types of research methods in marketing

Root out friction in every digital experience, super-charge conversion rates, and optimize digital self-service

Uncover insights from any interaction, deliver AI-powered agent coaching, and reduce cost to serve

Increase revenue and loyalty with real-time insights and recommendations delivered to teams on the ground

Know how your people feel and empower managers to improve employee engagement, productivity, and retention

Take action in the moments that matter most along the employee journey and drive bottom line growth

Whatever they’re are saying, wherever they’re saying it, know exactly what’s going on with your people

Get faster, richer insights with qual and quant tools that make powerful market research available to everyone

Run concept tests, pricing studies, prototyping + more with fast, powerful studies designed by UX research experts

Track your brand performance 24/7 and act quickly to respond to opportunities and challenges in your market

Explore the platform powering Experience Management

• Free Account
• For Digital
• For Customer Care
• For Human Resources
• For Researchers
• Financial Services
• All Industries

Popular Use Cases

• Customer Experience
• Employee Experience
• Employee Exit Interviews
• Net Promoter Score
• Voice of Customer
• Customer Success Hub
• Product Documentation
• Training & Certification
• XM Institute
• Popular Resources
• Customer Stories

Market Research

• Artificial Intelligence
• Partnerships
• Marketplace

The annual gathering of the experience leaders at the world’s iconic brands building breakthrough business results, live in Salt Lake City.

• English/AU & NZ
• Español/Europa
• Español/América Latina
• Português Brasileiro
• REQUEST DEMO
• Experience Management
• Types of Market Research

Try Qualtrics for free

The 8 types of market research: definitions, uses and examples.

13 min read What are the different types of market research that can help you stay ahead of the curve with your marketing strategy? Understand how to use each type, and what the advantages and disadvantages are.

Market research (also called marketing research) is the action or activity of gathering information about market needs and preferences. This helps companies understand their target market — how the audience feels and behaves.

There are 8 types of market research, each with their own methods and tools:

• Primary research
• Secondary research
• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research
• Branding research
• Customer research
• Competitor research
• Product research

Let’s start our list by exploring primary and secondary research first.

Free eBook: How to rethink and reinvent market research

1. Primary research

Primary research is research that you collect yourself but going directly to the target market through a range of methods. Because it is data you create, you own the data set.

Two types of results — exploratory information (determines the nature of a problem that hasn’t yet been clearly defined) and conclusive information (carried out to solve a problem that exploratory research identified) — from participants are collected as raw data and then analyzed to gather insights from trends and comparisons.

This method is good for getting the views of a lot of people at one time, especially when time is short, but it comes with its own management issues. The interviewer must prepare a way to gather answers and record these, while engaging in conversation with many people.

Participants may be affected by the group setting, either from acquiescence bias (the desire to say yes to please the interviewer), dominance bias (stronger participants can alter the results from less dominant participants) or researcher bias (where the research leads or impacts the participant responses indirectly).

This provides a structured setting where the interviewer can listen to what’s being said and investigate further into an answer. The interviewer can also pick up on non-verbal cues from body language can help the interview understand where to deep-dive and broaden their understanding.

However, some of the same biases (acquiescence and researcher) still exit in this format. The method is time consuming to do the interviews and collect the data afterwards.

A survey is an excellent method for carrying out primary research as participants do need to be physically present with the interviewer to carry it out. The survey can be completed anywhere there is an internet connection, meaning there is flexibility for the participants to use different devices and for interviewers to contact participants in different geographical time-zones.Preparation is key, however, as the researchers must segment the market and create a list of participants to send the survey to. Hiring a panel or using existing marketing lists can help with this.

2. Secondary research

Secondary research is the use of data that has previously been collected, analysed and published (and therefore you do not own this data). An example of this for market research is:

Most information is freely available, so there are less costs associated with this kind of secondary research over primary research methods.

Secondary research can often be the preparation for primary research activities, providing a knowledge base. The information gathered may not provide the specific information to explain the results, which is where primary market research would be used to enhance understanding.

There is also a logistics planning need for a recording solution that can handle large datasets, since manual management of the volumes of information can be tricky.

Both primary and secondary research have its advantages and disadvantages, as we’ve seen, but they are best used when paired together. Combined, the data can give you the confidence to act knowing that any hypothesis you have is backed up.

Learn more about primary vs secondary research methods

The next market research types can be defined as qualitative and quantitative research types:

3. Qualitative research

Qualitative market research is the collection of primary or secondary data that is non-numerical in nature, and therefore hard to measure.

Researchers collect this market research type because it can add more depth to the data.

This kind of market research is used to summarise and infer, rather than pin-points an exact truth held by a target market. For example, qualitative market research can be done to find out a new target market’s reaction to a new product to translate the reaction into a clear explanation for the company.

4. Quantitative research

Quantitative research is the collection of primary or secondary data that is numerical in nature, and so can be collected more easily.

Researchers collect this market research type because it can provide historical benchmarking, based on facts and figures evidence.

There are a number of ways to collect this data — polls, surveys, desk research, web statistics, financial records — which can be exploratory in nature without a lot of depth at this stage.

Quantitative market research can create the foundation of knowledge needed by researchers to investigate hypotheses further through qualitative market research.

The next four variations of market research are specific to topics areas, that bring about specific information.:

5. Branding research

Branding market research assists a company to create, manage and maintain the company brand. This can relate to the tone, branding, images, values or identity of the company.

Research can be carried out through interviews, focus groups or surveys. For example, brand awareness surveys will ask your participants whether the brand is known to them and whether it is something they would be interested in buying.

Additional areas for brand research is also around brand loyalty, brand perception , brand positioning , brand value and brand identity .

The aim of research will be to understand how to know if:

• Your brand is performing in relation to other competitors
• There are areas to improve your brand activities
• There are positives to showcase to enhance your brand’s image

6. Customer research

Customer market research looks at the key influences on your target customers and how your company can make changes to encourage sales.

The aim of this research is to know your customer inside out, and continuously learn about how they interact with the company. Some themes covered by this include:

• Customer satisfaction – Exploring what keeps customers happy, as higher customer satisfaction is more likely to lead to increased customer retention.
• Customer loyalty – This looks at what experiences have happened to lead to greater customer loyalty across the customer lifecycle.
• Customer segmentation research – Discovering who the customers are, what their behaviour and preferences are and their shared characteristics.

Relevant desk research may look at historical purchase records, customer journey mapping , customer segmentation, demographics and persona templates.

Primary research, such as NPS and customer satisfaction surveys , or customer satisfaction interviews at the end of customer support calls, can also give more details.

7. Competitor research

Competitor market research is about knowing who your competition is and understanding their strengths and weaknesses, in comparison to your organization. It can also be about your competitive offering in the market, or how to approach a new market.

The aim of this research is to find ways to make your organization stand out and future planning through horizon scanning and listening to customer preferences.

For example, for competitive analysis, researchers would create a SWOT for your business and your competitors, to see how your business compares.

Primary research could interview customers about their buying preferences, while secondary sources would look at competitor’s market dominance, sales, structure and so on. With this thorough analysis, you can understand where you can change to be more competitive, and look for ideas that make you stand out.

8. Product research

Product market research is a key way to make sure your products and services are fit for launching in the market, and are performing as well as they can.

The aim of this research is to see how your product is perceived by customers, if they are providing value and working correctly. Ideas can also be formed about upgrades and future product development.

There are a number of avenues within product research:

• Product branding – Does the product brand and design attract customers in the intended way?
• Product feature testing – this can happen at various stages of development with target markets (in early development, between versions, before product launch, etc.) to check if there are positive reaction to new or improved features
• Product design thinking – what solutions would solve your customers’ current or future problems?
• Product marketing – Do the marketing messages help your product’s memorability and saleability, or can they be improved?

Primary research methods have a clear advantage in this kind of market research: Surveys can ask for rankings on the popularity or usefulness of features or conduct conjoint analysis, while in-person observation interviews (where the participant can handle a product) can be particularly useful in seeing what customers do with the product in real time.

How to use market research types in your company

In a good marketing strategy, it’s preferable to have a mixture of data across:

• Qualitative and quantitative research
• Primary and secondary research
• Your specific topic area or area of focus

With these three components, you can make sure your market strategy gives you a complete picture of your market’s operational data and experience data , — what your market does and why .

Economical experience data (O data)

This type of experience data is quantitative in nature (including operations, featuring sales data, finance data and HR data ). As it can be quantified into numerical values, it can be measured over and over, providing datasets.

There is the opportunity to use a data-driven approach to understanding the results and making predictions based on historical trends.

This sort of data can be measured more easily than emotions and feelings. But it can only tell you about past activities and what happened. It can’t tell you what will happen in the future and why things will happen — this is where X data comes in.

Emotional experience data (X data)

This type of experience data seeks to find reasons to explain emotional decisions and how brands ‘sit’ in people’s minds. In this way, this data is qualitative in nature.

Companies that have X data have a ‘mental advantage’ over other companies,  as they are able to understand the perceptions of the customer, their needs and values.

When you have tangible insights on the audience’s needs, you can then take steps to meet those needs and solve problems. This mitigates the risk of an experience gap – which is what your audience expects you deliver versus what you actually deliver.

Related resources

Market intelligence 10 min read, marketing insights 11 min read, ethnographic research 11 min read, qualitative vs quantitative research 13 min read, qualitative research questions 11 min read, qualitative research design 12 min read, primary vs secondary research 14 min read, request demo.

Ready to learn more about Qualtrics?

• Entrepreneurs
• News About Crunchbase
• New Features
• Partnerships

The Types of Market Research [+10 Market Research Methods]

• Market research

Jaclyn Robinson, Senior Manager of Content Marketing at Crunchbase

Market research can help startups understand where they should be placing their resources and time. It can tell you everything from how people are perceiving your company, as well as which features to drop or continue developing. And while there are plenty of ways to conduct market research, not every market research method is right for every situation.

Search less. Close more.

Grow your revenue with all-in-one prospecting solutions powered by the leader in private-company data.

Market research can help play a major role in developing your product, marketing, and overall business strategy. Understanding the different market research methods can be the difference between wasting months of engineering time or exceeding your ambitious revenue targets.

We review the types of market research as well as the market research methods you can pursue based on your primary objectives and business goals.

The 2 types of market research

All market research falls under two distinct categories: primary research and secondary research.

Primary research looks at any data you collect yourself (or someone you pay). It encompasses analyzing current sales, metrics, and customers. It also takes into account the effectiveness of current practices, while taking competitors into account.

Secondary research looks at data that has already been published by others. It includes reports and studies from other companies, government organizations, and others in your industry.

10 market research methods

The type of data you need will decide which market research technique to use. Here are the most commonly used market research methods:

Primary research methods

These primary research methods will help you identify both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data is information that cannot be measured while qualitative data is taken from a large sample size and is a statistically significant mathematical analysis.

1. Interviews

Great for: expert advice

Consisting of one-on-one discussions, interviews are a great source of qualitative data. You can either perform interviews by telephone, video conference, or face-to-face. Interviews are great for an in-depth look for target audience insights.

In-depth interviews are great when expert advice is needed or when discussing highly complex or sensitive topics. Interviews are usually 10 to 30 minutes long with 25 to 75 respondents.

Great for: understanding brand awareness, satisfaction and loyalty analysis, pricing research, and market segmentation .

One of the most commonly used market research methods, Surveys are an easy way to understand your target audience and allow you to test a large sample size to determine if findings are true across a larger segment of your customers.

3. Questionnaires

Great for: Customer feedback and satisfaction surveys (NPS surveys), and when you want more detail on your target audience and customer base.

Do not confuse questionnaires for surveys !  While surveys are aggregated for statistical analysis, questionnaires are a set of written questions used for collecting information.

Questionnaires are used to collect information rather than draw a conclusion.  Surveys can include a questionnaire, but a survey must aggregate and analyze the responses to the questions.

When writing questionnaires for market research, keep the number of questions in mind.

In one study, SurveyMonkey found that questionnaires with 40 questions have about a 10% lower response rate than questionnaires with 10 questions . The more questions, the less likely people will finish your questionnaire.

4. Focus groups

Great for: Price testing, advertising concepts, product/messaging testing

Even with the rise of big data, focus groups have remained an integral part of how companies build their products, strategy, and messaging. Focus groups are intentionally compromised by a group of purposefully selected individuals. Above all, the collaborative setting ensures that members of the group are able to interact and influence each other.

Typically these open and interactive groups are composed of around five to 12 screened individuals . Make sure that your participants are diverse so you can get a range of opinions and you have enough representation from several segments of your market.

Many smaller startups will conduct DIY focus groups and will use video conferencing technology, which is one of the most cost-effective and time-efficient market research methods.

This is a great resource to see some good questions to ask your focus groups as well as what topics focus groups should touch on.

5. User groups

Great for: Feature testing, UX and web design feedback

User groups are used to gather UX data and provide insight for website design. User groups usually meet regularly to discuss their experience with a product, while researchers capture their comments.

Here’s a great guide on how to format questions for user groups .

6. Test markets

Great for: Testing new marketing campaigns

Test markets represent a larger market. Using a test group as well as a control group can show you the success of a new landing page, messaging copy, or CTA button. We particularly like the free version of Google Optimize to get quantitative data on how your experiment is performing based on a specific goal.

Secondary research methods

Secondary research can help establish a starting point prior to diving into more expensive primary research techniques. While there is a lot of data on the web regarding basic statistics, you may have to purchase a distinct data provider for a more in-depth look at your market.

Crunchbase Pro and Marketplace partners are a great and inexpensive way to start your secondary research directly on Crunchbase.com.

7. Competitor benchmarks

Great for: Understanding your revenue, churn, operating costs, sales, profit margin, and burn rate.

Competitor benchmarks are the most valuable and widely used of the secondary research methods. Moreover, competitor benchmarks measure specific growth metrics or key performance indicators in comparison to business within the same industry and of a similar size.

You can use Crunchbase Pro to find how much companies in a certain industry are raising and who are the leading players with our global coverage on companies ranging from pre-seed to late-stage. So, as one of the most informative of the market research methods, competitive benchmarks are a great way to inform your business strategy. 

Free Crunchbase registered users have access to revenue estimates as well as web traffic data.

8. Sales data

Great for: Understanding your audience and where to place marketing efforts.

Taking a look at internal sales data not only reveals profitability but also helps market researchers segment customer trends.

However, taking a look at competitive sales data is a great way to make sure that you’re meeting the numbers you should be targeting as well as capturing the full potential of the market

9. Government publications and statistics

Great for: General demographic information and larger trends

The U.S. Census Bureau is a great resource of national demographic data. You can also review patents as a preview of industry trends and future innovation.

Also, you can find additional data and research from Data.gov , The World Bank , as well as the Pew Research Center to help inform your market research decisions.

10. Commercial data

Great for: Greater insight into industry trends and reports

If you’re interested in purchasing secondary market research, commercial data is available. For comprehensive reports, Mintel and IBISWorld are both traditional market research companies that provide commercial data.

Additionally, to choose which type of market research method is best for your goal, follow this graph from Relevant Insights. Begin with the metric you’re trying to move and then backtrack into a targeted market research method.

How can Crunchbase help with my market research?

Crunchbase gives market researchers flexible access to Crunchbase’s complete company data. Innovative teams and leaders in market research rely on Crunchbase’s live company data to build powerful internal databases and research insights in respective industries. Learn more about how Crunchbase can help you with your market research .

• Originally published March 14, 2019, updated April 26, 2023

You may also like

• 10 min read

How to Do Market Research for a Startup: Tips for Success

Eastern Europe Industry Review: Russia-Connected SPACs, New VC Darlings, Food Delivery Disruption

By Adrien Henni, Chief Editor, East-West Digital News

Women In Russian VC: How Gender Stereotypes Hinder Investment

Daria Zharkova, Senior Research Manager at Dsight

The all-in-one prospecting solution

• Find the right companies
• Identify the right contacts
• Connect with decision-makers

Unlock the secrets to staying ahead in the ever-evolving world of social media marketing.

• · Brandwatch Academy
• Forrester Wave

Brandwatch Consumer Research

Formerly the Falcon suite

Formerly Paladin

Published October 17 th 2023

10 Essential Methods for Effective Consumer and Market Research

When it comes to understanding the world around you, market research is an essential step.

We live in a world that’s overflowing with information. Sifting through all the noise to extract the most relevant insights on a certain market or audience can be tough.

That’s where market research comes in – it’s a way for brands and researchers to collect information from target markets and audiences.

Once reliant on traditional methods like focus groups or surveys, market research is now at a crossroads. Newer tools for extracting insights, like social listening tools, have joined the array of market research techniques available.

Here, we break down what market research is and the different methods you can choose from to make the most of it.

What is market research, and why is it critical for you as a marketer?

Market research involves collecting and analyzing data about a specific industry, market, or audience to inform strategic decision-making. It offers marketers valuable insights into the industry, market trends, consumer preferences, competition, and opportunities, enabling businesses to refine their strategies effectively.

By conducting market research, organizations can identify unmet needs, assess product demands, enhance value propositions, and create marketing campaigns that resonate with their target audience. 

This practice serves as a compass, guiding businesses in making data-driven decisions for successful product launches, improved customer relationships, and a stronger positioning in the business landscape. 

For marketers and insights professionals, market research is an indispensable tool. It helps them make smarter decisions and achieve growth and success in the market.

These 10 market research methods form the backbone of effective market research strategies. 

Continue reading or jump directly to each method by tapping the link below.

• Focus groups
• Consumer research with social media listening
• Experiments and field trials
• Observation
• Competitive analysis
• Public domain data
• Buy research
• Analyze sales data

Use of primary vs secondary market research

Market research can be split into two distinct sections: primary and secondary. These are the two main types of market research.

They can also be known as field and desk, respectively (although this terminology feels out of date, as plenty of primary research can be carried out from your desk).

Primary (field) research

Primary market research is research you carry out yourself. Examples of primary market research methods include running your own focus groups or conducting surveys. These are some of the key methods of consumer research. The ‘field’ part refers to going out into the field to get data.

Secondary (desk) research

Secondary market research is research carried out by other people that you want to use. Examples of secondary market research methods include studies carried out by researchers or financial data released by companies.

10 effective methods to do market research

The methods in this list cover both areas. Which ones you want to use will depend on your goals. Have a browse through and see what fits.

1. Focus groups

It’s a simple concept but one that can be hard to put into practice.

You bring together a group of individuals into a room, record their discussions, and ask them questions about various topics you are researching. For some, it’ll be new product ideas. For others, it might be views on a political candidate.

From these discussions, the organizer will try to pull out some insights or use them to judge the wider society’s view on something. The participants will generally be chosen based on certain criteria, such as demographics, interests, or occupations.

A focus group’s strength is in the natural conversation and discussion that can take place between participants (if they’re done right).

Compared to a questionnaire or survey with a rigid set of questions, a focus group can go off on tangents the organizer could not have predicted (and therefore not planned questions for). This can be good in that unexpected topics can arise; or bad if the aims of the research are to answer a very particular set of questions.

The nature of the discussion is important to recognize as a potential factor that skews the resulting data. Focus groups can encourage participants to talk about things they might not have otherwise, and others might impact the group. This can also affect unstructured one-on-one interviews.

In survey research, survey questions are given to respondents (in person, over the phone, by email, or via an online form). Questions can be close-ended or open-ended. As far as close-ended questions go, there are many different types:

• Dichotomous (two choices, such as ‘yes’ or ‘no’)
• Multiple choice
• Rating scale
• Likert scale (common version is five options between ‘strongly agree’ and ‘strongly disagree’)
• Matrix (options presented on a grid)
• Demographic (asking for information such as gender, age, or occupation)

Surveys are massively versatile because of the range of question formats. Knowing how to mix and match them to get what you need takes consideration and thought. Different questions need the right setup.

It’s also about how you ask. Good questions lead to good analysis. Writing clear, concise questions that abstain from vague expressions and don’t lead respondents down a certain path can help your results reflect the true colors of respondents.

There are a ton of different ways to conduct surveys as well, from creating your own from scratch or using tools that do lots of the heavy lifting for you.

3. Consumer research with social media listening

Social media has reached a point where it is seamlessly integrated into our lives. And because it is a digital extension of ourselves, people freely express their opinions, thoughts, and hot takes on social media.

Because people share so much content on social media and the sharing is so instant, social media is a treasure trove for market research. There is plenty of data to monitor , tap into, and dissect.

By using a social listening tool, like Consumer Research , researchers can identify topics of interest and then analyze relevant social posts. For example, they can track brand mentions and what consumers are saying about the products owned by that brand. These are real-world consumer research examples.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brandwatch (@brandwatch)

Social media listening democratizes insights, and is especially useful for market research because of the vast amount of unfiltered information available. Because it’s unprompted, you can be fairly sure that what’s shared is an accurate account of what the person really cares about and thinks (as opposed to them being given a subject to dwell on in the presence of a researcher).

You might like

Your complete social listening guide.

Learn how to get started with social listening

4. Interviews

In interviews, the interviewer speaks directly with the respondent. This type of market research method is more personal, allowing for communication and clarification, making it good for open-ended questions. Furthermore, interviews enable the interviewer to go beyond surface-level responses and investigate deeper.

However, the drawback is that interviews can be time-intensive and costly. Those who opt for this method will need to figure out how to allocate their resources effectively. You also need to be careful with leading or poor questions that lead to useless results. Here’s a good introduction to leading questions .

5. Experiments and field trials

Field experiments are conducted in the participants’ environment. They rely on the independent variable and the dependent variable – the researcher controls the independent variable in order to test its impact on the dependent variable. The key here is to establish whether there’s causality.

For example, take Hofling’s experiment that tested obedience, conducted in a hospital setting. The point was to test if nurses followed authority figures (doctors) and if the authority figures’ rules violated standards (The dependent variable being the nurses, the independent variable being a fake doctor calling up and ordering the nurses to administer treatment.)

According to Simply Psychology , there are key strengths and limitations to this method.

The assessment reads:

• Strength: Behavior in a field experiment is more likely to reflect real life because of its natural setting, i.e., higher ecological validity than a lab experiment.
• Strength: There is less likelihood of demand characteristics affecting the results, as participants may not know they are being studied. This occurs when the study is covert.
• Limitation: There is less control over extraneous variables that might bias the results. This makes it difficult for another researcher to replicate the study in exactly the same way.

There are also massive ethical implications for these kinds of experiments and experiments in general (especially if people are unaware of their involvement). Don’t take this lightly, and be sure to read up on all the guidelines that apply to the region where you’re based.

6. Observation

Observational market research is a qualitative research method where the researcher observes their subjects in a natural or controlled environment. This method is much like being a fly on the wall, but the fly takes notes and analyzes them later. In observational market research, subjects are likely to behave naturally, which reveals their true selves. 

They are not under much pressure. However, if they’re aware of the observation, they can act differently.

This type of research applies well to retail, where the researcher can observe shoppers’ behavior by day of the week, by season, when discounts are offered, and more. However, observational research can be time-consuming, and researchers have no control over the environments they research.

7. Competitive analysis

Competitive analysis is a highly strategic and specific form of market research in which the researchers analyze their company’s competitors. It is critical to see how your brand stacks up to rivals. 

Competitive analysis starts by defining the product, service, brand, and market segment. There are different topics to compare your firm with your competitors. It could be from a marketing perspective: content produced, SEO structure, PR coverage, and social media presence and engagement. It can also be from a product perspective: types of offerings, pricing structure. SWOT analysis is key in assessing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

We’ve written a whole blog post on this tactic, which you can read here .

