What Exactly Is Market Research?
Before products existed for us to buy, they didn't exist.
Do you ever wonder how products and services become available to you? Do you ever wonder why those specific products and services are the ones available to you? Do you ever wonder how and why new products and services seem to all of a sudden appear?
Here are some examples of newer eco-friendly products that the American public uses:
CBD oils, recycled plastic bottles, cloth or cotton shopping bags, induction cooktops, rechargeable batteries, LED bulbs, etc. Do you remember when they weren't “a thing?”
For fun, check out this Shopify blog to determine the top-trending products between July and December 2020.
These products and everything we purchase came to market because companies and manufacturers spend money to learn what we, the consumer, want and how we'll spend our money. In market research, they want to know the trends, competitors, and consumer outlook that affect the market.
According to Statista Market research in U.S. - Statistics & Facts, U.S. market research revenue in 2019 generated over 47 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, more than half the total revenue of the market research industry globally. Wow.
With that kind of spending, market research must be necessary, yes? Keep reading to find out:
- Why is market research necessary
- Some objectives of market research
- Six different types of market research
- How can you participate in market research
Why Is Market Research Necessary?
Consumer research is a best practice for reducing customer attrition, a phenomenon where customers no longer purchase or interact with the business, and customer satisfaction.
Market research is necessary for running and growing a business. Companies can steer consumers toward their products and services by understanding competitors, target audience outlook, goals, needs, and values.
Market research is the leading tool for recognizing who customers are. It enables the capture of complex data that they can use in their marketing strategies, making marketing decisions and selling more manageable and more effective.
The following are some, but not all of the ways that market research helps companies bring us what we want:
- It provides valuable information about existing and new products
- It provides improved communication with customers
- It helps identify the best and easiest ways to reach customers
- It lowers their risk of wasting time and other resources with strategies that won't work
- It provides the understanding of customers to devise the best methods to stay ahead of the competition.
What Are Some Objectives of Market Research?
- Selling more products to its existing customers - Companies have already captured customers with some product or products, and they want to sell more to them. It is a less expensive sale when selling to existing customers than getting new ones.
- Attracting new customers - While selling to already existing customers is less expensive, it isn't enough to keep a company growing to reach its revenue or market share goals. New customers help with this. Market research supports:
- Identifying potential market influencers
- Uncovering competitor strengths and weaknesses
- Improving brand awareness
- Measuring marketing effectiveness to keep driving good decision making
- Helping companies determine if they can or should develop new products for both existing and new customers.
Six Different Types of Market Research
- Consumer insights - help reveal why customers behave the way they do so companies can make intelligent decisions to meet business goals.
- Customer satisfaction - measures customers' experiences with products and services. Focus is specifically on how the product or service met, exceeded, and failed their expectations.
- Product development - uses customer knowledge to inform process design for creating or improving products and services and bringing them to market.
- Usability testing - helps companies understand how their customers use their products in real-time. This type of testing is beneficial for physical products like vacuum cleaners or even digital products like websites and apps.
- Brand research - helps create and manage a company's brand or identity. For example, how many customers are willing to recommend a brand? Are customers being retained? What do people think of a company's identity? How much are people willing to pay to experience one brand over another?
- Campaign effectiveness - helps evaluate whether a company's advertising messages are reaching the right people and reaping the desired outcomes.
How Can You Participate in Market Research?
Participating in market research studies is called a panelist or a “member” of a particular market research company called a “survey panel company.”
Many people in the U.S. and abroad become panelists for different reasons:
- To get freebies, earn extra cash, rewards including gift cards, coupons, and discounts.
- They desire to add their voice to the invention or improvement of products and services marketed to the public.
- To have fun while taking care of #1 and #2 above.
Before starting and joining a survey panelist company, here are some helpful tips:
- Set up an email account that you're willing to get emails to regularly. I have a secondary account that I use, so the emails and surveys don't come to my primary account.
- Sign up for 1-3 surveys, so you have options for making money - do your research and sign up for the ones that will provide you the gifts, rewards, discounts, and coupons that are of most interest to you.
- Avoid scams. You should NEVER have to pay money to join a panel. If you're asking for payment, this is a big red flag! Don't give any financial information, ever.
Most market research companies have a similar way of registering people to become panelists or members. It goes something like this:
- Go to the company website
- Click to register. All companies offer both iOS and Android apps.
- Fill out some personal information, including name, age, address, gender, etc., for the company to determine your demographic and which surveys they will make available to you.
- Most companies will send you an email welcoming you. They may ask you more questions or just start sending you surveys via your phone.
*NOTE - I am a panelist for a few companies, and I get surveys sent to my email a few times per day. Having a secondary email address is helpful! - You will receive points for completing surveys and exchange them for freebies, gift cards, coupons, discounts, and sometimes cash for your participation.
There are several survey panel companies where you can become a panelist and be part of the market research industry. Focusgroups.org is one of the top companies to choose. Some more examples are:
Nielsen Computer and Mobile Panel
Nielsen Computer and Mobile Panel (Spanish)
A Final Thought
Market research is a necessary part of business and the consumer world we live in. All of us, as consumers, can make a difference by voicing our opinions. Becoming a panelist for a survey panelist company can be fun, rewarding, and helps companies determine what to create, invent, upgrade, and bring to market. If you haven't considered participating as a panelist before, maybe you will now? You can earn rewards, have fun, and give your opinion all at the same time!
Jeanne Bellew
Jeanne is a content writer and customer service advocate. Through her 25+ years of writing for entrepreneurial companies, she developed the skills and expertise to support business goals. She reflects on the company’s mission, ideals, and voice and provides content that engages and influences a reader. In addition, Jeanne’s operational expertise in running businesses and satisfying customers enables her to understand a company’s vision and take direction to contribute to the outcomes desired, both increasing public identity and financially.