will help you gain diverse perspectives and insights that will shape your research approach.

2. Identify your target audience

Next, you’ll need to pinpoint your target audience to determine who should be included in your research. Begin by creating detailed buyer personas or stakeholder profiles. Consider demographic factors like age, gender, income and location, but also delve into psychographics, such as interests, values and pain points.

The more specific your target audience, the more accurate and actionable your research will be. Additionally, segment your audience if your research objectives involve studying different groups, such as current customers and potential leads.

If you already have existing customers, you can also hold conversations with them to better understand your target market. From there, you can refine your buyer personas and tailor your research methods accordingly.

3. Choose your research methods

Selecting the right research methods is crucial for gathering high-quality data. Start by considering the nature of your research objectives. If you’re exploring consumer preferences, surveys and interviews can provide valuable insights. For in-depth understanding, focus groups or observational research might be suitable. Consider using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a well-rounded perspective. 

You’ll also need to consider your budget. Think about what you can realistically achieve using the time and resources available to you. If you have a fairly generous budget, you may want to try a mix of primary and secondary research approaches. If you’re doing market research for a startup , on the other hand, chances are your budget is somewhat limited. If that’s the case, try addressing your goals with secondary research tools before investing time and effort in a primary research study. 

4. Use the right market research tools

Whether you’re conducting primary or secondary research, you’ll need to choose the right tools. These can help you do anything from sending surveys to customers to monitoring trends and analyzing data. Here are some examples of popular market research tools:

• Market research software: Crunchbase is a platform that provides best-in-class company data, making it valuable for market research on growing companies and industries. You can use Crunchbase to access trusted, first-party funding data, revenue data, news and firmographics, enabling you to monitor industry trends and understand customer needs.

• Survey and questionnaire tools: SurveyMonkey is a widely used online survey platform that allows you to create, distribute and analyze surveys. Google Forms is a free tool that lets you create surveys and collect responses through Google Drive.
• Data analysis software: Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are useful for conducting statistical analyses. SPSS is a powerful statistical analysis software used for data processing, analysis and reporting.
• Social listening tools: Brandwatch is a social listening and analytics platform that helps you monitor social media conversations, track sentiment and analyze trends. Mention is a media monitoring tool that allows you to track mentions of your brand, competitors and keywords across various online sources.
• Data visualization platforms: Tableau is a data visualization tool that helps you create interactive and shareable dashboards and reports. Power BI by Microsoft is a business analytics tool for creating interactive visualizations and reports.

5. Collect data

There’s an infinite amount of data you could be collecting using these tools, so you’ll need to be intentional about going after the data that aligns with your research goals. Implement your chosen research methods, whether it’s distributing surveys, conducting interviews or pulling from secondary research platforms. Pay close attention to data quality and accuracy, and stick to a standardized process to streamline data capture and reduce errors. 

6. Analyze data

Once data is collected, you’ll need to analyze it systematically. Use statistical software or analysis tools to identify patterns, trends and correlations. For qualitative data, employ thematic analysis to extract common themes and insights. Visualize your findings with charts, graphs and tables to make complex data more understandable.

If you’re not proficient in data analysis, consider outsourcing or collaborating with a data analyst who can assist in processing and interpreting your data accurately.

7. Interpret your findings

Interpreting your market research findings involves understanding what the data means in the context of your objectives. Are there significant trends that uncover the answers to your initial research questions? Consider the implications of your findings on your business strategy. It’s essential to move beyond raw data and extract actionable insights that inform decision-making.

Hold a cross-functional meeting or workshop with relevant team members to collectively interpret the findings. Different perspectives can lead to more comprehensive insights and innovative solutions.

8. Identify opportunities and challenges

Use your research findings to identify potential growth opportunities and challenges within your market. What segments of your audience are underserved or overlooked? Are there emerging trends you can capitalize on? Conversely, what obstacles or competitors could hinder your progress?

Lay out this information in a clear and organized way by conducting a SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Jot down notes for each of these areas to provide a structured overview of gaps and hurdles in the market.

9. Make informed business decisions

Market research is only valuable if it leads to informed decisions for your company. Based on your insights, devise actionable strategies and initiatives that align with your research objectives. Whether it’s refining your product, targeting new customer segments or adjusting pricing, ensure your decisions are rooted in the data.

At this point, it’s also crucial to keep your team aligned and accountable. Create an action plan that outlines specific steps, responsibilities and timelines for implementing the recommendations derived from your research. 

10. Monitor and adapt

Market research isn’t a one-time activity; it’s an ongoing process. Continuously monitor market conditions, customer behaviors and industry trends. Set up mechanisms to collect real-time data and feedback. As you gather new information, be prepared to adapt your strategies and tactics accordingly. Regularly revisiting your research ensures your business remains agile and reflects changing market dynamics and consumer preferences.

Online market research sources

As you go through the steps above, you’ll want to turn to trusted, reputable sources to gather your data. Here’s a list to get you started:

• Crunchbase: As mentioned above, Crunchbase is an online platform with an extensive dataset, allowing you to access in-depth insights on market trends, consumer behavior and competitive analysis. You can also customize your search options to tailor your research to specific industries, geographic regions or customer personas.

• Academic databases: Academic databases, such as ProQuest and JSTOR , are treasure troves of scholarly research papers, studies and academic journals. They offer in-depth analyses of various subjects, including market trends, consumer preferences and industry-specific insights. Researchers can access a wealth of peer-reviewed publications to gain a deeper understanding of their research topics.
• Government and NGO databases: Government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and other institutions frequently maintain databases containing valuable economic, demographic and industry-related data. These sources offer credible statistics and reports on a wide range of topics, making them essential for market researchers. Examples include the U.S. Census Bureau , the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Pew Research Center .
• Industry reports: Industry reports and market studies are comprehensive documents prepared by research firms, industry associations and consulting companies. They provide in-depth insights into specific markets, including market size, trends, competitive analysis and consumer behavior. You can find this information by looking at relevant industry association databases; examples include the American Marketing Association and the National Retail Federation .
• Social media and online communities: Social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter (X) , forums such as Reddit and Quora , and review platforms such as G2 can provide real-time insights into consumer sentiment, opinions and trends. 

Market research examples

At this point, you have market research tools and data sources — but how do you act on the data you gather? Let’s go over some real-world examples that illustrate the practical application of market research across various industries. These examples showcase how market research can lead to smart decision-making and successful business decisions.

Example 1: Apple’s iPhone launch

Apple ’s iconic iPhone launch in 2007 serves as a prime example of market research driving product innovation in tech. Before the iPhone’s release, Apple conducted extensive market research to understand consumer preferences, pain points and unmet needs in the mobile phone industry. This research led to the development of a touchscreen smartphone with a user-friendly interface, addressing consumer demands for a more intuitive and versatile device. The result was a revolutionary product that disrupted the market and redefined the smartphone industry.

Example 2: McDonald’s global expansion

McDonald’s successful global expansion strategy demonstrates the importance of market research when expanding into new territories. Before entering a new market, McDonald’s conducts thorough research to understand local tastes, preferences and cultural nuances. This research informs menu customization, marketing strategies and store design. For instance, in India, McDonald’s offers a menu tailored to local preferences, including vegetarian options. This market-specific approach has enabled McDonald’s to adapt and thrive in diverse global markets.

Example 3: Organic and sustainable farming

The shift toward organic and sustainable farming practices in the food industry is driven by market research that indicates increased consumer demand for healthier and environmentally friendly food options. As a result, food producers and retailers invest in sustainable sourcing and organic product lines — such as with these sustainable seafood startups — to align with this shift in consumer values. 

The bottom line? Market research has multiple use cases and is a critical practice for any industry. Whether it’s launching groundbreaking products, entering new markets or responding to changing consumer preferences, you can use market research to shape successful strategies and outcomes.

Market research templates

You finally have a strong understanding of how to do market research and apply it in the real world. Before we wrap up, here are some market research templates that you can use as a starting point for your projects:

• Smartsheet competitive analysis templates : These spreadsheets can serve as a framework for gathering information about the competitive landscape and obtaining valuable lessons to apply to your business strategy.
• SurveyMonkey product survey template : Customize the questions on this survey based on what you want to learn from your target customers.
• HubSpot templates : HubSpot offers a wide range of free templates you can use for market research, business planning and more.
• SCORE templates : SCORE is a nonprofit organization that provides templates for business plans, market analysis and financial projections.
• SBA.gov : The U.S. Small Business Administration offers templates for every aspect of your business, including market research, and is particularly valuable for new startups. 

Strengthen your business with market research

When conducted effectively, market research is like a guiding star. Equipped with the right tools and techniques, you can uncover valuable insights, stay competitive, foster innovation and navigate the complexities of your industry.

Throughout this guide, we’ve discussed the definition of market research, different research methods, and how to conduct it effectively. We’ve also explored various types of market research and shared practical insights and templates for getting started. 

Now, it’s time to start the research process. Trust in data, listen to the market and make informed decisions that guide your company toward lasting success.

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What Is Market Research?

• How It Works
• Primary vs. Secondary
• How to Conduct Research

The Bottom Line

• Marketing Essentials

How to Do Market Research, Types, and Example

Joules Garcia / Investopedia

Market research examines consumer behavior and trends in the economy to help a business develop and fine-tune its business idea and strategy. It helps a business understand its target market by gathering and analyzing data.

Market research is the process of evaluating the viability of a new service or product through research conducted directly with potential customers. It allows a company to define its target market and get opinions and other feedback from consumers about their interest in a product or service.

Research may be conducted in-house or by a third party that specializes in market research. It can be done through surveys and focus groups, among other ways. Test subjects are usually compensated with product samples or a small stipend for their time.

Key Takeaways

• Companies conduct market research before introducing new products to determine their appeal to potential customers.
• Tools include focus groups, telephone interviews, and questionnaires.
• The results of market research inform the final design of the product and determine how it will be positioned in the marketplace.
• Market research usually combines primary information, gathered directly from consumers, and secondary information, which is data available from external sources.

Market Research

How market research works.

Market research is used to determine the viability of a new product or service. The results may be used to revise the product design and fine-tune the strategy for introducing it to the public. This can include information gathered for the purpose of determining market segmentation . It also informs product differentiation , which is used to tailor advertising.

A business engages in various tasks to complete the market research process. It gathers information based on the market sector being targeted by the product. This information is then analyzed and relevant data points are interpreted to draw conclusions about how the product may be optimally designed and marketed to the market segment for which it is intended.

It is a critical component in the research and development (R&D) phase of a new product or service introduction. Market research can be conducted in many different ways, including surveys, product testing, interviews, and focus groups.

Market research is a critical tool that companies use to understand what consumers want, develop products that those consumers will use, and maintain a competitive advantage over other companies in their industry.

Primary Market Research vs. Secondary Market Research

Market research usually consists of a combination of:

• Primary research, gathered by the company or by an outside company that it hires
• Secondary research, which draws on external sources of data

Primary Market Research

Primary research generally falls into two categories: exploratory and specific research.

• Exploratory research is less structured and functions via open-ended questions. The questions may be posed in a focus group setting, telephone interviews, or questionnaires. It results in questions or issues that the company needs to address about a product that it has under development.
• Specific research delves more deeply into the problems or issues identified in exploratory research.

Secondary Market Research

All market research is informed by the findings of other researchers about the needs and wants of consumers. Today, much of this research can be found online.

Secondary research can include population information from government census data , trade association research reports , polling results, and research from other businesses operating in the same market sector.

History of Market Research

Formal market research began in Germany during the 1920s. In the United States, it soon took off with the advent of the Golden Age of Radio.

Companies that created advertisements for this new entertainment medium began to look at the demographics of the audiences who listened to each of the radio plays, music programs, and comedy skits that were presented.

They had once tried to reach the widest possible audience by placing their messages on billboards or in the most popular magazines. With radio programming, they had the chance to target rural or urban consumers, teenagers or families, and judge the results by the sales numbers that followed.

Types of Market Research

Face-to-face interviews.

From their earliest days, market research companies would interview people on the street about the newspapers and magazines that they read regularly and ask whether they recalled any of the ads or brands that were published in them. Data collected from these interviews were compared to the circulation of the publication to determine the effectiveness of those ads.

Market research and surveys were adapted from these early techniques.

To get a strong understanding of your market, it’s essential to understand demand, market size, economic indicators, location, market saturation, and pricing.

Focus Groups

A focus group is a small number of representative consumers chosen to try a product or watch an advertisement.

Afterward, the group is asked for feedback on their perceptions of the product, the company’s brand, or competing products. The company then takes that information and makes decisions about what to do with the product or service, whether that's releasing it, making changes, or abandoning it altogether.

Phone Research

The man-on-the-street interview technique soon gave way to the telephone interview. A telephone interviewer could collect information in a more efficient and cost-effective fashion.

Telephone research was a preferred tactic of market researchers for many years. It has become much more difficult in recent years as landline phone service dwindles and is replaced by less accessible mobile phones.

Survey Research

As an alternative to focus groups, surveys represent a cost-effective way to determine consumer attitudes without having to interview anyone in person. Consumers are sent surveys in the mail, usually with a coupon or voucher to incentivize participation. These surveys help determine how consumers feel about the product, brand, and price point.

Online Market Research

With people spending more time online, market research activities have shifted online as well. Data collection still uses a survey-style form. But instead of companies actively seeking participants by finding them on the street or cold calling them on the phone, people can choose to sign up, take surveys, and offer opinions when they have time.

This makes the process far less intrusive and less rushed, since people can participate on their own time and of their own volition.

How to Conduct Market Research

The first step to effective market research is to determine the goals of the study. Each study should seek to answer a clear, well-defined problem. For example, a company might seek to identify consumer preferences, brand recognition, or the comparative effectiveness of different types of ad campaigns.

After that, the next step is to determine who will be included in the research. Market research is an expensive process, and a company cannot waste resources collecting unnecessary data. The firm should decide in advance which types of consumers will be included in the research, and how the data will be collected. They should also account for the probability of statistical errors or sampling bias .

The next step is to collect the data and analyze the results. If the two previous steps have been completed accurately, this should be straightforward. The researchers will collect the results of their study, keeping track of the ages, gender, and other relevant data of each respondent. This is then analyzed in a marketing report that explains the results of their research.

The last step is for company executives to use their market research to make business decisions. Depending on the results of their research, they may choose to target a different group of consumers, or they may change their price point or some product features.

The results of these changes may eventually be measured in further market research, and the process will begin all over again.

Benefits of Market Research

Market research is essential for developing brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Since it is unlikely for a product to appeal equally to every consumer, a strong market research program can help identify the key demographics and market segments that are most likely to use a given product.

Market research is also important for developing a company’s advertising efforts. For example, if a company’s market research determines that its consumers are more likely to use Facebook than X (formerly Twitter), it can then target its advertisements to one platform instead of another. Or, if they determine that their target market is value-sensitive rather than price-sensitive, they can work on improving the product rather than reducing their prices.

Market research only works when subjects are honest and open to participating.

Example of Market Research

Many companies use market research to test new products or get information from consumers about what kinds of products or services they need and don’t currently have.

For example, a company that’s considering starting a business might conduct market research to test the viability of its product or service. If the market research confirms consumer interest, the business can proceed confidently with its business plan . If not, the company can use the results of the market research to make adjustments to the product to bring it in line with customer desires.

What Are the Main Types of Market Research?

The main types of market research are primary research and secondary research. Primary research includes focus groups, polls, and surveys. Secondary research includes academic articles, infographics, and white papers.

Qualitative research gives insights into how customers feel and think. Quantitative research uses data and statistics such as website views, social media engagement, and subscriber numbers.

What Is Online Market Research?

Online market research uses the same strategies and techniques as traditional primary and secondary market research, but it is conducted on the Internet. Potential customers may be asked to participate in a survey or give feedback on a product. The responses may help the researchers create a profile of the likely customer for a new product.

What Are Paid Market Research Surveys?

Paid market research involves rewarding individuals who agree to participate in a study. They may be offered a small payment for their time or a discount coupon in return for filling out a questionnaire or participating in a focus group.

What Is a Market Study?

A market study is an analysis of consumer demand for a product or service. It looks at all of the factors that influence demand for a product or service. These include the product’s price, location, competition, and substitutes as well as general economic factors that could influence the new product’s adoption, for better or worse.

Market research is a key component of a company’s research and development (R&D) stage. It helps companies understand in advance the viability of a new product that they have in development and to see how it might perform in the real world.

Britannica Money. “ Market Research .”

U.S. Small Business Administration. “ Market Research and Competitive Analysis .”

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How to do market research in 4 steps: a lean approach to marketing research

From pinpointing your target audience and assessing your competitive advantage, to ongoing product development and customer satisfaction efforts, market research is a practice your business can only benefit from.

Learn how to conduct quick and effective market research using a lean approach in this article full of strategies and practical examples. 

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A comprehensive (and successful) business strategy is not complete without some form of market research—you can’t make informed and profitable business decisions without truly understanding your customer base and the current market trends that drive your business.

In this article, you’ll learn how to conduct quick, effective market research  using an approach called 'lean market research'. It’s easier than you might think, and it can be done at any stage in a product’s lifecycle.

How to conduct lean market research in 4 steps

What is market research, why is market research so valuable, advantages of lean market research, 4 common market research methods, 5 common market research questions, market research faqs.

We’ll jump right into our 4-step approach to lean market research. To show you how it’s done in the real world, each step includes a practical example from Smallpdf , a Swiss company that used lean market research to reduce their tool’s error rate by 75% and boost their Net Promoter Score® (NPS) by 1%.

Research your market the lean way...

From on-page surveys to user interviews, Hotjar has the tools to help you scope out your market and get to know your customers—without breaking the bank.

The following four steps and practical examples will give you a solid market research plan for understanding who your users are and what they want from a company like yours.

1. Create simple user personas

A user persona is a semi-fictional character based on psychographic and demographic data from people who use websites and products similar to your own. Start by defining broad user categories, then elaborate on them later to further segment your customer base and determine your ideal customer profile .

How to get the data: use on-page or emailed surveys and interviews to understand your users and what drives them to your business.

How to do it right: whatever survey or interview questions you ask, they should answer the following questions about the customer:

Who are they?

What is their main goal?

What is their main barrier to achieving this goal?

Pitfalls to avoid:

Don’t ask too many questions! Keep it to five or less, otherwise you’ll inundate them and they’ll stop answering thoughtfully.

Don’t worry too much about typical demographic questions like age or background. Instead, focus on the role these people play (as it relates to your product) and their goals.

How Smallpdf did it: Smallpdf ran an on-page survey for a couple of weeks and received 1,000 replies. They learned that many of their users were administrative assistants, students, and teachers.

Next, they used the survey results to create simple user personas like this one for admins:

Who are they? Administrative Assistants.

What is their main goal? Creating Word documents from a scanned, hard-copy document or a PDF where the source file was lost.

What is their main barrier to achieving it? Converting a scanned PDF doc to a Word file.

💡Pro tip: Smallpdf used Hotjar Surveys to run their user persona survey. Our survey tool helped them avoid the pitfalls of guesswork and find out who their users really are, in their own words. 

You can design a survey and start running it in minutes with our easy-to-use drag and drop builder. Customize your survey to fit your needs, from a sleek one-question pop-up survey to a fully branded questionnaire sent via email. 

We've also created 40+ free survey templates that you can start collecting data with, including a user persona survey like the one Smallpdf used.

2. Conduct observational research

Observational research involves taking notes while watching someone use your product (or a similar product).

Overt vs. covert observation

Overt observation involves asking customers if they’ll let you watch them use your product. This method is often used for user testing and it provides a great opportunity for collecting live product or customer feedback .

Covert observation means studying users ‘in the wild’ without them knowing. This method works well if you sell a type of product that people use regularly, and it offers the purest observational data because people often behave differently when they know they’re being watched. 

Tips to do it right:

Record an entry in your field notes, along with a timestamp, each time an action or event occurs.

Make note of the users' workflow, capturing the ‘what,’ ‘why,’ and ‘for whom’ of each action.

Don’t record identifiable video or audio data without consent. If recording people using your product is helpful for achieving your research goal, make sure all participants are informed and agree to the terms.

Don’t forget to explain why you’d like to observe them (for overt observation). People are more likely to cooperate if you tell them you want to improve the product.

💡Pro tip: while conducting field research out in the wild can wield rewarding results, you can also conduct observational research remotely. Hotjar Recordings is a tool that lets you capture anonymized user sessions of real people interacting with your website. 

Observe how customers navigate your pages and products to gain an inside look into their user behavior . This method is great for conducting exploratory research with the purpose of identifying more specific issues to investigate further, like pain points along the customer journey and opportunities for optimizing conversion .

With Hotjar Recordings you can observe real people using your site without capturing their sensitive information

How Smallpdf did it: here’s how Smallpdf observed two different user personas both covertly and overtly.

Observing students (covert): Kristina Wagner, Principle Product Manager at Smallpdf, went to cafes and libraries at two local universities and waited until she saw students doing PDF-related activities. Then she watched and took notes from a distance. One thing that struck her was the difference between how students self-reported their activities vs. how they behaved (i.e, the self-reporting bias). Students, she found, spent hours talking, listening to music, or simply staring at a blank screen rather than working. When she did find students who were working, she recorded the task they were performing and the software they were using (if she recognized it).