8. Public domain data

The internet is a wondrous place. Public data exists for those strapped for resources or simply seeking to support their research with more data.  With more and more data produced every year, the question about access and curation becomes increasingly prominent – that’s why researchers and librarians are keen on open data.

Plenty of different types of open data are useful for market research: government databases, polling data, “fact tanks” like Pew Research Center, and more. 

Furthermore, APIs grant developers programmatic access to applications. A lot of this data is free, which is a real bonus.

9. Buy research

Money can’t buy everything, but it can buy research. Subscriptions exist for those who want to buy relevant industry and research reports. Sites like Euromonitor, Statista, Mintel, and BCC Research host a litany of reports for purchase, oftentimes with the option of a single-user license or a subscription.

This can be a massive time saver, and you’ll have a better idea of what you’re getting from the very beginning. You’ll also get all your data in a format that makes sense, saving you effort in cleaning and organizing.

10. Analyze sales data

Sales data is like a puzzle piece that can help reveal the full picture of market research insights. Essentially, it indicates the results. Paired with other market research data, sales data helps researchers better understand actions and consequences. Understanding your customers, their buying habits, and how they change over time is important.

This research will be limited to customers, and it’s important to keep that in mind. Nevertheless, the value of this data should not be underestimated. If you’re not already tracking customer data, there’s no time like the present.

Choosing the right market research method for your strategy

Not all methods will be right for your situation or your business. Once you’ve looked through the list and seen some that take your fancy, spend more time researching each option.You’ll want to consider what you want to achieve, what data you’ll need, the pros and cons of each method, the costs of conducting the research, and the cost of analyzing the results.

Get it right, and it’ll be worth all the effort.

Former Brandwatch Employee

Share this post

Brandwatch bulletin.

Offering up analysis and data on everything from the events of the day to the latest consumer trends. Subscribe to keep your finger on the world’s pulse.

New: Consumer Research

Make the world your focus group.

With Brandwatch Consumer Research, you can turn billions of voices into valuable insights.

More in marketing

The ultimate guide to competitor analysis.

By Ksenia Newton Apr 5

How to Market Your Sustainability as a Brand in 2024

By Emily Smith Mar 18

The Swift Effect: What Brands Can Learn from Taylor Swift

By Emily Smith Feb 29

How B2B Brands Can Benefit from Social Listening

By Ksenia Newton Feb 23

We value your privacy

We use cookies to improve your experience and give you personalized content. Do you agree to our cookie policy?

By using our site you agree to our use of cookies — I Agree

Falcon.io is now part of Brandwatch. You're in the right place!

Existing customer? Log in to access your existing Falcon products and data via the login menu on the top right of the page. New customer? You'll find the former Falcon products under 'Social Media Management' if you go to 'Our Suite' in the navigation.

Paladin is now Influence. You're in the right place!

Brandwatch acquired Paladin in March 2022. It's now called Influence, which is part of Brandwatch's Social Media Management solution. Want to access your Paladin account? Use the login menu at the top right corner.

Comprehensive Guide to Market Research Types and Methods

• by Alice Ananian
• April 1, 2024

Market research is the foundation of every successful business initiative — it’s the process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, consumers, and your business environment. By making data-driven decisions, you can reduce risk, uncover lucrative opportunities, and understand the competitive landscape.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore different types of market research methods and how you can leverage them to bolster your marketing strategy, ensure product-market fit, and drive business growth.

Approaches to Market Research

Choosing the right market research methodology is crucial for gathering information that is accurate, actionable, and aligned with business goals. There are primarily two types of market research: primary and secondary, and two categories of analysis: quantitative and qualitative.

Primary Research vs Secondary Research

Primary Research refers to the collection of original data directly from relevant sources. It can be tailored to meet specific needs and provides up-to-date information. Common methods include surveys, interviews, questionnaires, and focus groups.

Example of Primary Research

One method of conducting primary research involves organizing a focus group. A focus group is a gathering of individuals selected for their relevance to a particular study, who are then asked to discuss and provide feedback on a product, concept, or marketing campaign. This method is particularly useful for gaining deep insights into consumer attitudes, behaviors, and preferences. It allows companies to observe firsthand responses and engage in direct dialogue with participants, offering a level of depth and specificity that other research methods may not achieve.

Secondary Research is the gathering of information from pre-existing sources. This data has been collected for different research purposes and is often used for reference. Examples of secondary research include public sources, commercial information, and academic literature.

Example of Secondary Research

An example of conducting secondary research is utilizing industry reports from market research firms. These reports often contain comprehensive analyses on market trends, forecasted growth, consumer behavior, and competitive landscape across various sectors. For businesses seeking to understand their industry’s broad dynamics without the time or resources required for extensive primary research, these reports offer valuable insights. They can help identify market opportunities, benchmark against competitors, and inform strategic planning efforts.

Quantitative Research vs Qualitative Research

Quantitative Research focuses on obtaining numerical data that can be measured and analyzed statistically. It’s about quantity and uses structured research methods such as online surveys or experiments to collect data.  Here are the primary methods by which quantitative research is conducted:

• Surveys : Surveys are one of the most common quantitative research methods. They involve asking a series of predefined questions to a large group of respondents. This method is highly efficient for collecting data from a large sample size, making it easier to generalize findings to the broader population.
• Correlational Research: This method investigates the relationships between two or more variables without establishing cause-and-effect. It aims to identify the direction and strength of the association between variables. For instance, a study might explore the correlation between sleep duration and academic performance.
• Causal-Comparative Research: This method seeks to understand the potential causal relationships between variables by comparing groups that already differ on specific characteristics. Although it cannot definitively establish causation due to the lack of manipulation, it can provide valuable insights into potential cause-and-effect relationships.
• Experimental Research: Considered the most rigorous quantitative method, experiments involve manipulating one or more variables (independent variables) to observe their impact on another variable (dependent variable) while controlling for extraneous factors. By randomly assigning participants to different experimental and control groups, researchers can establish cause-and-effect relationships with greater confidence.
• Observations : Unlike the other methods, observations involve gathering data by watching subjects in their natural environment without intervention. This method can be particularly useful in understanding how individuals behave in real-life situations, providing insights that are not influenced by the research process itself.

Qualitative Research aims to understand why and how decisions are made, often involving non-numeric data. It provides more in-depth insights through methods like open-ended surveys, interviews, observations, and case studies. Here are the primary qualitative research methods:

• In-depth Interviews: These are one-on-one conversations between the researcher and the participant, focusing on the participant’s perspectives, experiences, or ideas in detail. In-depth interviews allow for exploring deep insights and nuances that might not emerge in a group setting or quantitative research.
• Focus Groups: Focus groups involve facilitated discussions with a small group of people. This method is particularly useful for generating a broad range of ideas, perceptions, and feelings about a specific topic or product. It enables participants to interact, which can spark new insights.
• Observational Research: In observational research, the researcher observes participants in their natural environments without interacting or intervening. This method provides an unfiltered view of participant behavior and interactions, offering insights that participants might not express directly.
• Ethnographic Research: Ethnography involves the researcher immersing themselves in the participant’s environment, often for an extended period, to understand their cultures, motivations, and routines deeply. This method is particularly suited to exploring complex social environments and cultural phenomena.
• Case Studies: Case studies involve a detailed examination of a single subject, such as an organization, an event, or an individual, over time. This method provides comprehensive insights into the subject matter, allowing for an in-depth understanding of its contexts and complexities.
• Document Analysis: This method involves analyzing documents, texts, and other materials to uncover themes, patterns, and meanings. It can include a range of materials such as letters, emails, official records, reports, and social media postings.

These qualitative research methods enable researchers to gain a deep, nuanced understanding of human behavior and the factors that influence it. They are especially valuable in exploratory research, hypothesis generation, and developing a profound comprehension of complex issues.

Types of Market Research

Various types of market research can be conducted to better understand different aspects of a market and consumer behavior. Here are the top five types of in-depth research every business should consider.

Market Segmentation Research

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market of potential customers into groups, or segments, based on different characteristics. This includes demographic, geographic, psychographic, or behavioral attributes. Segmentation helps businesses identify the right markets to target and thus, market effectively.

Step 1: Identifying the Basis for Segmenting

Start your market segmentation research by determining the most relevant criteria to your products or services such as age, location, lifestyle, or usage rates.

Step 2: Data Collection

This step is vital and involves gathering information via methods like surveys and consumer interviews, or by analyzing existing data sources to understand the potential segments’ characteristics and needs.

Step 3: Data Analysis

Analyze the collected data to uncover patterns or common traits among possible customers. Use statistical methods to confirm that the segments identified are distinct and meaningful.

Step 4: Creation of Segments

Based on the analysis, group individuals to create segments. These segments should be alike within themselves but different from each other.

Step 5: Evaluation of Segments

Critically evaluate each market segment for its viability. This involves checking their size, growth potential, accessibility, and your company’s capacity to cater to each segment effectively.

Step 6: Target Segment Selection

Lastly, based on the evaluation, decide on the segments that best align with your strategic objectives and resources. Concentrate your marketing efforts to appeal to these particular groups.

Market Segmentation tools :

• SurveyMonkey : Allows you to create customized surveys to gather demographic and psychographic data.
• Tableau : Visualizes market data to identify patterns and segments.
• SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) : Ideal for more advanced statistical analysis of market data.

Customer Research

Understanding your customers is fundamental. This type of research dives into customer satisfaction, behavior, preferences, and buying patterns. Customer research helps businesses to tailor products, services, and messages to meet customer needs effectively. 

If you’re going to launch into customer research, here’s a step-by-step approach:

Step 1: Identifying Research Objectives

The first step involves clearly defining the goals of the customer research. This could range from understanding customer satisfaction to identifying buying behaviors or exploring customer attitudes towards a new product or service.

Step 2: Designing the Research

Based on the objectives, the research design is formulated. This includes deciding on the research method (e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups), the questions to be asked, and the target sample of customers who will be part of the study.

Step 3: Collecting Data

This crucial step involves reaching out to customers and gathering data in line with the research design. Techniques can vary widely, from digital surveys sent via email or social media to in-person interviews or telephonic conversations.

Step 4: Analyzing Data

Once data is collected, the next phase is analysis. During this step, responses are examined to identify trends, patterns, and insights. Advanced statistical tools or qualitative analysis methods may be used depending on the nature of the research and data collected.

Step 5: Interpreting Results The insights gathered from data analysis are interpreted in the context of the research objectives. This involves understanding what the findings mean for the business, how they address the initial research questions, and what implications they have for strategic decision-making.

Step 6: Reporting and Action

The final step involves compiling the research findings into a report or presentation that clearly communicates the insights to stakeholders. Based on the research findings, actionable steps are identified for the business to enhance product development, refine marketing strategies, or improve customer service.

Top Customer Research Tools:

• Prelaunch.com : The idea validation platform crisscrosses traditional demographic breakdowns with psychographic factors like interests and lifestyles. Customer personas are then crafted based on this data. 
• Zendesk : Collects customer feedback and delivers customer support data.
• HubSpot CRM : Tracks customer interactions and manages the sales pipeline effortlessly.
• NPS (Net Promoter Score) : Measures customer loyalty and satisfaction based on a dedicated survey.

Competitor Research

Analyzing the strategies, products, and market positioning of your competitors is essential for creating a competitive advantage. This type of research can unveil market gaps, consumer perceptions, and industry trends.

This process consists of several critical steps:

Step 1: Identifying Competitors  

The first step involves identifying both direct and indirect competitors. This can be done through market analysis, customer feedback, and using online tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to understand who competes for the same keywords.

Step 2: Gathering Information  

Once competitors are identified, the next step is to collect as much information as possible about them. This includes analyzing their websites, social media presence, marketing strategies, product offerings, pricing, and customer reviews. Tools like Crunchbase and SimilarWeb provide valuable insights into a company’s performance and online strategy.

Step 3: Analyzing Competitors’ Strategies 

With the gathered information, analyze your competitors’ marketing strategies, sales processes, and customer experiences. Look for patterns in their advertising, content marketing, SEO strategies, and any other tactics they use to engage with their audience.

Step 4: Identifying Competitors’ Strengths and Weaknesses 

By thoroughly reviewing the gathered information, identify the areas where your competitors excel and where they fall short. This analysis will help you to understand what customers appreciate in your competitors’ offerings and where there might be gaps you can exploit.

Step 5: Monitoring Market Position

Understanding each competitor’s market position helps in identifying market gaps and opportunities. Tools like BrandWatch can provide insights into brand perception and market share.

Step 6: Developing Strategies Based on Insights Utilize the insights gained from the competitor analysis to inform your strategic decisions. This could involve enhancing your product or service, changing your marketing strategy, or identifying new market opportunities.

Step 7: Continuous Monitoring

Competitor research is not a one-time activity but an ongoing process. Markets evolve, and competitors adapt, making it essential to continuously monitor the competitive landscape and adjust your strategies as necessary.

Top Competitor Research Tools:

• Prelaunch.com AI Market Research Tool : The tool allows you to quickly analyze thousands of reviews and feedback to uncover the top customer praises and complaints of competitor products.
• SEMrush : A comprehensive marketing toolkit for tracking SEO, PPC strategies, and traffic data of competitors’ sites.
• Ahrefs : SEO analysis tool that provides backlink research and insight into content performance.
• SimilarWeb : Helps you understand your competitor’s website traffic and offers an overview of the digital ecosystem.

Product Research

Product research focuses on understanding the product life cycle, demand, and consumer reaction to the product. It’s about assessing market viability, conceptualization, pre-launch testing, and post-launch feedback.

Product research is conducted through a structured process that ensures products meet consumer needs and preferences while being competitive in the market: 

Step 1: Identifying Customer Needs

The first stage involves extensive market research to understand the needs, desires, and pain points of the target customer base. This may include analyzing customer feedback on existing products, engaging in social listening, and conducting surveys or focus groups.

Step 2: Concept Testing

Once a need is identified, the next step is to generate product concepts that can meet these needs. These concepts are then presented to potential customers to gauge their reaction, interest, and willingness to purchase. Feedback at this stage can be invaluable in refining the product concept.

Step 3: Analyzing Market Demand

This involves assessing the size of the market, potential growth, and demand for the proposed product. Tools like Google Trends and market research reports can offer insights into consumer interest and market demand.

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

A thorough examination of similar products and competitors in the market helps in understanding the competitive landscape. This analysis provides insights into what has been successful, the strengths and weaknesses of competitors’ products, and potential market gaps that the new product can fill.

Step 5: Prototype Development

Based on the insights gathered, a prototype of the product is developed. This prototype is used for internal testing, to refine the design, and to further identify any potential issues.

Step 6: Product Testing

The prototype is then tested with a select group of potential customers for feedback on usability, functionality, and overall appeal. This stage often involves iterations to make necessary adjustments based on the feedback received.

Step 7: Launch Planning and Strategy  

With a final product developed, the focus shifts to planning the launch. This involves determining the pricing strategy, marketing plan, and sales channels. Market testing in select areas or groups may be conducted to fine-tune the launch strategy.

Step 8: Launch

The product is officially introduced to the market. The launch is accompanied by marketing campaigns designed to create awareness and interest among the target audience.

Step 9: Post-Launch Analysis and Feedback

After the product launch, customer feedback is continuously monitored through reviews, social media, and sales data. This feedback is crucial for identifying any issues, assessing customer satisfaction, and planning future product iterations or enhancements.

Top Product Research Tools:

• Prelaunch.com : A product market fit validation platform that helps companies to test new products, concepts, colors, features, prices and audiences.
• SurveyGizmo : Tailored for product testing and concept validation.
• UsabilityHub : Offers various testing tools to gather user feedback on design and features.
• Google Analytics : Provides detailed statistics about a website’s traffic and traffic sources.

Branding Research

Branding research explores how your brand is perceived by customers and the market at large. It helps to craft effective branding strategies that resonate and create a powerful market presence.

Branding research is essential for understanding how a brand is perceived by its audience and how it stands against competitors. This process generally follows several key steps:

Step 1: Identifying Brand Attributes

This initial phase involves defining what your brand represents, including its values, personality, and promise to customers. It’s crucial to understand how these attributes align with consumer expectations and needs.

Step 2: Customer Perception Analysis

Research is conducted to gauge how customers and potential customers perceive the brand. This might involve surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Social media sentiment analysis can also provide insight into public perception.

Step 3: Competitor Benchmarking

A comparative analysis with key competitors helps in understanding the brand’s position in the market. This involves evaluating how competitors are perceived in terms of attributes like quality, value, and customer service.

Step 4: Brand Equity Measurement

This step assesses the value of the brand in the eyes of consumers. Techniques such as the Net Promoter Score (NPS) or brand health indices measure loyalty, satisfaction, and the likelihood of recommending the brand to others.

Step 5: Touchpoint Analysis

Investigating every point of interaction between the brand and its customers helps identify opportunities to improve the brand experience. This includes digital and physical channels, customer service, and the purchasing process.

Step 6: Identifying Improvement Areas

The insights gathered through the research are analyzed to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in the current brand strategy. This step is crucial for identifying specific areas where improvements can be made to enhance brand perception and equity.

Step 7: Strategy Development

Based on the insights, a strategic plan is developed to address the identified areas for improvement. This could involve rebranding efforts, marketing campaigns focused on reinforcing brand values, or initiatives to enhance customer experience.

Step 8: Implementation and Monitoring

The final step involves implementing the developed strategies and continuously monitoring their impact on brand perception and equity. Ongoing research ensures the brand remains aligned with customer expectations and market trends.

Top Branding Research Tools:

• Brandwatch : Monitors social media, news sites, forums, and customer web traffic to track brand mentions and sentiment.
• SurveyMonkey Audience : Conducts consumer studies to measure brand awareness and reputation.
• Google Alerts : Sends a notification anytime a new mention of your company appears online.

Prelaunch.com: Smart Market Research, Strong Product Launches

With the increasing importance of data in business decision-making, the market research industry has also evolved. Companies are turning to advanced platforms, like Prelaunch.com, an all-in-one tool for market research and product validation to give them cutting-edge insight. 

Prelaunch.com uses real purchase intent to estimate product launch success reliably. Using the proprietary Prelaunch Reservation Funnel, visitors are guided through a funnel. The goal behind this funnel is to take the most useful aspects of each of the research types mentioned above and condense them into a user experience that takes the least time and gives the most insights.

Step 1: Audience Selection

Specific audiences are targeted via ads using different messaging to see what audiences respond best to each message. Organic audiences of early adopters and the early majority find your product through the Prelaunch Innovations Marketplace and via our search-optimized pages.

Step 2: Concept Validation

When leads like the concept, they subscribe to learn more.

Step 3: Price Validation

After subscribing, potential clients are shown the product price and can place a small deposit to reserve the product at the discounted Prelaunch Price.

Step 4: Segmented Surveys

Depending on whether they reserved or only subscribed, leads are presented with a personalized survey to gather deeper insights into their purchasing decisions, needs and more.

Step 5: Market Insights

Prelaunch’s expert research team analyzes market trends and competitor products to find additional insights regarding the product.

Aside from doing this all for one product, Prelaunch.com allows brands to test multiple iterations of  a  product  –  highlighting  or  even  changing  different  features  and  price  points  –  on different audiences to see which combinations work best and which features customers are likely to pay for.

Prelaunch.com also tackles the secondary research front by enabling creators to quickly compare their products against competitor products on Amazon. 

Making sure your research is hitting on all cylinders is a major part of what drives Prelaunch.com. The platform’s Dashboard brings the results of the funnel into one place giving you comprehensive scores on idea validation, pricing, as well as advertising insights including the best working creatives and copy. The Dashboard also gives you a breakdown of the most interested leads by age, gender, location, targeted interests, and traffic sources. 

Market research is not just a one-off project; it’s a continuous process that informs every aspect of your business. By employing the right market research methods and tools, you can gain a deep understanding of your market, customers, and competitors, which is vital for making informed decisions and driving business growth. 

Remember, whether you’re a seasoned marketer, a small business owner, or an entrepreneur launching a new venture, the power of market research cannot be overstated. It’s the compass that guides you through the challenges and opportunities of the marketplace. To get the best of primary and secondary research as well as qualitative and quantitative, give Prelaunch.com a try. If you’re serious about the success of your next product launch, book a demo with one of our experts today. 

Alice Ananian

Alice has over 8 years experience as a strong communicator and creative thinker. She enjoys helping companies refine their branding, deepen their values, and reach their intended audiences through language.

Related Articles

Top 19 Future Business Ideas That Will Trend in 2040

• by Dikran Seferian
• April 8, 2024

17 Innovative AI Business Ideas for 2024

• January 18, 2024

4 Types of Market Research + 6 New Ways to Do It Smarter

In June this year, 500 business leaders shared their favorite types of market research with me via a direct external survey.

Astonishingly, 83% of people said the same thing: favoring qualitative research ( specifically market research surveys ) over anything else.

Having a favorite is all good and well, but as we know, variety is the spice of life. By avoiding dependency on any single type of market research, you get a relevant, unbiased view of your market and opportunities at all times.

Spoiler alert The types of market research I outline in this post will speed up your time to insight significantly. Instead of a process that spans days and weeks, certain tasks can be done and dusted in a few hours at most.

To help you stay on top of your game, I’m outlining the different types of market research, their benefits, and how to use them. As a bonus, I’m sharing six modern ways to do market research using digital research intelligence tools (like Similarweb).

The 4 types of market research

1. Primary research

Primary research is the first-hand collection of data. You go directly to a source instead of relying on existing information. It’s also known as field research.

Who is it for? Doing primary research involves collecting information relevant to a specific research context. For instance, if data is required about the shifting needs of a target market , primary research methods are a great way to explore this.

How to collect the data? Usually, an individual will go into the marketplace (field) to find the information they need.

Benefits of primary research

• You get more control over the research methodologies.
• The information is up-to-date.
• Because data is relevant, it reveals current trends, not outdated ones.
• Most primary research addresses the individual market instead of the mass market.
• The data collector retains ownership of the data.

Types of primary research

The right research method depends on the goal of the research and the resources available. Here are five of the best ways to do primary research.

• Ethnographic or observational research
• Trials or experiments
• Focus groups

2. Secondary research

Secondary research collates existing information or research for analysis. Essentially, it’s a type of market research that uses second-hand data.

Who is it for? Secondary research is ideal for start-ups and small businesses, needing a type of market research that’s low-cost and quick to undertake.

How to collect the data? Secondary data is collected from various places but always comes from existing third-party information.

Benefits of secondary research

• A low-cost type of research
• It’s quick to conduct
• Data is easy to access
• Initial findings can help shape any longer-term investment in primary research
• Anybody can do it; there’s no professional training required
• Gives you a broad understanding of a topic quickly

Types of secondary research

Most secondary market research methods can be done for free. It’s also called desk research . Here are some of the most popular places to obtain that data.

• Internet search engines
• Trade associations
• Research companies
• Media outlets
• Industry experts
• Government and non-government agencies
• Digital intelligence platforms (like Similarweb)
• Educational institutions
• Company reports
• Academic journals
• Public libraries
• Competitor websites

3. Qualitative research

Qualitative research aims to understand opinions, beliefs, experiences, attitudes, and interactions by collecting and analyzing non-numerical data. It helps researchers understand why things are so, through observation or unstructured questioning.

Compared to quantitative methods, this is more of a touchy-feely type of market research. It’s more about emotions and opinions than crunching numbers.

Who is it for? Any business or start-up can use (and benefit from) qualitative research. To understand the sentiment of a target audience or market in detail, this type of research uncovers key insights that help shape and develop products, services, and strategies.

