market research objectives marketing

How to Write a Marketing Research Objective

We all know the old adage: is marketing is an art or a science?

At Seer, we think it’s both. But not necessarily both at the same time. We believe the better question is: which comes first in marketing, art or science?

And if you ask us that question, we’d tell you it’s a science first.

"The science of marketing is all about using data and insights to drive your strategy. The art of marketing is how you express that strategy."

Now that we know we are starting with science, what does that mean exactly?

Well, remember when you were in school and you had to come up with your own science research experiment? Remember what came first? The objective. Why? Because without an objective, you don’t have a testable proposition. And without a testable proposition, you don’t have direction. And we all know that when research doesn’t have a direction, it typically doesn’t garner any groundbreaking takeaways.

So, what does your high school science experiment have to do with marketing research?

Similar to the traditional objective, a great marketing research plan starts with a strong objective. One that is focused, measurable, and effective. Without a clear objective, your marketing research will not be as successful.

What is a Marketing Research Objective?

[TIP] By definition, a "Research Objective" is a statement of purpose that outlines a specific result to achieve within a dedicated time frame and available resources.

Applying this logic to marketing, a marketing research objective is a statement that outlines what you want to know about your customer. Clearly defining your objective at the beginning stages will help you avoid conflicting expectations or wasted collecting irrelevant data.

How Do You Create a Marketing Research Objective?

Start at the end. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but if you start with the desired outcome, you will be able to create a more focused objective. What’s the one thing you want to be able to take away from this research? What do you plan to do with the information? What does success look like? Use this objective as your compass while you navigate your research and analysis.

Typically, it’s easiest to do this in the form of a question. Here are a few examples.

Example 1: Which features in Product X are most important to our Enterprise customers?

This question will give you a list of features, in order of importance, for your Enterprise customer.

Example 2: What are the different search triggers amongst our four customer segments?

This question will result in a list of common factors that result in users searching for Service Y.

When you start seeing all the data points, behaviors, and survey responses - curiosity can set in.

An abundance of data can pull you in multiple directions because each finding is interesting in its own right. That’s when your objective comes in. Know the end result you are working toward and stay on that path.

Creating a Research Objective

Once you’ve got your desired outcome, you’ll want to create your objective. A few things to consider as you create your statement:

Where does this fit into your marketing strategy? Where does this objective fit into your larger marketing strategy? Not only is this helpful when dispersing information internally or getting buy-in, it keeps the research team focused on the higher business objectives attached to this research. Is this part of your company’s focus on brand awareness? A new product launch? An analysis of competitors? These are all very different things.
Include your target audience. Typically, it’s difficult to understand everything with every user segment so pick which segment you plan to analyze. Is it your Enterprise customers? Customers living in a specific region? A certain demographic segment? Including this in your objective will be a helpful gut check when choosing participants.
What will you measure? You don’t need to list out all of the data points you plan to measure, but there should be some measurable element in your objective. Is it sentiment? Are you looking for frequencies? What about behavioral trends? Including this in your objective will ensure you pick the most appropriate research methodology to acquire that measurable element.
A behavior. What is the behavior or action that we are going to be researching? Is navigating your website? Is it purchasing a product? Is it clicking on an ad?

Let’s look at some examples:

Common Marketing Research Objective Pitfalls

While creating an objective may seem relatively straightforward, it can be easy to get wrong. Let’s go over some of the common pitfalls.

Objective is Too Broad

Now, if you follow the outline above, this shouldn’t be an issue because it forces you to get granular with your objective.

Specific: As part of our rebranding, we are conducting a sentiment analysis with our recurring customers
Broad: As part of our rebranding, we will ask customers how they feel about it

We want to avoid broad objectives because they can allow curiosity to get the best of us and a once seemingly clear research project can get muddied.

More Than One Objective

Every research project should have one objective and one objective only. Again, while this may seem easy enough to manage, you’d be surprised just how easy it is to sneak those secondary and tertiary objectives into your statement.

One objective: We aim to understand what questions our customers have when considering purchasing a car
Two objectives: We aim to understand what questions our customers have when searching for and considering a car

You see, the questions customers may have when searching for a car could be completely different than the questions they have when considering purchasing a car.

Making Assumptions

Avoid making your objective into a hypothesis with absolute statements and assumptions. Your objective should be more of a question than a prediction. That comes later.

