When conducting market research for your business whether it’s for an idea, current service/product, or for testing hypotheses it’s ideal to start off with options that let you gather data quickly to use for decision making.
Two high level options to choose from are syndicated market research and custom market research. Both will allow you to get answers to questions you might have using real data from the market or industry.
While both are effective, there are differences between syndicated and custom research and their outcomes.
While syndicated can help with certain data points, custom usually tackles and uncovers more specific answers and data that can’t be found elsewhere.
In the rest of this article, we’ll walk through which one is best for your business needs.
What is Syndicated Market Research?
Syndicated research typically refers to the type of research that is general data collected and put into a report by a market research firm.
The data tends to align with a specific industry and be relevant to that industry (such as our cannabis syndicated report for example).
The data that the firm puts together is typically owned by them as a company but sold as a report to other companies interested in the research.
Syndicated research is typically general-interest level data inside an industry and probably answers some common questions that might arise specific to it.
Also usually the report is complete once companies purchase it. So while buyers can ask for more info or certain things be added to the report, most of the time the data collection stage is over and the report is how it is when it’s bought.
What's Included With Syndicated Market Research
The important things to take into account about syndicated market research are the inputs and outputs.
Knowing exactly what goes into a syndicated report or market research study can help you understand more of what you can get out of it as a company.
Some key inputs are:
- The data is typically funded by the firm doing the research. It can be funded by a group of clients, but is usually meant to be more general research to be packaged and sold as raw data later
- The scope of the project and it’s goals are dictated by the firm doing the project
- It typically analyzes broad and general information for a given industry or market, typically described as exploratory research
The outputs of syndicated market research then are:
- The data is considered secondary data for any company that purchases and analyzes it - since the firm that carries out the project owns the data
- The report/data is the same for all parties that purchase or observe it
- It tends to be more large sample sizes with a focus on quantitative data
- Syndicated research and reports can give great overview and high-level info before digging deeper into a market or more in-depth project
Pros & Cons of Syndicated Market Research
While syndicated data can be helpful and in certain situations be the solution to the problem, it’s not always a fit.
Since customers don’t own the data and might have more questions, it’s something to consider as a first stage of research or at the beginning of a project.
Learn more about the pros and cons below.
Pros of Syndicated Market Research
One of the main pros is that it’s very cost effective. Compared to what a custom project would cost, a syndicated project costs much less to parties that are purchasing a report or data to use.
In our experience at Drive Research, it helps companies observe trends in the industry and allows for general predictions to be formed off of the data. It’s also useful to view competitors in the market at an overview.
It is great to use for forming research hypotheses and create larger scale research projects based on the insights that draw from one of these reports.
We at Drive Research have created these reports to help companies get a general sense of the market and use it to help formulate their marketing strategies.
Cons of Syndicated Research
While it can be a great asset to use, there are some drawbacks to this type of research.
Firstly, companies that purchase this data often have no control over how the project was carried out. Neither it’s methodology or goals can be directed by those looking at the finished report.
Since it’s general information, it may not answer specific questions that your company might have when looking into the industry.
Even if it is an ideal starting point it can sometimes leave your company with more questions than answers.
Another thing to consider is that even if the data is of high quality and reputation, without someone that is able to interpret the data properly, it might not mean anything to or be able to help your company at all.
Lastly, because companies that purchase it don’t own the data they are somewhat limited by what they can do with the data. Not to mention, your competitors also have the ability to purchase and look at the same data.
How AI & Automation Affect Syndicated Market Research
Since syndicated market research is general research that already exists at its core, does that mean AI and automation processes replace syndicated market research?
The truth is that no, companies & businesses will always be able to benefit from syndicated market research.
The process that syndicated is gathered may change (likely benefit) from the current landscape of AI and automation. Instead of manually gathering data and filtering it, machine learning or artificial intelligence can replace the process of gathering quality data.
The important thing to think about is after gathering the data to use for syndicated research, aka interpreting it to be able to use it. That step in the process is hard to replicate with AI or automation.
