Today, it has become quintessential for businesses to understand the fact that the concept of marketing has evolved and become more consumer-centric. Satisfaction is now the new aim of marketing, and to achieve this, companies need an appropriate marketing research process in place.
With constant changes becoming the new norm in business activities, the only thing that remains constant is the need for establishing an effective marketing research process. Every marketing research process helps companies to evaluate market opportunities and make business decisions based on hard facts. It is, therefore, the backbone of every successful business initiative. However, today we see that most companies prefer to cut costs when it comes to a marketing research process since it is resource-intensive. While this may not be the best business decision, most companies have started following this logic during product or service launches. Marketing research doesn’t always have to be an expensive affair, as many start-ups have shown if companies are following the right set of protocols.
We believe a roust marketing research process is crucial for business success, hence we offer targeted solutions to help you improve your business processes. Request a free proposal to gain data-driven insights from our experts.
So, without further ado, let’s look at some of the best ways companies can improve their marketing research process:
- Define “YOUR” problem
[spacer height=”20px”]This is perhaps one of the most critical steps in establishing a good marketing research process. In this step, companies have to define the scope and aim of their research. This would help businesses determine the information that they need and how they can go about collating that information. Properly defining the scope of the marketing research process can help business stakeholders to deal with the overarching business challenge, such as loss of market share or how to market products or services to a specific sub-segment of users.
Developing questionnaires that cover your business challenge and examining the actual cause of these issues can help businesses to filter out unnecessary data. To effectively define “YOUR” problem, take into account as many variables and their causes, respectively.
- Plan your research
[spacer height=”20px”]Once the first step has been completed. The next task involves the process of planning an extensive research approach. This marketing research process can only be carried out once the preliminary step of establishing the research scope has been completed. The research plan or approach can be overwhelming to create since it includes steps and methodologies that can help answer or explore the opportunities uncovered in the first step. Every research technique comprises of the following:
– Interviewing potential customers to obtain feedback
– Conducting surveys with industry stakeholders to gain industry insights
– A/B testing on your businesses’ website to understand customers’ perception
- Data collection
[spacer height=”20px”]In every marketing research process, the data collection step is the most important. The data which is collected can exist in two forms, qualitative and quantitative. An ideal data mix should consist of both observational and descriptive data. However, a key thing to note here is the fact that the data should be unbiased and valid, otherwise the insights obtained will not be effective. Contact us to gain accurate insights on the benefits of data collection and analysis.
- Data analysis and reporting
[spacer height=”20px”]Once the steps mentioned above have been completed, the next step in the marketing research process is data analysis. For many, this is the fun part, as the insights uncovered may open your eyes to a whole new realm of possibilities. That being said, it’s crucial for data scientists to remain unbiased and not make assumptions based on their preferences.
One of the best practices for a successful marketing research process is to summarize all the findings into a single document and include all of the steps that were followed to come to that conclusion. To get rid of ambiguity, it is also advisable for data analysts to mention recommendations based on the findings.
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