Objective: Uncover the purchase journey of our target demographic
Assumption: Uncover what part search plays in the purchase journey of our target demographic

This looks unsuspecting, but in reality, we're already assuming that search plays a role in our audience's journey. That could sway the focus of the research.

Once you’ve created your objective, let it (and only it) drive the beginning stages of your marketing research.

Write it on a post-it and stick it on your desk, write it on the whiteboard at every meeting you have, keep it top of mind as you continue your research. It will serve as a compass and help you avoid being led astray by interesting data, curious colleagues, and conflicting agendas.

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Market Research: A How-To Guide and Template

Discover the different types of market research, how to conduct your own market research, and use a free template to help you along the way.

MARKET RESEARCH KIT

5 Research and Planning Templates + a Free Guide on How to Use Them in Your Market Research

Updated: 02/21/24

Published: 02/21/24

Today's consumers have a lot of power. As a business, you must have a deep understanding of who your buyers are and what influences their purchase decisions.

Enter: Market Research.

Whether you're new to market research or not, I created this guide to help you conduct a thorough study of your market, target audience, competition, and more. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

What is market research?

Primary vs. secondary research, types of market research, how to do market research, market research report template, market research examples.

Market research is the process of gathering information about your target market and customers to verify the success of a new product, help your team iterate on an existing product, or understand brand perception to ensure your team is effectively communicating your company's value effectively.

Market research can answer various questions about the state of an industry. But if you ask me, it's hardly a crystal ball that marketers can rely on for insights on their customers.

Market researchers investigate several areas of the market, and it can take weeks or even months to paint an accurate picture of the business landscape.

However, researching just one of those areas can make you more intuitive to who your buyers are and how to deliver value that no other business is offering them right now.

How? Consider these two things:

Your competitors also have experienced individuals in the industry and a customer base. It‘s very possible that your immediate resources are, in many ways, equal to those of your competition’s immediate resources. Seeking a larger sample size for answers can provide a better edge.
Your customers don't represent the attitudes of an entire market. They represent the attitudes of the part of the market that is already drawn to your brand.

The market research services market is growing rapidly, which signifies a strong interest in market research as we enter 2024. The market is expected to grow from roughly $75 billion in 2021 to $90.79 billion in 2025 .

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Why do market research?

Market research allows you to meet your buyer where they are.

As our world becomes louder and demands more of our attention, this proves invaluable.

By understanding your buyer's problems, pain points, and desired solutions, you can aptly craft your product or service to naturally appeal to them.

Market research also provides insight into the following:

Where your target audience and current customers conduct their product or service research
Which of your competitors your target audience looks to for information, options, or purchases
What's trending in your industry and in the eyes of your buyer
Who makes up your market and what their challenges are
What influences purchases and conversions among your target audience
Consumer attitudes about a particular topic, pain, product, or brand
Whether there‘s demand for the business initiatives you’re investing in
Unaddressed or underserved customer needs that can be flipped into selling opportunity
Attitudes about pricing for a particular product or service

Ultimately, market research allows you to get information from a larger sample size of your target audience, eliminating bias and assumptions so that you can get to the heart of consumer attitudes.

As a result, you can make better business decisions.

To give you an idea of how extensive market research can get , consider that it can either be qualitative or quantitative in nature — depending on the studies you conduct and what you're trying to learn about your industry.

Qualitative research is concerned with public opinion, and explores how the market feels about the products currently available in that market.

Quantitative research is concerned with data, and looks for relevant trends in the information that's gathered from public records.

That said, there are two main types of market research that your business can conduct to collect actionable information on your products: primary research and secondary research.

Primary Research

Primary research is the pursuit of first-hand information about your market and the customers within your market.

It's useful when segmenting your market and establishing your buyer personas.

Primary market research tends to fall into one of two buckets:

Exploratory Primary Research: This kind of primary market research normally takes place as a first step — before any specific research has been performed — and may involve open-ended interviews or surveys with small numbers of people.
Specific Primary Research: This type of research often follows exploratory research. In specific research, you take a smaller or more precise segment of your audience and ask questions aimed at solving a suspected problem.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is all the data and public records you have at your disposal to draw conclusions from (e.g. trend reports, market statistics, industry content, and sales data you already have on your business).