How to collect the data? You can conduct qualitative research remotely or in person. What’s key is that the data is collected first-hand, directly from an individual or group of people.

Benefits of qualitative research

• Captures shifting attitudes or sentiments within a target group.
• Can uncover key insights that numbers alone couldn’t reveal.
• More targeted research, is often more concentrated compared to quantitative research.
• Cost and speed can be managed more effectively with smaller groups.
• Promotes authenticity in discussions as responses aren’t formed by pre-set constraints.
• Greater flexibility than other research methods as questions can be adapted over time.

Types of qualitative research

• Participant observation
• Ethnography
• Case Studies
• Grounded theory (using research to generate a theory)
• Thematic analysis (looks to identify or interpret patterns and their connected meanings)
• Open-ended surveys
• Diary or Journal logging
• Phenomenological study (where you take a customer or individual, and examine things from their perspective)

Read More: 83 Qualitative Research Questions & Examples

4. Quantitative research

Quantitative research is focused on collecting, analyzing, and comparing numerical data. It’s predominantly used to make predictions, spot trends , find patterns, and establish averages. It deals with primary and secondary data, as long as it is represented in numerical form.

Who is it for? Quantitative research provides data that can shed light on statistical information about a market or business. It’s useful for start-ups and established companies and can help with forecasting, market sizing , market validation , and more.

How to collect the data? Using various methods, quantitative research is systematically collected and recorded to do analysis in a database through graphics, charts, and tables.

Benefits of quantitative research

• Data can be analyzed reliably and consistently.
• Studies can be easily replicated in the future or a different market.
• It’s possible to do a broader study with large sample sizes.
• Fewer variables are involved as data is often close-ended.
• Automation makes data collection quicker and easier to conduct.
• More cost-effective than qualitative research.

Types of quantitative research

Due to the often complex nature of this type of market research, I’ve added a quick explainer.

• Experimental research Also referred to as true experimentation, this relies on theory. In most cases, multiple theories that have not yet been proven. An analysis is carried out to prove or disprove the theory.
• Descriptive research This is used better to understand a specific situation, population, or phenomenon. It seeks only to measure (not manipulate) variables through observation to investigate them thoroughly.
• Survey research Quite simply, this uses a range of online or offline polls to understand what customers or a group of people think about products, services, and more.
• Quasi-experimental research Similar to experimental research, it aims to evaluate a cause-and-effect relationship amongst variables. However, it’s a dependent and independent variable in this case.
• Correlational research This is typically undertaken to determine a relationship between two closely related entities. It explores how each entity impacts the other and examines key changes.

Read More: 98 Quantitative Market Research Questions & Examples

Mixed-method research approach

Discover a better way to do market research.

Get the data you need to adapt to market changes and industry trends in an instant.

6 modern types of market research

Outside the four core types of market research, there are modern ways to discover valuable information that can leverage better insights. If you’re looking for new types of research that’ll help you quickly find new opportunities to go after, read on.

1. Competitor research

In-depth competitor analysis allows you to quickly find growth opportunities, by taking a detailed look at what is and isn’t working for your rivals. What’s more, it can help you spot emerging trends and shifts, so you can take action when and where it matters most.

These are some of the things you can expect to uncover with competitive market research:

• Understand how to track and target your competitors’ audiences.
• Discover the best traffic sources to see where rivals are gaining referrals from.
• Establish a clear view of rival’s market share across any industry.
• See traffic changes over time amongst industry leaders and emerging players.
• Find out which channels are working best for competitors.
• Benchmark your business against others in your space.
• Track a customized list of players in your sector to see gains and losses.

2. Audience research

Consumer insights are fundamental to the success of any organization, regardless of size or sector. Through the analysis of consumer behavior, you can drive better engagement, discover new digital strategies , and develop a more detailed understanding of your prospects and customers.

Here are just a few examples of how doing audience-based research can help:

• Better understand audience interests relative to an industry or your rivals.
• Measure audience loyalty .
• See where they spend their time online.
• Build a picture of an audience layered with insights from real-world browsing habits.
• Uncover key demographics , interests, and geographies of an audience.

To help you get started, here are four audience analysis examples .

3. Content and keyword research

At the last count, there were roughly 1.93 billion websites online, and I’m not even going to get into how many social media accounts there are. But with so many digital channels, you must ensure your content and company can be easily found online. This is where ( and why ) content and keyword-based market research deliver immense value.

Get it right, and you’ll reap the benefits through more visitors, leads, conversions, and revenue. The golden nugget you uncover with keyword and content research is a greater understanding of an audience. Although most people would associate keyword research with SEO, it serves a dual purpose.

To get started, do a competitive content analysis within your market.

4. Campaign effectiveness

Knowing how effective a specific type of advertising channel, message, or format is for a target audience can quickly help you determine where’s best to spend your marketing dollars. By researching the effectiveness of ads in your space, you can more easily see the best places to invest your time and effort.

This type of market research helps you:

• Find out if paid advertising is working or not.
• Discover the highest-converting ads.
• See what types of creatives work best for your target audience.
• Look at competitors’ total spend in a specific channel.
• View social media referrals and their impact on website traffic.
• Drill-down into top-performing ads to see messaging, visuals, and more.

5. Mobile app market research

Mobile-first consumer habits have seen industries turned on their heads overnight. For most, it’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ mobile apps will infiltrate their market. In any industry, seeing the impact of apps in your space is vital. The need to see a complete view of the digital landscape is rising fast.

Some of the key things you can uncover through app intelligence -focused research include:

• Find trending apps in any sector, specifically looking at growth/decline.
• App usage and engagement metrics across multiple markets.
• Analyze an app’s ranking over time.
• Identify underserved markets and spot opportunities to break into new spaces.
• Evaluate iOS vs. Android stats to determine which platform is optimal for an audience.
• View the performance of competitors’ apps over time.
• Compare app performance metrics directly against desktop or mobile web channels.
• Determine whether or not to invest in a mobile app for your business.

6. Market segmentation

Understanding whole market trends are useful. But the real pearls of wisdom can be found when you slice and dice a market into manageable portions. Market segmentation is important for businesses to identify and target specific customer groups, tailor their products and services, and measure their performance. This type of market research helps you:

• Deliver personalized marketing
• Identify market shifts
• Find opportunities for growth in specific segments of a market
• Improve targeting
• Allocate resources more efficiently
• Improve customer engagement and loyalty
• Increase return on investment by identifying opportunity segments

Choosing the right type of market research

Whatever your industry, role, or experience, the type of market research you choose will influence key decisions in your business. With rapid shifts in consumer behavior and emerging threats now virtually an everyday thing, you need a broad and relevant view of the landscape. No single type of market research alone gives a complete picture.

Organizations must keep a finger on the pulse to stay relevant, adapt, and compete. While using traditional types of market research is key, you can gain key insights much quicker, often for a much lower cost, using modern tools like Similarweb Research Intelligence .

Why not take it for a trial run today? For free.

What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative research? Quantitative research is based on numbers and seeks to explain theories or hypotheses. In contrast, qualitative research is more about understanding the ‘how’ and ‘why’ things happen.

Should I use more than one market research method at a time? Yes, it’s important to take a balanced approach when choosing the best type of research. While it’s vital to clearly understand what is happening, you also need to consider the ‘why’ things happen.

What type of market research is best for start-ups? Most start-ups use secondary research as it’s quick and affordable. However, there are many benefits to conducting first-hand primary research as well.

What types of market research can you do for free? Most secondary research is free to conduct. If you have access to a list of subjects or prospects, you can also use market research surveys to conduct primary market research for free.

Is quantitative research primary or secondary? It can be both. Secondary and primary data can be quantitative (number-based) or qualitative (verbal or opinion-based).

Related Posts

The Future of UK Finance: Top Trends to Watch in 2024

From AI to Buy: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Retail

How to Conduct a Social Media Competitor Analysis: 5 Quick Steps

Industry Research: The Data-Backed Approach

How to Do a Competitive Analysis: A Complete Guide

How to Check Website Traffic: Analyzing the Digital Data

Wondering what similarweb can do for you.

Here are two ways you can get started with Similarweb today!

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer
• QuestionPro

• Solutions Industries Gaming Automotive Sports and events Education Government Travel & Hospitality Financial Services Healthcare Cannabis Technology Use Case NPS+ Communities Audience Contactless surveys Mobile LivePolls Member Experience GDPR Positive People Science 360 Feedback Surveys
• Resources Blog eBooks Survey Templates Case Studies Training Help center

Home Market Research

Market Research: What it Is, Methods, Types & Examples

Would you like to know why, how, and when to apply market research? Do you want to discover why your consumers are not buying your products? Are you interested in launching a new product, service, or even a new marketing campaign, but you’re not sure what your consumers want?

LEARN ABOUT: Market research vs marketing research

To answer the questions above, you’ll need help from your consumers. But how will you collect that data? In this case and in many other situations in your business, market research is the way to get all the answers you need.

In this ultimate guide about market research, you’ll find the definition, advantages, types of market research, and some examples that will help you understand this type of research. Don’t forget to download the free ebook available at the end of this guide!

LEARN ABOUT: Perceived Value

Content Index

Three key objectives of market research

Why is market research important.

• Types of Market Research: Methods and Examples

Steps for conducting Market Research

Benefits of an efficient market research, 5 market research tips for businesses, why does every business need market research, free market research ebook, what is market research.

Market research is a technique that is used to collect data on any aspect that you want to know to be later able to interpret it and, in the end, make use of it for correct decision-making.

Another more specific definition could be the following:

Market research is the process by which companies seek to collect data systematically to make better decisions. Still, its true value lies in the way in which all the data obtained is used to achieve a better knowledge of the market consumer.

The process of market research can be done through deploying surveys , interacting with a group of people, also known as a sample , conducting interviews, and other similar processes.  

The primary purpose of conducting market research is to understand or examine the market associated with a particular product or service to decide how the audience will react to a product or service. The information obtained from conducting market research can be used to tailor marketing/ advertising activities or determine consumers’ feature priorities/service requirement (if any).

LEARN ABOUT: Consumer Surveys

Conducting research is one of the best ways of achieving customer satisfaction , reducing customer churn and elevating business. Here are the reasons why market research is important and should be considered in any business:

• Valuable information: It provides information and opportunities about the value of existing and new products, thus, helping businesses plan and strategize accordingly.
• Customer-centric: It helps to determine what the customers need and want. Marketing is customer-centric and understanding the customers and their needs will help businesses design products or services that best suit them. Remember that tracing your customer journey is a great way to gain valuable insights into your customers’ sentiments toward your brand.
• Forecasts: By understanding the needs of customers, businesses can also forecast their production and sales. Market research also helps in determining optimum inventory stock.
• Competitive advantage: To stay ahead of competitors market research is a vital tool to carry out comparative studies. Businesses can devise business strategies that can help them stay ahead of their competitors.

LEARN ABOUT: Data Analytics Projects

Types of Market Research: Market Research Methods and Examples

Whether an organization or business wishes to know the purchase behavior of consumers or the likelihood of consumers paying a certain cost for a product segmentation , market research helps in drawing meaningful conclusions.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Targeting

Depending on the methods and tools required, the following are the types:

1. Primary Market Research (A combination of both Qualitative and Quantitative Research):

Primary market research is a process where organizations or businesses get in touch with the end consumers or employ a third party to carry out relevant studies to collect data. The data collected can be qualitative data (non-numerical data) or quantitative data (numerical or statistical data).

While conducting primary market research, one can gather two types of information: Exploratory and Specific. Exploratory research is open-ended, where a problem is explored by asking open ended questions in a detailed interview format usually with a small group of people, also known as a sample. Here the sample size is restricted to 6-10 members. Specific research, on the other hand, is more pinpointed and is used to solve the problems that are identified by exploratory research.

LEARN ABOUT: Marketing Insight

As mentioned earlier, primary market research is a combination of qualitative market research and quantitative market research. Qualitative market research study involves semi-structured or unstructured data collected through some of the commonly used qualitative research methods like:

Focus groups :

Focus group is one of the commonly used qualitative research methods. Focus group is a small group of people (6-10) who typically respond to online surveys sent to them. The best part about a focus group is the information can be collected remotely, can be done without personally interacting with the group members. However, this is a more expensive method as it is used to collect complex information.

One-to-one interview:

As the name suggests, this method involves personal interaction in the form of an interview, where the researcher asks a series of questions to collect information or data from the respondents. The questions are mostly open-ended questions and are asked to facilitate responses. This method heavily depends on the interviewer’s ability and experience to ask questions that evoke responses.

Ethnographic research :

This type of in-depth research is conducted in the natural settings of the respondents. This method requires the interviewer to adapt himself/herself to the natural environment of the respondents which could be a city or a remote village. Geographical constraints can be a hindering market research factor in conducting this kind of research. Ethnographic research can last from a few days to a few years.

Organizations use qualitative research methods to conduct structured market research by using online surveys , questionnaires , and polls to gain statistical insights to make informed decisions.

LEARN ABOUT: Qualitative Interview

This method was once conducted using pen and paper. This has now evolved to sending structured online surveys to the respondents to gain actionable insights. Researchers use modern and technology-oriented survey platforms to structure and design their survey to evoke maximum responses from respondents.

Through a well-structured mechanism, data is easily collected and reported, and necessary action can be taken with all the information made available firsthand.

Learn more: How to conduct quantitative research

2. Secondary Market Research:

Secondary research uses information that is organized by outside sources like government agencies, media, chambers of commerce etc. This information is published in newspapers, magazines, books, company websites, free government and nongovernment agencies and so on. The secondary source makes use of the following:

• Public sources: Public sources like library are an awesome way of gathering free information. Government libraries usually offer services free of cost and a researcher can document available information.
• Commercial sources: Commercial source although reliable are expensive. Local newspapers, magazines, journal, television media are great commercial sources to collect information.
• Educational Institutions: Although not a very popular source of collecting information, most universities and educational institutions are a rich source of information as many research projects are carried out there than any business sector.

Learn more: Market Research Example with Types and Methods

A market research project may usually have 3 different types of objectives.

• Administrative : Help a company or business development, through proper planning, organization, and both human and material resources control, and thus satisfy all specific needs within the market, at the right time.
• Social : Satisfy customers’ specific needs through a required product or service. The product or service should comply with a customer’s requirements and preferences when consumed.
• Economical : Determine the economical degree of success or failure a company can have while being new to the market, or otherwise introducing new products or services, thus providing certainty to all actions to be implemented.

LEARN ABOUT:  Test Market Demand

Knowing what to do in various situations that arise during the investigation will save the researcher time and reduce research problems . Today’s successful enterprises use powerful market research survey software that helps them conduct comprehensive research under a unified platform, providing actionable insights much faster with fewer problems.

LEARN ABOUT:  Market research industry

Following are the steps to conduct effective market research.

Step #1: Define the Problem

Having a well-defined subject of research will help researchers when they ask questions. These questions should be directed to solve problems and must be adapted to the project. Make sure the questions are written clearly and that the respondents understand them. Researchers can conduct a marketing test with a small group to know if the questions are going to know whether the asked questions are understandable and if they will be enough to gain insightful results.

Research objectives should be written in a precise way and should include a brief description of the information that is needed and the way in which it will obtain it. They should have an answer to this question “why are we doing the research?”

Learn more: Interview Questions

Step #2: Define the Sample

To carry out market research, researchers need a representative sample that can be collected using one of the many sampling techniques . A representative sample is a small number of people that reflect, as accurately as possible, a larger group.

• An organization cannot waste their resources in collecting information from the wrong population. It is important that the population represents characteristics that matter to the researchers and that they need to investigate, are in the chosen sample.
• Take into account that marketers will always be prone to fall into a bias in the sample because there will always be people who do not answer the survey because they are busy, or answer it incompletely, so researchers may not obtain the required data.
• Regarding the size of the sample, the larger it is, the more likely it is to be representative of the population. A larger representative sample gives the researcher greater certainty that the people included are the ones they need, and they can possibly reduce bias. Therefore, if they want to avoid inaccuracy in our surveys, they should have representative and balanced samples.
• Practically all the surveys that are considered in a serious way, are based on a scientific sampling, based on statistical and probability theories.

There are two ways to obtain a representative sample:

• Probability sampling : In probability sampling , the choice of the sample will be made at random, which guarantees that each member of the population will have the same probability of selection bias and inclusion in the sample group. Researchers should ensure that they have updated information on the population from which they will draw the sample and survey the majority to establish representativeness.
• Non-probability sampling : In a non-probability sampling , different types of people are seeking to obtain a more balanced representative sample. Knowing the demographic characteristics of our group will undoubtedly help to limit the profile of the desired sample and define the variables that interest the researchers, such as gender, age, place of residence, etc. By knowing these criteria, before obtaining the information, researchers can have the control to create a representative sample that is efficient for us.

When a sample is not representative, there can be a margin of error . If researchers want to have a representative sample of 100 employees, they should choose a similar number of men and women.

The sample size is very important, but it does not guarantee accuracy. More than size, representativeness is related to the sampling frame , that is, to the list from which people are selected, for example, part of a survey.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Research If researchers want to continue expanding their knowledge on how to determine the size of the sample consult our guide on sampling here.

Step #3: Carry out data collection

First, a data collection instrument should be developed. The fact that they do not answer a survey, or answer it incompletely will cause errors in research. The correct collection of data will prevent this.

Step #4: Analyze the results

Each of the points of the market research process is linked to one another. If all the above is executed well, but there is no accurate analysis of the results, then the decisions made consequently will not be appropriate. In-depth analysis conducted without leaving loose ends will be effective in gaining solutions. Data analysis will be captured in a report, which should also be written clearly so that effective decisions can be made on that basis.

Analyzing and interpreting the results is to look for a wider meaning to the obtained data. All the previous phases have been developed to arrive at this moment. How can researchers measure the obtained results? The only quantitative data that will be obtained is age, sex, profession, and number of interviewees because the rest are emotions and experiences that have been transmitted to us by the interlocutors. For this, there is a tool called empathy map that forces us to put ourselves in the place of our clientele with the aim of being able to identify, really, the characteristics that will allow us to make a better adjustment between our products or services and their needs or interests. When the research has been carefully planned, the hypotheses have been adequately defined and the indicated collection method has been used, the interpretation is usually carried out easily and successfully. What follows after conducting market research?

Learn more: Types of Interviews

Step #5: Make the Research Report

When presenting the results, researchers should focus on: what do they want to achieve using this research report and while answering this question they should not assume that the structure of the survey is the best way to do the analysis. One of the big mistakes that many researchers make is that they present the reports in the same order of their questions and do not see the potential of storytelling.

To make good reports, the best analysts give the following advice: follow the inverted pyramid style to present the results, answering at the beginning the essential questions of the business that caused the investigation. Start with the conclusions and give them fundamentals, instead of accumulating evidence. After this researchers can provide details to the readers who have the time and interest.

Step #6: Make Decisions

An organization or a researcher should never ask “why do market research”, they should just do it! Market research helps researchers to know a wide range of information, for example,  consumer purchase intentions, or gives feedback about the growth of the target market. They can also discover valuable information that will help in estimating the prices of their product or service and find a point of balance that will benefit them and the consumers.

Take decisions! Act and implement.

Learn more: Quantitative Research

• Make well-informed decisions: The growth of an organization is dependent on the way decisions are made by the management. Using market research techniques, the management can make business decisions based on obtained results that back their knowledge and experience. Market research helps to know market trends, hence to carry it out frequently to get to know the customers thoroughly.

LEARN ABOUT: Research Process Steps

• Gain accurate information: Market research provides real and accurate information that will prepare the organization for any mishaps that may happen in the future. By properly investigating the market, a business will undoubtedly be taking a step forward, and therefore it will be taking advantage of its existing competitors.
• Determine the market size: A researcher can evaluate the size of the market that must be covered in case of selling a product or service in order to make profits.
• Choose an appropriate sales system: Select a precise sales system according to what the market is asking for, and according to this, the product/service can be positioned in the market.
• Learn about customer preferences: It helps to know how the preferences (and tastes) of the clients change so that the company can satisfy preferences, purchasing habits, and income levels. Researchers can determine the type of product that must be manufactured or sold based on the specific needs of consumers.
• Gather details about customer perception of the brand: In addition to generating information, market research helps a researcher in understanding how the customers perceive the organization or brand.
• Analyze customer communication methods: Market research serves as a guide for communication with current and potential clients.
• Productive business investment: It is a great investment for any business because thanks to it they get invaluable information, it shows researchers the way to follow to take the right path and achieve the sales that are required.

LEARN ABOUT: Total Quality Management

The following tips will help businesses with creating a better market research strategy.

Tip #1: Define the objective of your research.

Before starting your research quest, think about what you’re trying to achieve next with your business. Are you looking to increase traffic to your location? Or increase sales? Or convert customers from one-time purchasers to regulars? Figuring out your objective will help you tailor the rest of your research and your future marketing materials. Having an objective for your research will flesh out what kind of data you need to collect.

Tip #2: Learn About Your Target Customers.

The most important thing to remember is that your business serves a specific kind of customer. Defining your specific customer has many advantages like allowing you to understand what kind of language to use when crafting your marketing materials, and how to approach building relationships with your customer. When you take time to define your target customer you can also find the best products and services to sell to them.

You want to know as much as you can about your target customer. You can gather this information through observation and by researching the kind of customers who frequent your type of business. For starters, helpful things to know are their age and income. What do they do for a living? What’s their marital status and education level?

Learn more: Customer Satisfaction

Tip #3: Recognize that knowing who you serve helps you define who you do not.

Let’s take a classic example from copywriting genius Dan Kennedy. He says that if you’re opening up a fine dining steakhouse focused on decadent food, you know right off the bat that you’re not looking to attract vegetarians or dieters. Armed with this information, you can create better marketing messages that speak to your target customers.

It’s okay to decide who is not a part of your target customer base. In fact, for small businesses knowing who you don’t cater to can be essential in helping you grow. Why? Simple, if you’re small your advantage is that you can connect deeply with a specific segment of the market. You want to focus your efforts on the right customer who already is compelled to spend money on your offer.

If you’re spreading yourself thin by trying to be all things to everyone, you will only dilute your core message. Instead, keep your focus on your target customer. Define them, go deep, and you’ll be able to figure out how you can best serve them with your products and services.

Tip #4: Learn from your competition.

This works for brick-and-mortar businesses as well as internet businesses because it allows you to step into the shoes of your customer and open up to a new perspective of your business. Take a look around the internet and around your town. If you can, visit your competitor’s shops. For example, if you own a restaurant specializing in Italian cuisine, dine at the other Italian place in your neighborhood or in the next township.

As you experience the business from the customer’s perspective, look for what’s being done right and wrong.

Can you see areas that need attention or improvement? How are you running things in comparison? What’s the quality of their product and customer service ? Are the customers here pleased? Also, take a close look at their market segment. Who else is patronizing their business? Are they the same kinds of people who spend money with you? By asking these questions and doing in-person research, you can dig up a lot of information to help you define your unique selling position and create even better offers for your customers.

Tip #5: Get your target customers to open up and tell you everything.

A good customer survey is one of the most valuable market research tools because it gives you the opportunity to get inside your customer’s head. However, remember that some feedback may be harsh, so take criticism as a learning tool to point you in the right direction.

Creating a survey is simple. Ask questions about what your customer thinks you’re doing right and what can be improved. You can also prompt them to tell you what kinds of products and services they’d like to see you add, giving you fantastic insight into how to monetize your business more. Many customers will be delighted to offer feedback. You can even give customers who fill out surveys a gift like a special coupon for their next purchase.