Observing administrative assistants (overt): Kristina sent emails to admins explaining that she’d like to observe them at work, and she asked those who agreed to try to batch their PDF work for her observation day. While watching admins work, she learned that they frequently needed to scan documents into PDF-format and then convert those PDFs into Word docs. By observing the challenges admins faced, Smallpdf knew which products to target for improvement.

“Data is really good for discovery and validation, but there is a bit in the middle where you have to go and find the human.”

3. Conduct individual interviews

Interviews are one-on-one conversations with members of your target market. They allow you to dig deep and explore their concerns, which can lead to all sorts of revelations.

Listen more, talk less. Be curious.

Act like a journalist, not a salesperson. Rather than trying to talk your company up, ask people about their lives, their needs, their frustrations, and how a product like yours could help.

Ask "why?" so you can dig deeper. Get into the specifics and learn about their past behavior.

Record the conversation. Focus on the conversation and avoid relying solely on notes by recording the interview. There are plenty of services that will transcribe recorded conversations for a good price (including Hotjar!).

Avoid asking leading questions , which reveal bias on your part and pushes respondents to answer in a certain direction (e.g. “Have you taken advantage of the amazing new features we just released?).

Don't ask loaded questions , which sneak in an assumption which, if untrue, would make it impossible to answer honestly. For example, we can’t ask you, “What did you find most useful about this article?” without asking whether you found the article useful in the first place.

Be cautious when asking opinions about the future (or predictions of future behavior). Studies suggest that people aren’t very good at predicting their future behavior. This is due to several cognitive biases, from the misguided exceptionalism bias (we’re good at guessing what others will do, but we somehow think we’re different), to the optimism bias (which makes us see things with rose-colored glasses), to the ‘illusion of control’ (which makes us forget the role of randomness in future events).

How Smallpdf did it: Kristina explored her teacher user persona by speaking with university professors at a local graduate school. She learned that the school was mostly paperless and rarely used PDFs, so for the sake of time, she moved on to the admins.

A bit of a letdown? Sure. But this story highlights an important lesson: sometimes you follow a lead and come up short, so you have to make adjustments on the fly. Lean market research is about getting solid, actionable insights quickly so you can tweak things and see what works.

💡Pro tip: to save even more time, conduct remote interviews using an online user research service like Hotjar Engage , which automates the entire interview process, from recruitment and scheduling to hosting and recording.

You can interview your own customers or connect with people from our diverse pool of 200,000+ participants from 130+ countries and 25 industries. And no need to fret about taking meticulous notes—Engage will automatically transcribe the interview for you.

4. Analyze the data (without drowning in it)

The following techniques will help you wrap your head around the market data you collect without losing yourself in it. Remember, the point of lean market research is to find quick, actionable insights.

A flow model is a diagram that tracks the flow of information within a system. By creating a simple visual representation of how users interact with your product and each other, you can better assess their needs.

You’ll notice that admins are at the center of Smallpdf’s flow model, which represents the flow of PDF-related documents throughout a school. This flow model shows the challenges that admins face as they work to satisfy their own internal and external customers.

Affinity diagram

An affinity diagram is a way of sorting large amounts of data into groups to better understand the big picture. For example, if you ask your users about their profession, you’ll notice some general themes start to form, even though the individual responses differ. Depending on your needs, you could group them by profession, or more generally by industry.

We wrote a guide about how to analyze open-ended questions to help you sort through and categorize large volumes of response data. You can also do this by hand by clipping up survey responses or interview notes and grouping them (which is what Kristina does).

“For an interview, you will have somewhere between 30 and 60 notes, and those notes are usually direct phrases. And when you literally cut them up into separate pieces of paper and group them, they should make sense by themselves.”

Pro tip: if you’re conducting an online survey with Hotjar, keep your team in the loop by sharing survey responses automatically via our Slack and Microsoft Team integrations. Reading answers as they come in lets you digest the data in pieces and can help prepare you for identifying common themes when it comes time for analysis.

Hotjar lets you easily share survey responses with your team

Customer journey map

A customer journey map is a diagram that shows the way a typical prospect becomes a paying customer. It outlines their first interaction with your brand and every step in the sales cycle, from awareness to repurchase (and hopefully advocacy).

The above  customer journey map , created by our team at Hotjar, shows many ways a customer might engage with our tool. Your map will be based on your own data and business model.

📚 Read more: if you’re new to customer journey maps, we wrote this step-by-step guide to creating your first customer journey map in 2 and 1/2 days with free templates you can download and start using immediately.

Next steps: from research to results

So, how do you turn market research insights into tangible business results? Let’s look at the actions Smallpdf took after conducting their lean market research: first they implemented changes, then measured the impact.

Implement changes

Based on what Smallpdf learned about the challenges that one key user segment (admins) face when trying to convert PDFs into Word files, they improved their ‘PDF to Word’ conversion tool.

We won’t go into the details here because it involves a lot of technical jargon, but they made the entire process simpler and more straightforward for users. Plus, they made it so that their system recognized when you drop a PDF file into their ‘Word to PDF’ converter instead of the ‘PDF to Word’ converter, so users wouldn’t have to redo the task when they made that mistake. 

In other words: simple market segmentation for admins showed a business need that had to be accounted for, and customers are happier overall after Smallpdf implemented an informed change to their product.

Measure results

According to the Lean UX model, product and UX changes aren’t retained unless they achieve results.

Smallpdf’s changes produced:

A 75% reduction in error rate for the ‘PDF to Word’ converter

A 1% increase in NPS

Greater confidence in the team’s marketing efforts

"With all the changes said and done, we've cut our original error rate in four, which is huge. We increased our NPS by +1%, which isn't huge, but it means that of the users who received a file, they were still slightly happier than before, even if they didn't notice that anything special happened at all.”

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Market research (or marketing research) is any set of techniques used to gather information and better understand a company’s target market. This might include primary research on brand awareness and customer satisfaction or secondary market research on market size and competitive analysis. Businesses use this information to design better products, improve user experience, and craft a marketing strategy that attracts quality leads and improves conversion rates.

David Darmanin, one of Hotjar’s founders, launched two startups before Hotjar took off—but both companies crashed and burned. Each time, he and his team spent months trying to design an amazing new product and user experience, but they failed because they didn’t have a clear understanding of what the market demanded.

With Hotjar, they did things differently . Long story short, they conducted market research in the early stages to figure out what consumers really wanted, and the team made (and continues to make) constant improvements based on market and user research.

Without market research, it’s impossible to understand your users. Sure, you might have a general idea of who they are and what they need, but you have to dig deep if you want to win their loyalty.

Here’s why research matters:

Obsessing over your users is the only way to win. If you don’t care deeply about them, you’ll lose potential customers to someone who does.

Analytics gives you the ‘what’, while research gives you the ‘why’. Big data, user analytics , and dashboards can tell you what people do at scale, but only research can tell you what they’re thinking and why they do what they do. For example, analytics can tell you that customers leave when they reach your pricing page, but only research can explain why.

Research beats assumptions, trends, and so-called best practices. Have you ever watched your colleagues rally behind a terrible decision? Bad ideas are often the result of guesswork, emotional reasoning, death by best practices , and defaulting to the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO). By listening to your users and focusing on their customer experience , you’re less likely to get pulled in the wrong direction.

Research keeps you from planning in a vacuum. Your team might be amazing, but you and your colleagues simply can’t experience your product the way your customers do. Customers might use your product in a way that surprises you, and product features that seem obvious to you might confuse them. Over-planning and refusing to test your assumptions is a waste of time, money, and effort because you’ll likely need to make changes once your untested business plan gets put into practice.

Lean User Experience (UX) design is a model for continuous improvement that relies on quick, efficient research to understand customer needs and test new product features.

Lean market research can help you become more...

Efficient: it gets you closer to your customers, faster.

Cost-effective: no need to hire an expensive marketing firm to get things started.

Competitive: quick, powerful insights can place your products on the cutting edge.

As a small business or sole proprietor, conducting lean market research is an attractive option when investing in a full-blown research project might seem out of scope or budget.

There are lots of different ways you could conduct market research and collect customer data, but you don’t have to limit yourself to just one research method. Four common types of market research techniques include surveys, interviews, focus groups, and customer observation.

Which method you use may vary based on your business type: ecommerce business owners have different goals from SaaS businesses, so it’s typically prudent to mix and match these methods based on your particular goals and what you need to know.

1. Surveys: the most commonly used

Surveys are a form of qualitative research that ask respondents a short series of open- or closed-ended questions, which can be delivered as an on-screen questionnaire or via email. When we asked 2,000 Customer Experience (CX) professionals about their company’s approach to research , surveys proved to be the most commonly used market research technique.

What makes online surveys so popular?  

They’re easy and inexpensive to conduct, and you can do a lot of data collection quickly. Plus, the data is pretty straightforward to analyze, even when you have to analyze open-ended questions whose answers might initially appear difficult to categorize.

We've built a number of survey templates ready and waiting for you. Grab a template and share with your customers in just a few clicks.

💡 Pro tip: you can also get started with Hotjar AI for Surveys to create a survey in mere seconds . Just enter your market research goal and watch as the AI generates a survey and populates it with relevant questions. 

Once you’re ready for data analysis, the AI will prepare an automated research report that succinctly summarizes key findings, quotes, and suggested next steps.

An example research report generated by Hotjar AI for Surveys

2. Interviews: the most insightful

Interviews are one-on-one conversations with members of your target market. Nothing beats a face-to-face interview for diving deep (and reading non-verbal cues), but if an in-person meeting isn’t possible, video conferencing is a solid second choice.

Regardless of how you conduct it, any type of in-depth interview will produce big benefits in understanding your target customers.

What makes interviews so insightful?

By speaking directly with an ideal customer, you’ll gain greater empathy for their experience , and you can follow insightful threads that can produce plenty of 'Aha!' moments.

3. Focus groups: the most unreliable

Focus groups bring together a carefully selected group of people who fit a company’s target market. A trained moderator leads a conversation surrounding the product, user experience, or marketing message to gain deeper insights.

What makes focus groups so unreliable?

If you’re new to market research, we wouldn’t recommend starting with focus groups. Doing it right is expensive , and if you cut corners, your research could fall victim to all kinds of errors. Dominance bias (when a forceful participant influences the group) and moderator style bias (when different moderator personalities bring about different results in the same study) are two of the many ways your focus group data could get skewed.

4. Observation: the most powerful

During a customer observation session, someone from the company takes notes while they watch an ideal user engage with their product (or a similar product from a competitor).

What makes observation so clever and powerful?

‘Fly-on-the-wall’ observation is a great alternative to focus groups. It’s not only less expensive, but you’ll see people interact with your product in a natural setting without influencing each other. The only downside is that you can’t get inside their heads, so observation still isn't a recommended replacement for customer surveys and interviews.

The following questions will help you get to know your users on a deeper level when you interview them. They’re general questions, of course, so don’t be afraid to make them your own.

1. Who are you and what do you do?

How you ask this question, and what you want to know, will vary depending on your business model (e.g. business-to-business marketing is usually more focused on someone’s profession than business-to-consumer marketing).

It’s a great question to start with, and it’ll help you understand what’s relevant about your user demographics (age, race, gender, profession, education, etc.), but it’s not the be-all-end-all of market research. The more specific questions come later.

2. What does your day look like?

This question helps you understand your users’ day-to-day life and the challenges they face. It will help you gain empathy for them, and you may stumble across something relevant to their buying habits.

3. Do you ever purchase [product/service type]?

This is a ‘yes or no’ question. A ‘yes’ will lead you to the next question.

4. What problem were you trying to solve or what goal were you trying to achieve?

This question strikes to the core of what someone’s trying to accomplish and why they might be willing to pay for your solution.

5. Take me back to the day when you first decided you needed to solve this kind of problem or achieve this goal.

This is the golden question, and it comes from Adele Revella, Founder and CEO of Buyer Persona Institute . It helps you get in the heads of your users and figure out what they were thinking the day they decided to spend money to solve a problem.

If you take your time with this question, digging deeper where it makes sense, you should be able to answer all the relevant information you need to understand their perspective.

“The only scripted question I want you to ask them is this one: take me back to the day when you first decided that you needed to solve this kind of problem or achieve this kind of a goal. Not to buy my product, that’s not the day. We want to go back to the day that when you thought it was urgent and compelling to go spend money to solve a particular problem or achieve a goal. Just tell me what happened.”

— Adele Revella , Founder/CEO at Buyer Persona Institute

Bonus question: is there anything else you’d like to tell me?

This question isn’t just a nice way to wrap it up—it might just give participants the opportunity they need to tell you something you really need to know.

That’s why Sarah Doody, author of UX Notebook , adds it to the end of her written surveys.

“I always have a last question, which is just open-ended: “Is there anything else you would like to tell me?” And sometimes, that’s where you get four paragraphs of amazing content that you would never have gotten if it was just a Net Promoter Score [survey] or something like that.”

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

Qualitative research asks questions that can’t be reduced to a number, such as, “What is your job title?” or “What did you like most about your customer service experience?” 

Quantitative research asks questions that can be answered with a numeric value, such as, “What is your annual salary?” or “How was your customer service experience on a scale of 1-5?”

 → Read more about the differences between qualitative and quantitative user research .

How do I do my own market research?

You can do your own quick and effective market research by 

Surveying your customers

Building user personas

Studying your users through interviews and observation

Wrapping your head around your data with tools like flow models, affinity diagrams, and customer journey maps

What is the difference between market research and user research?

Market research takes a broad look at potential customers—what problems they’re trying to solve, their buying experience, and overall demand. User research, on the other hand, is more narrowly focused on the use (and usability ) of specific products.

What are the main criticisms of market research?

Many marketing professionals are critical of market research because it can be expensive and time-consuming. It’s often easier to convince your CEO or CMO to let you do lean market research rather than something more extensive because you can do it yourself. It also gives you quick answers so you can stay ahead of the competition.

Do I need a market research firm to get reliable data?

Absolutely not! In fact, we recommend that you start small and do it yourself in the beginning. By following a lean market research strategy, you can uncover some solid insights about your clients. Then you can make changes, test them out, and see whether the results are positive. This is an excellent strategy for making quick changes and remaining competitive.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

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13 Market Research Tools: Best in Class for 2023

Most market research tools are designed to make it quicker and easier to find relevant data . Whatever the market, product, or purpose, the right research tools can do just that.

But, let’s be honest, some do it far better than others.

Whether you’re an enterprise firm with complex needs and a budget to suit or a smaller business needing free market research tools, read on to discover which online tools for market research are hot right now.

Note: The top market research tools list has been collated using review platforms like G2 , along with direct feedback I collected from over 500 business leaders in June, 2o22.

#1 Best overall market research tool: Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence

Most-loved feature: The Benchmarking tool

We might be a little biased, but this really is the fastest way to see how you measure up against competitors in any sector or location. Analyze market leaders and rising stars to unpack and track their digital success instantly.

Quick Explainer

Similarweb Research Intelligence is a single source of truth for the online world. Giving any business the ability to quickly analyze the online aspects of any industry or market in an instant. It displays critical insights in a way that makes it easy to view trends, competitive performance, audience insights, growth opportunities, and more. It’s the only market research analysis tool that brings together data from desktop, mobile web, and apps to provide a complete view of the digital landscape.

Key abilities

• Competitive benchmarking
• Market research
• Company research tool
• Audience analysis
• Consumer journey tracker
• Mobile app intelligence

Freemium Version: Yes, there is a lite version of the product that provides limited data for a single user, and a single location.

Free Trial: Yes, there’s a 7-day trial available. Try it out here .

Ongoing Subscription: Yes, you can pay monthly or annually for a subscription. Different levels are available, and each package is tailored. Review pricing and plans for Similarweb here.

Like what you’ve seen so far?

See our market-leading digital research tool in action in this quick 2-minute clip.

#2 Best free market research tool: Think with Google

Most-loved feature: Find my Audience

A way to discover new audiences on YouTube based on things like habits, interests, and intended plans to purchase.

Think with Google is a suite of digital research tools that curate resources from a huge pool of data across the web. It presents them as insights that aren’t typically available elsewhere. It’s a unique way to view trends, insights, and stats. Data isn’t offered in real-time but serves more as a library of figures and facts that take the form of articles, videos, interviews, case studies, and more. In addition to being a place people can go for forward-looking perspectives and data, there are several tools designed to help marketers.

Key functions

• High-level insights into most local or national markets
• Behind the scenes look at cross-platform digital campaigns
• Consumer insights
• Deck-ready stats (not in real-time)
• A range of tools to inform marketing objectives and actions

Freemium Version: The entire suite of market intelligence tools is free.

Free Trial: As a free market research tool, no trial is needed.

Ongoing Subscription: You can subscribe to a newsletter, but not the product.

#3 Best digital research tool for content and FAQ development: Answer the Public

Most-loved feature: Search listening alerts

A pro feature that sends you weekly emails that indicate how search behaviors shift over time. It takes the specific phrase or keywords you’re tracking in the platform and updates you weekly.

Quick Explainer 

Discover the questions people are asking online about key terms, products, or services. It’s designed to help content teams and website owners develop new content ideas, and relevant FAQs that are based on the types of queries people ask online.

• Track important keywords and phrases
• Get weekly emails about changes in search behavior
• Enter any keyword to uncover relevant questions or search terms
• Folders to help organize your research

Freemium Version: Yes. You get a limited number (3) of searches per day.

Free Trial: No.

Ongoing Subscription: Yes. You can pay monthly or annually for this service. Pay-monthly fees are a flat rate of $99. Discounts are offered for yearly subscriptions.

#4 Best tool for market research surveys: SurveyMonkey

Most-loved feature: Question bank

A library of hundreds of questions, pre-written by survey methodologists.

As far as market research surveys go, it’s the leading online research tool for surveys worldwide. With plans to suit the individual through to the enterprise, it’s a feature-rich, easy-to-use platform that encompasses creation, collection, and analysis under one roof. Surveys are optimized for any device and integrate with platforms like Zoom, Salesforce, Marketo, and more.

Key functions 

• Create and send unlimited surveys, quizzes, and polls
• Pop-up online surveys
• Mobile app access to create, send and analyze surveys on-the-go
• Team collaboration function (unlocked with a team plan)
• Survey builder
• Customization and branded surveys (available with advantage or premier plans only)

Freemium Version: Yes

Free Trial: Occasionally, free trials are offered for premium plans.

Ongoing Subscription: Yes, you can pay annually or monthly. There are three different plans to choose from, ranging from $25 to $129 per month.

Helpful: Check out our blog and see 18 different ways to use market research surveys .

#5 Best online research tool for marketplaces: Similarweb Shopper Intelligence

Most-loved feature: Cross-shopping analysis

Cross-shopping analysis shows you how loyal a segment of customers is to a brand, along with what other brands they browsed or bought from. Uncover competitors and discover new partnership opportunities; these are game-changing insights if you sell on any marketplace.

Similarweb Shopper Intelligence is a type of online market research tool that helps you uncover and analyze browsing and buying behavior across marketplaces. Using its data, businesses can track category, product, and brand performance with ease. It helps ecommerce organizations to detect potential threats, unearth new product or category opportunities, discover new potential partnerships, and optimize search strategy and performance.

• Monitor consumer demand for any product, brand, or category
• Retail search strategy optimization
• Consumer behavior insights
• Track cross-shopping, loyalty, and purchase frequency
• Analyze brand awareness

Note: This solution uses a unique data methodology via multiple networks and partnerships. At the time of writing, there is no other consumer behavior insights tool for market research that offers this quality of data for marketplaces.

Freemium Version: No.

Free Trial: Yes. There is usually a 7-day trial available here .

Ongoing Subscription: The price is determined by things like the number of categories and/or domains you want to access. Each quote is customized to a client’s specific needs.

Want to know a little more?

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#6 Best market research tool for brand tracking: Latana

Most-loved feature: MoE (margin of error) Readings

To deliver transparency on data confidence levels, Latana’s dashboard includes a feature that allows clients to toggle-on, or toggle-off, margin of error (MoE) readings on all data points. These are highlighted using a traffic-light system of confidence (red=low confidence, orange=medium confidence, and green=high confidence). This small feature makes a big impact — it helps clients to correctly interpret the data and to visibly see quality shortcomings.

Latana is a B2C brand tracking tool that provides granular insights about online audiences. It helps organizations understand how key segments of consumers feel about brands and portrays relevant standings vs. industry rivals.

• Focus on niche consumer segments that matter to your business
• Uncover rival’s audience data and identify opportunities to grow
• Understand brand perception, and track how it changes over time
• Discover the most well-known brands in your industry
• Track rival’s brand awareness across gender, age income, location, and education
• Find out the main purchase drivers for your industry
• Infrastructure gives reach to over 6 billion smartphone users globally for representative brand opinions

I caught up with Latana’s CMO, Angeley Mullens. Here’s what she has to say about their offering.

Ongoing Subscription: Pricing for Latana isn’t available online. All packages are tailored to individual brands and their specific needs.