Secondary research is particularly useful for analyzing your competitors . The main buckets your secondary market research will fall into include:

Public Sources: These sources are your first and most-accessible layer of material when conducting secondary market research. They're often free to find and review — like government statistics (e.g., from the U.S. Census Bureau ).
Commercial Sources: These sources often come in the form of pay-to-access market reports, consisting of industry insight compiled by a research agency like Pew , Gartner , or Forrester .
Internal Sources: This is the market data your organization already has like average revenue per sale, customer retention rates, and other historical data that can help you draw conclusions on buyer needs.
Focus Groups
Product/ Service Use Research
Observation-Based Research
Buyer Persona Research
Market Segmentation Research
Pricing Research
Competitive Analysis Research
Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research
Brand Awareness Research
Campaign Research

1. Interviews

Interviews allow for face-to-face discussions so you can allow for a natural flow of conversation. Your interviewees can answer questions about themselves to help you design your buyer personas and shape your entire marketing strategy.

2. Focus Groups

Focus groups provide you with a handful of carefully-selected people that can test out your product and provide feedback. This type of market research can give you ideas for product differentiation.

3. Product/Service Use Research

Product or service use research offers insight into how and why your audience uses your product or service. This type of market research also gives you an idea of the product or service's usability for your target audience.

4. Observation-Based Research

Observation-based research allows you to sit back and watch the ways in which your target audience members go about using your product or service, what works well in terms of UX , and which aspects of it could be improved.

5. Buyer Persona Research

Buyer persona research gives you a realistic look at who makes up your target audience, what their challenges are, why they want your product or service, and what they need from your business or brand.

6. Market Segmentation Research

Market segmentation research allows you to categorize your target audience into different groups (or segments) based on specific and defining characteristics. This way, you can determine effective ways to meet their needs.

7. Pricing Research

Pricing research helps you define your pricing strategy . It gives you an idea of what similar products or services in your market sell for and what your target audience is willing to pay.

8. Competitive Analysis

Competitive analyses give you a deep understanding of the competition in your market and industry. You can learn about what's doing well in your industry and how you can separate yourself from the competition .

9. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

Customer satisfaction and loyalty research gives you a look into how you can get current customers to return for more business and what will motivate them to do so (e.g., loyalty programs , rewards, remarkable customer service).

10. Brand Awareness Research

Brand awareness research tells you what your target audience knows about and recognizes from your brand. It tells you about the associations people make when they think about your business.

11. Campaign Research

Campaign research entails looking into your past campaigns and analyzing their success among your target audience and current customers. The goal is to use these learnings to inform future campaigns.

Define your buyer persona.
Identify a persona group to engage.
Prepare research questions for your market research participants.
List your primary competitors.
Summarize your findings.

1. Define your buyer persona.

You have to understand who your customers are and how customers in your industry make buying decisions.

This is where your buyer personas come in handy. Buyer personas — sometimes referred to as marketing personas — are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers.

Use a free tool to create a buyer persona that your entire company can use to market, sell, and serve better.

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26 Tools & Resources for Conducting Market Research

What is a Competitive Analysis — and How Do You Conduct One?

SWOT Analysis: How To Do One [With Template & Examples]

TAM, SAM & SOM: What Do They Mean & How Do You Calculate Them?

How to Run a Competitor Analysis [Free Guide]

5 Challenges Marketers Face in Understanding Audiences [New Data + Market Researcher Tips]

Causal Research: The Complete Guide

Total Addressable Market (TAM): What It Is & How You Can Calculate It

What Is Market Share & How Do You Calculate It?

3 Ways Data Privacy Changes Benefit Marketers [New Data]

Free Guide & Templates to Help Your Market Research

Marketing software that helps you drive revenue, save time and resources, and measure and optimize your investments — all on one easy-to-use platform

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A Basic Guide to Defining Your Market Research Goals

by Caitlin Stewart , on May 29, 2014

market research process, featured on www.blog.marketresearch.com

1. Define the problem or opportunity and state your objectives

When creating a new goal, it is important to recognize any current problems in a company. You should also work to see whether a problem can be molded into an opportunity. Basic marketing research courses explain that a management problem is any type of issue that needs managerial action in order to resolve the issue. However, a marketing research problem is defined as a statement specifying the type of information needed by the decision maker to help solve the management problem and how that information can be obtained efficiently and effectively. To solve the market research problem, a research team can develop a marketing research objective, which is a goal defining the specific information needed to solve the marketing research problem.