Bonus Tip: Use an insight & research repository

An insight & research repository is a consolidated research management platform to derive insights about past and ongoing market research. With the use of such a tool, you can leverage past research to get to insights faster, build on previously done market research and draw trendlines, utilize research techniques that have worked in the past, and more.

Market research is one of the most effective ways to gain insight into your customer base , competitors , and the overall market. The goal of conducting market research is to equip your company with the information you need to make informed decisions.

It is especially important when small businesses are trying to determine whether a new business idea is viable, looking to move into a new market, or are launching a new product or service.  Read below for a more in-depth look at how market research can help small businesses.

• COMPETITION According to a study conducted by Business Insider, 72% of small businesses focus on increasing revenue. Conducting research helps businesses gain insight into competitor behavior. By learning about your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, you can learn how to position your product or offering. In order to be successful, small businesses need to have an understanding of what products and services competitors are offering, and their price point.

Learn more: Trend Analysis

• CUSTOMERS Many small businesses feel they need to understand their customers, only to conduct market research and learn they had the wrong assumptions. By researching, you can create a profile of your average customer and gain insight into their buying habits, how much they’re willing to spend, and which features resonate with them. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, you can learn what will make someone use your product or service over a competitor.

Learn more: Customer Satisfaction Survey

• OPPORTUNITIES Potential opportunities, whether they are products or services, can be identified by conducting market research. By learning more about your customers, you can gather insights into complementary products and services. Consumer needs change over time, influenced by new technology and different conditions, and you may find new needs that are not being met, which can create new opportunities for your business.

Learn more: SWOT Analysis 

• FORECAST A small business is affected by the performance of the local and national economy, as are its’ customers. If consumers are worried, then they will be more restrained when spending money, which affects the business. By conducting research with consumers, businesses can get an idea of whether they are optimistic or apprehensive about the direction of the economy, and make adjustments as necessary. For example, a small business owner may decide to postpone a new product launch if it appears the economic environment is turning negative.

Learn more: 300+ Market Research Survey Questionnaires

Market research and market intelligence may be as complex as the needs that each business or project has. The steps are usually the same. We hope this ultimate guide helps you have a better understanding of how to make your own market research project to gather insightful data and make better decisions.

LEARN ABOUT: Projective Techniques

We appreciate you taking the time to read this ultimate guide. We hope it was helpful! 

You can now download our free ebook that will guide you through a market research project, from the planning stage to the presentation of the outcomes and their analysis.

Sign up now, and download our free ebook: The Hacker’s Guide to Advanced Research Methodologies 

DOWNLOAD NOW

MORE LIKE THIS

Best 15 Behavior Analytics Tools to Explore Your User Actions

Apr 8, 2024

Top 7 Concept Testing Tools to Elevate Your Ideas in 2024

AI Question Generator: Create Easy + Accurate Tests and Surveys

Apr 6, 2024

Top 17 UX Research Software for UX Design in 2024

Apr 5, 2024

Other categories

• Academic Research
• Artificial Intelligence
• Assessments
• Brand Awareness
• Case Studies
• Communities
• Consumer Insights
• Customer effort score
• Customer Engagement
• Customer Experience
• Customer Loyalty
• Customer Research
• Customer Satisfaction
• Employee Benefits
• Employee Engagement
• Employee Retention
• Friday Five
• General Data Protection Regulation
• Insights Hub
• Life@QuestionPro
• Market Research
• Mobile diaries
• Mobile Surveys
• New Features
• Online Communities
• Question Types
• Questionnaire
• QuestionPro Products
• Release Notes
• Research Tools and Apps
• Revenue at Risk
• Survey Templates
• Training Tips
• Uncategorized
• Video Learning Series
• What’s Coming Up
• Workforce Intelligence

Learn / Blog / Article

Back to blog

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. 

Last updated

Reading time.

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.”

Subscribe to fresh and free monthly insights.

Over 50,000 people interested in UX, product,
 digital empathy, and beyond, receive our newsletter every month. No spam, just thoughtful perspectives from a range of experts, new approaches to remote work, and loads more valuable insights. If that floats your boat, why not become a subscriber?

I have read and accepted the message outlined here: Hotjar uses the information you provide to us to send you relevant content, updates and offers from time to time. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of any email.

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.

Related articles

6 traits of top marketing leaders (and how to cultivate them in yourself)

Stepping into a marketing leadership role can stir up a mix of emotions: excitement, optimism, and, often, a gnawing doubt. "Do I have the right skills to truly lead and inspire?" If you've ever wrestled with these uncertainties, you're not alone.

Hotjar team

The 7 best BI tools for marketers in 2024 (and how to use them)

Whether you're sifting through campaign attribution data or reviewing performance reports from different sources, extracting meaningful business insights from vast amounts of data is an often daunting—yet critical—task many marketers face. So how do you efficiently evaluate your results and communicate key learnings? 

This is where business intelligence (BI) tools come in, transforming raw data into actionable insights that drive informed, customer-centric decisions. 

6 marketing trends that will shape the future of ecommerce in 2023

Today, marketing trends evolve at the speed of technology. Ecommerce businesses that fail to update their marketing strategies to meet consumers where they are in 2023 will be left out of the conversations that drive brand success. 

Geoff Whiting

A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Research: Where Do You Start?

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on LinkedIn

Marketing research encompasses every aspect of obtaining data about product and consumer preferences. This includes market, new product and consumer research, and should incorporate both quantitative and qualitative data .

Smart brands rely on accurate, up-to-date market research methods and analysis to guide their activity, helping them to reach the right target audience, with the right message, at the right time. As the consumer journey grows more complex, this data has become more important than ever to marketers, but knowing where to start is a key challenge. Small businesses are especially well positioned to make use of this type of cost effective research to support their marketing and new business efforts to reach new potential customers. Here we outline some of the first steps to take.

Getting started with marketing research

1. identify the problem..

Start by formulating your problem.

A typical marketing challenge might be generating new leads. This needs to be translated from a business problem into a research problem; examining the expectations and experiences of your target markets to determine why this need exists. Does it come back to a lack of brand awareness, for example, or poor customer satisfaction or experience?

Research challenges focus on obtaining the data needed to solve these business problems.

Working out what specific questions you need to ask will lay the foundations for the rest of your research, helping you identify which techniques are necessary and what information you need to collect.

2. Set your objectives.

Once the problem has been identified, be clear about defining your key objective or objectives. This might be expressed as a question, a statement or a hypothesis.

A statement might be: “To identify which marketing campaigns are driving the most sales from new customers.” Expressed as a hypothesis, this could read: “To test the proposition that ongoing marketing activity is directly increasing sales from new customers.”

Having these objectives clearly defined will help you focus on the right data that will give you the answers you need.

3. Start your research planning.

After defining the research problem and identifying concise objectives, you can start to develop your research strategy.

This details how the information will be collected and analyzed, providing you with a clear plan of action.

This plan should outline which data is needed, how it will be gathered (for example, either using qualitative or quantitative research, or combining the two for a more harmonized approach), the sampling, the methodology, the timing and the costs.

With this in place, you can ensure you choose the data and sources that will meet your needs.

4. Determine your sample size.

A sample involves selecting a small group of people who are representative of a wider group or population.

To identify the size and nature of this sample, certain questions must be posed, such as which base population to select the group from, what the best method for sample selection is, and what the optimum size of the sample should be.

The size of the sample group will depend on accuracy and budget – larger sample groups may improve accuracy, but can also increase costs.

5. Start collecting your data.

There are a number of different types of market research and research techniques that can be used to collect data, including both qualitative research methods such as interviews and focus groups, and quantitative methods that can include both analytics and survey data (including online survey questions, telephone surveys or face to face).

Conducting market research using a mixture of these two key approaches combines analytical and scientific data to give breadth and depth to your findings. Data can also be primary – directly from the source or brand – or secondary – from reports, researchers or analysts.

Data collection can be time and resource intensive, and budget will dictate the best ways to obtain the information needed.

6. Analyze the data.

Once you have the data you need, this must be converted into a format that can be used by marketers. Data is first edited to ensure that the data collection forms are legible and consistent. Responses are then classified into meaningful categories before the data can be analyzed to find answers to the core business problem.

Data analysis involves bringing together the qualitative or quantitative data – or mixture of both – for scrutiny. This enables you to draw conclusions from your research results and identify trends and your customer needs by summarizing large quantities of data.

7. Start applying your insights.

Interpreting the information and understanding how this can be translated into business actions is the final stage of marketing research.

The concluding report must be easily understood and useful, including an accurate description of the research methodology, results, conclusions and recommended actions.

To ensure clarity, findings can also be prepared in different ways to complement the written report – for example, using PowerPoint or face-to-face presentations. These findings and insights can now form the foundations for future marketing campaigns.

The New Market Research

The marketing research process can be a painstaking journey, but the resulting insights are pivotal for any marketing activity today – whether to guide advertising campaigns or to position a brand in the right way.

Audience profiling  data has come on the scene to make these insights accessible to all, and to ensure that reliable data plays a key role across all marketing activity. With the ability to analyze your audience in granular detail with readily available survey data, the market research process is being transformed to create the harmony you need, whenever you need it.

With consumer trends continually changing, marketers need ready access to these insights to keep their finger on the pulse. Why? Brands that act on tried and tested facts based on real-life data rather than instinct are reaping the rewards.

Never miss a post

By subscribing you confirm you’re happy for us to send you our latest articles.

Related articles

16 market research tools and resources to help you think like your consumers, the luxury market in 2023: what brands should know, what is the marketing mix and how can you use it, 5 mental health campaigns that are making a difference, you’ve read our blog, now see our platform.

Every business has questions about its audiences, GWI has answers. Powered by consistent, global research, our platform is an on-demand window into their world.

Market Research: The Definitive Guide (2023 Update)

• 2 years ago

Starting a business is a challenging endeavor that requires time, money, and continuous learning. In our blogs, we cover how to start a business with brief overviews. In our hub, we aim to provide you with everything you need to go through each step. Our first step is conducting market research.

Throughout the steps, we’ll provide insights from Paul Akers, the owner of FastCap, and a Lean Expert who has created hundreds of products for woodworkers and cabinet makers.

There are four basic steps to conducting market research:

• Understand “what is marketing research and which type is right for my business?
• Perform market research.
• Analyze the data.
• Use the research to make decisions.

We’ll start by exploring some of the concepts involved in market research analysis to help you perform it yourself.

Step 1: What is market research in business?

Market research is the process of gathering information about target customers to better understand their views about a product or service. The primary ways of classifying market research are:

• The method of the collection
• Common types of market research

Let’s look at each.

The method of collection

Market research normally uses six methods of collection when looking for answers:

Primary market research

Secondary market research.

• Qualitative research

Quantitative research

Exploratory research.

• Specific Research

Primary research is the original research conducted directly by an organization. It is used to find out what customers are interested in. It can be done through questionnaires, interviews, or videos. Primary market research is used for understanding the underlying needs and desires of consumers.

Primary market research helps us to understand the needs, wants, and behaviors of potential buyers. It is the basis for the buyers’ persona. It helps us to formulate marketing strategies that can be used to meet those needs and wants.

Secondary market research is a process of finding information about a product or service through other sources. This includes looking up other companies that are in the same market as your company and finding out what they are doing.

A company should conduct secondary market research to find out if the product or service has been done before, which will help them figure out how they can differentiate their product from competitors.

Secondary research can be used to gain information about competitors, pricing, distribution channels, etc. It also helps the company save time by not having to conduct primary research that has already been performed.

Researching competitors before you start your business is not only crucial for success but essential for survival in the business world where everyone is trying to get ahead.

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

One is focused on themes while the other is focused on information that can be processed numerically. Let’s look at each.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is focused on finding themes that run through interviews and surveys. This type of research is more focused on opinions and is more art than statistical analysis, but in some cases, you can turn this type of research into data that can use statistical analysis.

For instance, a question like the one below converts a qualitative data point into a quantitative data point, making it easier to compare how happy someone was with their food.

You might perform qualitative research along with market validation after you have created a prototype of a new product.

This research is focused on information that can be easily processed with statistical analysis software. For instance, median household income would be easy to statistically calculate if you gather the data for the target customers’ income. Market research analysts love this kind of data because it is easier to process.

Exploratory research is market research that looks for a better understanding. For instance, you may have come to this site doing exploratory research about how to do market research for a startup. After you’ve gained broader information about marketing research methods, you might move on to more specific research.

Specific research

Specific research is when market researchers are looking to answer a very specific question using market data. This research might include searching for a specific concept or item. For example, the lowest cost statistical software for a company that will have ten users of the software. You might also want to research the history of a business location before deciding to sign a lease because some shopping centers have high turnover.

To find the answer, you’ll probably want to go with Google Workspace because Forms, Sheets, and other useful business tools are included in the same package as your email. Google is the primary email provider for small and medium-sized businesses.

Market research may include a combination of primary and secondary data, quantitative and qualitative data, exploratory and specific research. Now that you understand the market research definition, let’s look at the common market research methods and what questions they are trying to answer.

Common types of market research methods

Most companies will perform 13 types of market research:

• Literature reviews

Focus Groups

Observation, customer utilization research.

• Buyer Persona Research

Market Segmentation Research

Pricing research, competitive analysis research, customer satisfaction and loyalty research, brand awareness research, campaign research.

In each of these, market researchers attempt to answer different questions. Let’s discuss each.

Literature Reviews

One of the leanest ways to do market research is a literature review. With your laptop or cell phone, you can easily find vast amounts of data about your market through sources like:

• Statista – Provides graphs that are easy to process for most economic subjects
• Competitors’ research – Your competitors have probably already done the research. Find it so you don’t have to duplicate the effort.
• Industry trade organizations – Companies
• Think with Google – Helps marketers gather information using Google’s extensive database of consumer behaviors
• Census Bureau – The U.S. Census Bureau is a government agency that collects data on a variety of subjects including a full count of the U.S. population every decade.

After you’ve gathered everything available through market research, it’s time to create some surveys.

Surveys are the most common type of market research because they are so easy to conduct and are low-cost. With software like Google Forms and Facebook, you can easily create a survey, distribute it, and analyze the data on your own.

When creating a survey, it is important to be aware of some best principles including:

• Use a variety of style questions: scaled, multiple-choice, and open-ended questions are typically used with success.
• Avoid biased questions that lead the survey participants to a preferred answer. They will harm the validity of your research.
• Be respectful of the participants’ time. Unless you are paying them, try to keep the survey to 10 questions or less. If you are paying them, $50-$100 per hour is typically what market research firms will pay for longer surveys.
• Make sure to gather demographic data and contact information for follow-up.
• Practice proper sampling methods. In most cases, you won’t need more than 1,000 survey participants, but you can use the table below to establish how many people to include in your survey.

You can normally gather the data you need through this method for under $5 per survey participant, making it one of the most effective and lean methods of gathering market research.

Another great tool is a market research interview. They follow the same principles of surveys but have the benefit of the ability to ask follow-up questions. Using these with select survey participants who gave meaningful input might be useful.

Interviews are much more labor and capital intensive than surveys, so only use them for follow-up questions for your target market.

Keep reading to learn about focus groups.

A focus group brings 5-10 people together to discuss a product or service with a moderator. These will typically run $4K-$10K per group, and they are not conducive to being conducted by novices because of the challenges involving focus groups dynamics.

If you are going to use this type of research, we’d suggest hiring a professional market research firm to assist you in the recruiting and managing of a focus group. If you are trying to run lean market research, you should skip focus groups entirely.

Keep reading to learn about observations as a market research tool.

Observation can be an extremely powerful market research tool. Using observation, you can learn how people actually interact with your product and service, but it doesn’t allow you to actually communicate with them.

Observation is particularly powerful for software products because tools like Google Analytics and Crazy Egg help you see how people interact with the software. This makes it easier to fix areas where customers stop interacting with the application.

You can perform market research through observation in different ways. The primary ways of conducting market research through observation are covert observation and overt observation.

Covert observation is collecting market research data without the participants’ knowledge. This type of data collection can be achieved through analytics software on the web or using security cameras in stores where people can test your product.

Overt observation is when the participants are aware of the marketing research and provide feedback to questions. When you conduct market research about a product or service this way you will get more information about potential customers’ opinions, but it may be influenced by their awareness that you are conducting market research.

Effective market research can gain actionable insights from both methods. Overt observation is better when you know who your potential customers are and you want to establish whether they like your business idea, while covert observation is helpful for establishing who naturally gravitates to a product or service.

You’ll want to take notes any time someone performs a desired or undesired action. If the participant is aware of the market research analysts, you’ll also want to ask them what influenced the decision.

Cautionary Tale: During the early stages of FastCap, Paul would gain actionable insights from conventions, but he stopped conducting research at such events because he found them costly to collect data. He also found that competitors would try to steal his ideas.

To truly make the most out of this tool, you’ll need to combine it with other research methods like surveys to gain user input after the observation.

Customer utilization research is focused on how your current customers use your products or services. Marketing professionals will normally use customer surveys to perform this exploratory research. The following questions are questions that an online survey might include:

• How often do you use our product or service?
• What do you like most about our product or service?
• With 1 being highly dissatisfied and 5 being highly satisfied how would you rank our product?
• What do you like least about our product or service?
• With 1 being highly dissatisfied and 5 being highly satisfied how would you rank our customer service?
• Have you tried any of the competitors’ products? If so, which ones? How does our product compare to theirs?
• What features would you like added to our product?
• With 1 being highly dissatisfied and 5 being highly satisfied how would you rank our pricing?

You can replace “product” with “services” in any of the questions above. In addition, it would make sense to include the name of the specific product or service they bought instead of the word product or service.

These questions will help you establish what real customers think of your products and services. This type of market research data provides insight into aspects including competitive advantage and creating buyer personas for potential clients based on the data collected.

FastCap has an interesting take on this type of market research. They actually offer tradesmen a 2-5% royalty for product suggestions that they decide to take to market.

Buyer Persona: Identify Your Target Market

A user persona is a character that represents your target market. A user persona will include aspects including:

• Demographics – age, gender, location, marital status, number of kids (if applicable to your product)
• Financial Information – Employment status, job title, household income, homeowner status
• Behaviors and Interests – Hobbies, products they like, buying habits, where they get information about products and services
• Market size and market trends

You can create similar personas for B2B businesses using stats like:

• Number of employees
• Age of company
• Titles of decision-makers
• Market size

If you are using analytic tools, they collect most of this information. You can add a form to check out or that opens when the user is leaving the site to ask questions about:

• Who are they? In FastCap’s case, they would be carpenters and cabinet makers.
• What are they trying to achieve? They don’t want exposed screw holes in their cabinets.
• What is the main obstacle? The products on the market are ugly, difficult to use, and expensive.

What if you find that your buyer persona is too broad to use to identify potential clients? We’ll discuss how to address that next

A small business might need to do market segmentation research if all their clients don’t fit neatly into a single user persona. For instance, FastCap would have at least three market segments that they might want to prepare marketing materials for:

• Distributors that will be selling their products to carpenters
• Tradespeople who will be using their products
• Coffee shops that buy caps for drinks so people don’t burn themselves (it’s an ancillary use for a FastCap that he decided to market to restaurants with To-Go cups)

As you can guess, each market segment would have characteristics that make them different, and you wouldn’t want to market to them all the same. You’d use market segmentation research to identify what those key characteristics are and create a user persona for each.

The term pricing research is refers to establishing a fair price. Pricing research should be done before you open a business or launch a new product because it can impact whether the business is worth starting.

To understand the benefits of pricing research I should discuss pricing strategies first. Businesses normally use either the value-added method or the cost of doing business.

The value-added method charges a price that is based on the value that is provided to a client. An example of this pricing is how Tesla prices solar roofs. They determine the price using the cost of a comparable roof plus the net present value of 30 years of energy in the target market.

The cost of doing business is calculated by adding up all your expenses (including taxes) and adding the amount of profit you want to make, then dividing by the number of units you want to sell.

Both of these pricing strategies have issues though. In the value-added method, how do you determine the value that is added? In the cost of doing business method, what is the maximum your target market can sustain? Both of these are answered by researching comparable products.

While there may not be something identical on the market, there is always something that serves a similar purpose. For instance, when portable MP3 players were created, the cost of the MP3 player plus downloading songs should have been compared to the cost of a portable CD player plus the cost of all the CDs.

Competitive analysis research is focused on developing a thorough understanding of the market and identifying how you want to differentiate yourself in a market of comparable competitors. This type of research will be included in a business plan . You’ll want to focus on aspects of the industry including:

• Identify competitors and the products they offer. This can be done through their websites.
• Analyze sales trends. You can use industry resources and company quarterly reports.
• Research how economic indicators impact the industry. For instance, consumer staples tend to do better during a recession, while consumer discretionary products tend to do better as an expansionary cycle matures.
• Understand the impact government agencies have on the industry.
• Has the industry reached market saturation? If 9 out of 10 people have already purchased the product you are selling, you are probably late to the game. Before you spend money in an industry that is at capacity, you should review the following bullet point.
• What is the job outlook for the industry? The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) creates an occupational outlook handbook for every industry. You want to be aware of the growth prospects. If both of the last two bullet points are going in the wrong direction stay clear.

The document you create from this research should be detail-oriented, contain lots of external links to prove sources, and show analytical skills that show an understanding of the industry. This research and the communication skills used to present it are often deciding factors when applying for loans.

Customer satisfaction and loyalty research are focused on building relationships that increase the lifetime value of your existing customers. With big data and rewards programs becoming more affordable, small business owners can now offer similar types of rewards to what people see at major chains.

You’ll want to use the market research process to establish the answer to questions like:

• Should I use a point system or a number-of-purchases reward system?
• How big of a reward should I offer for repeat customers?
• Should I offer referral bonuses? If so, how much is meaningful?
• What are my competitors doing?

To answer these questions, you’ll need to establish:

• How often your average customer buys your product or services. You can find this in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Alternatively, you can sort receipts by credit card if you don’t already have an app or loyalty program that people sign up for.
• If you have a CRM, establish what percent of customers interact with your business daily, weekly, monthly, or irregularly. Also, calculate the first two bullet points for each group to see if different promotions make sense.
• How much your average customer spends on each trip. Calculate revenue or number of receipts.

For example, you might target people differently by offering daily customers a free upgrade every $50 spent, while weekly customers you might want to offer every 5th visit they get a free product. In both scenarios, this can reward customer loyalty and encourage more spending in the future by slightly shifting their habits.

Let’s look at how to understand brand awareness.

Brand awareness research is focused on establishing what your target audience knows about your business, how they perceive it and giving you input on improving brand awareness.

Facebook has a feature for brands running ads that is really useful for establishing brand awareness called Brand Survey Tests . It is currently an experimental stage, but here’s how it works:

• Divides target market into two groups, one that is shown ads and one that is not shown ads.
• Collects data on both groups’ clicks, purchases, and other actions with your company
• Required: “Do you recall seeing an ad for [page name] online or on a mobile device in the last two days?”
• “Have you heard of [page name]?”
•  “How would you describe your overall opinion of [page name]?”
• “Are you familiar with [Page name]?”
• “Will you recommend [page name] to a friend?”
• Provides an analysis of what the market research process found.

This can be a great tool for understanding if people recognize your brand name .

Campaign research is focused on reviewing past business strategies to promote your products and services so that you can establish what worked, what didn’t, and why. In today’s marketing boom, people often forget the importance of including lessons learned when closing a project.