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#7  Best research tool for social media listening: Hootsuite

Most-loved feature: Multi-channel insights

It’s a legacy feature, but one which makes it the best online research tool for social listening and monitoring. Having the ability to easily schedule posts, ad campaigns, and handle responses for every social media channel from within a single platform is what makes this a market-leading digital research tool.

Hootsuite continues to claim the number 1 spot on G2’s list of digital research tools for social media monitoring . It’s a tool to help you manage all aspects of business social media, across multiple channels, in a single platform. As well as being able to manage your socials, it also keeps you up-to-date with the latest trends and activities of your rival’s social media channels.

• Publish and schedule social media posts
• Measure cross-platform results
• Message management
• Social media trend analysis
• Social media ad-campaign management

Freemium Version: Yes. You can get a free version that supports 2 social accounts and 1 user.

Free Trial: Yes. A 30-day free trial is available here .

Ongoing Subscription: There are four plans; professional, team, business, and enterprise; ranging from $49-$739.

#8 Best digital research tool for prospecting: Similarweb Sales Intelligence

Most-loved feature: Insights generator tool

The insights generator shows you unique facts for your prospects and accounts; with complete visibility into their digital strategy and performance. It’s ideal for refining sales and marketing efforts while staying focused on growth.

Similarweb Sales Intelligence helps organizations find viable prospects by showing you who to reach out to, when to do it, and how to capture their attention. The lead generator tool helps you find the right prospects, and key insights help create engaging outreach emails. For sales departments, ecommerce and mar-tech sectors, this type of digital research tool can take prospecting and engagement to a completely new level; along with revenue and growth.

Key functions: 

• Lead generation and enrichment
• Digital insights for 100M+ ecommerce websites, publishers, and advertisers
• Fraud detection
• Sales engagement
• SFDC integration

Free Trial: Yes, if you would like a free trial, please request that here.

Ongoing Subscription: Prices for this digital market research tool varies depending on the package and options chosen. Grab a live demo of the product and get a tailored quote here .

Insightful : If you’re looking at market research tools for the ecommerce industry, bookmark our Ecommerce Trends and Predictions for 2023 to read later.

#9 Best market research analysis tool for data visualization: Tableau

Most-loved feature : Connects to almost any data source

As a clear market leader, and a no-brainer for larger organizations with business intelligence analytics and teams. Tableau leads the way in online research tools for data visualization. It connects to a huge range of data sources and pulls information into a highly-appealing dashboard that is designed to make it easier and faster to explore and manage data. It takes data from platforms like Similarweb, then combines it with other data sources before presenting crisp, clear, insights that have the power to shape strategies and drive key transformations.

• Lightning-fast analytics
• Smart dashboards for richer insights
• Live connection to almost any data source, with automatic updates
• Drag-and-drop style UI: easy to use

Freemium Version: No. However, students and teachers get a year’s free access to the platform.

Free Trial: Yes. You can subscribe to a free 30-day trial.

Ongoing Subscription: Most plans are offered annually, with prices ranging from $15 per month upwards. The price depends on whether you use their hosted or on-premise versions, the number of users, and the inclusion of specific plugins.

#10 Best market research tool for UX testing: Loop11

Most-loved feature: Online usability testing

This feature analyzes the usability of a website with users performing live tasks on a site. It helps you understand user behavior, and shows how and why a website is used.

Loop11 is a market research tool that provides usability testing to help organizations build better websites and products. It comes with a pack of useful features that provide both moderated and unmoderated testing, helping businesses to find the right audience to test prototypes and products. It’s designed to help you see how appealing a product is to a particular audience, determine their preferences, then build these insights into a design.

• Ability to test across multiple devices, including tablet, mobile, or desktop
• User-friendly test builder that requires no coding
• Easy-to-add surveys that collect psychographic and demographic data
• Provides useful metrics like time on task, task completion rates, and NPS
• Mapping of customer journeys during a test period

Free Trial: Yes, a 14-day trial is available here .

Ongoing Subscription: All plans come with the option to pay monthly or annually. Prices range from $199-$599 per month.

#11 Best research tool for measuring customer experience: Temper

Most-loved feature: Rating stream

See real-time feedback as customers respond to questions via website or email channels. The stream provides a detailed view of ratings, comments, locations, referrers, email addresses, and more.

Temper allows any company to find out how customers feel about their product at all times. It directly provides first-party data to a business, preventing the need to design and distribute complex surveys. It can be placed as a widget on the site or in emails, and questions are asked to gain real-time feedback from visitors and customers alike.

• Easily deploy questions across website and email channels
• Quickly spot poor experiences to identify problematic areas of a business or product
• The rating graph gives you a real-time view of results for any question asked
• Public rating wall shows how you’re performing, instilling confidence and trust
• Ratings come with open text fields to give additional context to responses
• Referrer data gives you the ability to segment feedback and relative performance
• Tracking variables let you send data with ratings, such as order numbers, user IDs, etc.
• User targeting lets you determine who sees questions and how often they see them

Freemium Version: There is no freemium version. However, their hobby plan gives you a slimmed-down version of the product and costs $12 per month.

Ongoing Subscription: Four plans are available, ranging from hobbyist to enterprise. The lowest pricing tier starts at $12 monthly, and their top-tier solution costs $199 monthly. All plans are pay-monthly, with a 60-day money-back guarantee.

#12 Best online market research tool for focus groups: Remesh

Most-loved feature: Common topics

In just a few clicks, you can view the themes and topics that are most common with your focus group across an entire session. It groups similar responses, specific phrases, and interesting responses in seconds.

Remesh facilitates live, qualitative conversations with focus groups of up to 1000 people at a time. Replicating the focus group format online delivers powerful segmentation and dynamic capabilities that speed up your time to insight and let you hold a real-time conversation at scale.

• Launch a live conversation with up to 1000 people at a time
• Organize and analyze responses in an instant
• Segment your audience based on demographic and response data
• Share visuals and text-based content with the group to get instant feedback
• The algorithm analyzes open-ended responses in real-time

Freemium Version: No

Free Trial: Yes. However, you must first book a demo with a member of their team.

Ongoing Subscription: Remesh provides custom pricing plans that can only be obtained once you’ve taken a demonstration of their platform with a member of their team.

#13 Top collaboration and documentation tool for market research: BIT.AI

Most-loved feature: Content library + smart search

While it sounds quite basic; in essence, this tool for market research professionals makes it quicker and easier to keep track, share, and store key data. Forget trawling through emails, slack, and g-docs to find files; the smart search feature helps you locate files in an instant.

A dynamic platform that helps researchers collaborate, track, share, and manage research data in a single place. This is one of the best online market research tools for those who need a place to bring together resources like websites, PDFs, articles, images, infographics, blogs, reports, videos, etc. it’s low-cost and connects to some of the most widely used tools. Being able to share multidimensional data with others, or simply keeping track of secondary market research in a single place makes it a firm favorite.

• Over 100 integrations with applications like Tableau, Miro, G-docs, Onedrive, and more
• Real-time editing and live collaboration
• Content Library
• Smart search
• Supports a huge range of content and file types

Freemium Version: Yes. Available for teams of up to 5 collaborators.

Free Trial: Yes, a free trial is available here .

Ongoing Subscription: A range of packages are available, costing between $8-$20 monthly.

Best market research tools for startups

There is another often-forgotten set of tools used for market research that are ideal for startups. If you’ve got zero budget and a little time on your hands, you can do most types of desk research for free. Sources include:

• Company reports, case studies, and whitepapers
• Research and trade associations
• Media coverage
• Internal sales or usage reports
• Academic or scientific journals
• Government and non-government agencies
• Public library records
• Competitor websites
• Educational institutions

Helpful: Check out this article about how to do market research for a startup .

Wrapping up….

With cost and time key considerations for anyone looking at tools for market research, it’s vital to choose wisely. While free market research tools are all good and well, they won’t always serve you when you’re on a deadline or require key insights on a specific competitor, market, or product.

Similarweb helps companies win in the digital world. Whatever the market, goal, or business size, its solutions are designed to help organizations understand their market and compete and beat rivals.

Take it for a test run today. Trial any Similarweb solution free for the first 7-days using this link .

Need to know more about the ROI of Similarweb? 

What are the best market research tools for secondary research?

The internet is probably the best tool for market research there is. It’s a goldmine of secondary market research data. But beware of data validity and check your information is coming from a trusted source.

What are the best market research tools for surveys?

Survey monkey is considered the best online market research tool for surveys, but key players like Typeform and Zoho follow closely behind. Budget and features usually determine the right tool for your needs.

What are the best free market research tools?

The best free tools for market research include: Answer the Public, Think with Google, Similarweb lite, SurveyMonkey’s basic plan, and Hootsuite’s free plan.

What are the best market research tools for qualitative research?

Qualitative research includes things like focus groups, open-ended surveys, case studies, and observation research. As such, the best tool for online research like this would be something like BIT.ai’s documentation and collaboration tool. Another useful tool for qualitative market research would be an online survey provider, like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Google Forms.

What are the best market research tools for quantitative research?

As this type of research is focused more on numbers, the best quantitative market research tools include things like Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence and Tableau. Each performs a different function but works together to collect, analyze, and present data in the most useful way possible.

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The 8 free market research tools and resources you need to know.

With over 400,000 new businesses opening in the United States each month, the need for individual companies to conduct their own market research has never been more urgent.  However, conducting market research isn’t an easy task — it presents challenges to businesses of all shapes and sizes.

With that being said, those with large budgets do enjoy certain advantages. When you have access to an endless array of top-tier tools and resources, you can uncover strategy-changing insights with relative ease.

Does that mean businesses with small (or non-existent) budgets are out of luck? Absolutely not.

Nowadays, free market research tools and resources are abundant — and you’ll be familiar with eight of our favorites by the time you’re done reading this blog post.

But first, some housekeeping:

What is market research?

Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing information about your customers — both current and prospective — with the intent of optimizing your business strategy.

Customer-related information that you may want to gather includes (but is not limited to):

• The goals they want to achieve
• The pain points they want to alleviate
• The income or budget that constrains them
• The products and/or services they use (a.k.a. your competitors)
• The strengths and weaknesses of the products and/or services they use

Why is market research important?

Market research is important because — if you’re thorough and open-minded — it dramatically improves your chances of long-term success. Only through market research can you uncover the insights you need to develop a product or service that (1) satisfies the demands of your prospects and (2) stands out from the competition.

For a complete overview of how conducting market research can benefit your business, here’s Market Research Defined and How to Get Started .

Cool? Cool. Let’s dive into the good stuff.

Top 4 Free Market Research Tools

For clarity, we will define a free market research tool as any tool that:

• Costs nothing, and
• Helps with the collection and/or analysis of customer-related information

Keep in mind that “customer-related information” encompasses everything from a pain point to a weakness of one of your competitors’ products.

1. Google Trends

If you want to get a sense of the level of interest in a particular product or service — as well as how that interest fluctuates over time and across regions — Google Trends is an excellent tool.

All you need to do is enter a search query and toggle with the filters. As an example, take a look at the level of interest in “office supplies'' in the U.S. over the past five years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, interest peaked in February 2020 — at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic:

Plus, you can explore variations in interest across the 50 states, as well as related topics and queries that are surging in popularity:

The “interest by subregion” data is powerful. In Wyoming, searches for “office supplies” account for a greater percentage of all search queries than in any other state. Your average resident of Wyoming, in other words, is more interested in searching for office supplies than is your average resident of, say, Louisiana — a valuable insight for anyone who sells office supplies online.

Equally valuable is the insight that searches for “where to buy office supplies in bulk” are on the rise — potentially indicative of an emerging pain point.

2. SurveyMonkey

As some of you already know, one of the best ways to conduct market research is to ask your customers a handful of open-ended questions. You can do this for free with SurveyMonkey .

Specifically, with a free SurveyMonkey account, you can ask up to 10 questions and field up to 40 responses with each of your surveys.

Open-ended questions you may ask your customers include (but are not limited to):

• Why did you buy our product?
• What has our product helped you accomplish?
• How does our product compare to others that you’ve used in the past?

With just three questions — well under the limit of a free survey — you can learn quite a bit about your target market. If, for example, the majority of respondents say they bought your product because they were struggling to do their jobs in a cost-effective manner, that gives you a clearer picture of your prospects’ pain points and your competitors’ weaknesses .

3. Make My Persona

As you collect and analyze customer-related information, it’s a good idea to create or tweak your buyer personas : detailed profiles of the semi-fictional people for whom your product or service is designed. In the context of market research, personas are useful because they help you synthesize and comprehend the information you’re gathering.

Thanks to our friends at HubSpot, you can use a wonderful free tool called Make My Persona .

Intuitive and fun, Make My Persona is a seven-step process that walks you through the essential components of your target customer: demographic information, firmographic information, job title, pain points, and so on. And if you want to go beyond the bare essentials, you can add as many extra sections of information as you like.

Important note: Your personas should be dynamic. As you conduct further market research and learn more about your target customers, your personas should evolve accordingly.

4. WordSift

Make My Persona is appealing, in part, because it enables you to make sense of raw data — to separate the signal from the noise. The same can be said about WordSift , the final free tool we’ll be discussing today.

Built to help teachers with the instruction of vocabulary and reading comprehension, WordSift allows you to generate word clouds: images that represent the frequency with which certain words are used in a given body of text. Look what happens when I copy the introduction to this blog post and paste it into WordSift:

Instantaneously — and unsurprisingly — I can conclude that “business,” “market,” and “research” are among the most frequently used words in the introduction to this post.

What does this have to do with market research? Well, let’s say you’ve been using SurveyMonkey to ask your customers about their reasons for buying your product. One by one, if you were to copy their responses and paste them into WordSift, you’d be able to see which words your customers use most often. That’s a market research gold mine!

Top 4 Free Market Research Resources

Again, for clarity, we will define a free market research resource as any resource that:

• Helps with the collection of customer-related information

The scope of “customer-related information" remains the same  —  encompassing everything from a pain point to a weakness of one of your competitors’ products.

5. Bureau of Labor Statistics

A government organization that “measures labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, and productivity in the U.S. economy to support public and private decision-making,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a wealth of information.

Because this is a blog post about market research — not an economics class — we’ll focus on BLS’ industry- and region-specific information. If you’re on the homepage and you hover over the Data Tools drop-down menu, you’ll see a hyperlink to something titled “Industry at a Glance.” Click on that, find your industry of interest, and explore the dozens of statistics that BLS has aggregated.

If, for example, you’re interested in the apparel manufacturing industry — either because you’re in the industry or you sell into it — you can see how earnings, prices, and productivity figures are changing over time.

Head back to the homepage, hover over the Subjects drop-down menu, and you’ll see a section labeled Geographic Information:

Select your region of interest, filter by state or metropolitan area (if necessary), and take a tour of BLS’ enormous library of area-specific data.

6. U.S. Census Bureau

On a mission to “serve as the [United States’] leading provider of quality data about its people and economy,” the U.S. Census Bureau is another terrific resource that costs nothing to use.

Just as we did with the BLS, we’ll focus on industry- and region-specific information. Admittedly, using the Census website to find industry-specific information is slightly more complicated than it is when using the BLS website. If you’re on the homepage and you hover over the Explore Data drop-down menu, you’ll see a hyperlink titled “Explore Data Main.”

Click on that, and you’ll be brought to the Census’ search engine. Then, click inside the search bar and select “Advanced Search.”

Underneath “Find A Filter,” type in the name of the industry you’re interested in researching. Once the search suggestions load, simply check the appropriate box and click “Search.”

From there, you’ll be able to explore thousands of data tables, maps, and whitepapers — many of them chock-full of industry-specific information that you can use to your advantage.

Finding region-specific information is a bit more straightforward. Head back to the Advanced Search engine, select “Geography” from underneath Browse Filters, and go from there:

7. Pew Research Center

A nonprofit dedicated to “inform[ing] the public about the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world,” the Pew Research Center is one of the most authoritative sources of information for anyone striving to make better business decisions.

Whereas the BLS and the Census are (among other things) aggregators of economic data, the Pew Research Center is a “fact tank” — an organization focused on public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis, and other forms of social science inquiry. 

So, although you can’t necessarily use Pew to uncover hyper-specific insights related to your industry or region, you can use it to learn more about your target audience. The best way to do this is through the Topics section of the Pew website.

Clicking that hyperlink brings you to an index of dozens of topics, ranging from Online Video to Homeownership to Democracy. Selecting any of these topics will bring you to a list of relevant content — reports, fact tanks, transcripts, and other forms of media that can date back as far as the early 1980s.

As an example, let’s say you’re developing a product or service that targets new homeowners. If you were to click on the Homeownership topic, you’d land on a list of reports like this one:

If I were you, that’s not a report I’d want to overlook!

We’ll wrap up today’s guide with a free resource specifically for those of you in the software world. Designed to help buyers determine which products are best suited to their needs, G2 is the leading source of validated, unbiased software reviews.

G2 is, in other words, an excellent way to find out what your target customers are saying about your competitors’ products. Do a quick search for the type of software you’re developing and you’re in business.

If you were developing a sales compensation software product and you searched this keyword, you’d be brought to the page you see below. To learn more about Spiff — one of your top-rated industry competitors — all you’d need to do is click “Read Spiff Reviews.”

If you want to get granular, you can filter reviews in a number of different ways. As an example, let’s say you’re developing a sales compensation software product specifically for small businesses. G2 has the filter you’re looking for:

And just like that, you’ve got access to dozens of valuable insights like this one:

Start using market research tools today!

If you try to bring a product or service to market without an understanding of your target customers, your chances of success are slim. According to the most recent State of Competitive Intelligence Report , 84% of businesses say their industry has gotten more competitive in the last three years. With the range of choices at your prospects’ fingertips growing by the day, the need for a thorough market research strategy only intensifies.

We hope you find these free market research tools and resources useful. And if you decide to make the leap to a paid solution, make sure to request a demo of Crayon — the competitive intelligence platform that enables you to track, analyze, and act on everything happening outside your businesses’ four walls.

See why Gong, Mastercard, and ZoomInfo trust Crayon to help them win more competitive deals.

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7 of the Best Market Research Tools To Use in 2024

Knowing what to look for in your market research tool is a great starting point, but sometimes you might not even know where to start. Based on the collaborative experiences of our classically-trained researchers, below is a list of some major players that check the boxes when it comes to rigorous, insightful, online market research tools. Some allow you to create your own online surveys, while others collate data that already exists to present it in a way that’s useful for your particular business situation. Whatever your market research needs are, chances are you’ll be able to solve those needs with one of the tools below. 

Table of Contents: 

• Importance of market research 

Benefits of leveraging marketing research tools

Features to look out for when selecting market research tools.

• Google Trends
• Pew Research Center
• Google Keyword Tool
• Social Mention 

Emerging technologies in market research

Final tips for approaching market research with the help of tools, conducting market research with quantilope, importance of market research.

Market research should form the foundation of any business. Of course, you need to have a great product or service, a clear strategy, effective distribution, and committed staff, but the best way to grow your brand is to focus on consumer needs uncovered through market research.

Understanding your market - what your customers like, what they need, and what makes them buy one product over another - is the key to creating an offer that is relevant. Back to Table of Contents

Market research tools provide businesses with hands-on insight into elements such as their core audience, potential new customers, missing customer needs, competitive threats, and new opportunities. They can help with a variety of business objectives from new product improvements, target audience profiling, competitive landscaping, marketing strategy, pricing, and so on - depending on your unique needs. 

By leveraging tools that provide real-time data analytics and automated trending, businesses can make strategic decisions that they feel confident are aligned with actual market demand and customer preferences - ultimately leading to long-term success.  Back to Table of Contents

Searching for a market research tool can be overwhelming - with so many research agencies and platforms offering different features and capabilities. To help in your search, narrow contenders down those that offer the following features: 

• Real-time data access Without real-time access to your data, you're left relying on other teams to extract, clean, and send insights over - which could take weeks. You don't have that kind of time when it comes to making real-time decisions that keep you ahead of (or in line with) competitors. All researchers should have the ability to be hands-on with their own insights, slicing and dicing findings as often as they need; even if it's just to monitor the progression of fieldwork.
• Advanced methods Advanced methods separate surface level insights from those that go more in depth to uncover the 'why'. These are methods like MaxDiff analysis which can prioritize long-list items through tradeoff decisions, Segmentation which can automatically group your target audience into actionable sectors based on their needs, TURF analysis which allows businesses to prioritize features or products that maximize audience reach without duplication, and Conjoint analysis which helps brands finalize individual elements of a larger initiative (such as a new product offering, messaging approach, or service details).
• Panel choice  Researchers should have their choice in who they reach with their insights study, not limited to a particular panel provider or audience source. Look for research tools that are panel agnostic (i.e. allow you to choose from any panel source such as third-party vendors or your own list of contacts).  
• AI features    Artificial Intelligence continues to expand its capabilities in all industries - market research included. T he use of AI in market research allows teams to do more, with less. This includes helping brands quickly generate question text or answer option inputs, generate inspiring chart titles or descriptions at a glance, and summarize entire reports or dashboards in just seconds. Compare this to more traditional ways of working - requiring teams to comb through data files, pull out relevant insights, manually chart the findings, and try to come up with the best possible headlines for stakeholders. AI not only speeds up these processes, but also provides a new perspective to come up with actionable insights for even the most complex data. 

