how to conduct market research
the first step to effective market research is to determine the goals of the study each study should seek to answer a clear well defined problem for example a company might seek to identify consumer preferences brand recognition or the comparative effectiveness of different types of ad campaigns after that the next step is to determine who will be included in the research market research is an expensive process and a company cannot waste resources collecting unnecessary data the firm should decide in advance which types of consumers will be included in the research and how the data will be collected they should also account for the probability of statistical errors or sampling bias the next step is to collect the data and analyze the results if the two previous steps have been completed accurately this should be straightforward the researchers will collect the results of their study keeping track of the ages gender and other relevant data of each respondent this is then analyzed in a marketing report that explains the results of their research the last step is for company executives to use their market research to make business decisions depending on the results of their research they may choose to target a different group of consumers or they may change their price point or some product features the results of these changes may eventually be measured in further market research and the process will begin all over again benefits of market researchmarket research is essential for developing brand loyalty and customer satisfaction since it is unlikely for a product to appeal equally to every consumer a strong market research program can help identify the key demographics and market segments that are most likely to use a given product market research is also important for developing a company s advertising efforts for example if a company s market research determines that its consumers are more likely to use facebook than x formerly twitter it can then target its advertisements to one platform instead of another or if they determine that their target market is value sensitive rather than price sensitive they can work on improving the product rather than reducing their prices market research only works when subjects are honest and open to participating example of market researchmany companies use market research to test new products or get information from consumers about what kinds of products or services they need and don t currently have for example a company that s considering starting a business might conduct market research to test the viability of its product or service if the market research confirms consumer interest the business can proceed confidently with its business plan if not the company can use the results of the market research to make adjustments to the product to bring it in line with customer desires 