During this process, you’ll want to look at questions like:

• Did we reach enough people to be a representative sample? Typically, over 500 will be enough to count as a representative sample,
• What was the return on investment?
• Where did people drop out of the sales funnel?
• Did the campaign have a favorable reception?
• Should we try to duplicate the content in future campaigns?
• What should we avoid in future campaigns?

Now that you know about some of the types of market research techniques, keep reading to learn why market research is so important.

Why is market research important?

Because market research is the act of investigating consumer preferences as well as economic, social, and statistical data, it helps to better understand the customer and guides business decisions in the areas of:

• Customer insights – Market research can be used to gain insight into how customers behave, what they like and dislike about products, and what they think about different marketing strategies.
• Marketing strategy development – Market research can be used to develop a marketing strategy by identifying the needs of the market, target audience, and competitors in the industry.
• Product development – Market research is key for product development because it helps companies discover what customers want to buy or use next. It also helps companies see how their product will fare against other similar products on the market today or in the future.
• Product pricing considerations – Market research helps companies determine prices for their products by understanding expenses to continue production.

Now that you understand why market research matters so much to businesses, let’s take a look at how to conduct market research.

Step 2: Conduct market research

As you begin to get a handle on your goals and the questions you need to answer, it’s time to do the market research. At UpFlip, we are fans of Lean methodologies , so we figured we’d give you an introduction to lean market research.

• Put together the list of questions you are trying to answer based on the previous sections. Structure them in a way that answers can be analyzed easily.
• Seek out data that is already available and document the findings that impact you under each question.
• Establish the minimum number of online surveys or observations needed for a statistically accurate sample using our calculator.
• Find participants and gather data. When possible use software for collecting data.
• Proceed to analyze data.
• Implement business strategies.

Using these strategies will make it easier to do effective market research quicker and at a lower cost. No need for costly market research analysts.

If you’d like to learn more about how one of the United State’s most successful Lean practitioners approaches market research check out our interview with Paul below.

Keep reading to learn about analyzing the results

Step 3: Analyze the results

Market research analysts look for trends in data gathered from market research. The analysis involves both statistics and looking for patterns. To make it easier to analyze data, it is helpful to use software while gathering the data. If you don’t, you’ll have to input it into a spreadsheet manually.

The first step is to clean up data. This means fixing misspellings and other improper collection like zip codes where state names should be. Next, remove obvious deviations from the sample. (If someone says they buy your products 100 times per day, that’s probably not right.)

After that, you can do data analysis using functions like:

• Mean – sum divided by the number of surveys
• Median – (Number of surveys+1)/2
• Mode – Most common answer
• These can also use conditional statements such as “IF male and Under 45 mean”

With some forms of data, you might find visualization easier, so we are providing some market research examples of visualization of data. Let’s look at some common visualization methods.

The flow model is simply a visual representation of how interactions occur. Check out the behavioral flow for website visitors in Google Analytics. This model can be useful for establishing where issues occur and how processes work.

Affinity Diagram

An affinity diagram is used to group people, businesses, or other items together by a common feature. For instance, you might group by male and female, profession, or age. This can make it easier to tell whether one group tends to prefer your product or service more than another group does.

If you want to learn how to do this in Microsoft Excel, check out the video below.

Lucidcharts is another software you can use for affinity diagrams.

Customer Journey Map

A customer journey map is a visual representation of the path people take from being unaware of your product to becoming a paying customer, and eventually a potential advocate. Customer journeys are typically broken into five steps in the process:

• Awareness – The customer knows about the product
• Consideration – When the customer starts researching the product
• Purchase – The customer buys the product
• Retention –Keeping the customer happy, repeating purchases
• Advocacy – When the customer goes from being a satisfied customer to singing your praises to others.

The stages can vary for different groups of people, but awareness is typically a matter of advertising. This can be in the form of an online ad, a coming soon sign when preparing to open up a location, or even current customers (or influencers) advocating for your brand.

Consideration begins when the customer starts researching your company. This phase might  be:

• Short : Searching “gas stations near me” and immediately going to get gas
• Long : Spending hours researching the best shoe, best price, and best place to buy it.

The point of understanding a journey map is to be able to understand how many points of reference a person has before buying your product. Then you can use that to speed up the awareness and consideration phases while encouraging advocacy by your long-term customers.

Now that you understand “what is market research?” how to perform the market research, and how to analyze the research, there’s only one thing left…

Step 4: Use the info for decision making

The final and most important part of performing your own market research is converting the research into business practices to improve revenue. Depending on what you find in the research, this step may include:

• Adding new user personas and marketing campaigns
• Narrowing your target audience
• Discontinuing marketing campaigns
• Investing in software to increase customer loyalty or lifetime value
• Documenting the planned strategies for a business plan
• Rejecting the business idea completely

Thank you for reading!

Wherever the research leads you, UpFlip is here to help you run a better business. We use your feedback to create content that helps you build a better business. Which sections of this did you find beneficial and which would you like to learn more about?

Brandon Boushy

Brandon Boushy lives to improve people’s lives by helping them become successful entrepreneurs. His journey started nearly 30 years ago. He consistently excelled at everything he did, but preferred to make the rules rather than follow him. His exploration of self and knowledge has helped him to get an engineering degree, MBA, and countless certifications. When freelancing and rideshare came onto the scene, he recognized the opportunity to play by his own rules. Since 2017, he has helped businesses across all industries achieve more with his research, writing, and marketing strategies. Since 2021, he has been the Lead Writer for UpFlip where he has published over 170 articles on small business success.

Related posts

• September 27, 2023

How to Start a Business: The Ultimate Guide (2024)

• August 3, 2022

Free Business Plan Template (With Examples)

• May 3, 2022

How to Get a Business License (In 3 Steps)

Join the discussion cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Compare listings

Reset Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

• 1-800-609-6480

• Your Audience
• Your Industry
• Customer Stories
• Case Studies
• Alchemer Survey
• Alchemer Survey is the industry leader in flexibility, ease of use, and fastest implementation. Learn More
• Alchemer Workflow
• Alchemer Workflow is the fastest, easiest, and most effective way to close the loop with customers. Learn More
• Alchemer Digital
• Alchemer Digital drives omni-channel customer engagement across Mobile and Web digital properties. Learn More
• Additional Products
• Alchemer Mobile
• Alchemer Web
• Email and SMS Distribution
• Integrations
• Panel Services
• Website Intercept
• Onboarding Services
• Business Labs
• Basic Training
• Alchemer University
• Our full-service team will help you find the audience you need. Learn More
• Professional Services
• Specialists will custom-fit Alchemer Survey and Workflow to your business. Learn More
• Mobile Executive Reports
• Get help gaining insights into mobile customer feedback tailored to your requirements. Learn More
• Self-Service Survey Pricing
• News & Press
• Help Center
• Mobile Developer Guides
• Resource Library
• Close the Loop
• Security & Privacy

Types of Market Research and Their Differences

• Share this post:

There are many different types of market research that cover various areas of study, and as a result are often misunderstood.

Whether you’re interested in learning more about your customer’s buying habits or how much they might pay for a new product, market research can help (if you use it correctly).

To help you identify which type of market research is right for you, we’re going to outline the different types, their purposes, and when to use each one.

Common Types of Market Research

By “types of research” I don’t necessarily mean how you’re collecting data. Instead I mean the procedures and methodology used to analyze the data collected.

These procedures include market segmentation, product testing, advertising testing, key driver analysis for satisfaction and loyalty, usability testing, awareness and usage research, and pricing research (using techniques such as conjoint analysis), among others.

Market Segmentation

When conducting market segmentation studies we’re generally asking survey questions aimed at capturing needs, values, attitudes, behaviors and demographics. A B2B company might also want to investigate firmographic data such as company size, revenues, and product category that are relevant to the industry in question.

Marketing can’t effectively speak to every type of person or business at the same time, so one of the main goals of market segmentation is to allow for more efficient and effective marketing tactics.

Without market segmentation companies are shooting in the dark and wasting valuable bullets. They may hit a customer by accident, but they would miss a lot of others.

Product Testing

A detailed understanding of how your product meets (or doesn’t meet) your customer’s needs is crucial both to product development and marketing, so these types of market research studies need to be conducted throughout a product’s life.

Ultimately you should be able to make informed “go” or “not go” decisions about new features and products before launch, and thus save capital, time and effort.

Successful product testing should:

• Give insight into product/service viability by investigating competing and substitute alternatives along side customers’ willingness to embrace new products/services.
• Determine competitive advantage as well as possible threats from similar products/services.
• Identify the products with the highest revenue potential.
• Clarify what improvements should be prioritized before a product launch (or re-launch).
• Pinpoint which product features (both existing and potential) are most important to your target audience.
• Help produce marketing messages to change or enhance existing perceptions about your products/services.

Advertising Testing

Like product testing, tests of your advertising campaigns can save you valuable time and resources. By taking potential campaigns directly to your audience and gauging their response you can focus on creating truly impactful advertising.

Satisfaction and Loyalty Analysis

Satisfied customers aren’t necessarily loyal customers , but consistently measuring customer satisfaction is a great way to increase customer retention.

This type of research is aimed at identifying key drivers of satisfaction and measuring the likelihood of customers to continue using a company’s products and services.

The goals of these kinds of studies are:

• Determine what factors influence loyalty, advocacy, and repeat purchases, including product/service attributes, company operation, customer service, price, etc.
• Carefully monitor overall satisfaction, recommendation likelihood, and defection likelihood over time.
• Provide early warnings about emerging gaps in product/service performance, customer service, and processes that might lead to customer defection.
• Help identify areas of the product or service that need improvement to meet changing needs.
• Guide the creation and/or ongoing development of customer loyalty and retention programs.
• Signal when organizational changes need to be made to improve operations and customer retention.

Brand Awareness and Reach

By conducting regular, well-designed brand awareness surveys you can keep tabs on how effective your marketing campaigns really are.

When done right, a brand awareness survey can help you measure:

• Brand Recall: Can a customer spontaneously recall your brand, or do they think first of a competitor?
• Brand Recognition: When presented with a list of brands, does your audience recognize yours as a reputable option?
• Brand Identity: Brand identity is what you as a marketing team create. It’s important to determine whether these efforts are being successful.
• Brand Image: While brand identity is created by the brand itself, a brand’s image is based in the customer’s perception alone. Tracking disparities in these two can reveal gaps in your marketing efforts.
• Brand Trust: In an era of data breaches, keeping tabs on your levels of brand trust is key. If your brand doesn’t appear trustworthy, you will have difficulty retaining customers.
• Brand Loyalty: Loyal customers can become evangelists, but you need to consistently track loyalty levels to determine how often this transformation is happening.
• Customer Profile: Changes in your core customer base may signal the need for a pivot, either in the product or your marketing messages (or both).

For more on starting your own brand awareness initiative, see our guide on these critical marketing surveys .

Pricing Research

Surveys that ask customers to choose between different products with unique features and price points, typically done via conjoint analysis , can help you identify what features are most valuable to your audience and what they’d be willing to pay for them.

Combined with some basic research on your competitors’ pricing, these insights can give you a distinct advantage in pricing your products and services.

Knowing Which Type of Research to Use

When to use each of these different types of market research data collection methods and types of research depends on the business issues we are dealing with in one or more of four key areas:

• Awareness : let the market know that the product or service exists
• Targeting : reach the target segments with the highest profit potential
• Acquisition : optimize the marketing message, offer, and price that will close the sale
• Retention : generate repeat purchases from current customers

The chart below, which we call the Relevant Wheel, shows when it is most appropriate and relevant to conduct different types of research.

Our clients at Relevant Insights often use this chart as a reference to determine when a particular type of research is needed. Once this is defined, we then discuss the most appropriate qualitative or quantitative data collection methods.

Data Collection and Analysis Methods

Here we need to make a distinction between data collection methods and market research types based on analytical approach, which are often confused. Data collection methods differ based on whether we want to conduct quantitative or qualitative research.

Qualitative research , which is exploratory in nature, usually uses data collection methods such as focus groups, triads, dyads, in-depth interviews, uninterrupted observation, bulletin boards, and ethnographic participation/observation.

Quantitative research , which looks to quantify a problem, collects data through surveys in different modalities (online, phone, paper), audits, points of purchase (purchase transactions), and click-streams.

Choose the Market Research Type that Meets Your Needs

Next time you wonder what type of market research to conduct, I invite you to ask yourself where the particular problem at hand belongs: Awareness, Targeting, Acquisition or Retention. Then take a look at the Relevance Wheel to find the approach that will help you answer your specific questions.

If you choose your method carefully market research can give you a big advantage over your competition.

• Get Your Free Demo Today Get Demo
• See How Easy Alchemer Is to Use See Help Docs

Start making smarter decisions

Related posts, introducing alchemer workflow – the fastest, easiest, most effective way to close the loop with customers and employees.

• February 14, 2023
• 3 minute read

Alchemer Acquires Apptentive, Market-Leading Mobile Feedback Platform

• January 4, 2023

Don’t let State and Federal Regulations Crush Your IT Department 

• April 8, 2024
• 4 minute read

Don’t Let Unknown Data Siloes Put Your Entire School District at Risk

• April 1, 2024

How School IT Departments can Worry Less and Focus More on Security

• March 26, 2024

See it in Action

Request a demo.

• Privacy Overview
• Strictly Necessary Cookies
• 3rd Party Cookies

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Cookie consent

We use our own and third-party cookies to show you more relevant content based on your browsing and navigation history. Please accept or manage your cookie settings below. Here's our   cookie policy

• Form builder Signups and orders
• Survey maker Research and feedback
• Quiz maker Trivia and product match
• Find customers Generate more leads
• Get feedback Discover ways to improve
• Do research Uncover trends and ideas
• Marketers Forms for marketing teams
• Product Forms for product teams
• HR Forms for HR teams
• Customer success Forms for customer success teams
• Business Forms for general business
• Form templates
• Survey templates
• Quiz templates
• Poll templates
• Order forms
• Feedback forms
• Satisfaction surveys
• Application forms
• Feedback surveys
• Evaluation forms
• Request forms
• Signup forms
• Business surveys
• Marketing surveys
• Report forms
• Customer feedback form
• Registration form
• Branding questionnaire
• 360 feedback
• Lead generation
• Contact form
• Signup sheet
• Google Sheets
• Google Analytics
• ActiveCampaign
• Help center Find quick answers
• Contact us Speak to someone
• Our blog Get inspired
• Our community Share and learn
• Our guides Tips and how-to
• Updates News and announcements
• Partners Browse or join
• Careers Join our team

The 8 Types Of Market Research—And How To Use Them

Don't fall behind. Learn about the types of market research you need to be doing to stay ahead of the game.

Why market research is so important

“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.”

Doesn’t sound too threatening if you’ve always been successful, right?

Continuing to do what you’ve always done means you’ll fall behind—and probably fade to darkness—to where all the forgotten brands go.

Take Kodak. They were a major player in photography for decades—remember? When digital photography boomed, Kodak kept doing what they always did. Their business floundered and people forgot about them. Well, everyone apart from Pitbull.

Now, look at Fujifilm, one of Kodak’s biggest competitors. They did the opposite and looked for ways to apply their expertise in film to the technology of the new millennium instead. Their company is still going strong.

The same goes for research. If you’re doing the same old types of market research, speaking to the same old people, and doing the same old tired surveys—you’re already behind.

How do you decide what kind of market research you need to do? It all comes to what you need to know and what your business goals are.

In this article, we’ll explain the various types of market research you can use to solve issues and challenges in your business. We’ll throw you a freebie too and provide some market research tips about when to use each strategy.

Let’s get you ahead of the curve.

The 8 Types of Market Research

Market research can help you solve problems and reduce the risk of making important business decisions. Discover the 8 types of market research you can conduct to identify and solve any business challenges.

Brand research helps with creating and managing a company’s brand, or identity. A company’s brand is the images, narratives, and characteristics people associate with it.

When to use it

Brand research can be used at every stage in a business’s lifecycle, from creation to new product launches and re-branding. There are at least seven types of brand research:

• Brand advocacy. How many of your customers are willing to recommend your brand?

•  Brand awareness . Does your target market know who you are and consider you a serious option?

• Brand loyalty. Are you retaining customers?

• Brand penetration. What is the proportion of your target market using your brand?

• Brand perception. What do people think of as your company’s identity or differentiating qualities?

• Brand positioning. What is the best way to differentiate your brand from others in the consumer’s mind and articulate it in a way that resonates?

• Brand value. How much are people willing to pay for an experience with your brand over another?

How it’s done

A researcher will use several types of market research methods to assess your and your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Generally, they will conduct competitor research, both qualitative and quantitative, to get a picture of the overall marketplace. Focus groups and interviews can be used to learn about their emotions and associations with certain brands.

Market research surveys are useful to determine features and benefits that differentiate you from competitors . These are then translated into emotionally compelling consumer language.

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half”  — John Wanamaker

This type of market research is designed to evaluate whether your advertising messages are reaching the right people and delivering the desired results. Successful campaign effectiveness research can help you sell more and reduce customer acquisition costs.

If the folks at market research firm Yankelovich, Inc. are correct, people see up to 5,000 advertising messages each day. That means attention is a scarce resource, so campaign effectiveness research should be used when you need to spend your advertising dollars effectively.

Campaign effectiveness research depends on which stage of the campaign you use it in (ideally, it’s all of them!).  Quantitative research  can be conducted to provide a picture of how your target market views advertising and address weaknesses in the advertising campaign.

Competitive analysis allows you to assess your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace, providing you with fuel to drive a competitive advantage.

No business exists in a vacuum—competitive analysis is an integral part of any business and market plan. Whether you’re just getting started, moving into a new market, or doing a health check of your business, a competitive analysis will be invaluable.

A researcher will typically choose a few of your main competitors and analyze things like their marketing strategy, customer perceptions, revenue or sales volume, and so on.

Secondary sources  such as articles, references, and advertising are excellent sources of competitive information; however,  primary research , such as  mystery shopping  and  focus groups  can offer valuable information on customer service and current consumer opinions.

Consumer insights research does more than tell you about who your customers are and what they do. It reveals why customers behave in certain ways and helps you leverage that to meet your business goals.

Knowing your customers deeply is integral to creating a strategic marketing plan. This type of market research can help you anticipate consumer needs, spark innovation, personalize your marketing, solve business challenges, and more.

Consumer insights research should be specific to your business—it’s about getting to know your target audience and customers. Various market research methods can be used, such as interviews, ethnography, survey research, social monitoring, and customer journey research.

Here are some of the characteristics you should understand through consumer insights research:

• Purchase habits

• Interests, hobbies, passions

• Personal and professional information

• How they consume media and advertising

Customer satisfaction research is a type of market research that measures customers’ experiences with products or services, specifically looking at how those meet, exceed, or fail to live up to their expectations.

Customer satisfaction  is a strong indicator of customer retention and overall business performance. Successful customer satisfaction research should help you understand what your customers like, dislike, and feel needs improvement. You can use this type of market research to look at quality and design of products; speed and timeliness of delivery; staff and service reliability, knowledge, friendliness; market price; and value for money.

There are several ways to measure customer satisfaction, most commonly using surveys. An NPS or Voice of the Customer Survey can help you measure customer loyalty. Customer Effort Scoring measures how satisfied people are with customer service or problem resolution. CSAT is any survey that  measures customer satisfaction , typically measured using  Likert Scale surveys . They can be conducted at different points in the customer experience, allowing deeper insight into that moment.

Customer segmentation studies aim to divide markets or customers into smaller groups or personas with similar characteristics to enable targeted marketing. By understanding how people in each category behave, you can understand how each influences revenue.

As soon as you’re ready to start giving customers individualized experiences. Not every customer in your target market is the same. The more you understand each specific persona, the easier it is to focus on delivering personalized marketing, build loyal relations, price products effectively, and forecast how new products and services will perform in each segment.

Market researchers use four characteristics to segment customers.

• Demographics. Demographic information such as age, gender, family status, education, household income, occupation and so on.

• Geography. Where people live, from cities and countries to whether they are city dwellers or suburbanites.

• Psychographics. Socioeconomic status, class, lifestyle, personality traits, generation, interests, hobbies, etc.

• Behavior. Brand affinity, consumption and shopping habits, spending, etc.

A researcher will identify your current customers and collect data about them through various market research methods, such as surveys, database research, website analytics, interviews, and focus groups. The aim is to gather as much information as possible.

Market research for product development involves using customer knowledge to inform the entire process of creating or improving a product, service, or app, and bringing it to market.

Innovation is hard work. A quick Google will tell you that 80 – 95% of new products fail every year. Conducting market research for product and app development helps minimize the risk of a new product or change going bust as it enters the market. There are four stages where you can use market research:

• Conception. The moment you’re thinking about adding something new, market research can find market opportunities and provide insights into customer challenges or their jobs-to-be-done, so you can find a way to fill the gap.

• Formation. Once you have an idea, market researchers can help you turn it into a concept that can be tested. You can learn more about strategizing pricing, testing advertising and packaging, value proposition, and so on.

• Introduction. Market research can help you gauge attitudes towards the product once it’s in the market and adapt your messaging as it rolls out.

• Keep making the product better or find opportunities to introduce it to new markets.

Product development research will utilize different market research methods, depending on the goal of the research. A researcher could present focus groups with product concepts and listen to their opinions, conduct interviews to learn more about their pain points or perform user testing to see how they interact with an app or website.

Usability testing is concerned with understanding how customers use your products in real time. It can involve physical products, like a new blender, or digital products like a website or app.

Usability testing is helpful when you need to detect problems or bugs in early prototypes or beta versions before launching them. It typically costs far less to test a product or service beforehand than to pull a flawed product off the shelves or lose sales because of poor functionality.

There are several types of usability tests, which vary based on whether you’re testing a physical or digital product.

• Journey testing involves observing the customer experience on an app or website and monitoring how they perform. This type of study can be done online.

• Eye tracking studies monitor where people’s eyes are drawn. Generally, they are conducted on websites and apps, but can also be done in stores to analyze where people look while shopping.

• Learn ability studies quantify the learning curve over time to see which problems people encounter after repeating the same task.

• Click tracking follows users’ activity on websites to evaluate the linking structure of a website.

• Checklist testing involves giving users tasks to perform and recording or asking them to review their experience.

Mixing and matching market research methods

When it comes to market research, no one ever says, “let’s do a survey!”

You need to ask yourself what business challenge or question you’re trying to address. Then select the appropriate methods and tools, such as market research automation to simplify your process.

From there, the world of useful data and actionable insights will open to you.

Even better than Narnia.

How you ask is everything.

How To Do Market Research: Definition, Types, Methods

Jan 2, 2024

11 min. read

Market research isn’t just collecting data. It’s a strategic tool that allows businesses to gain a competitive advantage while making the best use of their resources. Research reveals valuable insights into your target audience about their preferences, buying habits, and emerging demands — all of which help you unlock new opportunities to grow your business.

When done correctly, market research can minimize risks and losses, spur growth, and position you as a leader in your industry. 

Let’s explore the basic building blocks of market research and how to collect and use data to move your company forward:

Table of Contents

What Is Market Research?

Why is market research important, market analysis example, 5 types of market research, what are common market research questions, what are the limitations of market research, how to do market research, improving your market research with radarly.

Market Research Definition: The process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market or audience.

Market research studies consumer behavior to better understand how they perceive products or services. These insights help businesses identify ways to grow their current offering, create new products or services, and improve brand trust and brand recognition .

You might also hear market research referred to as market analysis or consumer research .