Before you begin a project , make sure you clearly define your objectives and the outcomes you expect from the research that will be conducted. Having a clear and definitive goal is helpful because setting too many goals can dilute a project and increase the chance of having the research fail. By having reasonable goals, you can refer back to them during the project to distinguish whether the research is still keeping the original goals in mind.

2. Develop the research design to meet your objectives

The purpose of a well-developed research design is to confirm theories, measure brand loyalty, describe the population, build a customer profile, or to gain specific information. Based on what you are interested in, deciding whether a descriptive or causal study is needed to meet research objectives is key when starting your project.

Consider all potential issues that could arise during research so you and your research team can be prepared and aware if they occur. For example, if information being gathered is irrelevant to the company’s newly developed objectives, both time and money will be wasted on continuing with that specific research. If this ever occurs, reorganize and consider working with research specialists to help in making sure that the data you are observing is targeted at your specific needs.

3. Collect information relevant to your objectives

Once information and data is needed, sometimes the easiest step is to start looking at secondary data first. Utilizing data sets and examining organized marketing research reports have the potential to clarify your issues or even provide a solution to your research objectives. Secondary data can even alert researchers to other problems and is usually less expensive and faster to gather than primary data.

Once you review or purchase all your secondary data, your researchers can determine whether any further research through surveys or focus groups is necessary. Conducting that research and developing solutions from the information gathered will be required in drawing new conclusions.

4. Create a final report

Create a final report by analyzing all data and organizing it into a useful format for your company’s marketing team. Sorting through conclusions to relate potential solutions to your goals and objectives is central in ensuring your company can make use of the new information both effectively and beneficially.

5. Follow up

Once all findings are organized, you need to choose whether the information gathered is going to be put into use. You should use this stage to identify the areas where marketing techniques can be improved for future research projects. But once all is finished, evaluating whether the information gathered was able to help create solutions and meet your goals is vital. Upper management will need to determine whether the information gathered was a.) worth the cost, and b.) beneficial in meeting the outlined goals.

By knowing what your overall goals and objectives are before you begin a new project, you will help your company and yourself in making sure the research stays on task.

Interested in learning more about using business intelligence to achieve your research goals? Download our free white paper on How to Use Market Research to Launch Your Business.

Thanks for reading!

Caitlin Stewart Marketing Intern, MarketResearch.com

Download "The 5 Keys to Estimating Market Sizing for Strategic Decision Making"

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How to Do Market Research: The Complete Guide

Learn how to do market research with this step-by-step guide, complete with templates, tools and real-world examples.

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What are your customers’ needs? How does your product compare to the competition? What are the emerging trends and opportunities in your industry? If these questions keep you up at night, it’s time to conduct market research.

Market research plays a pivotal role in your ability to stay competitive and relevant, helping you anticipate shifts in consumer behavior and industry dynamics. It involves gathering these insights using a wide range of techniques, from surveys and interviews to data analysis and observational studies.

In this guide, we’ll explore why market research is crucial, the various types of market research, the methods used in data collection, and how to effectively conduct market research to drive informed decision-making and success.

What is market research?

Market research is the systematic process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a specific market or industry. The purpose of market research is to offer valuable insight into the preferences and behaviors of your target audience, and anticipate shifts in market trends and the competitive landscape. This information helps you make data-driven decisions, develop effective strategies for your business, and maximize your chances of long-term growth.

Business intelligence insight graphic with hand showing a lightbulb with $ sign in it

Why is market research important?

By understanding the significance of market research, you can make sure you’re asking the right questions and using the process to your advantage. Some of the benefits of market research include:

Informed decision-making: Market research provides you with the data and insights you need to make smart decisions for your business. It helps you identify opportunities, assess risks and tailor your strategies to meet the demands of the market. Without market research, decisions are often based on assumptions or guesswork, leading to costly mistakes.
Customer-centric approach: A cornerstone of market research involves developing a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences. This gives you valuable insights into your target audience, helping you develop products, services and marketing campaigns that resonate with your customers.
Competitive advantage: By conducting market research, you’ll gain a competitive edge. You’ll be able to identify gaps in the market, analyze competitor strengths and weaknesses, and position your business strategically. This enables you to create unique value propositions, differentiate yourself from competitors, and seize opportunities that others may overlook.
Risk mitigation: Market research helps you anticipate market shifts and potential challenges. By identifying threats early, you can proactively adjust their strategies to mitigate risks and respond effectively to changing circumstances. This proactive approach is particularly valuable in volatile industries.
Resource optimization: Conducting market research allows organizations to allocate their time, money and resources more efficiently. It ensures that investments are made in areas with the highest potential return on investment, reducing wasted resources and improving overall business performance.
Adaptation to market trends: Markets evolve rapidly, driven by technological advancements, cultural shifts and changing consumer attitudes. Market research ensures that you stay ahead of these trends and adapt your offerings accordingly so you can avoid becoming obsolete.

