Market research is designed to answer your most challenging business and organizational questions. Depending on your objectives and needs, market research can address a variety of different topics. These can include customer and non-customer objectives. They can also address current market or growth market objectives.
What are some of the common items organizations like to address with market research? In this post, we'll cover some of the main drivers as to why companies choose to embark on market research. It's questions like these that get right to the core of the value of market research.
Searching for answers on market research? Or looking for some guidance with market research FAQs? You've come to the right market research blog.
Market research can address your most strategic questions to provide you data and facts to assist with next steps. Market research provides the confidence in your decision-making to make sure the next steps and actions you take are the right ones.
Here are answers to your market research FAQs.
FAQ 1: Do you know what segments of customers are your most valuable?
A segmentation study can prove valuable to an organization. This type of market research helps you create personas and buckets of customers that are most valuable to your business. It will assess which 20% of your customers produce 80% of your sales (the old 80-20 rule). Better understanding your segments helps your marketing team take next steps with results: who to target, what message to use, and where to target to them.
FAQ 2: Do you know why your customers buy or do not buy from you?
This addresses key drivers. What are the main reason(s) customers choose to buy from your brand, organization, or company? Is there a reason customers stopped purchasing from you? A simple customer satisfaction firm survey can address this core objective. It helps you understand motivations and drivers to purchase (or non-purchase).
FAQ 3: Do you know your awareness, image, and perception in the market?
This can be tackled through an Image & Awareness study. This survey goes out to the general community of consumers or business professionals. In the survey, you test awareness, image, and perception through a series of questions. It offers answers like 80% are aware of your brand, here are the 3 words that come to mind that consumers associate with your brand, and your brand has a 64% positive association. How do you compare?
FAQ 4: Do you know what factor(s) matter most to your customers?
It is important to know what is important to your customers or clients. Without knowing why they choose a product or service it is impossible to create effective marketing. By conducting a simple survey to grade importance of several factors, it is easier to work these messages into your marketing. If you knew price was most important to customers, how would you change your marketing scheme to address it?
FAQ 5: What are your customers most frustrated with?
Any good customer satisfaction survey firm not only addresses what you are best at but also what needs to be improved. These become pain points or frustration points of your customers that cause them to leave your company or brand. It is critical to measure these to understand what drives customers away and then work to improve them.
FAQ 6: Do you know what markets/segments provide an opportunity for growth?
To grow an organization, market research can help identify the areas or markets that provide the highest potential. These market surveys go in and analyze an area's demographics, competitive landscape, and often conduct a survey to understand appeal of users. These feasibility studies can provide a lot of value.
FAQ 7: Do you know how loyal and happy your employees are?
With so much focus on customer surveys and customer market research, do not forget about employees. Research shows that happy employees impact happy customers. Understanding drivers to loyalty at your organization, what employees like and dislike is critical to your HR team. They can review this data and take action to improve.
FAQ 8: What are your competitive differentiators in your business?
Lacking an outside perspective can prove harmful for an organization. Assessing and understanding the competition is helpful. Not only does it provide competitive insight into how others in the market pitch their companies but it will also help your organization understand how to separate and differentiate your product or service.
FAQ 9: How has your customer satisfaction changed over the years?
All organizations want continual improvement. Status quo is not good enough. Organizations should measure key performance indicators (KPIs) like net promoter score (NPS) and customer effort score (CES) on a yearly basis or even more frequently. If your customer satisfaction (CSAT) ratings take a dip, your management team will be provided with data to take action. Market research helps you understand whether you are heading in the right direction or not.
FAQ 10: How loyal are your customers?
We covered loyalty of employees. Now let's cover loyalty of customers. Do they use competitors? How much of their spend is going to your company? In the financial services realm this is called "share of wallet". Do your customers plan to stay with you for a long time or is there a high likelihood to switch? Find out using market research.
FAQ 11: Are you taking action with any data or research you have in-house?
Many of the organizations our customer satisfaction firm deals with have tons of data in-house through CRM tools or other contact databases. These resources are goldmines to pull consumer insights. Market research firms can help you identify and use those data sources you already have information for. They can help you maximize the value of your in-house tools and integrate new survey data tied to those records.
Contact Drive Research
Drive Research is a customer satisfaction firm located in Syracuse, NY. We work with organizations across the country to assist them with their market research needs.
Contact us at [email protected] or call us at 315-303-2040.