Traditionally, market research has taken the form of focus groups, surveys, interviews, and even competitor analysis . But with modern analytics and research tools, businesses can now capture deeper insights from a wider variety of sources, including social media, online reviews, and customer interactions. These extra layers of intel can help companies gain a more comprehensive understanding of their audience.

With consumer preferences and markets evolving at breakneck speeds, businesses need a way to stay in touch with what people need and want. That’s why the importance of market research cannot be overstated.

Market research offers a proactive way to identify these trends and make adjustments to product development, marketing strategies , and overall operations. This proactive approach can help businesses stay ahead of the curve and remain agile as markets shift.

Market research examples abound — given the number of ways companies can get inside the minds of their customers, simply skimming through your business’s social media comments can be a form of market research.

A restaurant chain might use market research methods to learn more about consumers’ evolving dining habits. These insights might be used to offer new menu items, re-examine their pricing strategies, or even open new locations in different markets, for example.

A consumer electronics company might use market research for similar purposes. For instance, market research may reveal how consumers are using their smart devices so they can develop innovative features.

Market research can be applied to a wide range of use cases, including:

• Testing new product ideas
• Improve existing products
• Entering new markets
• Right-sizing their physical footprints
• Improving brand image and awareness
• Gaining insights into competitors via competitive intelligence

Ultimately, companies can lean on market research techniques to stay ahead of trends and competitors while improving the lives of their customers.

Market research methods take different forms, and you don’t have to limit yourself to just one. Let’s review the most common market research techniques and the insights they deliver.

1. Interviews

3. Focus Groups

4. Observations

5. AI-Driven Market Research

One-on-one interviews are one of the most common market research techniques. Beyond asking direct questions, skilled interviewers can uncover deeper motivations and emotions that drive purchasing decisions. Researchers can elicit more detailed and nuanced responses they might not receive via other methods, such as self-guided surveys.

Interviews also create the opportunity to build rapport with customers and prospects. Establishing a connection with interviewees can encourage them to open up and share their candid thoughts, which can enrich your findings. Researchers also have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions and dig deeper based on individual responses.

Market research surveys provide an easy entry into the consumer psyche. They’re cost-effective to produce and allow researchers to reach lots of people in a short time. They’re also user-friendly for consumers, which allows companies to capture more responses from more people.

Big data and data analytics are making traditional surveys more valuable. Researchers can apply these tools to elicit a deeper understanding from responses and uncover hidden patterns and correlations within survey data that were previously undetectable.

The ways in which surveys are conducted are also changing. With the rise of social media and other online channels, brands and consumers alike have more ways to engage with each other, lending to a continuous approach to market research surveys.

3. Focus groups

Focus groups are “group interviews” designed to gain collective insights. This interactive setting allows participants to express their thoughts and feelings openly, giving researchers richer insights beyond yes-or-no responses.

One of the key benefits of using focus groups is the opportunity for participants to interact with one another. They spark discussions while sharing diverse viewpoints. These sessions can uncover underlying motivations and attitudes that may not be easily expressed through other research methods.

Observing your customers “in the wild” might feel informal, but it can be one of the most revealing market research techniques of all. That’s because you might not always know the right questions to ask. By simply observing, you can surface insights you might not have known to look for otherwise.

This method also delivers raw, authentic, unfiltered data. There’s no room for bias and no potential for participants to accidentally skew the data. Researchers can also pick up on non-verbal cues and gestures that other research methods may fail to capture.

5. AI-driven market research

One of the newer methods of market research is the use of AI-driven market research tools to collect and analyze insights on your behalf. AI customer intelligence tools and consumer insights software like Meltwater Radarly take an always-on approach by going wherever your audience is and continuously predicting behaviors based on current behaviors.

By leveraging advanced algorithms, machine learning, and big data analysis , AI enables companies to uncover deep-seated patterns and correlations within large datasets that would be near impossible for human researchers to identify. This not only leads to more accurate and reliable findings but also allows businesses to make informed decisions with greater confidence.

Tip: Learn how to use Meltwater as a research tool , how Meltwater uses AI , and learn more about consumer insights and about consumer insights in the fashion industry .

No matter the market research methods you use, market research’s effectiveness lies in the questions you ask. These questions should be designed to elicit honest responses that will help you reach your goals.

Examples of common market research questions include:

Demographic market research questions

• What is your age range?
• What is your occupation?
• What is your household income level?
• What is your educational background?
• What is your gender?

Product or service usage market research questions

• How long have you been using [product/service]?
• How frequently do you use [product/service]?
• What do you like most about [product/service]?
• Have you experienced any problems using [product/service]?
• How could we improve [product/service]?
• Why did you choose [product/service] over a competitor’s [product/service]?

Brand perception market research questions

• How familiar are you with our brand?
• What words do you associate with our brand?
• How do you feel about our brand?
• What makes you trust our brand?
• What sets our brand apart from competitors?
• What would make you recommend our brand to others?

Buying behavior market research questions

• What do you look for in a [product/service]?
• What features in a [product/service] are important to you?
• How much time do you need to choose a [product/service]?
• How do you discover new products like [product/service]?
• Do you prefer to purchase [product/service] online or in-store?
• How do you research [product/service] before making a purchase?
• How often do you buy [product/service]?
• How important is pricing when buying [product/service]?
• What would make you switch to another brand of [product/service]?

Customer satisfaction market research questions

• How happy have you been with [product/service]?
• What would make you more satisfied with [product/service]?
• How likely are you to continue using [product/service]?

Bonus Tip: Compiling these questions into a market research template can streamline your efforts.

Market research can offer powerful insights, but it also has some limitations. One key limitation is the potential for bias. Researchers may unconsciously skew results based on their own preconceptions or desires, which can make your findings inaccurate.

• Depending on your market research methods, your findings may be outdated by the time you sit down to analyze and act on them. Some methods struggle to account for rapidly changing consumer preferences and behaviors.
• There’s also the risk of self-reported data (common in online surveys). Consumers might not always accurately convey their true feelings or intentions. They might provide answers they think researchers are looking for or misunderstand the question altogether.
• There’s also the potential to miss emerging or untapped markets . Researchers are digging deeper into what (or who) they already know. This means you might be leaving out a key part of the story without realizing it.

Still, the benefits of market research cannot be understated, especially when you supplement traditional market research methods with modern tools and technology.

Let’s put it all together and explore how to do market research step-by-step to help you leverage all its benefits.

Step 1: Define your objectives

You’ll get more from your market research when you hone in on a specific goal : What do you want to know, and how will this knowledge help your business?

This step will also help you define your target audience. You’ll need to ask the right people the right questions to collect the information you want. Understand the characteristics of the audience and what gives them authority to answer your questions.

Step 2: Select your market research methods

Choose one or more of the market research methods (interviews, surveys, focus groups, observations, and/or AI-driven tools) to fuel your research strategy.

Certain methods might work better than others for specific goals . For example, if you want basic feedback from customers about a product, a simple survey might suffice. If you want to hone in on serious pain points to develop a new product, a focus group or interview might work best.

You can also source secondary research , such as industry reports or analyses from large market research firms. These can help you gather preliminary information and inform your approach.

Step 3: Develop your research tools

Prior to working with participants, you’ll need to craft your survey or interview questions, interview guides, and other tools. These tools will help you capture the right information , weed out non-qualifying participants, and keep your information organized.

You should also have a system for recording responses to ensure data accuracy and privacy. Test your processes before speaking with participants so you can spot and fix inefficiencies or errors.

Step 4: Conduct the market research

With a system in place, you can start looking for candidates to contribute to your market research. This might include distributing surveys to current customers or recruiting participants who fit a specific profile, for example.

Set a time frame for conducting your research. You might collect responses over the course of a few days, weeks, or even months. If you’re using AI tools to gather data, choose a data range for your data to focus on the most relevant information.

Step 5: Analyze and apply your findings

Review your findings while looking for trends and patterns. AI tools can come in handy in this phase by analyzing large amounts of data on your behalf.

Compile your findings into an easy-to-read report and highlight key takeaways and next steps. Reports aren’t useful unless the reader can understand and act on them.

Tip: Learn more about trend forecasting , trend detection , and trendspotting .

Meltwater’s Radarly consumer intelligence suite helps you reap the benefits of market research on an ongoing basis. Using a combination of AI, data science, and market research expertise, Radarly scans multiple global data sources to learn what people are talking about, the actions they’re taking, and how they’re feeling about specific brands.

Our tools are created by market research experts and designed to help researchers uncover what they want to know (and what they don’t know they want to know). Get data-driven insights at scale with information that’s always relevant, always accurate, and always tailored to your organization’s needs.

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

Continue Reading

What Are Consumer Insights? Meaning, Examples, Strategy

How Coca-Cola Collects Consumer Insights

Market Intelligence 101: What It Is & How To Use It

9 Top Consumer Insights Tools & Companies

4 Types of Market Research: Examples, Methods, & Studies

Topics covered ✅.

• Types of market research: primary and secondary
• Market research examples
• What are the main types of market research?
• Successful market research examples

What's one thing that every business plan needs? Market research! The research process helps businesses gather data about customers' needs and preferences. This information is then used to build perfect products for the target audience.

1. Exceeding Competitors

Today's marketing teams have a lot to keep track of. Not only do they have to work on the best ways to reach their target customers and present attractive (and often innovative) offerings, but they also have to compete with other companies that are doing the same thing.

With so much information going around, it can be hard to know where to begin. When it comes to getting started and building an ongoing practice, primary market research, secondary market research, online surveys, and other types of surveys for research are the different types of market research methods that can be used to better understand target customers and competitors.

Claim My Free Market Research Template

This hub is ready-made and comes pre-populated with free tools, examples, structures, and PDFs for market research.

2. The Importance of Research in Marketing

Market research is the key to determining what a target market looks like and how it can be reached. Primary, secondary, and exploratory research, as well as different types of surveys, are the most effective methods of marketing research.

Brands around the world are changing the way they do market research because people's behaviors and preferences are constantly evolving. Being well-informed and sourcing information across your organization is essential to aggregate a holistic understanding of solutions being received. For these reasons, brand perception research has become an essential type of market research, as well.

Accomplishing this is easier said than done, but doing ongoing market research is more than worth the time investment because it can help identify gaps before they become costly, avoid mistakes in business, approach strategic business decisions with perspective, and of course, profit!

3. What is Market Research?

Market research is a process that helps companies understand the needs and desires of their customers, determine how to meet those needs in a way that is unique to the company's brand, and then communicate that message to customers.

Doing market research helps businesses gain a better understanding of the overall market, customers, and competitors so that they can develop a marketing strategy. It focuses on gathering data from potential customers through surveys and focus groups. The data is analyzed using statistical methods, such as regression analysis or factor analysis. Ultimately, marketing messages are developed based on this information, helping to influence customer buying habits.

4. Market Research Methods

Market research can be conducted in various ways. The types of market research chosen depend on the business's goals, the type of information they're looking for, and what resources they have available.

Market research methods include (but are not limited to):

• Online surveys (where people answer questions about their buying habits)
• Focus groups (where people discuss their experiences with products)
• Interviews with customers in person or over the phone (where people discuss their experiences with products)

5. Target Markets: You should know who you're marketing to

In general, there are two types of markets: primary markets and secondary markets.

Primary Market

Primary markets consist of direct sales. This market is where securities are created and (initially) issued by a corporation. Once investors buy the securities, they're traded amongst each other through the secondary market.

Primary market transactions include initial public offerings (IPOs), bonus and rights issues, private placements, and preferential allotments.

Secondary Market

The secondary market is where investors buy and sell securities from other investors (think of stock exchanges). For example, if you want to buy Apple stock, you can do so by purchasing the stock from someone who already owns it, rather than directly from Apple.

Secondary market transactions include most stock exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

6. Types of Market Research

There are four main types of market research:

• Exploratory
• Quantitative

Primary Market Research

Primary market research refers to surveys conducted by a company itself—or more specifically by a third-party firm hired by the said company—to get feedback directly from consumers on what they want or need right now.

This type of research takes place when someone from a company talks directly with customers or potential customers, to find out what they like about the product or service. It involves gathering data directly from customers through surveys or focus groups.

Focus groups are a type of primary market research that involves talking with a group of people about something specific—like a new food product—to get feedback from them. Primary market research can involve many activities, including:

• Asking survey questions
• Analyzing social media posts
• Conducting focus groups
• Interviewing people individually or in groups
• Sending out free samples of a product or service

Primary market research can help companies determine what products or services are needed in the marketplace, why people buy goods and services from one company over another, and how companies should communicate with potential customers in order to attract them as clients.

In addition, primary market research is used when creating a new product or service. Businesses need to understand the buying habits of their potential customers in order to figure out how to communicate ideas and tell their stories. This type of research will also help determine whether there's a need for their product in the marketplace, which can be crucial if they want their company to thrive and succeed over time.

Online surveys are one of the most common forms of primary market research today because they're easy to set up and inexpensive (usually free). They also allow researchers to understand customer loyalty and what keeps customers interested in the product or service. Surveys can help companies find market research data by studying what people spend their money on and what qualities they look for in a product or service.

Secondary Market Research

Secondary market research involves analyzing data from previous studies or other sources (like government statistics) to determine what consumers want or need at this point in time. When businesses do this, they review the information that has already been gathered by other companies (such as survey results), in order to gain insights into how they approach marketing and what they've discovered about the market.

Secondary market research is typically done after a product or service has been developed and launched into the marketplace. It helps companies learn more about their competitors' marketing efforts so they can tailor their own accordingly—for instance, if they discover that one competitor has been using certain messaging strategies that seem to be working well for them, it may make sense for another company in their field to do something similar (or vice versa).

Methods for conducting secondary market research include surveys online or phone calls; focus groups; interviews with experts in various fields (such as healthcare professionals); questionnaires distributed through magazines or newspapers; focus groups at trade shows; or review websites like Yelp! where people can leave reviews on their experience with the product or service and rate it on a star rating scale.

Exploratory Market Research

Exploratory market research is another method of research used by companies who want more information about their target audience before they develop their marketing efforts or make large purchases (like building new factories). It involves investigating potential target markets before deciding on which ones will be most successful for their business model.

Quantitative Market Research

Quantitative market research is another category of market research that is more statistical in nature. It answers questions by generating numerical data through online and mail surveys.

You can also consider audience research tools for quantitative market research.

7. How Is Quantitative Market Research Different?

It is important to note that quantitative market research is different from qualitative market research.

Quantitative market research is:

• Statistical
• Aimed at answering objectives using numerical data
• Allows your target audience to provide statistical data through their answers to customer satisfaction surveys

Qualitative market research is:

• Aimed at studying the reasons, motivations, and opinions of a customer
• Allows your target audience to answer key branding research questions about their experiences with your product, such as how it made them feel and what they like about it

8. Following the Steps of Market Research

Step 1. find your target customer.

One of the most important things about market research is understanding who the target customer is—is it men? Women? Young adults? Old adults? Once a business has determined who its target customer is, then it can begin developing a marketing strategy that will appeal to that specific audience.

Step 2. Develop a Competitive Advantage

Once they have an idea of who their target customers are and what appeals to them, then it's time for a business to develop a competitive advantage over other brands competing for those same customers' attention. This competitive advantage may be based on price (lower prices mean more sales) or quality (better quality means fewer returns).

Step 3. Communicate with Potential Customers

Next, talk to potential customers. Why? Although it can be intimidating, physically communicating with people will help a business gain insight into customers' home and work environments, and will help them learn about their buying decisions. Based on these factors, they'll gain a better idea of which demographics can sustain their business model. This is the extra mile that will put them above their competition, as most people skip this step.

Step 4. Gather Research

Once the target market has been identified, businesses can do some research to figure out if that market is big enough to support their business. They'll need to figure out how many people meet their criteria (men, women, young adults, old adults, etc.). In many cases, they can do this by conducting product testing market research around how many people buy current existing products or services that serve similar purposes to theirs.

Step 5. Document Your Research Findings

Finally, businesses must document their findings by communicating with others in the business world. If sharing the findings of their market research with their business partners, it's okay to communicate informally. However, if pitching to potential investors, they should create a formal market analysis.

9. Answering Customer Questions

After a business determines its target markets and chooses which type of market research it'd like to use, it'll need to determine what methods will be most effective for collecting the most accurate information. Businesses should also ask questions to determine what information they want to learn from their target customers:

• What are their buying habits?
• What would they like to see changed?
• How can the business create a competitive advantage relative to other companies in their field?

Once these questions have been answered, it's time to create a marketing strategy based on the information gathered, so that it aligns with what customers want and how they'll use it.

10. Marketing Products

When planning a marketing campaign, businesses have to consider all aspects of the customer's lives. That's why market research is so important: it helps them figure out who our customers are and what they need.

Once they know who their customers are and what their needs are, businesses can start developing a marketing strategy that will appeal to them specifically and hopefully turn them into longtime customers!

• Market Research

6 types of marketing research

• March 2, 2023

Marketing research, also known as market research, involves finding out information that determines if a new product, service, or approach is viable for a business. Different types of marketing research can be conducted in-house or through a third-party outlet, and there are various methods available to gather and acquire feedback from your target market.

Marketing research is imperative for businesses of all sizes and industries. It supplies a fact-based foundation, one that helps a company to make wise decisions with any future decisions. Without this research, there is a much greater chance a business makes poor decisions, and these can lead to significant, even terminal, damage.

You know marketing research is important. However, which process is the best fit for your company? There are different types of marketing research, each with its pros and cons, and they can benefit in distinct ways.

This blog post will take a closer look at the six main types of marketing research. With the details below, you can decide on which type – or types – are best for your upcoming project, whether this is developing a new product or starting up a business.

Exploratory Research

When attempting to solve a problem that has not been clearly defined before, a company should utilize exploratory research. This involves gaining a greater understanding of the problem, although it is unlikely to supply conclusive results. What it does, however, is identify issues, and each of these can be an area of focus with future research efforts.

Researching a problem that has minimal existing information may seem difficult. Yet, various methods are available to conduct an effective exploratory research campaign, and these assist with revealing new insights and data that offer a level of resolution to the problem.

Advantages of exploratory research.

Some advantages include:

• It gives you the ability to take a challenging problem – one that has yet to be studied in any depth – and narrow it down. You can uncover valuable information that was not previously available.
• Along with being cost-effective, exploratory research is both flexible and open-ended. There are no limitations in terms of how you proceed with this method.
• For future research efforts, it provides a great framework. With a body of research already built, it makes it easier to overcome new, tricky research problems you encounter.

Disadvantages of exploratory research.

Some disadvantages include:

• Conclusive results are not usually gained through exploratory research. Furthermore, because there is minimal preexisting knowledge, results can end up being subjective or even biased.
• The research is not often generalizable or valid from an external point of view.
• No existing model is in place with exploratory research, which means it can be labor-intensive to build a suitable structure for this type of research.

Example of exploratory research in use.

The owner of an ice cream parlor believes adding extra ice cream flavors will lead to more customers. The issue: there is no conclusive proof this is the case, so further information is required. With exploratory research, the owner is able to discover if this is the key to attracting more business or if a better idea is available.

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research is a strategy that involves identifying, determining, or describing the phenomenon or population in question. Rather than focus on the “why” of the subject, descriptive research is about uncovering the “what” of the subject.

Simply put, of all the types of marketing research, this one helps to fill in the gaps about what a certain phenomenon is (rather than why it occurs) and how it affects different variables or anything beyond the surface information. Descriptive research helps to identify elements like the size, frequency, and location of the thing you are studying.

Advantages of descriptive research.

• Descriptive research allows you to collect and analyze facts, using these to produce an in-depth, precise understanding of the research-related issue you face.
• If you utilize observational data collection methods, you can receive answers in the natural environment of responders. This helps determine their behavior accurately and acquire high-quality feedback.
• It is versatile, quick, and cost-effective. Descriptive research can be utilized for a large range of purposes, and the sample size is typically large.

Disadvantages of descriptive research.

• Statistical techniques or tools cannot be used to verify problems with descriptive research.
• With an observer present, this can affect the nature of answers from respondents. They could pretend, for instance, that their responses are not entirely accurate – particularly if any questions revolve around intimate subjects.
• Repeating the descriptive research process can be tricky because of its observational nature.

Example of descriptive research in use.

An apparel design company wants to measure data trends for its latest line of clothing. The company uses descriptive research to look at two different age groups: 18-24 and 25-34. The research reveals the older age group, in general, did not take to this line of clothing. It also offers insight into what clothing they liked and disliked, giving the apparel company knowledge about what trends to follow in the future.

Causal Research

Also referred to as explanatory research, causal research is a tactic used to evaluate the cause-and-effect relationship that exists between two different situations. Cause-and-effect can be affected by a wide assortment of factors, so causal research incorporates experiments to gather statistical evidence about the relationship, if any, between the two.

Following this initial part, causal research will often take a closer look at the data to understand the development of the relationship and how it works. Furthermore, a researcher afterward could modify the circumstances of one situation, analyzing how this impacts the other situation.

Advantages of causal research.

• You are able to optimize processes and resolve issues within your business strategies. This is because causal research allows you to learn about each aspect and all nuances of your system.
• Causal research opens the door to more objective results. Outside influences are reduced as participants or subjects are usually selected by random sampling tactics.
• A repeatable, dependable process is possible with causal research, making it useful in multiple contexts.

Disadvantages of causal research.

• Within data, it can be difficult to extract the cause-and-effect relationships. This is certainly the case with complex systems and understanding how a particular variable can affect a different one.
• Due to the difficulty of controlling all variables, it is a challenge to measure the outcome when a variable is altered. Findings with causal research can then produce errors.
• It is a time-consuming process. To be able to identify and positively change relationships, multiple experiments are often required.

Example of causal research in use.

An online retailer runs an advertising campaign in one state for three months. In this same time period, the retailer experiences a 10% sales revenue increase. To see if the advertising campaign was the root cause of this increase, the exact same campaign is used in other randomly selected states. With causal research, they compare sales data for each region, analyzing if a fruitful cause-and-effect relationship has occurred between advertising and sales with the test campaign .

Predictive Research

As the name suggests, predictive research is built around trying to forecast outcomes, effects, costs, and consequences to understand how various business elements could appear in the future. Both current and historical data are combined with statistical analysis techniques, allowing researchers to predict how future actions could affect a business.

Advantages of predictive research.

• Predictive research helps to reduce risk with business decisions. You are able to analyze potential future scenarios, helping you to assess outcomes that are most likely.
• It makes it possible to optimize different aspects of a company. By analyzing data, you can spot trends and identify new opportunities.
• You can use predictive research to enhance efficiency across operations. It is possible to be proactive in making improvements, taking the appropriate steps when necessary.

Disadvantages of predictive research.

• It is still only a prediction. There is no guarantee the research will result in reality. As a result, you still have to proceed with a level of caution after using predictive research.
• The validity of a predictive research model can change over time. As certain factors become less or more important, this can impact the model and its effectiveness.
• The data used dictates how good the model is for predictive research. If trends do not change over time, for instance, there is little to go off when predicting changes for the future.

Example of predictive research in use.

A business can decide to analyze the performance of its sales team. They can take the sales for the past months and use these statistics to predict how many sales will be made in the next six months. If this number is not to a necessary standard, the business could decide to make changes, like adding a new sales member, changing their process, and so on.

Conclusive Research

A company will use conclusive research to gather information, analyze it, and use this to make decisions and reach conclusions. If a business is dealing with a certain issue, it can use conclusive research to provide them with guidance to solve this issue. This is one of the more popular types of marketing research because of the clear goal.

Advantages of conclusive research.