As you can see, market research empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions, cater to customer needs, outperform competitors, mitigate risks, optimize resources and stay agile in a dynamic marketplace. These benefits make it a huge industry; the global market research services market is expected to grow from $76.37 billion in 2021 to $108.57 billion in 2026 . Now, let’s dig into the different types of market research that can help you achieve these benefits.

Types of market research

Qualitative research
Quantitative research
Exploratory research
Descriptive research
Causal research
Cross-sectional research
Longitudinal research

Despite its advantages, 23% of organizations don’t have a clear market research strategy. Part of developing a strategy involves choosing the right type of market research for your business goals. The most commonly used approaches include:

1. Qualitative research

Qualitative research focuses on understanding the underlying motivations, attitudes and perceptions of individuals or groups. It is typically conducted through techniques like in-depth interviews, focus groups and content analysis — methods we’ll discuss further in the sections below. Qualitative research provides rich, nuanced insights that can inform product development, marketing strategies and brand positioning.

2. Quantitative research

Quantitative research, in contrast to qualitative research, involves the collection and analysis of numerical data, often through surveys, experiments and structured questionnaires. This approach allows for statistical analysis and the measurement of trends, making it suitable for large-scale market studies and hypothesis testing. While it’s worthwhile using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research, most businesses prioritize the latter because it is scientific, measurable and easily replicated across different experiments.

3. Exploratory research

Whether you’re conducting qualitative or quantitative research or a mix of both, exploratory research is often the first step. Its primary goal is to help you understand a market or problem so you can gain insights and identify potential issues or opportunities. This type of market research is less structured and is typically conducted through open-ended interviews, focus groups or secondary data analysis. Exploratory research is valuable when entering new markets or exploring new product ideas.

4. Descriptive research

As its name implies, descriptive research seeks to describe a market, population or phenomenon in detail. It involves collecting and summarizing data to answer questions about audience demographics and behaviors, market size, and current trends. Surveys, observational studies and content analysis are common methods used in descriptive research.

5. Causal research

Causal research aims to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables. It investigates whether changes in one variable result in changes in another. Experimental designs, A/B testing and regression analysis are common causal research methods. This sheds light on how specific marketing strategies or product changes impact consumer behavior.

6. Cross-sectional research

Cross-sectional market research involves collecting data from a sample of the population at a single point in time. It is used to analyze differences, relationships or trends among various groups within a population. Cross-sectional studies are helpful for market segmentation, identifying target audiences and assessing market trends at a specific moment.

7. Longitudinal research

Longitudinal research, in contrast to cross-sectional research, collects data from the same subjects over an extended period. This allows for the analysis of trends, changes and developments over time. Longitudinal studies are useful for tracking long-term developments in consumer preferences, brand loyalty and market dynamics.

Each type of market research has its strengths and weaknesses, and the method you choose depends on your specific research goals and the depth of understanding you’re aiming to achieve. In the following sections, we’ll delve into primary and secondary research approaches and specific research methods.

Primary vs. secondary market research

Market research of all types can be broadly categorized into two main approaches: primary research and secondary research. By understanding the differences between these approaches, you can better determine the most appropriate research method for your specific goals.

Primary market research

Primary research involves the collection of original data straight from the source. Typically, this involves communicating directly with your target audience — through surveys, interviews, focus groups and more — to gather information. Here are some key attributes of primary market research:

Customized data: Primary research provides data that is tailored to your research needs. You design a custom research study and gather information specific to your goals.
Up-to-date insights: Because primary research involves communicating with customers, the data you collect reflects the most current market conditions and consumer behaviors.
Time-consuming and resource-intensive: Despite its advantages, primary research can be labor-intensive and costly, especially when dealing with large sample sizes or complex study designs. Whether you hire a market research consultant, agency or use an in-house team, primary research studies consume a large amount of resources and time.