Below are 7 research tools to consider when in need of in-depth data-backed market insights for your business strategy: 

Back to Table of Contents

1. quantilope

• Best market research tool for: real-time, automated, advanced method insights with an AI co-pilot  

The feature we love: largest suite of advanced research methodologies over any platform

Using the past experiences and knowledge from a team of classically-trained researchers, quantilope's platform is built by those who know the frustrations of traditional research - long turnaround times, complex questionnaires, version control issues, lack of flexibility, and so on. 

quantilope‘s suite of 12 automated research methodologies is designed to address a variety of advanced research needs. Whether you want to fine-tune your product development using Conjoint Analysis , use a  MaxDiff analysis to determine which factors potential customers consider most important in products or communication, conduct a brand tracking study over a duration of time, monitor and track general market trends, or research any other area of your customer experience, quantilope has a solution. 

Besides its quantitative methodologies, quantilope also offers a qualitative video research solution: inColor . Questions for respondents are asked through the form of video, and responses are received through video as well - creating a deep sense of authenticity in your research through consumers‘ own words and mannerisms. quantilope inColor provides the perfect format for shareable, engaging consumer insight videos - with the ability to compile clips into showreels. Additionally, facial emotion, sentiment analysis, and keyword trend analysis create an even deeper understanding of consumer insights.

Whether using quantilope’s quantitative or qualitative survey options, responses are available in real-time. This means you can get started right away on creating your showreel video clips, or start building your quantitative dashboard with insights updating automatically as additional data comes in.

And whether you choose to leverage quantilope’s team of certified research experts or take a DIY approach, quantilope allows you to conduct a survey in a matter of days and quickly access the information needed to put consumer feedback into action.

2. Google Trends

• Best market research tool for:  exploring how online activity reflects behavioral and social trends

The feature we love: pleasing user experience w ith visual representations of trends based on searched-for terms 

Google Trends - as the name implies - crawls its own Google search engine and social media platforms for trends or mentions of particular terms. Say you have a business selling flowers and you’d like to know the time of year that people are most likely to purchase flowers. Typing the search term ‘flowers’ into Google Trends will give you a wealth of online behavioral information, including:

• The frequency of search team ’flowers’ vs. Google’s total search volume during a set period
• The location of users typing the term in (with the option to limit your search to specific locations)
• How global and local events affect online search activity for the term (i.e. if there is a shift in weather patterns like a drought, people may search how to best care for their flowers)
• Comparisons between different search terms in the category (i.e. lilies vs. roses)
• The context of search terms (e.g. flower care, flower watering, flower meanings/symbols)

Google Trends uses line graphs to illustrate trends over time and gives the terms a score out of 100 based on interest in the term. Google Trends is free, quick, and very visual, providing accessible insights into how internet users are searching over time.

3. Statista

• Best market research tool for:  making the most of existing data sources 

The feature we love: creative data presentation, including industry forecasts and ready-made reports

Statista is a paid service that specializes in secondary research - in other words, using data that already exists and packaging it into a digestible format tailored to business areas and research needs. Statista obtains its data from reliable sources online and uses straightforward, customizable data visualization to present its findings. Some of its advantages include:

• A huge array of metrics to choose from
• Data from over 150 countries 
• Outlook reports that forecast how industries will develop
• A variety of ready-made reports across business areas including digital trends, politics and society, and specific companies and brands

In addition to its data-gathering capacity, Statista also has a tailored research function, so you can launch your own online surveys based on your business's unique needs.

4. Pew Research Center

• Best market research tool for:  understanding how broader social trends tie in with consumer behavior

The feature we love: fascinating online articles about society in the past, present, and future

The Pew Center is a non-profit organization that specializes in research and data analysis in many spheres including US politics, opinion polling, social and demographic information and trends, news and media, science, religion, and technology (including social media, online privacy, and more).

Pew’s research is thorough and highly usable, and its website contains some fascinating articles that provide a window into how humans think and behave, on subjects like ‘The Metaverse in 2040’ and ‘10 Facts about Americans and Twitter.’ Wherever your business interests lie, you’re likely to discover thoughtful information on this site.

5. Google Keyword Tool

• Best market research tool for:  understanding the words people use when searching for online content

The feature we love: keyword search volumes and how keywords differ by devices used

Google‘s Keyword Tool is one of the best for keyword research. Knowing which keywords your customers use when searching online can be extremely valuable when planning your marketing strategy, sales tactics, or launching a new product. Keywords provide consumer language so you can reflect that in your communications. Plus the tool can also indicate which keywords you should include for SEO - ensuring your offer appears high in the list of online search results.

Google Keyword Planner shows keyword search volume, how competitive keywords are, and the relationships between keywords - all valuable information for content marketers. You can filter results by various criteria, including by a language or geographical area, and by those searched only on mobile (or other) devices. In short, it tells you how your target audience is searching for specific content to inform your marketing campaigns, all with a user-friendly interface.

6. Social Mention

• Best market research tool for:  exploring how social media reflects and shapes brand perceptions

The feature we love: keyword monitoring across major platforms 

Social Mention is a free service with a focus on how social media creates and impacts brand awareness and perceptions. It monitors over one hundred social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more, to establish how many times a keyword or brand has been mentioned. Social Mention keeps tabs on the types of mentions - whether positive or negative, counts how many people are talking about your brand (or competitive brands) in real-time, and produces an overview of brand perceptions. Alerts can be set up to update the user on keyword mentions as well.

Social Mention is a great research platform for providing context on which brands or keywords are being talked about and the platforms where they get the most attention through social media monitoring. This competitor analysis helps businesses direct their brand activity to certain channels. 

• Best market research tool for: connecting and visualizing existing data sets

The feature we love: Data Cloud, allowing users to integrate data from any source  

Tableau’s premise is that there’s a lot of data out there and it could be presented better. It is a business intelligence service that focuses on using analytics for clear, accessible data visualization that better informs business decisions.

Tableau takes data from plenty of formats including PDFs, Excel, Text, Python, R, Hadoop, and SAS, and other market research tools like Salesforce. Its interactive dashboard displays the data using graphs, tables, charts, and heat maps. Data can be shared across teams, making for easy collaboration. Tableau is a sophisticated market research tool that sits at the higher price end of paid-for services.

It's an exciting time to work in market research. Aside from the rapidly-expanding AI tools in the industry, there's also virtual reality and augmented reality, machine-learning tools, automation, and other immersive/interactive ways of bringing a new layer to traditional market research.  These emerging and expanding technologies help create a more detailed understanding of businesses' research objectives - whether that's to understand consumers, launch successful new products, develop impactful marketing campaigns, or predict behavior patterns for future strategies. These kinds of tools can do far more than humans can alone (or at the very least, much faster). As a result, business leaders feel confident and empowered to make informed decisions.  Back to Table of Contents

Though there are many emerging technologies and tools that make it such an exciting time to work in insights, it's fair that some traditional researchers might worry about what this means for them. Below are some final takeaway tips for any researcher or research team thinking about switching up their research tool this year (or beyond). 

• Use automation, AI, and machine-learning tools as a collaborative partner, not a replacement. These technologies and tools are incredible resources to speed up and streamline a market research process, but nothing can replace human insight and intervention. Use these tools as a way to inspire your starting process that you then further customize and make your own; such as using an automated platform to instantly collect and chart findings so you can dedicate your valuable time to actually crafting unique takeaways. 
• Iterate. Research platforms and tools make it easier to get more done faster, so use that to your advantage. Once you've collected data, don't stop there. Use those insights to run either another wave of the same study for trended insights, or to inspire a new type of study that dives into a particular finding in more depth.  While iteration isn't so simple (or affordable) with traditional means of research, it's a key feature of modern-day market research tools. 
• Leverage advanced methodologies. Market research platforms like quantilope no longer require you to be an expert in behavioral science or statistics in order to leverage advanced and complex insights. With features like pre-programmed survey templates and drag & drop modules, research platforms are empowering users of any skillset to generate impact for their business through rich and actionable findings. 

There are many online tools on the market, with a variety of different capabilities. For real-time, automated, advanced insights around your business or consumers, quantilope's variety of methods and solutions can help you achieve your research objectives - and fast, especially with the help of the platform's AI co-pilot, quinn.  

To learn more about how quantilope‘s Consumer Intelligence Platform can help with your market research goals, big or small, get in touch below! 

Get in touch to learn more about quantilope's Consumer Intelligence Platform!

Related posts, non-probability sampling: when and how to use it effectively, survey results: how to analyze data and report on findings, how florida's natural leveraged better brand health tracking, quirk's virtual event: fab-brew-lous collaboration: product innovations from the melitta group.

The 13 Best Market Research Tools

Jan 3, 2024

10 min. read

The 328 million terabytes of data we create each day can be very telling about your target audience’s preferences and buying habits. This same data can also be inaccurate and low quality, depending on the source. That’s why the market research tools you choose matter — you need to be able to get the most up-to-date insights and trust what the data is telling you.

While traditional manual methods of market research and secondary research (aka desk research or complementary research ) still have a time and place in the digital world, marketers are supplementing them with market research platforms and software that do most of the heavy lifting.

Astronomical amounts of market-related data are created at lightning speed, far outpacing our ability to consume it all. To help find, filter, sort, and make sense of all this information, we’ve chosen 13 of the best market research tools to streamline and improve the process :

Meltwater Radarly

Think with google, ubersuggest, surveymonkey, answer the public, brandmentions, heartbeat ai, u.s. census bureau.

Tip: Also take a look at the top secondary research companies out there.

A leader in AI market research tools, Radarly is Meltwater’s AI-powered market research platform that provides real-time insights into consumer preferences . This always-on consumer intelligence suite uses a combination of data science, AI, and human market research expertise to surface insights about customers based on online conversations and activities.

Most of the world’s data is unstructured ( about 90% , by some estimates), making it harder to act on and understand its significance. Radarly brings structure to the unknown by detecting patterns and understanding audience sentiments.

Also, Meltwater for market research continuously sources new information and works in real-time. This gives marketers an advantage by working with the latest data so they can make informed decisions when it matters most.

See Meltwater Radarly live in action by requesting a free tour of our platform. Simply fill out the form at the bottom of this post and we'll be in touch.

Statista offers data trends and reports on a wide range of topics and interests, from Facebook’s monthly active users to leading beer brands based on sales. In total, the market research platform spans more than 170 industries and 150 countries .

What sets this resource apart is its visualizations — all of Statista’s stats have been compiled into neat and tidy graphs that are ready to publish or share in your own reports. This makes it easy to see trends over time or gain quick insights about consumer preferences.

There’s a chart for just about anything, and they’re updated on a regular basis. In many cases, Statista will include a brief explanation of the chart’s findings and recommend related charts for further research.

Google’s status as the world’s most popular search engine makes it a great resource for market research. Google has access to billions of first-party data points based on what people are searching for online. 

For market research purposes, users can tap into Google Trends to see the popularity of searches over time. See the terms that are trending on a daily or weekly basis, or check out shopping-related trends to predict the hot new products of the season ( trend prediction ).

Google’s Market Finder can also pinpoint new markets that might be a great fit for your product or service. Learn how various markets compare to each other and how your business might fit in.

And if you’re selling physical products, you can see how sales trends might impact your business using Google’s Rising Retail Categories . Retailers use this tool often to predict hot-selling holiday items and right-size their inventory.

Attest brings old-school focus groups and surveys into the digital era with its rapid-response approach. In the past, organizing interviews and focus groups took weeks or even months. Once the research activities were finished, analysts required additional time to compile the results. No more.

With Attest, you can hear directly from consumers who fit your audience profiles, with ready-made questions and respondents at your fingertips. All responses are recorded in the Attest platform, and the market research software analyzes results and collects consumer insights on your behalf.

Users pay per response, so you can scale your market research as needed.

A popular survey tool, Typeform offers a mobile-friendly way to collect market research insights . It’s unique in that it only shows users one field at a time to limit distractions. The look and feel lend to a more casual, conversational approach, which may encourage survey takers to be more candid in their responses. (We can’t prove it, though.)

Users can create various question types, including multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, and scale ratings. It’s intuitive and makes basic market research a breeze.

Ubersuggest, a popular k eyword research tool , also has market research capabilities packed into its user-friendly interface . That’s because keyword research is a form of market research , giving you a glimpse of what people are actively searching for online.

Let’s say you’re launching a new facial cleaning device for your beauty brand . By using Ubersuggest for keyword research, you can also uncover:

• Other brands selling facial cleaning devices
• Publications talking about facial cleaning devices
• The popularity of online searches for facial cleaning devices
• Competition for related keywords
• Questions related to the keyword “facial cleaning device”
• Cost per click to rank for the keyword via paid ads
• Search volume (and interest) over time

This is a great tool to help you see who your top competitors are online, what type of content ranks well for a keyword, and how crowded a market is for a particular product or service.

Market research doesn’t always have to be a costly, complex beast, and SurveyMonkey is a great example. This easy-to-use survey tool can create simple or in-depth surveys sent to targeted audiences for feedback. 

For example, you might have one-off questions to ask customers who made a purchase to learn more about their buying habits. Or, you might want to send longer surveys to customers to help develop a new product. No matter your use case, you can customize surveys to reach highly specific audiences and compile their answers instantly. 

SurveyMonkey also offers turnkey market research solutions, including a global panel survey, translation services, and a reporting dashboard. These services can help you reach more people and get more use from your data.

Answer the Public is a free search listening tool that compiles the questions people are asking online. These questions can serve as a starting point for new product development, product improvements, and content marketing .

This market research software uses autocomplete data from Google . When you start typing a search, Google will try to guess what you’re looking for based on what other people have searched for. You can do this manually, but it’s time-consuming and relies only on your ideas.

Answer the Public makes life easier by compiling related questions in an easy-to-understand graphic. And since the data comes from Google, market researchers can trust its reliability and quality.

Ever wonder what it is about a brand (including yours) that people love? The things that get people talking? BrandMentions can help provide some context.

Specializing in social media monitoring , BrandMentions takes the next step into showing why a particular keyword is buzzing. Type in a keyword and you’ll see recent social media posts that also contain that keyword.

You can also see the keyword’s Reach, Performance, and Number of Mentions — all of which can come in handy when you’re planning a new product launch. You can use these insights to plan your launch-related posts to generate the most buzz.

Tip: Learn more about brand monitoring , brand tracking , brand reputation measurement , about the best brand tracking software , and understand why your brand mentions are spiking .

AI market research tools like Heartbeat AI allow you to put market research on autopilot , or at least close to it. Using sentiment analysis , this market research tool recognizes themes and trends in qualitative text data.

No more poring through pages and pages of text — Heartbeat AI can quickly surface insights about how your audience feels regarding your brand or products (or your competitors). What’s more, it can turn these insights into attractive visuals for simpler understanding or sharing with other stakeholders.

Qualitative research can be more difficult to sort and analyze because it contains more variables. Unlike quantitative research, which deals with specific, measurable data, qualitative research involves the complexities of human behavior and perception. The results are subjective in nature, and it involves more work to extract their value.

Discuss aims to change the narrative with AI-powered insights . Offering video capabilities, built-in note-taking, and auto-generated highlight reels, marketers can capture the “Aha!” moments without losing efficiency.

The market research platform makes it easy to refer back to conversations and keep their audience engaged throughout the process, leading to more complete data.

One of the oldest but most trusted market research sources , the U.S. Census Bureau offers basic demographic information about U.S. citizens. This platform gives you instant insight into America’s people , including things like family sizes, income levels, and populations.

Beyond demographics, the market research platform has thousands of tables and maps to bring your research to life. You can customize your own maps and tables using any of the data available.

Another option is to find your business’s North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code , and then filter the Tables tool to focus on your industry. This allows you to see where your industry is most popular and where it might be over- or under-saturated.

Tableau from Salesforce is a business intelligence platform that connects to all of your data sources, making it easier to connect the dots between disparate systems. It excels at transforming unstructured data into visualizations to streamline decisions.

Their goal is to democratize data and make it more accessible and user-friendly. It accomplishes its mission with a user-friendly interface, visual data transcriptions, and a community of more than a million members who share how-tos and best practices.

Make Your Market Research Tools Work for You

Online market research tools aren’t replacing the traditional survey or focus group — they’re enhancing them by providing an always-on approach to speed up results. By tapping into the wealth of data people are openly sharing online, businesses can gain more insights than ever before, on demand.

Meltwater offers some of the best tools for market research that are accurate, reliable, and easy to use. By tapping into billions of data points and analyzing them in the context of your business, you can make valuable data-driven decisions to move your company forward.

Learn more when you request a demo by filling out the form below:

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What is a Competitive Analysis — and How Do You Conduct One?

Published: April 24, 2024

Every time I work with a new brand, my first order of business is to conduct a competitive analysis. 

A competitive analysis report helps me understand the brand’s position in the market, map competitors’ strengths/weaknesses, and discover growth opportunities. 

In this article, I’ll break down the exact steps I follow to conduct competitor analysis and identify ways to one-up top brands in the market. 

We’ll cover:

What is competitive analysis?

What is competitive market research, competitive analysis in marketing.

• How To Conduct Competitive Analysis in 5 Steps

How to Do a Competitive Analysis (the Extended Cut)

Competitive product analysis, competitive analysis example, competitive analysis templates.

• Competitive Analysis FAQs

Competitive analysis is the process of comparing your competitors against your brand to understand their core differentiators, strengths, and weaknesses. It’s an in-depth breakdown of each competitor’s market position, sales & marketing tactics, growth strategy, and other business-critical aspects to see what they’re doing right and find opportunities for your business.

Competitive analysis gives you a clearer picture of the market landscape to make informed decisions for your growth. 

That said, you have to remember that competitive analysis is an opportunity to learn from others. It isn’t:

• Copying successful competitors to the T.
• Trying to undercut others’ pricing.
• A one-and-done exercise.

Let’s look at how this exercise can help your business before breaking down my 5-step competitive analysis framework.

4 Reasons to Perform Competitive Analysis 

If you’re on the fence about investing time and effort in analyzing your competitors, know that it gives you a complete picture of the market and where you stand in it.

Here are four main reasons why I perform a competitive analysis exercise whenever working with a brand for the first time:

• Identify your differentiators. Think of competitor analysis as a chance to reflect on your own business and discover what sets you apart from the crowd. And if you’re only starting out, it helps you brainstorm the best opportunities to differentiate your business.
• Find competitors’ strengths. What are your competitors doing right to drive their growth? Analyzing the ins and outs of an industry leader will tell you what they did well to reach the top position in the market.
• Set benchmarks for success. A competitor analysis gives you a realistic idea of mapping your progress with success metrics. While every business has its own path to success, you can always look at a competitor’s trajectory to assess whether you’re on the right track.
• Get closer to your target audience. A good competitor analysis framework zooms in on your audience. It gives you a pulse of your customers by evaluating what they like, dislike, prefer, and complain about when reviewing competing brands.

The bottom line: Whether you’re starting a new business or revamping an existing one, a competitive analysis eliminates guesswork and gives you concrete information to build your business strategy.

10 Free Competitive Analysis Templates

Track and analyze your competitors with these ten free planning templates.

• SWOT Analysis
• Battle Cards
• Feature Comparison
• Strategic Overview

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Competitive market research is a vital exercise that goes beyond merely comparing products or services. It involves an in-depth analysis of the market metrics that distinguish your offerings from those of your competitors.

A thorough market research doesn't just highlight these differences but leverages them, laying a solid foundation for a sales and marketing strategy that truly differentiates your business in a bustling market.

In the next section, we’ll explore the nuts and bolts of conducting a detailed competitive analysis tailored to your brand.

10 Competitive Analysis Templates

Fill out the form to access the templates., essential aspects to cover in competitive analysis research .

Before we walk through our step-by-step process for conducting competitor analysis, let’s look at the main aspects to include for every competitor:

• Overview. A summary of the company — where it’s located, target market, and target audience.
• Primary offering. A breakdown of what they sell and how they compare against your brand.
• Pricing strategy. A comparison of their pricing for different products with your pricing.
• Positioning.  An analysis of their core messaging to see how they position themselves. Customer feedback: A curation of what customers have to say about the brand.

Now, it’s time to learn how to conduct a competitive analysis with an example to contextualize each step. 

Every brand can benefit from regular competitor analysis. By performing a competitor analysis, you'll be able to:

• Identify gaps in the market.
• Develop new products and services.
• Uncover market trends.
• Market and sell more effectively.

As you can see, learning any of these four components will lead your brand down the path of achievement.

Next, let's dive into some steps you can take to conduct a comprehensive competitive analysis.

How to Conduct Competitive Analysis in 5 Quick Steps

As a content marketer, I’ve performed a competitive analysis for several brands to improve their messaging, plan their marketing strategy, and explore new channels. Here are the five steps I follow to analyze competitors.

1. Identify and categorize all competitors.

The first step is a simple yet strategic one. You have to identify all possible competitors in your industry, even the lesser-known ones. The goal here is to be aware of all the players in the market instead of arbitrarily choosing to ignore a few.