• It supplies a business with accurate data. This is helped by conclusive research being able to facilitate large sample sizes of data.
• Conclusive research can be beneficial when attempting to identify causality between two variables.

Disadvantages of conclusive research.

• With conclusive research, there is the possibility of response bias. This can ultimately skew the results that are gathered.
• Conclusive research is not helpful when trying to identify the causes behind a specific event, motivation, or behavior.

Example of conclusive research in use.

To prove a hypothesis about their target audience, a business sends out surveys – complete with closed-ended questions – to their customers. The information gathered with these survey responses gives them the guidance that will either prove or disprove their hypothesis.

Primary vs. Secondary Research

Primary research is one of the types of marketing research that involves the use of self-conducted research methods to learn more about a certain subject. These methods include interviews, surveys, observations, and focus groups, and they are utilized to collect data that has never been collected previously.

Secondary research, on the other hand, makes use of data that already exists. This research includes everything from studying analytics to using GapScout to pick out valuable information from reviews and social media.

Advantages of primary and secondary research:

Primary research advantages include:

• The data you gather through primary research is unique. It is not available for public consumption, and nobody else – including your competition – has access to this data.
• Primary research campaigns give you the most up-to-date information. This is not data from years ago. It is as current as it possibly can get following the conclusion of a campaign.
• Data collection can be done with speed and efficiency. This is the situation if the likes of opinion polls and on-page surveys are used.

Secondary advantages include research:

• You get instant access to a lot of different data sources. This can be used to provide your business with a lot of valuable insights and answer possible questions.
• Secondary research saves both time and resources. The data is already there for you to extract and use.
• It is possible to reanalyze old data, comparing it with any new data that has been collected, to uncover new points of view, understandings, and conclusions.

Disadvantages of primary and secondary research:

Primary research disadvantages include:

• Primary research can be a time-consuming process. This is the case when conducting the likes of experiments and face-to-face interviews. Research can take months or even years.
• It can be costly to run primary research campaigns.
• Data gathered can be biased depending on who the data was collected from and how the data was collected.

Secondary research disadvantages include:

• The data you collect could be out-of-date. The more out-of-date the data, the less effective it is for your research efforts.
• Secondary research might not be specific to your requirements. The data is not designed precisely around your business and its needs.
• There is no control over secondary research data. The quality may not be to standard, or it could be biased.

Examples of primary and secondary research in use.

A company decides to create a new product. Before going into production, they decide to run a focus group for product development. With this focus group, the company can gain feedback from potential customers, including information about the features they like, dislike, and those they would recommend.

With secondary research, a company wants to find out more about its competitors, including what pain points customers have with their products. The company uses GapScout to analyze customer reviews. By doing this, they can discover negative themes that are shared about these products. The company can then use this information when developing their own product range.

Wrapping up the types of marketing research.

There are numerous different types of marketing research available. It is important you select the right research type for your business, although this is dependent on your objective or question.

By investing in marketing research, this helps your business to make informed – and ultimately more worthwhile – decisions. Not only will you save money and time, but it also makes your business a more productive, profitable one.

You may also like:

• Marketing Research in 5 easy steps
• Market research vs. Marketing Research: What’s the Difference?

Ready to Automate Your Market Research? Get exclusive access to GapScout prior to release!

Share this:

The best in market research.

Market research tips & tools sent to your inbox.

By clicking Subscribe, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.

Popular Articles

How to do customer review analysis (the right way)

No-nonsense guide to achieving product-market fit

7 ways to gain a competitive edge

Email us: [email protected] Made with ♥ in sunny California

• Legal Policies

Sign up for early access here!

ⓒ 2023 GapScout. All rights reserved.

Get Early Access!

Sign up to get early beta access to GapScout before it becomes publicly available!

We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website.

The Four Types of Research Design — Everything You Need to Know

Updated: December 11, 2023

Published: January 18, 2023

When you conduct research, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how to accomplish it. A good research design enables you to collect accurate and reliable data to draw valid conclusions.

In this blog post, we'll outline the key features of the four common types of research design with real-life examples from UnderArmor, Carmex, and more. Then, you can easily choose the right approach for your project.

Table of Contents

What is research design?

The four types of research design, research design examples.

Research design is the process of planning and executing a study to answer specific questions. This process allows you to test hypotheses in the business or scientific fields.

Research design involves choosing the right methodology, selecting the most appropriate data collection methods, and devising a plan (or framework) for analyzing the data. In short, a good research design helps us to structure our research.

Marketers use different types of research design when conducting research .

There are four common types of research design — descriptive, correlational, experimental, and diagnostic designs. Let’s take a look at each in more detail.

Researchers use different designs to accomplish different research objectives. Here, we'll discuss how to choose the right type, the benefits of each, and use cases.

Research can also be classified as quantitative or qualitative at a higher level. Some experiments exhibit both qualitative and quantitative characteristics.

Free Market Research Kit

5 Research and Planning Templates + a Free Guide on How to Use Them in Your Market Research

• SWOT Analysis Template
• Survey Template
• Focus Group Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Experimental

An experimental design is used when the researcher wants to examine how variables interact with each other. The researcher manipulates one variable (the independent variable) and observes the effect on another variable (the dependent variable).

In other words, the researcher wants to test a causal relationship between two or more variables.

In marketing, an example of experimental research would be comparing the effects of a television commercial versus an online advertisement conducted in a controlled environment (e.g. a lab). The objective of the research is to test which advertisement gets more attention among people of different age groups, gender, etc.

Another example is a study of the effect of music on productivity. A researcher assigns participants to one of two groups — those who listen to music while working and those who don't — and measure their productivity.

The main benefit of an experimental design is that it allows the researcher to draw causal relationships between variables.

One limitation: This research requires a great deal of control over the environment and participants, making it difficult to replicate in the real world. In addition, it’s quite costly.

Best for: Testing a cause-and-effect relationship (i.e., the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable).

Correlational

A correlational design examines the relationship between two or more variables without intervening in the process.

Correlational design allows the analyst to observe natural relationships between variables. This results in data being more reflective of real-world situations.

For example, marketers can use correlational design to examine the relationship between brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. In particular, the researcher would look for patterns or trends in the data to see if there is a relationship between these two entities.

Similarly, you can study the relationship between physical activity and mental health. The analyst here would ask participants to complete surveys about their physical activity levels and mental health status. Data would show how the two variables are related.

Best for: Understanding the extent to which two or more variables are associated with each other in the real world.

Descriptive

Descriptive research refers to a systematic process of observing and describing what a subject does without influencing them.

Methods include surveys, interviews, case studies, and observations. Descriptive research aims to gather an in-depth understanding of a phenomenon and answers when/what/where.

SaaS companies use descriptive design to understand how customers interact with specific features. Findings can be used to spot patterns and roadblocks.

For instance, product managers can use screen recordings by Hotjar to observe in-app user behavior. This way, the team can precisely understand what is happening at a certain stage of the user journey and act accordingly.

Brand24, a social listening tool, tripled its sign-up conversion rate from 2.56% to 7.42%, thanks to locating friction points in the sign-up form through screen recordings.

Carma Laboratories worked with research company MMR to measure customers’ reactions to the lip-care company’s packaging and product . The goal was to find the cause of low sales for a recently launched line extension in Europe.

The team moderated a live, online focus group. Participants were shown w product samples, while AI and NLP natural language processing identified key themes in customer feedback.

This helped uncover key reasons for poor performance and guided changes in packaging.

4 research methods for the modern marketer

Authored by a marketer and verified by research experts., why is market research important 📊.

Around two years ago, I read this piece by Mark Ritson in the MarketingWeek , on why you should spend at least 5% of your marketing budget on research to ensure that the remaining 95% is spent correctly… I still think about it at times.

I wonder if brands still consider research to be an important factor when allocating their yearly budget, especially since most economies are still slowly playing catch-up.

Image source: IMF, 2024

In simple terms, hypothetically speaking, if in 2023 you allocated £100 for your marketing budget, you should ideally allocate £5 for research. However, due to a crunch, your budget in 2024 is now down to £50. The sensible thing to do would be to keep aside £2.5 for research, but the pressure from stakeholders to deliver would probably make you skip this step and spend everything you have to grab some eyeballs. Think events, guest blogs, collaborations, sponsorships, etc.

According to the latest numbers reported in the IPA Bellwether Report , marketing budgets were revised up to their strongest level in almost a decade in Q4 2023. Unfortunately, less money was being allotted to market research (-5%, compared to -1.5% from Q3 2023). But should you be holding back on research for your brand?

I’d say no.

Let me put it this way: it’s not just you going through a budget cut, but also your customers. They are making calculated decisions, too, and their preferences are changing.

When preferences change, you need to double down on your messaging—make it clear, make it stick, and, above all, tell your prospects why you’re better.

That’s where research will help you.

The traditional approach would be to deploy a survey to understand customer preferences and buying behaviour and test your messaging and pricing strategy.

But research has changed since then, or rather, introduced different ways worth exploring.

Some methods promise a new approach but do the same things under a different label , and some just build on existing techniques to make findings more digestible. But the big change is that market researchers have now mastered extracting different storylines and POVs from just a few sets of data points.

And that’s why we encourage you to look beyond the labels or be more like David Rose from Schitts Creek.

So how can you do it?

For starters, think about approaching your research findings from different angles. This will help you gain perspective on your findings and move past the idea that you must always deploy cutting-edge technology to stay ahead of the curve.

New angles can be used to breathe life into mundane numbers and create interesting storylines .

Another important factor is to clearly understand what you’re looking for. There are two main categories of research that will help you achieve that:

• Are you trying to understand your market structure? Questions like how your consumers group different prospects of your brand, how your brand caters to different target audiences, who your prospects are, what features to include to keep everyone happy, etc., fall into this category.
• Are you trying to understand (causal) relationships? Questions like how a price reduction will affect your brand’s perception, how the new budget announcement will affect your sales, etc., fall into this category.

(Source: Analytics for Customer Insights – A non-technical introduction by Chuck Chakrapani, PhD. )

Now that you’re all caught up let’s dive into the next section…

Four research methods worth your time (and attention) 👀

1. market segmentation via cluster analysis, with customer preferences changing due to economic conditions, you must reassess your target audience and who you would like to cater to..

Grouping or segmenting audiences of different characteristics who are interested in your offerings is a basic marketing tactic, and that is how cluster analysis can help you:

• Understand what groups to target and run a specific paid-marketing campaign on socials
• Understand what offerings to club together to create custom packages
• Understand how your customers group you with your competitors based on perceived similarities

This is what the process looks like:

Finally, for clusters to be useful in marketing they need to make sense. So, the next time you’re using cluster analysis for market segmentation, ask yourself:

‘Do these clusters make sense?’

‘Are they doing what I expected them to do?’

2. Identifying customer needs via Kano Analysis

One of the biggest problems marketing runs into is not clearly understanding what the customer needs and how to communicate it. in fact, this problem plagues a lot of product teams as well..

While the product team likes to focus on functionality, the marketing team likes to focus on emotions – both being equally important to sell.

And that’s where Kano analysis steps in 👑 – it pits product features against customer satisfaction and tells you exactly what the customer needs.

Here’s what the analysis will look like (click on the image to enlarge it) :

Also, if you’d like to further strengthen the results, add in the results from a Net Promoter Survey . Simply asking your audience how they feel about a specific feature, will help you establish satisfaction scores, giving your findings more credibility.

It will also tell you what features your audience simply doesn’t care about.

3. Study cause-and-effect through Regression Analysis

From a marketing perspective, a slight change in your messaging or campaign targeting can lead to a flurry of changes or, in some cases, lead to no changes at all (even though you were expecting some)..

Regression analysis helps prove a cause-and-effect relationship between different factors.

In simple terms you isolate a dependent variable (like satisfaction or loyalty) and test it against independent variables (like price, quality, service, etc.).

For example, here the ‘Buying intent’ is a dependent variable and ‘Price’, ‘User Experience’, ‘Functionality’ and ‘Customer Service’ are independent variables.

Based on the results, we can find out what factors influence the buying decision, and that same information can be used to craft punchy marketing campaigns.

This not only helps your stakeholders know what’s working, but also helps them understand what is not a contributing factor.

💡Bonus tip – Be careful of multicollinearity!

In simple terms, if two variable factors are highly correlated to each other, it’s best to combine them.

In the above example, good user experience can also be linked to great customer service. So, if you see similar results from both of them, just combine to represent one factor.

4. Optimised advertising via TURF Analysis

TURF stands for Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency .

Doesn’t sound sexy, does it? Let’s stick to TURF. (Or, as Eli likes to call it, Surf N’ TURF)

TURF analysis helps to find the best possible combination of factors to give you the best results. This analysis is used to solve various market research problems, like finding optimum product bundles, the best set of messaging for your campaign, or my personal favourite…

What combination of platforms would you spend your marketing dollars on? 💰

Apart from giving you a clear picture of what options suit you best, here is when you should use TURF analysis:

• Planning and evaluating your marketing campaigns
• Strategising your new product launches
• Finding best ways to enter a new sector/market
• Regularly assessing your audience

And that’s it. Those were the four research methods you should not be sleeping on. But I get it, this was from a marketer’s point of view…

So to conclude, I asked the research team one question to get their opinion – ‘What combination of the methods mentioned above would you recommend to a brand and why?’

And here’s what the experts said….

Any investment in research is money well spent, as it can enrich your company’s purpose and help you find better ways to communicate that to the market. I think a simple survey can do this so the investment doesn’t need to be huge and intimidating.

However, if you have the funds to invest, I think that ‘Market Segmentation’ would be my recommended method for many brands, as it can help them understand their current and potential clients. Once the investment has been made into a segmentation, the golden questions can also be reused for further studies and this method can evolve along with your businesses’ needs.

👋🏼 Connect with Katie on LinkedIn .

Market segmentation research coupled with some qualitative in-depth interviews would be my recommendation to any brand struggling to target and reach its customers.

Through using a combination of factor and cluster analysis (also known as ‘ Persona analysis ’ at Sapio Research) we can really bring the data to life. The output we provide is a handful of different characters (or ‘personas’) that signpost the different key types of customers in your target pool based on the data.

Within each persona we can tell you things like what makes them tick, where they look for information as well as their propensity to use your services/product. By recruiting and interviewing people in line with these personas, you can get a fully rounded idea of how to effectively reach your different customer groups and optimise your marketing strategy.

👋🏼 Connect with Lizzie on LinkedIn .

The foundation for ambitious business tactics is a strategy cemented in a solid foundation. This foundation should be formed from a suite of good market research.

The methodologies discussed here cover the range of research steps all businesses should be undertaking, from big macro deep dives across new or existing markets using market segmentations, through to the narrower ad hoc projects that typically occur as a reaction to issues that require guidance from the experts on what customers are doing and why they are doing it.

Picking the right research partner is critical in ensuring high ROI on any spend, whether you’re building out long-term strategies or trying to generate short-term sales uplift.

At Sapio Research, we cover the range of research methodologies to help you make the optimal decisions whatever your overall objectives.

👋🏼 Connect with Tom on LinkedIn .

That’s it. We hope this piece helps you decide what kind of research you want to do next.

And as always if things get too confusing, just contact us to start brainstorming.

Need help figuring out the research you need, get topical tips, insights and more delivered to your inbox.

Be the first to know about the latest international business sentiments, behaviours and plans to stay one step ahead of your competition.

• Do Not Sell My Personal Info

•  ⋅ 
• Content Marketing

35 Content Marketing Statistics You Should Know

Stay informed with the latest content marketing statistics. Discover how optimized content can elevate your digital marketing efforts.

Content continues to sit atop the list of priorities in most marketing strategies, and there is plenty of evidence to support the reasoning.

Simply put, content marketing is crucial to any digital marketing strategy, whether running a small local business or a large multinational corporation.

After all, content in its many and evolving forms is indisputably the very lifeblood upon which the web and social media are based.

Modern SEO has effectively become optimized content marketing for all intents and purposes.

This is when Google demands and rewards businesses that create content demonstrating experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) for their customers – content that answers all of the questions consumers may have about their services, products, or business in general.

Content marketing involves creating and sharing helpful, relevant, entertaining, and consistent content in various text, image, video, and audio-based formats to the plethora of traditional and online channels available to modern marketers.

The primary focus should be on attracting and retaining a clearly defined audience, with the ultimate goal of driving profitable customer action.

Different types of content can and should be created for each stage of a customer’s journey .

Some content, like blogs or how-to videos, are informative or educational. Meanwhile, other content, like promotional campaign landing pages , gets to the point of enticing prospective customers to buy.

But with so much content being produced and shared every day, it’s important to stay updated on the latest trends and best practices in content marketing to keep pace and understand what strategies may be most effective.

Never has this been more true than in 2024, when we’re in the midst of a content revolution led by generative AI , which some feel represents both an opportunity and a threat to marketers.

To help you keep up, here are 35 content marketing statistics I think you should know:

Content Marketing Usage

How many businesses are leveraging content marketing, and how are they planning to find success?

• According to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 73% of B2B marketers, and 70% of B2C marketers use content marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy.
• 97% of marketers surveyed by Semrush achieved success with their content marketing in 2023.
• A B2B Content Marketing Study conducted by CMI found that 40% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy; 33% have a strategy, but it’s not documented, and 27% have no strategy.
• Half of the surveyed marketers by CMI said they outsource at least one content marketing activity.

Content Marketing Strategy

What strategies are content marketers using or finding to be most effective?

• 83% of marketers believe it’s more effective to create higher quality content less often. (Source: Hubspot)
• In a 2022 Statista Research Study of marketers worldwide, 62% of respondents emphasized the importance of being “always on” for their customers, while 23% viewed content-led communications as the most effective method for personalized targeting efforts.
• With the increased focus on AI-generated search engine results, 31% of B2B marketers say they are sharpening their focus on user intent/answering questions, 27% are creating more thought leadership content, and 22% are creating more conversational content. (Source: CMI)

Types Of Content

Content marketing was synonymous with posting blogs, but the web and content have evolved into audio, video, interactive, and meta formats.

Here are a few stats on how the various types of content are trending and performing.

• Short-form video content, like TikTok and Instagram Reel, is the No. 1 content marketing format, offering the highest return on investment (ROI).
• 43% of marketers reported that original graphics (like infographics and illustrations) were the most effective type of visual content. (Source: Venngage)
• 72% of B2C marketers expected their organization to invest in video marketing in 2022. (Source: Content Marketing Institute – CMI)
• The State of Content Marketing: 2023 Global Report by Semrush reveals that articles containing at least one video tend to attract 70% more organic traffic than those without.
• Interactive content generates 52.6% more engagement compared to static content. On average, buyers spend 8.5 minutes viewing static content items and 13 minutes on interactive content items. (Source: Mediafly)

Content Creation

Creating helpful, unique, engaging content can be one of a marketer’s greatest challenges. However, innovative marketers are looking at generative AI as a tool to help ideate, create, edit, and analyze content quicker and more cost-effectively.

Here are some stats around content creation and just how quickly AI is changing the game.

• Generative AI reached over 100 million users just two months after ChatGPT’s launch. (Source: Search Engine Journal)
• A recent Ahrefs poll found that almost 80% of respondents had already adopted AI tools in their content marketing strategies.
• Marketers who are using AI said it helps most with brainstorming new topics ( 51%) , researching headlines and keywords (45%), and writing drafts (45%). (Source: CMI)
• Further, marketers polled by Hubspot said they save 2.5 hours per day using AI for content.

Content Distribution

It is not simply enough to create and publish content.

For a content strategy to be successful, it must include distributing content via the channels frequented by a business’s target audience.

• Facebook is still the dominant social channel for content distribution, but video-centric channels like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are growing the fastest .  (Source: Hubspot)
• B2B marketers reported to CMI that LinkedIn was the most common and top-performing organic social media distribution channel at 84% by a healthy margin. All other channels came in under 30%.
• 80% of B2B marketers who use paid distribution use paid social media advertising. (Source: CMI)

Content Consumption

Once content reaches an audience, it’s important to understand how an audience consumes the content or takes action as a result.

• A 2023 Content Preferences Study by Demand Gen reveals that 62% of B2B buyers prefer practical content like case studies to inform their purchasing decisions, citing “a need for valid sources.”
• The same study also found that buyers tend to rely heavily on content when researching potential business solutions, with 46% reporting that they increased the amount of content they consumed during this time.
• In a recent post, blogger Ryan Robinson reports the average reader spends 37 seconds reading a blog.
• DemandGen’s survey participants also said they rely most on demos ( 62% ) and user reviews (55%) to gain valuable insights into how a solution will meet their needs.

Content Marketing Performance

One of the primary reasons content marketing has taken off is its ability to be measured, optimized, and tied to a return on investment.

• B2C marketers reported to CMI that the top three goals content marketing helps them to achieve are creating brand awareness, building trust, and educating their target audience.
• 87% of B2B marketers surveyed use content marketing successfully to generate leads.
• 56% of marketers who leverage blogging say it’s an effective tactic, and 10% say it generates the greatest return on investment (ROI).
• 94% of marketers said personalization boosts sales.

Content Marketing Budgets

Budget changes and the willingness to invest in specific marketing strategies are good indicators of how popular and effective these strategies are at a macro level.

The following stats certainly seem to indicate marketers have bought into the value of content.

• 61% of B2C marketers said their 2022 content marketing budget would exceed their 2021 budget.
• 22% of B2B marketers said they spent 50% or more of their total marketing budget on content marketing. Furthermore, 43% saw their content marketing budgets grow from 2020 to 2021, and 66% expected them to grow again in 2022.

Content Challenges

All forms of marketing come with challenges related to time, resources, expertise, and competition.

Recognizing and addressing these challenges head-on with well-thought-out strategies is the best way to overcome them and realize success.

• Top 3 content challenges included “attracting quality leads with content” ( 45% ), “creating more content faster” (38%), and “generating content ideas” (35%). (Source: Semrush’s The State of Content Marketing: 2023 Global Report)
• 44% of marketers polled for CMI’s 2022 B2B report highlighted the challenge of creating the right content for multi-level roles as their top concern. This replaced internal communication as the top challenge from the previous year.
• Changes to SEO/search algorithms ( 64% ), changes to social media algorithms (53%), and data management/analytics (48%) are also among the top concerns for B2C marketers.
• 47% of people are seeking downtime from internet-enabled devices due to digital fatigue.
• While generative AI has noted benefits, it also presents challenges for some marketers who fear it may replace them. In Hubspot’s study, 23% said they felt we should avoid using generative AI.
• Another challenge with AI is how quickly it has come onto the scene without giving organizations time to provide training or to create policies and procedures for its appropriate and legal use. According to CMI, when asked if their organizations have guidelines for using generative AI tools, 31% of marketers said yes, 61% said no, and 8% were unsure.

Time To Get Started

As you can clearly see and perhaps have already realized, content marketing can be a highly effective and cost-efficient way to generate leads, build brand awareness, and drive sales. Content, in its many formats, powers virtually all online interactions.

Generative AI is effectively helping to solve some of the time and resource challenges by acting as a turbo-powered marketing assistant, while also raising a few procedural concerns.

However, the demand for content remains strong.

Those willing to put in the work of building a documented content strategy and executing it – by producing, optimizing, distributing, and monitoring high-value, relevant, customer-centric content, with the help of AI or not – can reap significant business rewards.

More resources:

• 6 Ways To Humanize Your Content In The AI Era
• Interactive Content: 10 Types To Engage Your Audience
• B2B Lead Generation: Create Content That Converts

Featured Image: Deemak Daksina/Shutterstock 

Jeff has been helping organizations manage, measure and optimize their Web presences for over 20 years. He has deep knowledge ...

