Knowledge is power and market research is key to the success (or failure) of your business. After all, how can you effectively plan if you don’t understand your audience or competition? How can you deliver unique value if you don’t know what your audience wants or values? Or what the competition is offering?
So, here are a few key ingredients for better market research – let me know what you would add or remove from the list!
Have a clear goal to drive actionable findings.
“I want to understand my customers” is nice but vague. What exactly do you want to understand about your customers? What do you plan to do with the information – create new products? Add or eliminate services? Raise or lower prices?
Focus. Limit the scope of your research. Don’t try to do too much. Sometimes you need multiple research projects to deal with what you need to learn – so do it right versus try to do too much.
And remember that the end result needs to be “Now I know what I need to do to improve…”
Realize change happens so research is on-going not ‘one off’
Pretty straight-forward here…you need to have a plan that goes beyond a single research project. Otherwise, you miss signals that would help you see things coming down the road and you will end up being run over by them.
Talk to the right number of people
The human factor is key – it’s great to read available information but talking with real people will get you so much more because people love to talk. Ask a question, sit back and listen – chances are you will get much more than you thought.
That said, the key questions are “Who” and “How many”.
Who you speak with is driven by your goals. If your goal is to understand how the new product met the needs of buyers, you obviously know you need to speak with people that bought the new product…
As for quantity, you could talk to everyone (census) or a select few (sampling) - it just depends on your audience size and little things like budget and time. If you decide to sample, check out the free sample size calculator available here.
Gather what you need – no more.
Always ask ‘is this necessary’ and make sure that everything you ask and gather is relevant to your goal. First, it costs time and money to gather information so be frugal. Second, when it comes to surveys and in-depth interviews, you need to respect the respondent’s time and realize that [a] they can walk away at anytime, and [b] they will expect you to address everything that you ask which could lead to disappointment later on.
Have you ever completed a survey that asked questions that got you thinking “Wow, if they offer that, I am going to buy a lot more from them!” And have you ever felt disappointed when, a few months later, you remember the survey and wonder why nothing you shared with them seems to have been used?
Communicate your findings.
First, let the respondents know what you found out and how you will use the information. When you do this, you avoid the potential for disappointment I mentioned above and you build a strong bond with the respondent which is great for building long-term relationships.
And remember to share the findings and recommendations within your organization so people can learn and share the vision.