As you find more and more competitors, categorize them into these buckets:

• Direct competitors. These brands offer the same product/service as you to the same target audience. People will often compare you to these brands when making a buying decision. For example, Arcade and Storylane are direct competitors in the demo automation category.
• Indirect competitors. These businesses solve the same problem but with a different solution. They present opportunities for you to expand your offering. For example, Scribe and Whatfix solve the problem of documentation + internal training, but in different ways.
• Legacy competitors. These are established companies operating in your industry for several years. They have a solid reputation in the market and are a trusted name among customers. For example, Ahrefs is a legacy competitor in the SEO industry.
• Emerging competitors. These are new players in the market with an innovative business model and unique value propositions that pose a threat to existing brands. For example, ChatGPT came in as a disruptor in the conversational AI space and outperformed several brands. 

Here’s a competitive matrix classifying brands in the community and housing space:

Testing It Out

To help you understand each step clearly, we’ll use the example of Trello and create a competitor analysis report using these steps.

Here’s a table of the main competitors for Trello:

able of the main competitors for Trello:

2. Determine each competitor’s market position.

Once you know all your competitors, start analyzing their position in the market. This step will help you understand where you currently stand in terms of market share and customer satisfaction. It’ll also reveal the big guns in your industry — the leading competitors to prioritize in your analysis report.

Plus, visualizing the market landscape will tell you what’s missing in the current state. You can find gaps and opportunities for your brand to thrive even in a saturated market.

To map competitors’ market positions, create a graph with two factors: market presence (Y-axis) and customer satisfaction (X-axis). Then, place competitors in each of these quadrants:

• Niche. These are brands with a low market share but rank high on customer satisfaction. They’re likely targeting a specific segment of the audience and doing it well.
• Contenders. These brands rank low on customer satisfaction but have a good market presence. They might be new entrants with a strong sales and marketing strategy.
• Leaders. These brands own a big market share and have highly satisfied customers. They’re the dominant players with a solid reputation among your audience.
• High performers. These are another category of new entrants scoring high on customer satisfaction but with a low market share. They’re a good alternative for people not looking to buy from big brands.

This visualization will tell you exactly how crowded the market is. But it’ll also highlight ways to gain momentum and compete with existing brands.

Here’s a market landscape grid by G2 documenting all of Trello’s competitors in the project management space. For a leading brand like Trello, the goal would be to look at top brands in two quadrants: “Leaders” and “High Performers.” 

Image Source

3. Extensively benchmark key competitors.

Step 2 will narrow down your focus from dozens of competitors to the few most important ones to target. Now, it’s time to examine each competitor thoroughly and prepare a benchmarking report.

Remember that this exercise isn’t meant to find shortcomings in every competitor. You have to objectively determine both the good and bad aspects of each brand.

Here are the core factors to consider when benchmarking competitors:

• Quality. Assess the quality of products/services for each competitor. You can compare product features to see what’s giving them an edge over you. You can also evaluate customer reviews to understand what users have to say about the quality of their offering.
• Price. Document the price points for every competitor to understand their pricing tactics. You can also interview their customers to find the value for money from users’ perspectives.
• Customer service. Check how they deliver support — through chat, phone, email, knowledge base, and more. You can also find customer ratings on different third-party platforms.
• Brand reputation. You should also compare each competitor’s reputation in the market to understand how people perceive the brand. Look out for anything critical people say about specific competitors.  
• Financial health. If possible, look for performance indicators to assess a brand's financial progress. You can find data on metrics like revenue growth and profit margins. 

This benchmarking exercise will involve a combination of primary and secondary research. Invest enough time in this step to ensure that your competitive analysis is completely airtight.

Check out this example of a competitor benchmarking report for workforce intelligence tools:

Here’s how I benchmarked Asana based on these criteria using the information I could find:

4. Deep dive into their marketing strategy.

While the first few steps will tell you what you can improve in your core product or service, you also need to find how competitors market their products.

You need to deep-dive into their marketing strategies to learn how they approach buyers. I analyze every marketing channel, then note my observations on how they speak to their audience and highlight their brand personality.

Here are a few key marketing channels to explore:

• Website. Analyze the website structure and copy to understand their positioning and brand voice.
• Email. Subscribe to emails to learn their cadence, copywriting style, content covered, and other aspects.
• Paid ads. Use tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to find if any competitor is running paid ads on search engines.
• Thought leadership. Follow a brand’s thought leadership efforts with content assets like podcasts, webinars, courses, and more.
• Digital PR. Explore whether a brand is investing in digital PR to build buzz around its business and analyze its strategy.
• Social media. See how actively brands use different social channels and what kind of content is working best for them.
• Partnerships. Analyze high-value partnerships to see if brands work closely with any companies and mutually benefit each other.

You can create a detailed document capturing every detail of a competitor’s marketing strategy. This will give you the right direction to plan your marketing efforts. 

5. Perform a SWOT analysis.

The final step in a competitive analysis exercise is creating a SWOT analysis matrix for each company. This means you‘ll take note of your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Think of it as the final step to consolidate all your research and answer these questions:

• What is your competitor doing well?
• Where do they have an advantage over your brand?
• What is the weakest area for your competitor?
• Where does your brand have the advantage over your competitor?
• In what areas would you consider this competitor a threat?
• Are there opportunities in the market that your competitor has identified?

You can use tools like Miro to visualize this data. Once you visually present this data, you’ll get a clearer idea of where you can outgrow each competitor. 

Here’s a SWOT analysis matrix I created for Asana as a competitor of Trello:

• Determine who your competitors are.
• Determine what products your competitors offer.
• Research your competitors' sales tactics and results.
• Take a look at your competitors' pricing, as well as any perks they offer.
• Ensure you're meeting competitive shipping costs.
• Analyze how your competitors market their products.
• Take note of your competition's content strategy.
• Learn what technology stack your competitors use.
• Analyze the level of engagement on your competitors' content.
• Observe how they promote marketing content.
• Look at their social media presence, strategies, and go-to platforms.
• Perform a SWOT Analysis to learn their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

To run a complete and effective competitive analysis, use these ten templates, which range in purpose from sales to marketing to product strategy.

Featured Resource: 10 Competitive Analysis Templates

1. Assess your current product pricing.

The first step in any product analysis is to assess current pricing.

Nintendo offers three models of its Switch console: The smaller lite version is priced at $199, the standard version is $299, and the new OLED version is $349.

Sony, meanwhile, offers two versions of its PlayStation 5 console: The standard edition costs $499, and the digital version, which doesn’t include a disc drive, is $399.

2. Compare key features.

Next is a comparison of key features. In the case of our console example, this means comparing features like processing power, memory, and hard drive space.

3. Pinpoint differentiators.

With basic features compared, it’s time to dive deeper with differentiators. While a glance at the chart above seems to indicate that the PS5 is outperforming its competition, this data only tells part of the story.

Here’s why: The big selling point of the standard and OLED Switch models is that they can be played as either handheld consoles or docked with a base station connected to a TV. What’s more, this “switching” happens seamlessly, allowing players to play whenever, wherever.

The Playstation offering, meanwhile, has leaned into market-exclusive games that are only available on its system to help differentiate them from their competitors.

4. Identify market gaps.

The last step in a competitive product analysis is looking for gaps in the market that could help your company get ahead.

When it comes to the console market, one potential opportunity gaining traction is the delivery of games via cloud-based services rather than physical hardware.

Companies like Nvidia and Google have already made inroads in this space, and if they can overcome issues with bandwidth and latency, it could change the market at scale.

How do you stack up against the competition? Where are you similar, and what sets you apart? This is the goal of competitive analysis.

By understanding where your brand and competitors overlap and diverge, you’re better positioned to make strategic decisions that can help grow your brand.

Of course, it’s one thing to understand the benefits of competitive analysis, and it’s another to actually carry out an analysis that yields actionable results. Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered with a quick example.

Sony vs. Nintendo: Not all fun and games.

Let’s take a look at popular gaming system companies Sony and Nintendo.

Sony’s newest offering — the Playstation 5 — recently hit the market but has been plagued by supply shortages.

Nintendo’s Switch console, meanwhile, has been around for several years but remains a consistent seller, especially among teens and children.

This scenario is familiar for many companies on both sides of the coin; some have introduced new products designed to compete with established market leaders, while others are looking to ensure that reliable sales don’t fall.

Using some of the steps listed above, here’s a quick competitive analysis example.

In our example, it’s Sony vs Nintendo, but it’s also worth considering Microsoft’s Xbox, which occupies the same general market vertical.

This is critical for effective analysis; even if you’re focused on specific competitors and how they compare, it’s worth considering other similar market offerings.

PlayStation offers two PS5 versions, digital and standard, at different price points, while Nintendo offers three versions of its console.

Both companies also sell peripherals — for example, Sony sells virtual reality (VR) add-ons, while Nintendo sells gaming peripherals such as steering wheels, tennis rackets, and differing controller configurations.

When it comes to sales tactics and marketing, Sony and Nintendo have very different approaches.

In part thanks to the recent semiconductor shortage, Sony has driven up demand via scarcity — very low volumes of PS5 consoles remain available. Nintendo, meanwhile, has adopted a broader approach by targeting families as its primary customer base.

This effort is bolstered by the Switch Lite product line, which is smaller and less expensive, making it a popular choice for children.

The numbers tell the tale : Through September 2021, Nintendo sold 14.3 million consoles, while Sony sold 7.8 million.

Sony has the higher price point: Their standard PS5 sells for $499, while Nintendo’s most expensive offering comes in at $349. Both offer robust digital marketplaces and the ability to easily download new games or services.

Here, the key differentiators are flexibility and fidelity. The Switch is flexible — users can dock it with their television and play it like a standard console or pick it up and take it anywhere as a handheld gaming system.

The PS5, meanwhile, has superior graphics hardware and processing power for gamers who want the highest-fidelity experience.

5. Analyze how your competitors market their products.

If you compare the marketing efforts of Nintendo and Sony, the difference is immediately apparent: Sony’s ads feature realistic in-game footage and speak to the exclusive nature of their game titles.

The company has managed to secure deals with several high-profile game developers for exclusive access to new and existing IPs.

Nintendo, meanwhile, uses brightly lit ads showing happy families playing together or children using their smaller Switches while traveling.

6. Analyze the level of engagement on your competitor's content.

Engagement helps drive sales and encourage repeat purchases.

While there are several ways to measure engagement, social media is one of the most straightforward: In general, more followers equates to more engagement and greater market impact.

When it comes to our example, Sony enjoys a significant lead over Nintendo: While the official Playstation Facebook page has 38 million followers, Nintendo has just 5 million.

Competitive analysis is complex, especially when you’re assessing multiple companies and products simultaneously.

To help streamline the process, we’ve created 10 free templates that make it possible to see how you stack up against the competition — and what you can do to increase market share.

Let’s break down our SWOT analysis template. Here’s what it looks like:

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Home Market Research

Marketing research: Definition, steps, uses & advantages

What is marketing research?

Marketing research is defined as any technique or a set of practices that companies use to collect information to understand their target market better. Organizations use this data to improve their products, enhance their UX, and offer a better product to their customers. Marketing research is used to determine what the customers want, and how they react to products or features of a product.

Gather research insights

Four standard marketing research methods

The four most common marketing research methods are surveys, interviews, customer observations, and focus groups. You can research various ways without limiting yourself to just one way. Let’s dive deeper into each of these marketing research techniques.

Researchers collect responses by deploying surveys and managing data via online questionnaires or on-screen surveys at the POS. These surveys contain closed-ended and open-ended questions. They are popular and are the most widely used research techniques.

Why are online surveys popular?

Surveys are inexpensive, simple to set-up, deploy, and gather responses. It gets easy to collect multiple answers from a tailored audience group using surveys. Researchers rely on quantitative data, and online surveys provide quick responses compared to the more traditional offline methods. You can collect large amounts of data within minutes from anywhere in the world.

2. Interviews

Face-to-face or personal interviews are a more traditional way of doing marketing research. It is a slow and more expensive way of collecting responses. Researchers doing large scale marketing research do not prefer this method to collect a large number of responses. Interviews are conducted both in-person and on the telephone (CATI). 

Why are interviews important?

Personal interviews may not be widely used but play a significant role in understanding precisely what the respondent feels. You can record more than just verbal responses and understand the customer better. Often, when two humans interact with each other, more information is shared because of the dialogue. Personal interviews are useful in small-scale studies, where the researcher wants to interview a specific group of local respondents. CATI’s are helpful when the respondent base is more expansive.

3. Focus groups

Focus groups or online focus groups involve several respondents who participate in discussions about a particular topic. A researcher conducts focus groups to obtain richer information. The main reason for a focus group is to hold a dialogue between various people on a particular topic of interest. Unlike interviews, focus group members are allowed to interact with each other and influence one another.

Why are focus groups impactful?

It is no secret that focus groups are hugely impactful in decision making. Researchers gain a lot of information by organizing focus groups. Often, focus groups bring up issues not foreseen by researchers. Online or video focus groups have a broad reach, and many organizations have now started creating and nurturing research communities for better respondent handling and data gathering. Direct interaction of business groups and customers positively impacts users because they feel that their voices are heard.

4. Observation

Observation, though not popular and widely used, gives intuitive feedback. Research companies organize customer observation sessions to gather information on how they engage with the product or service (or a similar competitor product or service). Feedback from people’s behavioral attitudes is a powerful tool for researchers looking to improve their products and services.

What makes observation so powerful?

Observational market research is an excellent alternative to focus groups. It’s not only an inexpensive research tool, but you will also witness people interacting with and using your product in a natural environment. The downside is that you will have to make inferences about their feelings and reactions.

LEARN ABOUT: market research trends

How to conduct marketing research

Follow these four marketing research steps to help you understand what your users think and feel about your product, service, or business.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Research

1. Create simple user personas

A user persona is nothing more than a fictional character that represents a user or a customer. Understanding user personas will help you gauge how different persons react to other products and services to understand their needs. To create a persona, your questions must answer these types questions about the user or customer:

• Who are they?
• What’s their primary goal?
• What stops them from achieving that goal?

2. Conduct observational research

Use both overt and covert observation methods to observe and take notes while users use your products or a similar one.

Overt vs. covert observation

• Overt observation asks users if they will allow you to watch them use your product. 
• Covert observation studies users in a natural environment without them knowing. This type of observation generally works only if you sell a product that consumers buy and use regularly. It brings in the purest observational research data as people act naturally while using the products. 

3. Conduct personal interviews

One-on-one conversations with your target population allow you to explore and dig deep into their concerns, revealing answers to many questions. Here are a few tips for conducting personal interviews.

• Be a journalist and not a salesperson. Ask users about their frustrations, needs, and areas where they think they need an improvement in the product. 
• Pose the ‘why’ question to dig deeper. Dive into the details to know more about their past behavior.
• Recording the conversation helps you focus on it rather than take notes simultaneously.

4. Analyze the data

The idea of conducting lean marketing research is to receive quick, actionable insight data. Analyze the information you have collected using various techniques to draw patterns into what customers like and dislike, what they want, and what they do not need. Create a simple visual representation of how people will interact with each other and the product to assess their needs in a better way.

LEARN ABOUT: Marketing Insight

Why is research so valuable?

Without research, it is impossible to gauge and understand your customers. Of course, you will have an idea of what they need and who they are and, but you must dive deeper to win their loyalty. Here is why marketing research matters:

• Attract potential customers: The primary aim of marketing research is to find ways to attract potential customers. It also helps to keep current happy and coming back for more. Understanding your customers entirely is the only way to progress. You’ll lose potential customers if you stop caring about improving your user experience.
• Answer the why’s: Marketing research gives you the answer to the ‘why.’ Make use of user analytics, big data, and reporting dashboards in marketing research to tell you what your users are thinking and why they think and act that way. For example, only marketing research can explain why customers leave you.
• Data-backed decisions: Research beats trends, assumptions, and so-called best business practices. Bad decisions are often taken due to emotional reasoning and guesswork. Focusing on customer experience by listening to your customers directs you in the right direction.
• Better planning: Research keeps you from making absurd decisions by planning in a vacuum. You might not fully gauge what your customers experience and feel while using your product. Customers may use products in a way that surprises you, and they may get confused by features that seem obvious to you. Conducting too much planning but not testing your assumptions will waste your money, time, efforts, and resources. Research helps you save up on all these factors.

LEARN ABOUT: 12 Best Tools for Researchers

Advantages of MKT research

Marketing research and user experience (UX) design help you continuously improve your product by acting on your feedback. Here are the advantages of conducting marketing research:

• Improved efficiency: Efficiency draws you closer to your users. You can improve the efficiency of delivering the product to the market and also increase its usability.
• Cost-effective: Marketing research helps you make the right decisions based on consumer demand, thus saving you costs in creating something that customers do not like or want.

LEARN ABOUT:  Test Market Demand

• Competitive edge: Quicker, more robust insights can help you place your services and products strategically, gaining a competitive advantage over others.
• Build strategies: You can quickly build, alter, or design new approaches to attract your users and consumers.
• Improved communication: Bridge the communication gap by interacting with consumers and hearing them out. This helps consumers feel wanted and special.
• LEARN ABOUT: Market research vs marketing research

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15 Top Market Research Tools & Software (2024)

In this guide we'll cover the best 15 free and paid market research tools in 2024. 

We'll also cover their key features, pricing and specific use cases that each tool is best used for. 

1. Statista

Statista is primarily a statistics portal that also offers customized market research reports. 

To quickly find relevant reports, just type in a keyword (like "beverages"), and Statista will show you a list of these reports.

This information makes it easy to gauge an industry's market cap, trend direction, consumer behavior, and other critical signals to help you decide whether to invest in that market.

Statista's data comes from three primary sources:

• 49% comes from original research (it employs over 100 data analysts)
• 16% comes from publicly accessible data sources
• 35% from unique data partnerships like market research institutions

Statista offers accounts for small businesses that start at $39 per month and personal accounts with more forecasts and industry reports starting at $490 per month.

2. Exploding Topics

Knowing about a trend before it takes off is the holy grail of market research.

However, most trend analysis is highly subjective and based on someone's best guess about what my take off in the future. So we built  Exploding Topics to help identify trends based on big data. 

The flagship feature is our Trends Database, which contains over 750,000 trending topics across 30 industries like fashion, finance, tech, marketing, pets, beauty, and more.

You'll also see a graph of each keyword's historical search volume growth trend, which you can use to gauge a topic's popularity and stability.

And notably, you can see our projected forecast of the trend's growth over the next year:

How does Exploding Topics find trending topics?

We realize you're probably making important decisions based on our trend data, so data quality is a top priority for us. With that, here's an overview of how we identify and qualify trends:

In addition to the Trends Database, Exploding Topics has a handful of other helpful tools to help you conduct market research more efficiently. Here are a few of those features:

• Trend Search : While the Trends Database is great for discovering new trends, Trends Search is great if you already know about a trend and just want to see the data behind it. This feature is similar to Google Trends. 
• Meta Trends : To help you find the products and brands riding a wave, we created the Meta Trends feature.
• Trending Startups : If you're focused on identifying trending startups, you can use this feature to sort by category and quickly find the fastest growing startups.
• Trending Products : Similar to the trending startups feature, this shows you a list of physical products seeing rapid growth. 

Exploding Topics has three pricing tiers at $39, $99, and $249 per month (all billed annually). All pricing tiers give users full access to all premium trends, Meta Trends, and the ability to view trending products. 

3. Market Finder

Market Finder is Google's free tool that makes it easy to discover international markets ideal for expansion. So rather than uncovering specific trends, it's best to identify new geographies and demographics with the potential for future growth.

It has two main tools:

• Dive into new markets : This walks you through a quick quiz that identifies your industry and other specifications about your company. Then, it shows you which countries would be ideal for expansion based on data from Google Ads, search volume, and household income.
• Test export readiness : Enter your website URL, and it analyzes your business's readiness for expansion by various categories like marketing performance (international traffic, ecommerce capabilities, etc.), operational abilities (payment fit, localization capabilities, etc.), and competitive position (like category demand).

If you have Google Analytics set up, it can pull data directly from the Google Analytics dashboard for a more accurate report.

It's completely free.

4. Census Business Builder – Best For Brick and Mortar Location Research

The Census Business Builder is an excellent tool for retailers researching geographic markets. You can search by zip code, town, or state and see specific metrics like population, average household income, and education level.

It also has more advanced filters that can provide more detailed valuable insights depending on the business you're launching.

For example, if you're launching a fast casual restaurant, you can use the "Consumer Spending" filter and see how much people spend on alcoholic beverages and dining out in that selected area.

This can help you identify the best locations to open a new location.

It’s entirely free.

5. Grand View Research

Grand View Research is a research and consulting company that also offers market reports across a variety of industries.

Most of their market research reports provide statistics like market size, compounding annual growth rate, market breakdown by sectors, and competitive analysis.

Their paid offering allows you to segment the data to find more specific metrics (i.e., only data for the Japanese pet market).

In addition to the free reports, Grand View Research also offers custom research services, and you can talk to one of their analysts for more personalized assistance.

They offer plenty of marketing reports for free, though access to premium research reports site-wide starts at $10,500.

SpyFu is an SEO (search engine optimization) tool that allows you to do basic tasks like keyword research and backlink analysis. However, it really shines as a competitive analytics tool that makes it easy to discover the marketing strategies that other top players in a particular market are using.