Currently, you’ll still need a market research team to look at the data to give high level insights to be able to use it for business decisions. Often, AI or machines will give insights that are incorrect or possibly misleading.
Recommended Reading: AI in Market Research: Do's and Don'ts
What is Custom Market Research?
Custom market research is what we do the most here at Drive Research.
It typically is market research that is done for and funded by one specific company. The goals and direction line up with what the company is looking for specifically and aims to help them directly.
The company or client, with the help of a market research company, has control over the procedures and the project itself including everything from methodologies to data reporting.
Everything in between like survey questions, audiences used, and sample size is all dictated by the company funding it and their goals.
Custom research is much better for in-depth research and advanced research projects since it can answer all of those specific questions that a company might have.
It is also owned entirely by the company funding it so they are able to do anything they want with the data - including not sharing it with others or making it public.
What's Included With Custom Market Research
Generally, most market research projects are more geared towards custom projects.
Since custom work is specific to a particular client and their goals, much more can be taken away from the project by them.
That’s because the data collected in the project is owned by the client or company funding it and the results are much more helpful to them in a deeper way than surface level insights.
Not to mention that at the end of a custom market research project the data can be interpreted and insights can be added by the market research firm assisting with the project (which is much harder with general data or without an expert).
Pros & Cons of Custom Market Research
Pros of Custom Market Research
Custom market research has a several advantages to it.
Typically when a company needs in-depth information about a specific market or industry, custom research is usually the perfect answer for getting those insights. It’s great for advanced level data that companies need in order to move their business decisions forward.
Like we mentioned, the companies that pay for custom market research actually own the data instead of the firm owning the data in syndicated research. That means the data doesn’t exist anywhere else and is unique to the company that funded it and they don’t have to share it.
A big advantage for custom market research is that more in-depth insights can be given from the market research company that is collecting the data for their client.
It also means that the data is higher quality in custom market research when compared to secondary research. There’s not a lot of irrelevant data points that have to be skipped - all of it is relevant.
Essentially, it’s much faster to reach the end goal of being able to use hard data for business and marketing strategy.
Cons of Custom Market Research
There are some disadvantages to custom market research. It does tend to come with a higher cost than syndicated, depending on the project your company intends to create.
It also is by comparison, a longer timeframe since usually with syndicated research the data is already ready and available when companies purchase it.
A full-scope market research project can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months depending on the type of methodology and the choice of market research company.
Which One You Should Use For Your Company?
While both are great and have their perks, they are typically used for different purposes in market research.
Understanding your goals and objectives can help you decide on which one you need to use. Don’t forget budget will also play a role in deciding.
When to Use Syndicated Research
Syndicated research can provide great general market information that can be applied by a number of different companies and be helpful.
Usually for more general market data and overview, syndicated is a much better option short term. It can provide more answers to general market questions and is fast and competitively priced.
It’s something that we’ve used at Drive Research to help companies get a hold on the market and works great for that purpose.
When to Use Custom Market Research
If you’re a company needing deeper-level insights or answers to specific questions, custom research has always been a better fit for that.
Also if you’ve done and tried exploratory market research but you need more, the only way to get more is by developing your own project for further insights (which custom is great for).
FAQ About Syndicated vs. Custom Market Research
What is the difference between syndicated and proprietary research?
The basic difference between these two types of research is who owns the data and what the goals of the research are. Custom research is funded and conducted for a specific company and so the results are owned by them and are unique only to them. However, in whereas syndicated projects - typically the research firm owns the data and the results are more general to the overall market.
Contact Our Market Research Company
Drive Research is a full-service market research company, specializing in customer quantitative and qualitative methodologies. We also partner with organizations looking to create syndicated market research or white label market research.
Contact our team today to learn more about our services and pricing.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Austin Parker
Austin has an extensive background in SEO as he's been blogging since 16 years old back when the internet was in its infancy. As fitting, he holds a Bachelor's degree in English with a concentration in creative writing.
Learn more about Austin, here.
