How to conduct an effective Market Research
Before starting any new project, it is important to get a taste of what’s out there first. If you’re launching a new product for instance, you have to know if that product is really needed, because if it’s not, well … You’ll fail before having even started. Everything that revolves around what you are selling needs to be backed up by some research - how well are your competitors doing, is your product in demand, where is your audience most active and how you can reach them etc. But where and how do you start? Here at Mint Stalk, market research is part of our daily activities. Just like any other leading digital marketing agency, we have conducted countless market research for our clients and we are here to guide you through it.
To put it simply, market research is the process of examining an industry’s buyers. It’s all about getting information from a larger sample size of your target audience and eliminating biases on your side in order to get to the heart of consumer attitudes so you can draw a more accurate picture and make better business decisions. You have to engage in the right data to be able to predict what will happen next. Even though it could take up to several weeks to build a highly accurate picture of your environment, doing this step can help you answer questions about the state of the market in which you operate - it’s totally worth it as it helps you pinpoint gaps where you could excel at and make sound decisions based on both your experience and the data. As a leading digital marketing agency based in Dubai, we have conducted enough market research and we understand a few more things than you when it comes to research and here are 2 important things to keep in mind:
Your competitors most probably have access to the same types of resources as you do. You have to demarcate and try your best to look beyond the surface information that is given to you and seek a larger sample size to answer all your requests more in depth.
Your customers are not representative of the attitudes of the entire market. They simply represent the common attitudes of the people who are already drawn to what you have to offer, so focus on those key points rather than generic descriptions.
Here are some examples of insights you can gain from market research:
Consumer attitudes: what is their stance about a particular product, brand or topic. What are they researching, what are they talking about on the web, what pages do they follow etc.
Is there a demand for the business initiative you’re investing in.
Where to advertise.
Attitudes about pricing, so you can try to be more competitive.
There are 2 different types of market research you can approach: qualitative and quantitative, depending on the studies you want to conduct and the kind of metrics you would like to know more about. Qualitative (as its name indicates) revolves around the quality of something rather than its quantity. It’s not measured in terms of numbers but rather in a descriptive way, such as consumers’ feelings about a particular product. An example of that are reviews and general feedback, or even a name and place of origin. It has more to do with language than anything else. Quantitative is more straightforward, easier to compile and involves numerical data such as age, number of products bought, amount of money spent etc. Here at Mint Stalk, we are very familiar with both and can help you understand the process a little better.
Here are different types of studies you can conduct for an effective market research:
Focus Group and Interviews (Qualitative):
One on one conversations and interviews are great to get a firsthand look at what people genuinely think about a certain topic. Interviews can be done over the phone or face-to-face, helping draw your buyer personas more accurately around metrics such as family size, budget, spending habits, overall lifestyle etc. This can help when shaping your marketing strategy and how to speak to your audience more accurately. For example, what important features to put forward on your website, what tone of voice to use, what images are more appropriate. Focus groups work the same - the main difference is that you regroup a large number of people who have at least one element of your buyer person in common (e.g. job title). This way, you can gather meaningful direct feedback from various people at the same time, giving you valuable insight on how to differentiate yourself.
Survey and Secondary data (Quantitative):
Surveys are usually more useful after your customers have already performed an action like a purchase or downloaded some content from your website. It often helps determine their satisfaction level and helps you improve on certain aspects such as your client service or the actual product. Examples include questions such as “On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with your purchase” or “What is your age group” etc. All the examples mentioned above are primary data as they come from the source itself. Secondary data on the other hand is the data available that is out there and available to everyone. For example, your competitors’ website is a form of secondary data, as well as reports, newspaper articles, research papers and so on! It provides a great overview of the marketplace and helps you position yourself amongst your competitors.
Surveys are by far the most commonly used method, but interviews are the most insightful. Focus groups can be tricky to manage if you don’t organise it properly and secondary data are not always available or 100 % accurate. Depending on the types of answers you are looking for, you have to:
Identify and define your business problem (what are you trying to find out);
State your research objectives (what do you expect to find);
Design the research (the types of questions you will ask to your audience - they have to be as specific as possible);
Plan the samples (who will you ask);
Gather the data;
Process and analyse the data.
Formulate your conclusion and finalise the report.
As a leading digital marketing agency operating in the UAE, most of our partners rely on our work for those kinds of research as we have the expertise and tools to conduct a successful market research - we know the right questions to ask and how to approach the whole process from an objective standpoint. With people spending more and more time online, it’s becoming easier to reach them and platforms such as Facebook allow you to gather a lot of data already from the people who follow your business. One advice from us is to not be too intrusive or forceful with your data gathering - calling people on their personal mobile is not really appreciated nowadays, so allow people to sign up by themselves or offer them a discount if they take the time to answer your survey as a form of appreciation. And that’s it from us!