Secondary market research

Secondary research, on the other hand, involves analyzing data that has already been compiled by third-party sources, such as online research tools, databases, news sites, industry reports and academic studies.

Here are the main characteristics of secondary market research:

Cost-effective: Secondary research is generally more cost-effective than primary research since it doesn’t require building a research plan from scratch. You and your team can look at databases, websites and publications on an ongoing basis, without needing to design a custom experiment or hire a consultant.
Leverages multiple sources: Data tools and software extract data from multiple places across the web, and then consolidate that information within a single platform. This means you’ll get a greater amount of data and a wider scope from secondary research.
Quick to access: You can access a wide range of information rapidly — often in seconds — if you’re using online research tools and databases. Because of this, you can act on insights sooner, rather than taking the time to develop an experiment.

So, when should you use primary vs. secondary research? In practice, many market research projects incorporate both primary and secondary research to take advantage of the strengths of each approach.

One rule of thumb is to focus on secondary research to obtain background information, market trends or industry benchmarks. It is especially valuable for conducting preliminary research, competitor analysis, or when time and budget constraints are tight. Then, if you still have knowledge gaps or need to answer specific questions unique to your business model, use primary research to create a custom experiment.

Market research methods

Surveys and questionnaires
Focus groups
Observational research
Online research tools
Experiments
Content analysis
Ethnographic research

How do primary and secondary research approaches translate into specific research methods? Let’s take a look at the different ways you can gather data:

1. Surveys and questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires are popular methods for collecting structured data from a large number of respondents. They involve a set of predetermined questions that participants answer. Surveys can be conducted through various channels, including online tools, telephone interviews and in-person or online questionnaires. They are useful for gathering quantitative data and assessing customer demographics, opinions, preferences and needs. On average, customer surveys have a 33% response rate , so keep that in mind as you consider your sample size.

2. Interviews

Interviews are in-depth conversations with individuals or groups to gather qualitative insights. They can be structured (with predefined questions) or unstructured (with open-ended discussions). Interviews are valuable for exploring complex topics, uncovering motivations and obtaining detailed feedback.

3. Focus groups

The most common primary research methods are in-depth webcam interviews and focus groups. Focus groups are a small gathering of participants who discuss a specific topic or product under the guidance of a moderator. These discussions are valuable for primary market research because they reveal insights into consumer attitudes, perceptions and emotions. Focus groups are especially useful for idea generation, concept testing and understanding group dynamics within your target audience.

4. Observational research

Observational research involves observing and recording participant behavior in a natural setting. This method is particularly valuable when studying consumer behavior in physical spaces, such as retail stores or public places. In some types of observational research, participants are aware you’re watching them; in other cases, you discreetly watch consumers without their knowledge, as they use your product. Either way, observational research provides firsthand insights into how people interact with products or environments.

5. Online research tools

You and your team can do your own secondary market research using online tools. These tools include data prospecting platforms and databases, as well as online surveys, social media listening, web analytics and sentiment analysis platforms. They help you gather data from online sources, monitor industry trends, track competitors, understand consumer preferences and keep tabs on online behavior. We’ll talk more about choosing the right market research tools in the sections that follow.

6. Experiments

Market research experiments are controlled tests of variables to determine causal relationships. While experiments are often associated with scientific research, they are also used in market research to assess the impact of specific marketing strategies, product features, or pricing and packaging changes.

7. Content analysis

Content analysis involves the systematic examination of textual, visual or audio content to identify patterns, themes and trends. It’s commonly applied to customer reviews, social media posts and other forms of online content to analyze consumer opinions and sentiments.

8. Ethnographic research

Ethnographic research immerses researchers into the daily lives of consumers to understand their behavior and culture. This method is particularly valuable when studying niche markets or exploring the cultural context of consumer choices.

How to do market research

Set clear objectives
Identify your target audience
Choose your research methods
Use the right market research tools
Collect data
Analyze data
Interpret your findings
Identify opportunities and challenges
Make informed business decisions
Monitor and adapt

Now that you have gained insights into the various market research methods at your disposal, let’s delve into the practical aspects of how to conduct market research effectively. Here’s a quick step-by-step overview, from defining objectives to monitoring market shifts.

1. Set clear objectives

When you set clear and specific goals, you’re essentially creating a compass to guide your research questions and methodology. Start by precisely defining what you want to achieve. Are you launching a new product and want to understand its viability in the market? Are you evaluating customer satisfaction with a product redesign?