Just type in any URL, and you'll be able to find SEO metrics like total traffic, search term rankings, and backlink analysis. It also shows some PPC metrics like Google Ads they're running, paid keywords, and ad history.

This makes it possible to estimate how much search traffic exists in that market.

Spyfu has three different pricing tiers at $16, $36, and $149 per month (billed annually). The main difference between each pricing tier is the number of searches, data exports, and domain overview PDFs.

7. Crunchbase

Crunchbase is a database of startups that makes it easy for users to find data like money raised to date and information on key players in the company (investors, founders etc.).

It also has many other metrics like acquisition status and employee headcount, but its primary focus is on funding data.

To use the database, just type in a niche (e.g., "AI") and filter by other relevant information like total amount raised, location, and more.

From there, Crunchbase will give you a list of companies that meet the defined criteria.

The their Pro plan starts at $49 per month.

Awario is a social mention and brand tracking tool that also doubles as a market research tool.

Specifically, the tool allows you to track various keywords across social media platforms, like brand names, product keywords, industry influencers, and more. For example, if you're considering building or investing in a mobile app for sleep tracking, you can easily track brand names like Oura Ring or keywords like "sleep tracker."

This makes it easy to see key industry conversations to better understand your ideal buyer persona and identify potential gaps in the market.

Awario also tracks sentiment analysis to see how people feel about various competitors in the space.

Awario has three pricing tiers at $24, $74, and $249 per month (billed annually). The difference between each pricing tier is mainly the number of topics, new mentions, and stored mentions that you’re monitoring.

G2 is one of the most popular software review websites. Which makes it a great tool to quickly find qualitative and quantitative customer data on virtually any software market.

First, you can view reviewer details, like title, industry, business size, and region, which is useful for accurately identifying the market's target demographic. You can also filter reviews by any of those categories.

The G2 review structure is also quite helpful as it consists of the following questions:

• What do you like best about (product)?
• What do you dislike about (product)?
• What problems is (product) solving and how is that benefiting you?

This customer experience data is a goldmine for investors and startup founders as it makes it easy to quickly identify gaps in the market and understand key pain points customers are trying to solve.

G2 also provides a list of competitors for each product so that you can easily find other related companies to research.

Finally, G2 makes an effort to ensure that the customer feedback is legitimate by allowing users to verify themselves and even marking incentivized reviews.

G2 is free for users to browse reviews, though it does offer other paid plans for marketers and investors.

10. Prisync

If you're launching a new ecommerce product, Prisync is an excellent tool for competitor price tracking, as it identifies price changes in real-time.

In fact, it can dynamically adjust your store's prices according to the rules you set and the competitive data it gathers.

While Prisync is usually best for ecommerce stores that have already launched, you can also use its competitive analysis features to track pricing trends for top players in any market.

For example, in addition to tracking real-time price fluctuations, Prisync also has a price history tracking feature that provides insight into how prices are trending over time, which helps you identify volatility in the market.

It has three pricing tiers at $99, $199, and $399 per month. Pricing tiers are differentiated by the number of products it tracks (up to 100, 1,000, and 5,000 products at each pricing tier) and it locks premium features behind different pricing tiers, like dynamic pricing, daily email notifications, price history, and API access.

11. SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey makes is designed to help you create user-friendly online surveys. You can choose from multiple different survey templates (NPS, product testing, customer satisfaction, etc.) and question types (multiple choice, matrix, open-ended, rating scale, image, etc.).

If you don't have an audience, you can use Surveymonkey's audience panel tool, which runs your survey to a specific demographic for you.

Just specify your target market (i.e., mons with a household income of at least $50,000), and SurveyMonkey takes care of the rest.

If you're interested in learning more about how SurveyMonkey ensures you receive high-quality responses, here's a resource on their approach to quality control .

The survey tool starts at $39 per month, but pricing for the Audience Panel starts at $1 per response, and requires a minimum of 200 responses. So you can expect pricing to start at $200 per survey.

12. Respondent

Having a live conversation with your ideal target audience is one of the best ways to learn about a market and the audience's needs.

The problem is that it can be difficult to find people to interview and then get them to agree to talk to you.

Respondent solves this problem.

It allows you to submit a request detailing who you want to talk to (e.g., title, company size, industry, etc.), and then it finds people for you.

So if you want to talk to CFOs at healthcare companies, Respondent can help connect you with those people.

If you don't want to get on a call and prefer to just survey an audience, Respondent can run your survey to a specified audience.

You choose the incentive that you want to pay respondents, so pricing varies depending on the price you set. Then, Respondent charges 50% of the incentive fee as their service fee.

Attest is another audience survey tool.

Like Respondent, Attest provides an audience for you to survey. All you need to do is provide demographic information about who you're targeting, and the questions you want to ask.

Attest can assemble audiences from a pool of over 125 million consumers around the world.

The company then uses a mix of AI scanning and human oversight to review the data collected by your attest survey. This is to improve the reliability and consistency of your data.

Attest won't turn your data into insights, though—once you get your results, you'll have to use other tools to help with the analysis.

Attest offers three plans based on usage—but they don't publish their prices online. You'll need to get in touch with the company and request a quote.

14. Qualaroo

Qualaroo is an audience survey tool.

The platform makes it easy to set up questionnaires that appear on your website at different intervals during a visitor's journey.

Companies can use Qualaroo to gather more information about things like:

• Visitor needs and motivations
• App or website user decisions
• Purchase decisions
• Products for sale

You can target specific website visitors based on time of day, location, and more. This makes it possible to research specific groups of visitors—useful for building or verifying audience personas.

You can also use Qualaroo to collect focus group feedback about website and app prototypes before you launch them.

Qualaroo's free plan allows users to collect up to 50 survey responses a month for free. If you want higher usage limits, you'll need to subscribe to a paid plan.

The company's business tier plan costs $39.99 per month (or $19.99 per month when billed annually) per 100 responses.

You'll be billed extra for any month in which you go over 100 responses; the total cost depends on volume.

15. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI chat assistant that can help you plan for and analyze market research efforts.

There are several ways that ChatGPT is useful during the market research process, including:

• Reviewing information about your target audience and creating survey questions
• Processing and analyzing data collected from tools like Attest or SurveyMonkey
• Analyzing, summarizing, and answering questions about data-heavy PDF reports
• Creating customer persona documents

If you have a ChatGPT Plus plan, you can even train your own GPT to produce the analysis or content that you need. It's possible to save and reuse these GPTs, so they can speed up your workflow.

It's free to use ChatGPT, though you may run into some feature limitations. You'll also have to use a slightly older version of the GPT AI, which can lead to more errors.

To customize your experience and get more tools for document analysis, you'll need a ChatGPT Plus plan starting at $20 per month.

This wraps up our list of some of the best tools for conducting market research in 2024.

If you're in the market research space, you may want to check out our report on the biggest trends in market research happening right now. 

Find Thousands of Trending Topics With Our Platform

How to Conduct Online Market Research

In 2011, when Ron Johnson became the CEO of JCPenney, he was already a veteran business executive. 

For 15 years, he’d been vice president of merchandising at Target, then worked 11 more years as senior vice president of retail at Apple.

Naturally, JCPenney felt confident when Johnson decided to completely overhaul their business and eliminate all coupons, promotions and sales events.

But instead of growth, JCPenney started tanking. Sales numbers dropped. Customers were lost. Forbes eventually called this an “epic rebranding fail” .

Why did things go awry? Because Johnson didn’t understand the brand’s target audience. “I thought people were just tired of coupons and all this stuff,” he said in an interview. But it turned out that JCPenney customers loved coupons and sales!

The takeaway from this whole mess is that we shouldn’t assume we know what customers want.

Instead, we should use both quantitative and qualitative research to drive our decisions. 

Moreover, we should aim to understand the market as a whole, especially the competitive landscape and emerging trends.

Fortunately, all this has never been easier, since now anyone can conduct market research online. 

What is the Purpose of Online Market Research?

Conducting proper online market research requires time and money. But investing those resources into ecommerce research makes sense for the following reasons: 

1. Get a deeper understanding of your target audience.

Knowing your target audience is critical for coming up with new product ideas , developing a winning marketing strategy and creating copy that converts .

Ecommerce personas also help ensure that you are speaking directly to the customer’s needs and satisfy all of their expectations. 

Keep in mind that while knowing the demographics of your target market is important, it’s not enough in and of itself. 

In addition to knowing who your target customers are, you should also understand what they think, feel and value.

Online market research, especially qualitative research, can help you delve into the internal motivators that prompt a purchase. 

2. Learn customer behaviors. 

Understanding how your target customers shop online can help you improve the usability of your website and provide a better customer experience . Every point of friction in the buyer’s journey reduces customer satisfaction and increases the likelihood of cart abandonment, lost up-sale or missed retention opportunity. 

Online market research can help you identify those points of friction and common deal-breakers. Then, use this know-how to simplify navigation, facilitate product discovery and improve conversion rates . 

3. Find new business opportunities. 

Lots of ecommerce business opportunities are out there that can make your company more successful:

New product development  

Cross-border sales

Subscription offerings

Or new business models  

Doing online business research and looking at the market data can help you uncover those opportunities that lie hidden in plain sight.

2 Types of Market Research 

The idea of doing “ecommerce market research” may be lofty. But when it comes to execution, you need to master just two research methods: 

1. Primary research. 

Primary research is data collection, done by you, using your internal resources.

Here are a few examples:

Online surveys and questionnaires.

In-person, in-depth interviews.

Online focus groups. 

In other words, with primary research, you are the one doing the data collection, then analyzing that data to extract actionable business insights.

2. Secondary research. 

Secondary research is using data and insights, produced by someone else.

Government statistics. For example, if you are in the healthcare industry, then the National Center for Health Statistics can be a valuable source of data.

Industry statistics. Statista is a great website for learning more about a particular market. The Big-4 accounting firms also conduct a ton of original industry research. 

Industry reports. For example, HubSpot publishes an annual “State of Marketing Report” in which they share their online marketing research and provide an overview of the latest industry trends. 

As such, with secondary research, someone else collects the data and then interprets it for you. 

Source: My Market Research Methods

How to Conduct Market Research 

Market research is essential for understanding the target demographics, market conditions and competition. 

Here’s how to do market research for ecommerce to collect high-quality and relevant insights about your target market. 

1. Conduct keyword research. 

Keyword research can help you figure out whether there’s a demand for the product that you want to sell online.

Even though high search volumes don’t mean the product’s idea is profitable, they do indicate genuine interest among consumers. 

Moreover, keyword research is also useful when you are working on your inbound marketing strategy since it allows you to pinpoint opportunities for generating organic traffic with search engine optimization (SEO) .

Some of the popular free keyword research tools are:

Google Keyword Planner .

Keyword Tool . 

Ubersuggest .

However, a premium tool such as Ahrefs or SEMRush provides business owners with deeper level insights. 

While Ahrefs is a sophisticated tool that might take time to master, you can learn how to do basic keyword research with it in just 10 minutes.

Simply watch the “Keyword Research Tutorial: From Start to Finish” video in which Sam Oh explains everything you need to know to get started. 

This tutorial is particularly helpful for ecommerce entrepreneurs because Sam uses a new ecommerce store that sells computers, computer parts, computer accessories and software to show the ropes of research. 

Here’s a quick summary:

Generate keyword ideas. Start by typing in a few broad keywords related to your business (e.g., “computer”), then go to “ Having same terms ” report to expand your list of ideas. Then filter those keyword ideas down, group them by search intent (informational, navigational, commercial, transactional) and evaluate their business potential. 

Analyze Google’s top ten search results. See which websites already rank for the target keyword. Pay attention to the content format. Consider using a similar type of content, but look for opportunities to improve upon the published posts. 

Assess how hard it will be to rank on Google for that keyword. Take a look at the number of referring domains and the domain ratings for the top ten search results. Competing with websites that have a similar domain rating (DR) to yours is the best strategy. 

Analyze topical relevance. See how your website compares to those in the top ten search results. Are you in the same industry? Is it a commercial domain? Is it a niche publisher, covering the topic exclusively? Doing so will give you more insights into the difficulty of ranking for that particular keyword. 

Reverse-engineer the topics that are driving traffic to your competitors’ websites. Go to Ahrefs Site Explorer, enter a competitor’s domain name and go to the top pages report. Then look at the traffic, the top keywords and the referring domains. 

Sam Oh also emphasizes that keyword research isn’t about search volume alone. Your goal is to find topics that potential customers are searching for, create educational content around them and soft-pitch your offers.

At the end of the day, traffic quality beats traffic quantity. When you are considering a particular keyword, ask yourself whether ranking for it will lead to more sales, not just extra traffic. 

2. Scope out the competition. 

You can learn a lot about a market by analyzing the competition, so figure out who your main competitors are and scrutinize them.

Note that even though you are doing market research for ecommerce, you shouldn’t only look at ecommerce businesses.

For example, LARQ sells water bottles online, but they are also competing against online marketplaces as well as niche online stores. Before launching the business, Justin Wang did a lot of market research to verify that there isn’t a direct competitor with the same offering.

Once you have a list of the key players in your industry, you should look into their:

Business model. How are they sourcing their products? Are they dropshipping or carrying inventory? Do they use third-party logistics (3PL) services? What is their pricing strategy? What is their marketing strategy? What is their returns policy? Jot down all the answers. 

Sales funnel. How do they attract potential customers to their website (content marketing, paid advertising, SEO, etc.)? How do they convert those site visitors into paying customers? Do they upsell? Cross-sell? Down-sell? Do they send automatic abandoned cart emails? You may want to go through their entire sales funnel to see how everything is set up. 

Website. Which type of ecommerce platform do they have? How long does it take for their site to load? Does their online store design look professional? What branding elements do they use? How does their checkout flow work (the number of steps, the number of field forms, etc.)? Overall, do they provide a satisfying user experience? 

Researching all this will help you determine:

What works. You shouldn’t outright copy your competitors. But there’s no need to reinvent the wheel either. Cherry-pick the best practices and apply those to your own business.

What doesn’t work. You might come across common frictions such as slow loading pages, confusing navigation, low-quality product images, etc. Take note of all that and make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes in your business. 

What can be optimized. When you dig into the logistics of a competitor’s business, you might uncover optimization opportunities that can then help you offer better products, lower prices and faster shipping. 

And don’t be intimidated by established companies.

Remember that even the largest corporations in the world, such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, were once fledgling startups.

You too can carve out a space for yourself in your industry. In fact, extensive market research is precisely what allows small businesses to compete against big companies. You just need to uncover something that will give you a competitive advantage. 

3. Research current trends. 

When you are doing product research for ecommerce, you should always look into the latest consumer trends. Use Google Trends to uncover those.

Here are the two questions that can help with online product research:

Is the interest in this product declining, stable or growing?

Is the interest in this product seasonal or does it remain the same all year?

Simply type in a relevant keyword and pick a time period.

For example, if you type in “artificial plants” and pick “Past 5 Years” as your timeframe, you will see that the interest in this keyword has been stable, with a noticeable increase in the last year.

A moderate but stable level of interest like that may indicate an opportunity for building a sustainable, long-lasting business. 

Check your assumption with a quick google search for such businesses. And yes, we have Autograph Foliages — a company that has been selling artificial plants for over 40 years! 

Also, when you see an upcoming trend, analyze it from different angles. For example, CBD is a promising new market with a diverse range of business opportunities . So rather than doing CBD-everything, consider niching down. 

Also, be wary when a trend has a crazy upward trajectory at the moment. Because a real-time spike in interest might turn out to be a short-lived fad. 

While it’s okay to capitalize on hot trends, you shouldn’t build your entire business around them. Make sure that your foundation is stable.

4. Utilize social media. 

Social media is a treasure trove of consumer insights. It’s the place where people broadcast their complaints, wishes, preferences and aspirations. But to find those golden nuggets of wisdom, you need to go on a deep dive. 

To avoid getting too deep down the internet rabbit hole, keep your online business research focused on: 

Following influencers in your industry . Analyze their opinions, conversations and past partnerships with brands.

Monitor relevant hashtags . Identify the most relevant hashtags for your products and then make it a habit to monitor them regularly.

Analyze competitor sentiment. Keep an ear on what people are saying about your competitors. This is a great way to figure out what their strengths and weaknesses are. Note that the most valuable information often lies in posts that mention a competing company or their products but don’t tag them. 

Text analysis can come in handy here. This machine learning technique helps analyze massive quantities of textual data and extract relevant information from it. 

For example, text analytics software could analyze all tweets with a specific hashtag. Then let you know whether the overall sentiment was positive or negative, which words appeared most frequently, etc. Investing in text analytics software would give you a much more accurate picture of the market and analyze a wider range of ideas shared online. 

Picking out the language your customers use — words, slang, metaphors — to express their preferences is a short-cut to writing better copy. By infusing the voice of customer data into your messaging, you make your pitches feel more personal and relevant. 

5. Build an online ecommerce store and test the waters. 

At some point, it’s time to move from theory to practice. Once you’ve accumulated enough insights, test your business idea by presenting it to the market. Ultimately, the target market response is the only thing that matters. 

Here’s how you should go about it:

Pick an ecommerce platform . Popular options include BigCommerce, Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc. Do your research and pick a solution that suits your needs best. 

Set up your ecommerce website. You will need to sort out web design, write the copy and create product pages. You can do all this yourself or hire agency partners to help.

Drive traffic to your online store. SEO, content marketing and social media are all great, but they are long-term strategies that require time to work. Meanwhile, if you want to put your products in front of your target customers quickly, your best bet is performance marketing .

Don’t wait until everything is “perfect” to launch your business. 

In fact, doing so would be a mistake. Because without first hand feedback, you won’t be able to right-size your offer anyway. 

At launch, you need to make an educated guess based on your market research as to what will resonate with potential customers and then put your products in front of them. 

That way you will start learning what works and what doesn’t and will be able to adjust your approach accordingly as you grow your business. 

6. Leverage forums and customer feedback.

Niche online forums are another leeway into learning about your customers’ preferences. 

To get the best scoops, do the following: 

Find out which online forums are the most popular in your niche.

Register to those and check back regularly.

Contribute to the discussions to build up your credibility. 

Pose questions and engage in conversations to better understand your audience.

Alternatively, you can ask your current customers to provide feedback. 

That’s even easier to do: 

Send an online market survey using SurveyMonkey or Typeform to your most loyal buyers. 

Conduct one-on-one customer interviews. Ask super-fans to jump on 15-minute calls with you. People love to express their opinions and want to feel heard. So getting some respondents might turn out to be easier than you think!

Send automated emails asking for feedback. After you buy something from Amazon, you probably get an email asking you to rate it. You can do the same in your ecommerce business. In addition to receiving feedback on your products, you’ll also generate customer reviews.

And yes, you can also use text analytics software to analyze customer feedback, too. An automated solution can be especially helpful if there’s a lot of data (e.g., you want to go through all the customer emails that you have ever received!).

Finally, pay special attention to unsolicited customer feedback, even if it’s negative. People voicing their opinions online must have felt that something was important if they decided to go through the trouble of reaching out to you.

Wrapping Up 

We are tempted to think that we “just know” what our target customers want. 

But that’s how biases kick into our thinking. Rather than “guesstimating” what your target market wants, do the fieldwork and prove your assumptions. 

Use relevant quantitative and qualitative data to formalize what your target buyers like, dislike and miss. Then take action! 

Online Market Research FAQs

1. what is online market research.

Online market research is a type of market research that leverages two types of data available online — the data you own and the data published by others. Collecting and analyzing this type of information can help you learn more about your target audience and right-size your offerings. 

2. How do you do market research?

Market research consists of primary and secondary research. Primary research involves collecting data yourself through surveys, customer interviews and focus groups. Secondary research involves analyzing data that was collected by someone else, such as government statistics, industry statistics and industry reports. 

3. Why does market research help ecommerce success?

Market research allows you to understand your target audience better. And the better you understand your potential customers, the easier it is to come up with viable product ideas, write compelling copy and launch effective marketing campaigns. 

4. Can you conduct surveys to do market research?

Yes, surveys are a valuable market research tool. You can gather both quantitative and qualitative data that way, directly from your customers or prospects. Consider using survey software to streamline the process. 

5. Is Quora a great place to start for research?

Quora can be a great place to conduct market research because it lets you know exactly what your customers think. Consider subscribing to the topics relevant to your niche and participating in discussions.

Home • Knowledge hub • The essential guide to conducting international market research

The essential guide to conducting international market research

In this guide we explain how to do international market research, exploring the key considerations to set you up for success.

Why is conducting international marketing research so important?

Whatever you think of it, globalisation is now a fact of life. For more than half a century , the biggest brands in the world have operated on a truly international scale. But in the past 25 years – the internet era – an ability to service global markets much more easily has made an international footprint even more compelling.

Near-universal penetration of the internet – often via a smartphone, equipped with GPS locators, camera and microphone – has created low-friction access for brands into markets they didn’t even know existed. Global supply chains and logistics make serving overseas markets easier than ever. And although there have been notable blips – in the form of sanctions, national protectionism and policy decisions such as Brexit – the overall trajectory is towards fewer tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade.