Subscribe To Our Newsletter.

Conquer your day with daily search marketing news.

Mapping the marketing analytics landscape: unveiling the diverse proficiencies in marketing and technical know-how among practitioners

• Original Article
• Published: 05 April 2024

Cite this article

• Matti Haverila   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1464-6729 1 &
• Kai Haverila 2  

Against the backdrop of the resource-based theory (RBT), this research paper aims to analyze if different types of analytics personnel exist in the context of Big Data Marketing Analytics (BDMA) and to profile the discovered personnel clusters. The study adopted the survey method to collect data in Canada and the United States among the marketing personnel working in firms with at least limited experience in the deployment of BD. The collected data were analyzed with ANOVA and a two-step cluster analysis procedure. The cluster variate included technical, technology management, business/marketing, and relational knowledge constructs with their relevant indicator variables. The profiling of the clusters was also completed. The findings indicate the existence of two sufficiently large clusters among the marketing personnel. They had very different profiles regarding their gender, decision-making role, BD deployment level in their respective firms, and experience level. This research sheds light on the types of marketing analytics personnel required to implement BDMA successfully. The personnel active in BDMA deployment must have relevant experience in technical, technology management, business/marketing, and relational knowledge and possess higher decision-making abilities, which enables their firms to proceed successfully to more advanced levels of BDMA deployment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Agarwal, R., and V. Sambamurthy. 2020. Principles and models for organizing the IT function. In Strategic information management , ed. R.D. Galliers, D.E. Leidner, and B. Simeonova. London: Routledge.

Google Scholar  

Akter, S., S. Fosso Wamba, and S. Dewan. 2017. Why PLS-SEM is suitable for complex modelling? An empirical illustration in big data analytics quality. Production Planning & Control 28 (11–12): 1011–1021. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2016.1267411 .

Article   Google Scholar  

Al-Sai, Z.A., R. Abdullah, and M. Heikal Husin. 2019. Big Data impacts and challenges: A review. 2019 IEEE Jordan International joint conference on electrical engineering and information technology (JEEIT) , 150–155. https://doi.org/10.1109/JEEIT.2019.8717484

Antonides, G., and N.L. Van Der Sar. 1990. Individual expectations, risk perception and preferences in relation to investment decision-making. Journal of Economic Psychology 11 (2): 227–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-4870(90)90005-T .

Bajic, B., I. Cosic, B. Katalinic, S. Moraca, M. Lazarevic, and A. Rikalovic. 2019. Edge computing vs. cloud computing: challenges and opportunities in industry 4.0. In Proceedings of the 30th DAAM international symposium , ed. B. Katalinic, 0864–0871. Vienna: DAAM International. https://doi.org/10.2507/30th.daaam.proceedings.120 .

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Bharadwaj, A.S. 2000. A resource-based perspective on information technology capability and firm performance: An empirical investigation. MIS Quarterly 24 (1): 169. https://doi.org/10.2307/3250983 .

Bhatt, G.D., and V. Grover. 2005. Types of information technology capabilities and their role in competitive advantage: An empirical study. Journal of Management Information Systems 22 (2): 253–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2005.11045844 .

Bibri, S.E., and J. Krogstie. 2017. The core enabling technologies of big data analytics and context-aware computing for smart sustainable cities: A review and synthesis. Journal of Big Data 4 (1): 38. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40537-017-0091-6 .

Brands, H. 2014. What good is grand strategy? Ithaca: Cornell University Press. https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801470288 .

Book   Google Scholar  

Cochran, W.G. 1977. Sampling techniques . New York: Wiley.

Columbus, L. 2016. Retrieved from ten ways Big Data is revolutionizing marketing and sales . Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2016/05/09/ten-ways-big-data-is-revolutionizing-marketing-and-sales/?sh=4ebe7c5c21cf

Delone, W.H., and E.R. McLean. 2003. The DeLone and McLean Model of information systems success: A ten-year update. Journal of Management Information Systems 19 (4): 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2003.11045748 .

Díaz-Fernández, M.C., M.R. González-Rodríguez, and B. Simonetti. 2015. Top management teams’ demographic characteristics and their influence on strategic change. Quality & Quantity 49 (3): 1305–1322. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-014-0053-4 .

Dijksterhuis, A., H. Aarts, J.A. Bargh, and A. van Knippenberg. 2000. On the relation between associative strength and automatic behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 36 (5): 531–544. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.2000.1427 .

Dolnicar, S. 2003. Using cluster analysis for market segmentation—Typical misconceptions, established methodological weaknesses and some recommendations for improvement. Australasian Journal of Market Research 11 (2): 5–12.

Elfil, M., and A. Negida. 2017. Sampling methods in clinical research; an educational review. Emergency (tehran, Iran) 5 (1): e52.

Gantz, J., and D. Reinsel 2011. Extracting value from chaos . IDC. http://www.kushima.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DigitalUniverse2011.pdf

Gardner, M., and L. Steinberg. 2005. Peer influence on risk-taking, risk preference, and risky decision making in adolescence and adulthood: An experimental study. Developmental Psychology 41 (4): 625–635. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.4.625 .

Garmaki, M., I. Boughzala, and S.F. Wamba. 2016. The effect of Big Data analytics capability on firm performance. In Pacific Asia Conference on information systems, PACIS 2016 - proceedings .

Germann, F., G.L. Lilien, L. Fiedler, and M. Kraus. 2014. Do retailers benefit from deploying customer analytics? Journal of Retailing 90 (4): 587–593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2014.08.002 .

Goll, I., and A.A. Rasheed. 2005. The relationships between top management demographic characteristics, rational decision-making, environmental munificence, and firm performance. Organization Studies 26 (7): 999–1023. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840605053538 .

Gupta, M., and J.F. George. 2016. Toward the development of a big data analytics capability. Information and Management 53 (8): 1049–1064. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2016.07.004 .

Hagel, J. 2015. Bringing analytics to life. Journal of Accountancy 219 (2): 24–25.

Hair, J.F., W.C. Black, B.J. Babin, and R.E. Anderson. 2010b. Multivariate data analysis. In: Vectors . Pearson.

Hanna, K. T., and C. Stedman. 2021. What is unstructured data? TechTarget. https://www.techtarget.com/searchbusinessanalytics/definition/unstructured-data

Hendon, M., L. Powell, and H. Wimmer. 2017. Emotional intelligence and communication levels in information technology professionals. Computers in Human Behavior 71: 165–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.01.048 .

Hernández, B., J. Jiménez, and M. José Martín. 2011. Age, gender and income: Do they really moderate online shopping behaviour? Online Information Review 35 (1): 113–133. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521111113614 .

Hofstede, G. 2024. The 6-D model of national culture . https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/

Hou, S., and P.D. Wentzell. 2014. Re-centered kurtosis as a projection pursuit index for multivariate data analysis. Journal of Chemometrics 28 (5): 370–384. https://doi.org/10.1002/cem.2568 .

Janssen, M., H. van der Voort, and A. Wahyudi. 2017. Factors influencing big data decision-making quality. Journal of Business Research 70: 338–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.08.007 .

Jha, S., M. Jha, L. O’Brien, and M. Wells. 2014. Integrating legacy system into Big Data solutions: Time to make the change. In Asia-Pacific World Congress on computer science and engineering , 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1109/APWCCSE.2014.7053872

Kenny, E.J., and R. Donnelly. 2020. Navigating the gender structure in information technology: How does this affect the experiences and behaviours of women? Human Relations 73 (3): 326–350. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726719828449 .

Kim, G., B. Shin, and O. Kwon. 2012. Investigating the value of sociomaterialism in conceptualizing IT capability of a firm. Journal of Management Information Systems 29 (3): 327–362. https://doi.org/10.2753/MIS0742-1222290310 .

Korherr, P., and D. Kanbach. 2021. Human-related capabilities in big data analytics: A taxonomy of human factors with impact on firm performance. Review of Managerial Science 17: 1943–1970. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-021-00506-4 .

Laney, D. 2001. 3D Data management: Controlling data volume, velocity and variety . Met Group. https://blogs.gartner.com/doug-laney/files/2012/01/ad949-3D-Data-Management-Controlling-Data-Volume-Velocity-and-Variety.pdf

Latta, M. 2020. Sensemaking and Big Data science: Soft and hard marketing skills are needed today. In Association of marketing theory and practice proceedings .

Li, H., J. Wu, L. Liu, and Q. Li. 2015. Adoption of Big Data analytics in healthcare: The efficiency and privacy. In: PACIS 2015 Proceedings . https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2015/?utm_source=aisel.aisnet.org%2Fpacis2015%2F181&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

Liu, Y. 2014. Big data and predictive business analytics. The Journal of Business Forecasting 33 (4): 40–42.

Liu, Y.-C., and C. Lin. 2017. How are public sector organizations assessing their IT investments and benefits: An understanding of issues for benchmarking? International Journal of Advanced Information Technologies 2 (2): 86–104.

Loewenstein, G.F., E.U. Weber, C.K. Hsee, and N. Welch. 2001. Risk as feelings. Psychological Bulletin 127 (2): 267–286. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.267 .

Luftman, J., and T. Ben-Zvi. 2010. Key issues for IT executives 2010: Judicious IT investments continue post-recession. MIS Quarterly Executive 9 (4): 263–274.

Lussier, R.N., M.C. Sonfield, J. Corman, and M. McKinney. 2001. Strategies used by small business entrepreneurs. American Journal of Business 16 (1): 29–38. https://doi.org/10.1108/19355181200100003 .

Marketing Science Institute. 2020. Research priorities 2020–2022 . https://www.msi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/MSI-2020-22-Research-Priorities-final.pdf-WORD.pdf

Marr, B. 2019. What’s the difference between structured, semi-structured and unstructured data? https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/10/18/whats-the-difference-between-structured-semi-structured-and-unstructured-data/?sh=10da37e92b4d

Merriam-Webster. 2023. Skill . Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skill

Mikalef, P., I.O. Pappas, J. Krogstie, and M. Giannakos. 2018. Big data analytics capabilities: A systematic literature review and research agenda. Information Systems and E-Business Management 16 (3): 547–578. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-017-0362-y .

Milligan, G. 1996. Cluster validation: Results and implications for applied analysis. In Clustering and classification , ed. P. Arabie, L. Hubert, and G. De Soete. Singapore: World Scientific.

Mohan, A. 2016. Big Data analytics: Recent achievements and new challenges. Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research 5 (7): 460–464.

Monino, J.-L. 2021. Data value, Big Data analytics, and decision-making. Journal of the Knowledge Economy 12 (1): 256–267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-016-0396-2 .

Moorman, C., and G.S. Day. 2016. Organizing for marketing excellence. Journal of Marketing 80 (6): 6–35. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.15.0423 .

Nwankpa, J., and Y. Roumani. 2014. Understanding the link between organizational learning capability and ERP system usage: An empirical examination. Computers in Human Behavior 33: 224–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.01.030 .

Osuagwu, L. 2013. Salient issues in marketing analytics. British Journal of Marketing Studies 10 (1): 32–46.

Patel, R., and M.J. Parmentier. 2005. The persistence of traditional gender roles in the information technology sector: A study of female engineers in India. Information Technologies & International Development 2 (3): 29–46.

Punj, G., and D.W. Stewart. 1983. Cluster analysis in marketing research: Review and suggestions for application. Journal of Marketing Research 20 (2): 134–148.

Ray, G., W.A. Muhanna, and J.B. Barney. 2005. Information technology and the performance of the customer service process: A resource-based analysis. MIS Quarterly 29 (4): 625. https://doi.org/10.2307/25148703 .

Rushton, A., L. Gray, J. Canty, and K. Blanchard. 2019. Beyond the binary: (Re)defining “Gender” for 21st-century disaster risk reduction research, policy, and practice. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16 (20): 3984. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203984 .

Saidali, J., H. Rahich, Y. Tabaa, and A. Medouri. 2019. The combination between Big Data and marketing strategies to gain valuable business Insights for better production success. Procedia Manufacturing 32: 1017–1023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2019.02.316 .

Sanders, N.R., T. Boone, R. Ganeshan, and J.D. Wood. 2019. Sustainable supply chains in the age of AI and digitization: Research challenges and opportunities. Journal of Business Logistics 40 (3): 229–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12224 .

Sharma, R., S. Mithas, and A. Kankanhalli. 2014. Transforming decision-making processes: A research agenda for understanding the impact of business analytics on organisations. European Journal of Information Systems 23 (4): 433–441. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2014.17 .

Shin, N., and B.H. Edington. 2007. An integrative framework for contextual factors affecting information technology implementation. Journal of Information Technology Theory 8 (4): 38.

Sjödin, D., V. Parida, M. Jovanovic, and I. Visnjic. 2020. Value creation and value capture alignment in business model Innovation: A process view on outcome-based business models. Journal of Product Innovation Management 37 (2): 158–183. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12516 .

Sneath, P. 1980. The risk of not recognizing from ordinations that clusters are distinct. Classification Society Bulletin 4 (4): 22–43.

Suoniemi, S., L. Meyer-Waarden, A. Munzel, A.R. Zablah, and D. Straub. 2020. Big data and firm performance: The roles of market-directed capabilities and business strategy. Information & Management 57 (7): 103365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2020.103365 .

Tan, P.-N., M. Steinbach, and V. Kumar. 2005. Introduction to data mining . Boston: Addison-Wesley.

Taylor, P. 2022. Amount of data created, consumed, and stored 2010–2020, with forecasts to 2025 . Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/#:~:text=The%20total%20amount%20of%20data,replicated%20reached%20a%20new%20high .

TechVidvan. 2022. 5 Vs of Big Data . https://techvidvan.com/tutorials/5-vs-of-big-data/

TeraData. 2022. What are the 5 V’s of Big Data? https://www.teradata.com/Glossary/What-are-the-5-V-s-of-Big-Data#:~:text=Big%20data%20is%20a%20collection,variety%2C%20velocity%2C%20and%20veracity .

Wedel, M., and P.K. Kannan. 2016. Marketing analytics for data-rich environments. Journal of Marketing 80 (6): 97–121. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.15.0413 .

Wieder, B., M. Ossimitz, and P. Chamoni. 2012. The impact of business intelligence tools on performance: A user satisfaction paradox? International Journal of Economic Sciences and Applied Research 5 (3): 7–32.

Wong, C., I.F. Wilkinson, and L. Young. 2010. Towards an empirically based taxonomy of buyer–seller relations in business markets. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 38 (6): 720–737. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-010-0191-8 .

Young, R., and E. Jordan. 2008. Top management support: Mantra or necessity? International Journal of Project Management 26 (7): 713–725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2008.06.001 .

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, Canada

Matti Haverila

Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

Kai Haverila

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matti Haverila .

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest, additional information, publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Haverila, M., Haverila, K. Mapping the marketing analytics landscape: unveiling the diverse proficiencies in marketing and technical know-how among practitioners. J Market Anal (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-024-00305-2

Download citation

Revised : 23 January 2024

Accepted : 01 March 2024

Published : 05 April 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-024-00305-2

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Big Data Marketing Analytics (BDMA)
• Cluster analysis
• Marketing personnel
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Frontiers for Young Minds

• Download PDF

How Scientists Use Webcams to Track Human Gaze

Eye tracking is a technology that can record people’s eye movements and tell scientists what people look at on screens or out in the world. Scientists use eye tracking to understand what people notice or remember; marketing researchers who create ads use eye tracking to see what type of ads or products capture people’s attention; and video game designers use eye tracking to see what parts of a game are confusing to players, so designers can fix the game. Eye-tracking equipment can be expensive and time consuming for researchers to use, so is there another way to record eye movements without buying an eye tracker? There is! Computer scientists can use a computer-based method called machine learning to turn an everyday webcam into an eye tracker. They can even do this with mobile phones! In this article, you will learn about how eye trackers work and the advantages of disadvantages of using webcams to track eyes.

Eyes are Windows to the Mind

Have you ever had a conversation with a friend and noticed your friend’s eyes were no longer looking at you but were suddenly looking behind you? What did you do? You probably turned around to see what your friend was looking at. This illustrates that eye movements tell us where people are paying attention. Scientists measure eye movements to understand what people remember and pay attention to, how people read, and even to screen for certain disorders. An eye tracker is a camera that takes pictures of a person’s eyes [ 1 ]. Eye trackers study information from these pictures (like the shape of the pupils) to pinpoint where a person is looking. These cameras take hundreds or even thousands of pictures each second! The large number of eye pictures allows eye trackers to be very exact in pinpointing where and when a person looks at something.

If an eye tracker was recording your eye movements while you watched a video, a scientist could use your eye movements to understand what you were paying attention to on the screen and for how long. For example, an eye tracker could detect your fixations : when your eyes seem like they have stopped moving to look at something. Longer fixations (like when you stare at something) might mean that you are really focused on a character in the video, while shorter and frequent fixations may mean you are either distracted by some other characters or objects, or that you are having trouble understanding what is happening on the screen. The tracker may also detect that your eyes follow the movement of the characters without you even noticing ( Figure 1 ). The large, sweeping movements that your eyes make between fixations are called saccades (for more information about eye movements, see this Frontiers for Young Minds article ).

• Figure 1 - A tablet shows a video with eye scan paths on it.
• A scan path refers to the path that the eyes take when a person is looking at something. The large circles represent fixations, where the person’s eyes seem to stop, and the lines show the saccades that the person’s eyes took between fixations. What parts of this video did the person look at?

Teaching Computers to Predict Gaze Location

In the lab, scientists use special eye-tracking equipment that is extremely good at figuring out where a person’s eyes are looking on a screen, which is called gaze location ( Figure 2 ). Even though eye trackers are excellent tools, they have some challenges. First, eye-tracking equipment can be very expensive, so not every scientist who wants to research eye movements can purchase the equipment for their laboratory. Also, eye trackers can only measure eye movements in-person and with one person at a time. This means research that requires lots of people can take a long time to conduct. It can be challenging to find people to participate in research when participants have to go to a laboratory to do so.

• Figure 2 - (A) A participant works on a computer with an eye-tracking system.
• The eye-tracking system uses a lot of technical equipment and requires the participant to keep her head still on a chin rest. All of this equipment makes the system very accurate in figuring out where the participant is looking on the computer screen. (B) A person works on a laptop with a built-in webcam. The webcam does not require as much equipment and the participants can sit comfortably and is free to move her head.

These challenges in using eye-tracking equipment can be overcome by using webcams to track eyes. Webcams are in most common personal devices (like phones or laptops), making it easy for scientists to reach a diverse group of people, without participants needing to come to a lab. Webcams are also much less expensive than eye-tracking equipment. Scientists could use webcams to collect eye-movement data remotely, which could save time and money [ 2 ]. Webcams were not designed to track eyes, so how do scientists get eye-movement data from them? There are several ways to use webcams as eye trackers, but one popular way is with machine learning [ 3 ].

Machine learning is a way for computers to use data (like pictures or numbers) and a set of mathematical calculations to learn from experience and find patterns in the world. Using machine learning, computers can learn from lots of pictures of people’s faces. When you are playing with your friends, have you ever noticed where they were looking, like at a cool toy or a yummy snack? You use clues to figure out where your friend looking, like their eye movements, how their head is turned, or how close they are to something. Computers can do something similar. They look at thousands of pictures of people’s faces and try to find patterns in those pictures, just like your brain finds patterns in your friends’ actions. Computers use these patterns to guess where someone might be looking when they look at a face, for instance. Scientists have improved machine learning to make more accurate predictions of where a person is looking by using other helpful information like eye and face landmarks that point out edges on a face ( Figure 3 ); depth information, like how far away a person is from the webcam; and even information from the scene on the screen [ 4 ].

• Figure 3 - Webcam images with facial landmarks.
• The dots (landmarks) on this woman’s face are on important edges and corners of the face, such her jaw, mouth, eyebrows, and importantly, her eyes. Machine learning can use landmarks to make better gaze-location predictions from webcam images like these.

Challenges with Webcam Eye Tracking

Though webcam eye tracking can help scientists make conclusions about peoples’ gaze locations for little cost, it is far from perfect. Webcam eye tracking does not have great precision or accuracy in saying where the eyes are really looking. Compared to a laboratory eye tracker, webcam eye tracking is not very good at separating types of eye movements from each other. This is because the pictures taken on a webcam are of lower quality than those on a laboratory tracker. Also, the frame rates (how quickly cameras can take pictures) are very different. A webcam can take around 30 pictures per second. While that may seem like a lot, laboratory eye trackers can take hundreds or even thousands of images per second! Taking fewer pictures per second means that the webcam cannot capture certain types of eye movements that happen very quickly.

Scientists can use webcams to track the general pattern of eye movements, but the measurements are not exact for finer eye movements. When someone wants to track eye movements to large characters and scenes in a video or an ad, low precision might not be a big deal. However, when scientists are doing experiments, they need better precision for tracking small or fast eye movements, like those eye movements that happen during reading or searching for small objects in a scene. For instance, say that you are focused on a person talking in a video, then you move your gaze to see an animal moving in the background just behind the person, and then you shift your eyes back to the person talking. Those small shifts in gaze may not be detected in webcam eye tracking. Also, think about where and how you normally watch videos, browse the internet, or use a camera. Are you in the dark, and maybe sometimes moving around? Because webcams have lower image quality compared to laboratory eye trackers, it is ideal for people to be in rooms with good lighting and to be sitting still while tracking. It is not always possible to make sure people are doing these things while researchers collect webcam images remotely.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Eye Tracking

Webcam eye tracking can be a cost-effective and time-saving approach for researchers who want to study eye movements. However, there are limitations in using webcams for eye tracking, as they are not as accurate as laboratory eye trackers at predicting where someone is looking. Scientists are working to improve webcam eye-tracking methods, such as by using machine learning, so they can more accurately predict eye movements using images from webcams. This work is important because it helps make eye-tracking technology easy to use for everyone, allowing scientists to learn more about how we see and interact with the world around us, even from the comfort of our own homes.

Eye Tracker : ↑ Technology that can record people’s eye movements and tell scientists what participants are looking at and for how long.

Fixation : ↑ The time between large eye movements when the eyes seem like they have stopped to look at something.

Saccade : ↑ A large, sweeping movement that your eyes make between fixations.

Machine Learning : ↑ A way of analyzing data that allows computers to learn from experience.

Landmarks : ↑ Marks that help a computer understand where edges of important parts of a face are in a picture, like eye corners or the chin.

Precision : ↑ Accuracy, or the degree to which the tracking system is correct in saying where someone is looking.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any identifiable images or data included in this article.

[1] ↑ Robbins, A., and Hout, M. C. 2015. Look into my eyes. Sci. Am. Mind 26:54–61. doi: 10.1038/scientificamericanmind0115-54

[2] ↑ Papoutsaki, A., Laskey, J., and Huang, J. 2017. “Searchgazer: Webcam eye tracking for remote studies of web search”, in Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Conference Human Information Interaction and Retrieval (New York, NY: ACM), 17–26.

[3] ↑ Valliappan, N., Dai, N., Steinberg, E., He, J., Rogers, K., Ramachandran, V., et al. 2020. Accelerating eye movement research via accurate and affordable smartphone eye tracking. Nat. Commun. 11:4553. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18360-5

[4] ↑ Park, S., Aksan, E., Zhang, X., and Hilliges, O. 2020. “Towards end-to-end video-based eye-tracking”, in Computer Vision–ECCV 2020: 16th European Conference, Glasgow, UK, August 23–28, 2020, Proceedings, Part XII 16 (Berlin: Springer International Publishing), 747–63.