Start by creating SMART goals — objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Not only will this clarify your research focus from the outset, but it will also help you track progress and benchmark your success throughout the process.

You should also consult with key stakeholders and team members to ensure alignment on your research objectives before diving into data collecting. This will help you gain diverse perspectives and insights that will shape your research approach.

2. Identify your target audience

Next, you’ll need to pinpoint your target audience to determine who should be included in your research. Begin by creating detailed buyer personas or stakeholder profiles. Consider demographic factors like age, gender, income and location, but also delve into psychographics, such as interests, values and pain points.

The more specific your target audience, the more accurate and actionable your research will be. Additionally, segment your audience if your research objectives involve studying different groups, such as current customers and potential leads.

If you already have existing customers, you can also hold conversations with them to better understand your target market. From there, you can refine your buyer personas and tailor your research methods accordingly.

3. Choose your research methods

Selecting the right research methods is crucial for gathering high-quality data. Start by considering the nature of your research objectives. If you’re exploring consumer preferences, surveys and interviews can provide valuable insights. For in-depth understanding, focus groups or observational research might be suitable. Consider using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a well-rounded perspective.

You’ll also need to consider your budget. Think about what you can realistically achieve using the time and resources available to you. If you have a fairly generous budget, you may want to try a mix of primary and secondary research approaches. If you’re doing market research for a startup , on the other hand, chances are your budget is somewhat limited. If that’s the case, try addressing your goals with secondary research tools before investing time and effort in a primary research study.

4. Use the right market research tools

Whether you’re conducting primary or secondary research, you’ll need to choose the right tools. These can help you do anything from sending surveys to customers to monitoring trends and analyzing data. Here are some examples of popular market research tools:

Market research software: Crunchbase is a platform that provides best-in-class company data, making it valuable for market research on growing companies and industries. You can use Crunchbase to access trusted, first-party funding data, revenue data, news and firmographics, enabling you to monitor industry trends and understand customer needs.

Survey and questionnaire tools: SurveyMonkey is a widely used online survey platform that allows you to create, distribute and analyze surveys. Google Forms is a free tool that lets you create surveys and collect responses through Google Drive.
Data analysis software: Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are useful for conducting statistical analyses. SPSS is a powerful statistical analysis software used for data processing, analysis and reporting.
Social listening tools: Brandwatch is a social listening and analytics platform that helps you monitor social media conversations, track sentiment and analyze trends. Mention is a media monitoring tool that allows you to track mentions of your brand, competitors and keywords across various online sources.
Data visualization platforms: Tableau is a data visualization tool that helps you create interactive and shareable dashboards and reports. Power BI by Microsoft is a business analytics tool for creating interactive visualizations and reports.

5. Collect data

There’s an infinite amount of data you could be collecting using these tools, so you’ll need to be intentional about going after the data that aligns with your research goals. Implement your chosen research methods, whether it’s distributing surveys, conducting interviews or pulling from secondary research platforms. Pay close attention to data quality and accuracy, and stick to a standardized process to streamline data capture and reduce errors.

6. Analyze data

Once data is collected, you’ll need to analyze it systematically. Use statistical software or analysis tools to identify patterns, trends and correlations. For qualitative data, employ thematic analysis to extract common themes and insights. Visualize your findings with charts, graphs and tables to make complex data more understandable.

If you’re not proficient in data analysis, consider outsourcing or collaborating with a data analyst who can assist in processing and interpreting your data accurately.

7. Interpret your findings

Interpreting your market research findings involves understanding what the data means in the context of your objectives. Are there significant trends that uncover the answers to your initial research questions? Consider the implications of your findings on your business strategy. It’s essential to move beyond raw data and extract actionable insights that inform decision-making.

Hold a cross-functional meeting or workshop with relevant team members to collectively interpret the findings. Different perspectives can lead to more comprehensive insights and innovative solutions.

8. Identify opportunities and challenges

Use your research findings to identify potential growth opportunities and challenges within your market. What segments of your audience are underserved or overlooked? Are there emerging trends you can capitalize on? Conversely, what obstacles or competitors could hinder your progress?

Lay out this information in a clear and organized way by conducting a SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Jot down notes for each of these areas to provide a structured overview of gaps and hurdles in the market.