All that adds up to international business no longer being the preserve of multi-billion dollar blue-chip names; or even mid-corporate specialists and cool brands. Any company can now expand beyond their local market . International marketing today is a much more open field.

But the Covid-19 pandemic has also reminded us that within that global picture, markets evolve unpredictably. And they have always been subject to rapid change driven by local conditions, culture and consumption patterns.

That’s made multi-market insights even more useful for global brands already operating internationally – and any business planning to grow ‘overseas’ for the first time. Marketing research is important even at ‘home’. But in brand-new target markets with high potential, it’s nothing short of critical .

Finding a balance – with pertinent local insights or the one hand, and global uniformity for brand consistency on the other – can be a huge challenge. Marketing textbooks include plenty of examples of a failure to localise products and services, mistranslations of brand messaging ( some of which are urban legends …) and other cultural blunders .

That’s made market research a crucial tool for business looking to foreign markets, both to help generate insights that can be benchmarked across their global consumer base; aggregated to inform global decisions; and ensure international progression isn’t tripped up by nuances that demand locally tailored marketing or even products themselves.

Big world, small questions – How to embark on an international market research project

So what does it take to run an international market research project? One fundamental truth about market research holds true whatever you want to find out: the tighter the brief, the more useful the results.

That’s not to say brands could, or should, never conduct wide-ranging and open-ended research studies to test general attitudes or behaviours on a global scale. But while that kind of ‘ scene-setting ’ work can be very valuable in one location, country or even cultural context, it can be much harder to come up with firm conclusions when you’re trying to be ‘global’. International market research might start out with the intention of finding global commonalities or appetites, but the data collected will rarely reveal universal insights.

It’s more a question setting out the kinds of insights that might drive operational, product design or branding decisions for different markets. Country specific norms for consumers and logistics will affect the brief. And different nations, cultures and infrastructure will dramatically affect the available research methodologies, too. Again: it’s not impossible to design international research projects that have perfect consistency in methodology – but for many situations, it’s also not necessarily going to deliver the biggest return on investment.

There is significant value in getting inputs from research professionals even before setting the brief. Getting those right at the outset helps the market researchers you work with get a clearer idea of how they might target their investigations and sets expectations about what’s possible – whether you’re looking at a single overseas market, the potential for an entire region or tailoring local research work to evaluate global possibilities for your brand.

International, regional or global? Approaching international market research

That decision – one or two new markets, a region (perhaps opened up thanks to changes in logistics infrastructure) or a global snapshot – probably won’t be defined by the research process itself.

For the biggest brands, global methodologies ( which you can learn more about here ) such as brand trackers might seem to be universal. But you still need to localise the process to draw broad conclusions. This isn’t simply a question of ensuring that two completely different markets generate results that can be compared at the global level to inform business decisions. National and regional situations are constantly evolving, adding different contexts that research should be able to factor in. Just like running focus groups around a large country, the broad methods might be the same, but the way you ask questions and interpret answers needs finesse.

The biggest global brands – such as Starbuck or McDonald’s – often undertake localisation work on their products and services, too. The Tsukimi Burger is alien to anyone outside Japan, for example. Research conducted to support these market-specific development projects is usually undertaken by local teams. But decision-makers at these companies’ HQs will still expect research supporting those decisions to meet their global standards.

For companies breaking into foreign markets for the first time, similar rules apply. They will have a standard of insight they demand from research; but they will benefit hugely from working with research teams or agencies who understand the local cultures, dialects and the most productive research methodologies.

So right at the inception we need to ask some basic questions:

• Are we looking to assess products that present uniformly across the globe ? (An iPhone is the same everywhere; a chocolate recipe might not be.)
• How would we tailor products or positioning for a local audience? (Is this just packaging, for example, or tweaks to the features to adapt them to local conditions or cultural norms.)
• What are the financial implications of these decisions? (Tailoring research to local markets and contextualising the outputs against your global strategic objectives is usually fascinating work. But will it create valuable enough insights to offset the cost of both the research itself and the tailoring?)

Speaking our language

One of the biggest issues for research internationally is translating your project into different languages ( we explore that in detail here ). That means not just the questionnaires or scripts that you use, but the brief (so local fieldwork teams understand your intent), the responses and insight reports.

In the era of Google translate (and, to a lesser extent, the use of English in many markets) this might not seem so difficult. But the nuances of language can be a major pitfall for brands and for research projects. Remember, even dialects and local idiom can affect both the meaning of a survey response, a focus group transcript or even the focus of a question.

Language and culture across South East Asia is incredibly diverse, so you can’t simply treat it as a homogenous region. Even in India ( see our article on breaking the markets there ) there are dozens of languages and cultural identities. And in Canada, for example, you need translators who know Quebecois, not just French. Making small mistakes can undermine engagement and trust, and it’s usually a relatively easy thing to get right if you know what to look for.

These language traps are particularly acute for qualitative work assessing softer or more descriptive product features or emotional product branding –especially if there is a very strong global brand identity that needs to be maintained around any local variation.

Working with local teams to ensure the meaning of questionnaires and responses is captured, not just literal translations, helps ensure marketing decision-makers aren’t trapped. Specialist translation services and research teams on the ground but who are in on the initial project brief are hugely valuable.

Realities on the ground – how cultural nuances can influence your choice of methodology for international market research

There are huge variations in the cultural acceptance of different research methodologies too. In some countries, certain methodologies simply don’t work that well. You might find a survey on WeChat in China works well; but in some markets, you may need to spend more time building rapport with consumers – and allow them a sense of anonymity to build the confidence they need to be open with you. This worked well on a recent project in Saudi Arabia, for example, where we conducted an online community.

Some societies have historically been more open to face-to-face research rather than online approaches (although this is changing as a result of the pandemic), so we often recommend a blended approach to get to comparable levels of insight versus other markets where this might be attainable exclusively through online methodologies.

Even between Germany and the UK the research context varies hugely.  A lot of cultural nuance is rooted in history, too. In eastern Germany, for example, the folk memory of the Stasi is still recent history for many older people – which informs attitudes towards research and certain methodologies. So what you ask, how, where and when will differ in Leipzig compared to Paris or Birmingham, say. (And in much of the US, respondents will typically tell you much more than you need to know!)

And even well-understood quantitative methodologies – that you might think don’t require that linguistic nuance – need to be properly calibrated. For example, point scales vary around the world. In China, people are more open to giving 8s, 9s and 10s; in the UK, these are much rarer. If that’s not factored in it can skew important localisation decisions.

Research projects also need to account for infrastructure and social norms. If you’re investigating the relative strength of a drinks brand, for example, knowing how many people have access to refrigeration at home or whether drinking in the street is frowned upon will be important.

Online – not entirely global

Culture, history, consumption patterns, economics, language and infrastructure aren’t the only variations that need to be taken into account for an international research project. Technology has a potentially huge impact on the types of research you can conduct and how well it works.

The rate of adoption of devices and quality of connectivity in each market is a big factor. In some developing countries, you’ll need to tailor a more light-touch experience, with lower bandwidth requirements for online and mobile methodologies; in others, you can use more data-intensive approaches that are demanding on bandwidth and storage.

The smartphone has flattened out some of the methodological variety between markets, it’s true. Take Indonesia, for example. It was always very much a face-to-face market. But that is changing, as the need to inform faster decision making grows, with research through online panels– like our KOINS panel – taking off.

But there are still very clear cultural differences that mean it’s not simply a question of getting every market to download the same app, for example. Yet again, local knowledge is key – not just of those cultural or technological norms, but also of regulation. Data protection laws vary widely, for example.

Online survey methodologies can also lay traps on language. A couple of years ago, lots of brands were interested in the idea from Scandinavia of ‘hygge’ – a king of super-relaxed personal indulgence. There is also a word in Dutch to imply a notion of ‘coziness’, but it’s a different concept. If that crops up in responses, is it the same thing or not? Automated keyword searching and the surging use of AI analytics might not give you the whole picture.

In short: think global, research local

The smartest headquarters’ marketing teams already understand what needs to be tailored locally and what of their global branding they can apply in existing or new export markets. Knowing you can apply product branding across different markets can mean finding huge economies of scale in creative execution and being able to hook local variation into a wider brand image.

They will also trust either local marketing teams, or research specialists with local knowledge, to adapt both marketing and product sets to the conditions in their target markets. They need to know for each market what’s driving the local nuance and how to marry those with the logistical, economic and branding issues around that market.

And they know that whether it’s the attempt to tests global opinions, the openness of local consumers to existing products and branding or to uncover creative and value-creating local adjustments to products and messaging, there is no substitute for in-the-field expertise of a research partner capable of delivering to brief with the most appropriate methodologies.

The old phrase ‘think global, act local’ might be a tired truism. But when it comes to the way research is conducted to optimise performance in global markets, it’s still the number one rule.

Looking to embark on an international market research project?

Learn more about our international research capabilities , or request a proposal to discuss an international research project with us.

Helping brands uncover valuable insights

We’ve been working with Kadence on a couple of strategic projects, which influenced our product roadmap roll-out within the region. Their work has been exceptional in providing me the insights that I need. Senior Marketing Executive Arla Foods

Kadence’s reports give us the insight, conclusion and recommended execution needed to give us a different perspective, which provided us with an opportunity to relook at our go to market strategy in a different direction which we are now reaping the benefits from. Sales & Marketing Bridgestone

Kadence helped us not only conduct a thorough and insightful piece of research, its interpretation of the data provided many useful and unexpected good-news stories that we were able to use in our communications and interactions with government bodies. General Manager PR -Internal Communications & Government Affairs Mitsubishi

Kadence team is more like a partner to us. We have run a number of projects together and … the pro-activeness, out of the box thinking and delivering in spite of tight deadlines are some of the key reasons we always reach out to them. Vital Strategies

Kadence were an excellent partner on this project; they took time to really understand our business challenges, and developed a research approach that would tackle the exam question from all directions.  The impact of the work is still being felt now, several years later. Customer Intelligence Director Wall Street Journal

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Market research in U.S. - statistics & facts

The market research industry includes any organized activity to gather information about a specific target market or group of customers. It includes traditional methods of information gathering such as surveys, as well as newer methods of data analytics that have emerged with the increasing digitization of society. In 2019, in the United States, market research companies generated over 47 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, more than half of the total revenue of the market research industry globally . The vast majority of money spent on market research in the U.S. in 2019 was for quantitative research , which accounted for 64 percent of the market. Within the quantitative segment, online research and phone interviews were the most dominant research methods, while face-to-face interviews accounted for only two percent of spending. Customer satisfaction investigations were the main type of project conducted in 2019, constituting 20 percent of of revenue received by market research companies. The next largest source of revenue was media audience measurement, which accounted for 16 percent of revenue. Within the U.S., the market leader was Nielsen Holdings, who reported 3.9 billion U.S. dollars in domestic revenue for 2019. There is a significant difference in revenue to the next largest company in the U.S. market, IQVIA , which reported approximately 2.2 billion U.S. dollars in revenue for the same period. However, this gap is not surprising given IQVIA specializes in research for the healthcare sector, while Nielson provide services regarding goods, consumers. and the media across a broad range of sectors. Other leaders in the U.S. market research industry include Kantar , Information Resources Inc , and Ipsos , each of which generated under one billion of U.S. revenue in that year. This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text. Show more Published by Statista Research Department , Dec 19, 2023

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How to do Market Research for Affiliate Marketing Campaigns

For affiliate marketers everywhere, conducting effective market research (also known as “MR”) can be one of the hardest parts to gaining traction and momentum in their quest to make money online. Even with all the research, blogs, e-books, and mentors in the world, figuring out what to sell and how to sell it can be intimidating. Many affiliate marketers get stuck in the research phase. Or worse, they hurry through it, brush off their findings, and proceed when they should have returned to the drawing board.

To take some of the guesswork around market research for affiliate marketing campaigns, we’ve boiled down the process into five effective steps.

Step 1: Take a look at your market. 

Before proceeding with market research, you will want to identify and select the market you are working in. Don’t let this decision alienate your audience or demographic though. You may have a problem or product in mind that fits into a certain sub-category, but keep in mind the fluidity of many demographics. In fewers words, don’t pigeonhole yourself right out the gate. 

That all being said, the first step to conducting effective market research is to take a good look at the market, or niche, you are working in. Sit down for a long research session with these questions in mind: 

• What products exist that are similar to mine? 
• What are the top selling products in this niche? 
• Who is promoting products similar to mine? 
• Are people having problems with any of the products that are similar to mine? 

According to Kyle Kostechka, a business development manager here at ClickBank, when it comes to this step of market research, you’re looking to see if there’s room for a product or for improvement:

“You want to ask yourself, ‘Can I do it better or good enough?’ or ‘I think this is a problem and nobody is doing anything about it.’ You want to survey the landscape to see where you can most effectively fit in.” 

At this phase, if you are feeling discouraged by a lack of apparent need for your offer or an overabundance of products, don’t get discouraged yet. Proceed to the second phase to better understand consumer behavior. 

MR Hack: Subscribe to bloggers who promote similar products to yours to get a good idea of their demographic, copy style, and marketing approach. Keeping up-to-date on similar products will keep your research grounded. 

Step 2: Survey your audience . 

Once you have a broad idea of what that market is currently offering, it’s time to drill down a little bit through surveying.The first step is to design a survey using a survey creator platform. We suggest Survey Monkey for sheer usability and convenience. 

Design your survey with easy to answer questions that require little effort on the part of the survey-taker. If you are selling a digital product, come up with five to seven headlines for your product and ask whether or not the survey taker would buy the offer. If you are selling physical products, throw in some actual pictures of the physical product.

Once your survey is complete and reads professionally in an unbiased way, send it to your email list and give recipients about a week to complete it. According to SurveyMonkey, 80% of results are typically collected within seven days .

The goal of this survey is to obtain a general idea of what people would buy. When the survey is complete, look for the “would buy” percentage to be over 85%. That may seem like a high number, but since this survey is a hypothetical and there is no real cash on the table, you’ll want a commitment rate that is higher than average. Survey percentages are not indicative of what your actual conversion rates will be, so don’t get too excited if you have a product that polls particularly well.

If you receive your results back and they indicate that there isn’t a need or desire for your product, you can start the research process from the beginning to get a better idea of how to optimize your offer.

If the results show that there is an overwhelming need or desire for your offer, great! But there’s still more to do. Proceed to Step 3. 

If you don’t have an email list yet, don’t fret. You have other research options. Step 3 will provide you with some relevant and meaningful feedback. 

M R Hack: If you’ve already established other offers or products, offer a coupon at the end of the survey for a discount percentage off their next order. This will help the survey-taker feel appreciated and boost sales for you.

Step 3: Do some face-to-face research.  

Now, we understand that “face-to-face” means something very different in 2020 than say, in 2019. But hear us out. Before you pull the trigger on scaling your offer, you’re going to want some real, live feedback about your offer. There are two really good options for getting this kind of feedback. 

The first is The Coffee House Approach. This approach requires actually leaving your desk to go interact in the wild–following all applicable COVID-19 protocol, of course. Coffee houses historically have been places of interaction, communication, and idea-sharing, so you’re more prone to find someone willing to talk to you about your offer there than anywhere else. Catch someone in line and offer to buy their coffee for them if they can give you ten minutes of their time to take a look at your website. If they decline, hey–no worries, try again.

When someone does accept, get right to the point. Show them a headline or image of your product and ask them if they would hypothetically buy it. Because this in-human interaction is a bit more intimate than the internet, they will likely offer a reason why or why not out of courtesy. This information is market research gold. If you can keep these participants talking, they will reveal to you their opinions, their pain points, similar products they’ve used and liked or didn’t like, as well as information about them to help you better understand demographics. Not only that, but you may find invaluable networking opportunities that would have otherwise been inaccessible just over the internet.  

The second is The Reddit/Facebook Approach. Both of these social media platforms tend to be less curated than LinkedIn or Instagram so people’s frustrations may be a bit more evident. Find groups who are dealing with issues that you believe your offer or product may solve. Offer a $5 Amazon gift card to anyone who is willing to hop on a Zoom (or Skype, or Slack) call and give you some feedback. It’s important to make this interaction feel intimate, so clean up your work space and turn on your camera.

Try for at least fifteen unique interaction sessions, either from The Coffeehouse Approach or the Reddit/Facebook approach. Use the information you find from this step to finetune your offer and product. While this data will not be scientific, it will be hugely helpful for you when you go to write sales copy around this offer or future, related offers.

Even if you get a lot of negative feedback, don’t throw out your idea just yet. There’s still a bit more research to complete. Proceed to Step 4. 

Step 4: Do some paid media testing. 

Paid media testing is the final step in your market research journey. Facebook ads are a good place to start. You can also work with any partners who operate in the same niche to test your offer on their email list and guarantee them earnings per click or pay them upfront. Either way, this step is where you’ll have to shell out some money to get the data. Budget your marketing funds for at least three iterations of testing to boil down what works and who it works with.

You should expect higher engagement and conversion rates because you’re targeting a hyper-specific audience. If you choose to scale your offer, expect those rates to dip a bit. 

Even though you may feel inclined to go big in this step, we suggest keeping it small. Refine your offer through the iterations of these tests the best you can to get all the insight you can before making decisions.

The data you accrue in this step will come in the form of actual sales, which means this step may not feel as much like research as the other two. Trust us though, these sales are more than just money in the bank–they’re indicative of how well your product or offer is performing in a certain demographic with paid advertising. These are ideal conditions and if you’re not seeing positive engagement and conversion rates, that may be something you want to continue when you proceed to the fifth and final step. 

MR Hack: Don’t use the same partner’s email list twice.    

Step 5: Scale or start over.  

If you get all the way to step five and your data is not instilling in you a founded and rational sense of confidence regarding the success of your offer, go back to Step 1.  

I know. That seems harsh. But starting over isn’t a failure. Kostechka would argue that market research is more than worth it:

“Doing market research mitigates failure upfront. You’re going to work through the research and, even if you find out the offer is bunk, the information you’ve learned covers the energy and loss you’d experience if you pushed an offer that wasn’t ready.” 

If you do find that all signals say go, it’s time to scale your offer and go big. For more on how ClickBank can help you with that step through automation and growth, sign up here . 

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FAC Number: 2024-04 Effective Date: 05/01/2024

Part 10 - Market Research

10.000 scope of part., 10.001 policy., 10.002 procedures., 10.003 contract clause..

This part prescribes policies and procedures for conducting market research to arrive at the most suitable approach to acquiring, distributing, and supporting supplies and services. This part implements the requirements of 41 U.S.C. 3306(a)(1) , 41 U.S. C. 3307 , 10 U.S.C. 3453 , and 6 U. S.C. 796 .

(a) Agencies shall —

(1) Ensure that legitimate needs are identified and trade-offs evaluated to acquire items that meet those needs;

(2) Conduct market research appropriate to the circumstances–

(i) Before developing new requirements documents for an acquisition by that agency;

(ii) Before soliciting offers for acquisitions with an estimated value in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold ;

(iii) Before soliciting offers for acquisitions with an estimated value less than the simplified acquisition threshold when adequate information is not available and the circumstances justify its cost;

(iv) Before soliciting offers for acquisitions that could lead to consolidation or bundling ( 15 U.S.C.644(e)(2)(A) ) and 15 U.S.C. 657q );

(v) Before awarding a task or delivery order under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract ( e.g. , GWACs, MACs) for other than a commercial product or commercial service in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold ( 10 U.S.C. 3453(c) ); and

(vi) On an ongoing basis, take advantage (to the maximum extent practicable) of commercially available market research methods in order to effectively identify the capabilities of small businesses and new entrants into Federal contracting that are available in the marketplace for meeting the requirements of the agency in furtherance of-

(A) A contingency operation or defense against or recovery from cyber, nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack; and

(B) Disaster relief to include debris removal, distribution of supplies , reconstruction, and other disaster or emergency relief activities (See 26.205 ); and

(3) Use the results of market research to–

(i) Determine if sources capable of satisfying the agency’s requirements exist;

(ii) Determine if commercial products or commercial services , or, to the extent commercial products suitable to meet the agency’s needs are not available, nondevelopmental items are available that-

(A) Meet the agency’s requirements;

(B) Could be modified to meet the agency’s requirements; or

(C) Could meet the agency’s requirements if those requirements were modified to a reasonable extent;

(iii) Determine the extent to which commercial products , or nondevelopmental items could be incorporated at the component level;

(iv) Determine the practices of firms engaged in producing, distributing, and supporting commercial products or commercial services , such as type of contract, terms for warranties , buyer financing, maintenance and packaging, and marking;

(v) Ensure maximum practicable use of recovered materials (see subpart  23.4 ) and promote energy conservation and efficiency;

(vi) Determine whether consolidation is necessary and justified (see 7.107-2 ) ( 15 U.S.C. 657q );

(vii) Determine whether bundling is necessary and justified (see 7.107-3 ) ( 15 U.S.C.644(e)(2)(A) );

(viii) Determine whether the acquisition should utilize any of the small business programs in accordance with part  19 ; and

(ix) Assess the availability of supplies or services that meet all or part of the applicable information and communication technology accessibility standards at 36 CFR 1194.1 (see subpart  39.2 ).

(b) When conducting market research , agencies should not request potential sources to submit more than the minimum information necessary.

