Companies shouldn’t underestimate the virtue of solid market research. Many successful new companies can enjoy market durability due to regularly performed market research that offers insights about their market, consumer problems, and competitors.
Though market research can be conducted at any stage in the business lifecycle, a clear understanding of the market from the very beginning helps establish a strategy for brand growth.
Businesses also need to figure out and define their unique goals for successful market research:
Primary Market Research
- Sale effectiveness
- Measuring service quality offered by the competition
- Identifying competitor communication channels
- Measuring active competition in the market
Secondary Market Research
- Published company data reports
- Existing studies or surveys
- Newspaper reports
- Government Information
Market Research Process
- Analyze if any similar research has already been conducted.
- Study the existing data that meets your goals.
- Decide how any existing data can be used and who will use it.
- Figure out if your company needs to perform primary market research, and if not, decide who will conduct it.
Market research helps new businesses understand the way their customers think so that they can be converted into champions of your brand. Typically, there are three types of customers:
- 01 Smart ShopperUsually wants to find the best available value for their buck and are usually informed about competitor pricing.
- 02 InfluencerEducated about your target market and is in a position to influence other customers that value their opinion and insights.
- 03 End UserRegularly uses your products and services and are the perfect candidate for primary market research.
When to Begin Market Entry Research
To sidestep issues like wasting internal resources, money, and time, businesses need a new product development strategy (NPD) that helps avoid:
- Launching a weak product.
- Mispricing products.
- Ineffectively allocating resources and budgets.
- Exposing your company to competitor threats.
Here are some critical steps for planning an NPD strategy:
- Define your product.
- Identify market needs.
- Establish development and implementation timeframes for your product.
- Pinpoint key challenges and develop appropriate approaches for your customers.
How to Conduct Research and Identify at Which Stage a Market Research Agency Should be Approached
Diagrams 1 and two above illustrate a specific methodology involved in the market research process, along with an example of the six-step process, respectively:
- 01 Defining Goals and the ProblemThis stage is when you must figure out what the core question is that market research can help you answer. Usually, it’s a business opportunity or problem that requires action and helps keep research heading in the right direction.
- 02 Figuring Out a Research DesignEnables businesses to plan the market research method, which might be a focus group or survey. Also includes selecting your sample of research customers and the research method like mail, in person, or the internet. It’s based on what type of data needs to be collected:
- Exploratory ResearchPerfect for when the topic isn’t well defined or understood, and the knowledge base is limited.
- Descriptive ResearchProduces detailed information through quantitative research, with the objective of evaluating targeted topics.
- Causal ResearchTest or experimental research phase that helps identify the relationship between different variables, such as a possible connection between sales and store ambiance.
- 03 Creating the Research ToolStarts with preparing a questionnaire, aligning a focus group, or gathering materials for a moderator, all dependent on the tools determined in step 2.
- 04 Data CollectionAll the insights gathered and recorded in this step are vital in the conclusions that you’ll draw.
- 05 Data AnalyzationTurns raw data into actionable insights, summaries, and reports that help define trends and inform decision making.
- 06 Data Visualization and CommunicationTransforms insights into a meaningful way of interpreting market research, and includes showing answers, recommendations, and insights in a way that helps support decision makers.
How to Interpret the Research Data in New Product Development