(c) If an agency contemplates consolidation or bundling , the agency—

(1) When performing market research , should consult with the agency small business specialist and the local Small Business Administration procurement center representative (PCR). If a PCR is not assigned, see 19.402 (a); and

(2) Shall notify any affected incumbent small business concerns of the Government's intention to bundle the requirement and how small business concerns may contact the appropriate Small Business Administration procurement center representative (see 7.107-5 (a)).

(d) See 10.003 for the requirement for a prime contractor to perform market research in contracts in excess of $6 million, other than contracts for the acquisition of commercial products or commercial services (section 826 of Pub. L. 110-181).

(a) Acquisitions begin with a description of the Government’s needs stated in terms sufficient to allow conduct of market research .

(b) Market research is then conducted to determine if commercial products , commercial services , or nondevelopmental items are available to meet the Government’s needs or could be modified to meet the Government’s needs.

(1) The extent of market research will vary, depending on such factors as urgency, estimated dollar value, complexity, and past experience. The contracting officer may use market research conducted within 18 months before the award of any task or delivery order if the information is still current, accurate, and relevant. Market research involves obtaining information specific to the product or service being acquired and should include-

(i) Whether the Government’s needs can be met by-

(A) Products or services of a type customarily available in the commercial marketplace;

(B) Products or services of a type customarily available in the commercial marketplace with modifications; or

(C) Products or services used exclusively for governmental purposes;

(ii) Customary practices regarding customizing, modifying or tailoring of products or services to meet customer needs and associated costs;

(iii) Customary practices, including warranty , buyer financing, discounts, contract type considering the nature and risk associated with the requirement, etc., under which commercial sales of the products or services are made;

(iv) The requirements of any laws and regulations unique to the item being acquired;

(v) The availability of items that contain recovered materials and items that are energy efficient;

(vi) The distribution and support capabilities of potential suppliers, including alternative arrangements and cost estimates; and

(vii) Whether the Government's needs can be met by small business concerns that will likely submit a competitive offer at fair market prices (see part  19 ).

(2) Techniques for conducting market research may include any or all of the following:

(i) Contacting knowledgeable individuals in Government and industry regarding market capabilities to meet requirements.

(ii) Reviewing the results of recent market research undertaken to meet similar or identical requirements.

(iii) Publishing formal requests for information in appropriate technical or scientific journals or business publications.

(iv) Querying the Governmentwide database of contracts and other procurement instruments intended for use by multiple agencies available at https://www.contractdirectory.gov/contractdirectory/ and other Government and commercial databases that provide information relevant to agency acquisitions .

(v) Participating in interactive, on-line communication among industry, acquisition personnel, and customers.

(vi) Obtaining source lists of similar items from other contracting activities or agencies, trade associations or other sources.

(vii) Reviewing catalogs and other generally available product literature published by manufacturers, distributors, and dealers or available on-line.

(viii) Conducting interchange meetings or holding presolicitation conferences to involve potential offerors early in the acquisition process.

(ix) Reviewing systems such as the System for Award Management , the Federal Procurement Data System, and the Small Business Administration's Dynamic Small Business Search.

(c) If market research indicates commercial products , commercial services , or nondevelopmental items might not be available to satisfy agency needs, agencies shall reevaluate the need in accordance with 10.001 (a)(3)(ii) and determine whether the need can be restated to permit commercial products , commercial services , or nondevelopmental items to satisfy the agency’s needs.

(1) If market research establishes that the Government’s need may be met by a type of product or service customarily available in the commercial marketplace that would meet the definition of a commercial product or commercial service at subpart  2.1 , the contracting officer shall solicit and award any resultant contract using the policies and procedures in part  12 .

(2) If market research establishes that the Government’s need cannot be met by a type of item or service customarily available in the marketplace, part  12 shall not be used. When publication of the notice at 5.201 is required, the contracting officer shall include a notice to prospective offerors that the Government does not intend to use part  12 for the acquisition .

(e) The head of the agency shall document the results of market research in a manner appropriate to the size and complexity of the acquisition .

The contracting officer shall insert the clause at 52.210-1 , Market Research , in solicitations and contracts over $6 million, other than solicitations and contracts for the acquisition of commercial products or commercial services .

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Answers and insights from your audience, wherever they are.

Wherever you need to gather data, survey software can help. From a simple survey link you can paste anywhere, to advanced integrations with your CRM, to email, social, website, QR code, SMS and offline surveys, we’ll help you reach your target respondents, no matter where they are.

Drag-and-drop simplicity for even the most advanced surveys

Choose from 23 question types (including video/audio responses) and use advanced logic, branching, quotas, API integrations into Zendesk and email triggers to build and launch your project. It’s all done in an intuitive drag-and-drop software interface that makes even the most sophisticated surveys easy to create, launch and analyze.

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Survey software FAQs

A survey is a method of gathering information using relevant questions from a sample of people with the aim of understanding populations as a whole. Surveys provide a critical source of data and insights for everyone engaged in the information economy, from businesses to media, to government and academics.

Survey software is a tool used to design, send and analyze surveys online. It’s the primary method of collecting feedback at scale whether that’s a simple questionnaire or a detailed study such as customer or employee feedback as part of a more structured experience management program. Cloud-based survey technology has revolutionized the ability to get data, quickly, from a large number of respondents by automating the process of sending out surveys across a variety of channels from websites and mobile to apps, email and even chatbots.

Surveys provide quick, quantitative data on a wide audience’s opinions, preferences, and experiences. They are cost-effective, easy to administer, and can reach a large population. They also allow for anonymity, increasing the chance of honest responses, and their standardized format makes it easy to aggregate and analyze data for clear insights into trends and patterns.

To create a survey , define the objectives, choose target participants, design clear and concise questions, select a survey tool or platform, and ensure the layout is logical. Test the survey, distribute it, and collect responses. Remember to keep it as brief as possible while gathering the necessary information.

To write survey questions , be clear and specific to avoid confusion. Use simple, unbiased language, and opt for closed-ended questions for easier analysis. Ensure questions are relevant to your objectives, and avoid leading or loaded questions that could influence answers. Pretest your questions to catch any issues and revise as needed for clarity and objectivity.

Now used by more than 18,000+ brands, and supporting more than 1.3 billion surveys a year, Qualtrics empowers organizations to gather invaluable customer insights and take immediate, game-changing action – with zero coding required. The Qualtrics survey tool makes it easy to get answers to your most important marketing, branding, customer, and product questions, with easy-to-use tools that can handle everything from simple customer feedback questionnaires to detailed research projects.

Qualtrics Strategic Research pricing is based on interactions including number of survey responses and minutes of video feedback. Our special online pricing offer starts at $420 per month and can be purchased here . Alternatively, you can get started with a free account with basic functionality, or get 30 days access to advanced features with a free trial .

Yes, we offer a free account option with basic survey functionality.

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“we are gsm” - meet professor prasad naik.

• April 23, 2024
• Prasad Naik

An internationally recognized marketing expert, Professor Naik offers a primer on the impact on sales and competitors’ sales based on allocation and attribution strategies. And shares about his love of cooking and paragliding off cliffs in the Bay Area!

What is the difference between attribution and allocation?

My research is about two things–attribution and allocation. Especially in dynamic markets where today's actions are going to affect future outcomes. The question then arises, what should be your strategy?

On product design, on pricing, on advertising, which social media, how much? That is called allocation.

Attribution is what is the impact of your actions on your sales and competitors’ sales. And so there is a multitude of actions. And so that attribution aspect is one of my main research. And allocation–what is different that you would do to maximize some goal like profit or market share. The true importance of the research is to take into account the feedback from the market, from competitors, your own actions, and then generate, possibility of scenarios, to come up with the best strategy.

Amazon vs. JD.com

Imagine Amazon and they have a fleet of cars, but not all the fleet of trucks that they deliver from are owned by them. That creates settlement risk. So consumer may get the product and it is a different product. Maybe it is damaged product. It is probably stolen or broken or tampered. And so there is always this finger pointing, but no resolution. And that hurts consumers.

In China, There is a company called JD.com, And they decided one day that we are going to make the settlement risk zero. if something goes wrong. It's one stop shop. But the customer never gets the wrong product. We replace it free of cost. So my research was about how much more sales did JD get.

We got together, got the data, analyzed, and then we showed: customers buy more, they buy more frequently, they buy more value in each particular order. But just owning the delivery service. How much can you attribute that sales increase? And that is what is called attribution. And that number turned out to be 12% per year.

Synergy: Testing Common Sense

Synergy means if you are doing two things at nearly the same time, then the joint effect of that is synergy. We wanted to see what should be the optimal allocation to activity one versus activity two. Common sense and prior research would suggest that you should allocate more dollars to the activity, which is more effective.

But the twist is that if there is a joint impact, then you should allocate more dollars to the less effective activity. And that's because the strong gets stronger, reaches the ceiling. While the weak really needs the money to make the strong even stronger.

UC Davis MSBA Co-Founder

So I teach MBA program. I've been teaching it, since 1996 for the last 28 years. But the beauty of MBAs is that they are, business-minded. because they are business-minded, they actually see opportunities on what can I do to apply this knowledge. but MBAs bring that business skills to the table. MSBA program was co-founded by myself and Professor Bhargava in 2017. it is doing excellent. The curriculum is very rigorous and the quality of students is super high. taught them advanced statistics and time series analysis. I bring my research, into the program, because I love time series and dynamics.

My Passions: Cooking and Paragliding

I typically do cooking. I love to cook. It takes me into the zone. And the second thing I would love to do, which I don't do often as much as I should, is paragliding. So I go on Milpitas, go on the mountain cliff. Run along the cliff and keep running. And then the cliff disappears. And then the glider, me and the wind–we are all one. And that is a beautiful experience. 

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Entering a new market: Tips for experiencing rapid growth and reaching new customers

As a business leader, you probably know that the business landscape is very dynamic, and growth is essential as the competition intensifies, the markets change, and the customer’s demands evolve. This is why, if you don’t move into new markets, offer better services and products and capture more customers, then your company might experience stagnation and even decline. Even though entering new markets is an exciting experience, it involves risk factors, bringing new competitors and unfamiliar challenges. However, with the right approach, entering a new market can increase reach and lead to more profits and awareness.

The key to succeeding in market expansion is to take a systematic approach, understand customer needs, evaluate opportunities, and create a tailored strategy. In this way, you will surely open up new horizons for your company. In this article, we will provide all the information you need to make this smooth transition and experience rapid growth. Keep reading to find out more.

Determine your goals

You can only succeed if you know your goals and how to implement the necessary measures to achieve them. You should also understand why you want to make this decision and why entering a new market is better than considering extending existing markets or developing new products. By understanding why you want to make this change, you can better focus on successfully implementing your plan.

Additionally, a company’s vision statement can offer insights into what areas can be expanded, and in this way, you can better identify a product for the new market that can help your business achieve its goals.

Conduct market research

Before you enter a new market, it is imperative to conduct market research so that you will understand it as you should. Additionally, with the help of market research, you will get familiar with your target audience’s wants, needs, behaviors and problems. Market research can be done using various methods, including interviews, surveys, online forums, focus groups, competitor analysis, and social media. After discovering the market insights, you can segment your audience based on criteria such as geography, psychographics, demographics and behavior. In this way, you can better tailor your marketing, products and services to a specific segment to be suitable for the New York office , or for the one in Europe, Asia or other places.

Additionally, market research can identify potential risks or opportunities and will be helpful in numerous areas, including:

• Analyzing your target customers, which can be done to determine key customer needs, demographics, and buying behaviors.
• Assessing the main competitors to study their pricing, products, and distribution, which will offer a competitive advantage. Plus, with the help of market research, you will also be able to identify their weaknesses and develop services that could address them.
• Evaluate market dynamics, including regulations, economic conditions, sociocultural influences, and emerging technologies, to figure out whether they can directly impact your business or influence customer demand.
• Determining sales potential by estimating the number of target clients and how much they will likely spend.

Consider a market entry strategy

A market entry strategy is imperative when you want to grow more, as, in this way, you will introduce your services and products to the new market. In this part, you will need to choose the best kind of entry that suits you the most, such as licensing, exporting, franchising, direct investment or joint venture, and then adapt your services and products to the new market by modifying the design, main features, quality, pricing or packaging.

Build a strong market presence

The next step is to build a strong market presence, which is how you can maintain and establish relationships with your stakeholders, customers and partners in the new market. Then, you must communicate the value proposition of your products or services, highlighting how they can satisfy the customer’s needs or solve clients’ problems. Additionally, using several platforms and channels to reach your target audience, such as social media, websites, blogs, email, videos or podcasts, will be good. Furthermore, consider referrals, word of mouth, reviews and testimonials to increase your trust and credibility.

Establish a budget

When you want to expand your services and products into a new market, you will also need to determine a budget for the funds you need to put towards achieving this goal. Determining the budget from the early stages is imperative, as, in this way, you can figure out better what activities you can afford to do and what are the other ones you would like to implement in the future when you are more financially stable.

Set a timeframe

Additionally, when you want to expand to new markets, setting a timeframe will be a good idea, which will depend on the manufacturing costs, budget, marketing materials and hiring needs. With the help of a timeframe, you will be more likely to stay focused and not lose precious time because you don’t know when your project will be finished.

Evaluate your market performance

After all the steps mentioned above, it is time to monitor and evaluate your market performance, which will help you see whether you have good results in the new market. Also, you should consider the SMART strategy to set specific, measurable, relevant, achievable and time-bound objectives and goals. After that, you could use metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your outcomes and progress, including the market share, volume sales, retention, customer satisfaction, profitability and loyalty. Moreover, you can collect feedback from partners, customers, and stakeholders and use it to improve.

Concluding thoughts

When you want to embark on a new journey to expand your business to new markets, you should do it with the right strategy in mind, good execution, and planning so that you will experience rapid growth and reach new clients. Without considering essential factors, your market expansion project could turn into a nightmare and lead to failure and wasted resources.

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The stock market's sell-off is over and the Fed gave 5 bullish signs to investors at its latest meeting, Fundstrat's Tom Lee says

• The sell-off that battered stocks in April probably won't stretch into May, according to Fundstrat's Tom Lee.
• The uber-bullish forecaster pointed to five dovish signs the Fed gave after its policy meeting on Wednesday
• That suggests equities will end the month of May with a gain, Lee predicted.

The stock market's sell-off could be over, and five bullish signals the Fed gave at its latest policy meeting are setting the stage for gains in May, according to Fundstrat's head of research Tom Lee.

In a video sent to Fundstrat clients on Wednesday, Lee pointed to the May Federal Open Markets Committee meeting, which sparked a brief rally in stocks . Central bankers opted to keep interest rates level and suggested a rate hike was unlikely, fueling bullish sentiment among traders.

"That gets us to a situation where I'm still confidence that April is going to be the end of that selloff," Lee said. "I think May's going to end up being an up month.

He pointed to five dovish signals the central bank gave markets, which suggests that the path ahead for stocks looks a lot brighter:

1. The Fed is slowing its pace of quantitative tightening

Central bankers said they would slow their pace of balance sheet reductions , which is a positive for stocks. The Fed has shed over a trillion from its balance sheet in order to tighten financial conditions and help control inflation.

Balance sheet reductions will slow from $60 billion to $25 billion a month starting in June, the central bank said in a statement.

2. Inflation is pointing lower

Inflation came in hotter-than-expected all throughout the first quarter, and prices in the economy still remain above the Fed's 2% target. But inflation is on the decline overall, Lee said: Consumer prices grew 3.5% year-per-year in March , down from a peak of 9.1% growth posted in mid-2022.

In prepared remarks, Powell added that he was confident inflation would continue to fall toward the Fed's long-run target this year. Continued disinflation could give the Fed more leeway to cut rates later in 2024, Lee added.

3. Rate cuts can coexist with a strong labor market

Some investors have fretted over the robust labor market , as the Fed could raise interest rates to weaken too-strong hiring conditions.

But Powell has suggested that won't be the case, Lee said. The Fed chief noted that the labor market was "really tight" last year, yet the economy still saw inflation fall while growth remained strong.

"A healthy labor market doesn't preclude rate cuts," Lee said. 

4. The economy isn't facing stagflation

Market participants have also been eyeing the threat of stagflation , a phenomenon where prices keep rising while economic growth remains sluggish. Fears of that scenario began to pick up as investors took in above-expected inflation prints over the first quarter, while first-quarter GDP came in below-expected. 

But Powell seemed "puzzled" over that possibility, Lee said, with the central bank chief pointing to "solid" growth in the economy in his presser. Other economists have also dismissed stagflation risks for now, given that consumer spending and the job market remain in full-force.

5. A rate hike is unlikely

Powell added that the Fed's next move was unlikely to be a rate hike. That was comforting to investors, given that many have come to fear more tightening as the economy stays strong and inflation moves in the wrong direction this year. 

Investors are now pricing in a 69% chance the Fed could rate rates once or twice by the end of the year, according to the CME FedWatch tool .

Stock investors have already perked up on a brighter outlook for Fed rate cuts this year. Stocks reacted positively to the Wednesday Fed meeting. Meanwhile, nearly 40% of investors said they were bullish on stocks over the next six months, according to the latest AAII Investor Sentiment Survey , up from 32% of respondents who said they were bullish the prior week.

If you enjoyed this story, be sure to follow Business Insider on Microsoft Start.

Intersect360 Research Takes a Deep Dive into the HPC-AI Market in New Report

By Kevin Jackson

May 3, 2024

A new report out of analyst firm Intersect360 Research is shedding some new light on just how valuable the HPC and AI market is. Taking both of these technologies as a singular unit, Intersect360 Research found that the HPC-AI market size reached $85.7 billion in 2023.

The report states that this market size is up 62.4%  year-over-year. The cause for this increase seems to be spending by hyperscale companies on their AI infrastructure, which nearly tripled compared to 2022 rates.

The hyperscale market is comprised of organizations with a business focus on accessing, processing, and disseminating information through the Internet. Hyperscale companies often provide services like web search and categorization, online retail and customer identification, content hosting and distribution, social media, communications, pattern recognition, massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), and more.

Although Intersect360 Research has been tracking the hyperscale market for many years, the organization has recently decided that AI has combined HPC and hyperscale into a single market. According to the paper, AI with HPC infrastructure is being pursued by hyperscale businesses, traditional HPC customers, and non-HPC enterprise computing users for both training and inference. There is a need for a combined understanding of the HPC-AI infrastructure industry due to the overlapping of these formerly distinct buying segments’ needs.

With this combined view of the market, Intersect360 Research focuses on two primary segments: Hyperscale companies and on-premises HPC-AI infrastructure.

Hyperscale AI infrastructure spending increased to $48.4 billion, which was a massive 170.2% increase over the previous year.

“This dramatic growth in hyperscale AI is akin to a gold rush,” said Intersect360 Research CEO Addison Snell. “It belies any normal market dynamic. It is the confluence of multiple constituencies simultaneously charging into the AI race.”

The report goes on to mention that prices are currently elevated here due to many important components being in short supply. Specifically, the GPUs necessary to provide the majority of computation for training and inference are becoming harder to acquire.

In contrast, the on-premises HPC-AI infrastructure market grew to $37.3 billion in 2023, up 7.1% compared to 2022. The report mentions that 2023 was the first year in which hyperscale companies’ spending on AI infrastructure exceeded the entirety of spending for on-premises infrastructure for HPC-AI.

The report also made a point to mention that each of these segments only represents a portion of a larger whole and that there is both on-premises computing and hyperscale infrastructure not dedicated to AI.

Intersect360 Research found that on-premises HPC-AI grew to 30.9% of all on-premises spending, which was a marginal increase over the 28.6% represented in 2022. On the other hand, the AI portion of hyperscale infrastructure grew to 28.8%, which was more than double the 14.2% proportion in 2022.

Looking to the future, Intersect360 Research predicts a flattening of the market’s growth. The market for on-premises HPC-AI infrastructure will grow at a 5.4% CAGR, eventually reaching $48.6 billion by 2028. However, this will be offset by a decrease in hyperscale AI spending, which will see a -4.6% CAGR in the coming years. By 2028, hyperscale spending will reach $38.2 billion. Overall, this will result in a .3% CAGR for the combined HPC-AI infrastructure spending.

Despite the flatting of the total outlook between now and 2028, the report predicted a volatile ride to that end. On-premises HPC-AI will see double-digit growth in 2024 as the current demand for AI systems remains high. However, this will be followed by a dip in 2025 as increases in GPU supply catch up. The report predicted that steady growth will resume in 2026.

Alternatively, hyperscale AI demand will see the kind of volatility that should be expected from a market segment that is comprised of relatively few companies. Intersect360 Research predicted a slackening in demand for AI infrastructure in the coming years, with steady growth returning in the beginning of 2026.

Of course, this is only a taste of what Intersect360 Research wrote on this topic, and those with a deep interest in where the HPC-AI market is heading should make sure to download the full report . What’s more, Intersect360 Research will also be presenting the information from this report at a free webinar on Thursday, May 2 at 12:00pm Eastern/9:00am Pacific . Snell will be joined by Intersect360 Research’s Chief Research Officer Dan Olds as well as Senior Analyst Steve Conway to discuss the information contained within the report.

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