9. Make informed business decisions

Market research is only valuable if it leads to informed decisions for your company. Based on your insights, devise actionable strategies and initiatives that align with your research objectives. Whether it’s refining your product, targeting new customer segments or adjusting pricing, ensure your decisions are rooted in the data.

At this point, it’s also crucial to keep your team aligned and accountable. Create an action plan that outlines specific steps, responsibilities and timelines for implementing the recommendations derived from your research.

10. Monitor and adapt

Market research isn’t a one-time activity; it’s an ongoing process. Continuously monitor market conditions, customer behaviors and industry trends. Set up mechanisms to collect real-time data and feedback. As you gather new information, be prepared to adapt your strategies and tactics accordingly. Regularly revisiting your research ensures your business remains agile and reflects changing market dynamics and consumer preferences.

Online market research sources

As you go through the steps above, you’ll want to turn to trusted, reputable sources to gather your data. Here’s a list to get you started:

Crunchbase: As mentioned above, Crunchbase is an online platform with an extensive dataset, allowing you to access in-depth insights on market trends, consumer behavior and competitive analysis. You can also customize your search options to tailor your research to specific industries, geographic regions or customer personas.

Product Image Advanced Search CRMConnected

Academic databases: Academic databases, such as ProQuest and JSTOR , are treasure troves of scholarly research papers, studies and academic journals. They offer in-depth analyses of various subjects, including market trends, consumer preferences and industry-specific insights. Researchers can access a wealth of peer-reviewed publications to gain a deeper understanding of their research topics.
Government and NGO databases: Government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and other institutions frequently maintain databases containing valuable economic, demographic and industry-related data. These sources offer credible statistics and reports on a wide range of topics, making them essential for market researchers. Examples include the U.S. Census Bureau , the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Pew Research Center .
Industry reports: Industry reports and market studies are comprehensive documents prepared by research firms, industry associations and consulting companies. They provide in-depth insights into specific markets, including market size, trends, competitive analysis and consumer behavior. You can find this information by looking at relevant industry association databases; examples include the American Marketing Association and the National Retail Federation .
Social media and online communities: Social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter (X) , forums such as Reddit and Quora , and review platforms such as G2 can provide real-time insights into consumer sentiment, opinions and trends.

Market research examples

At this point, you have market research tools and data sources — but how do you act on the data you gather? Let’s go over some real-world examples that illustrate the practical application of market research across various industries. These examples showcase how market research can lead to smart decision-making and successful business decisions.

Example 1: Apple’s iPhone launch

Apple ’s iconic iPhone launch in 2007 serves as a prime example of market research driving product innovation in tech. Before the iPhone’s release, Apple conducted extensive market research to understand consumer preferences, pain points and unmet needs in the mobile phone industry. This research led to the development of a touchscreen smartphone with a user-friendly interface, addressing consumer demands for a more intuitive and versatile device. The result was a revolutionary product that disrupted the market and redefined the smartphone industry.

Example 2: McDonald’s global expansion

McDonald’s successful global expansion strategy demonstrates the importance of market research when expanding into new territories. Before entering a new market, McDonald’s conducts thorough research to understand local tastes, preferences and cultural nuances. This research informs menu customization, marketing strategies and store design. For instance, in India, McDonald’s offers a menu tailored to local preferences, including vegetarian options. This market-specific approach has enabled McDonald’s to adapt and thrive in diverse global markets.

Example 3: Organic and sustainable farming

The shift toward organic and sustainable farming practices in the food industry is driven by market research that indicates increased consumer demand for healthier and environmentally friendly food options. As a result, food producers and retailers invest in sustainable sourcing and organic product lines — such as with these sustainable seafood startups — to align with this shift in consumer values.

The bottom line? Market research has multiple use cases and is a critical practice for any industry. Whether it’s launching groundbreaking products, entering new markets or responding to changing consumer preferences, you can use market research to shape successful strategies and outcomes.

Market research templates

You finally have a strong understanding of how to do market research and apply it in the real world. Before we wrap up, here are some market research templates that you can use as a starting point for your projects:

Smartsheet competitive analysis templates : These spreadsheets can serve as a framework for gathering information about the competitive landscape and obtaining valuable lessons to apply to your business strategy.
SurveyMonkey product survey template : Customize the questions on this survey based on what you want to learn from your target customers.
HubSpot templates : HubSpot offers a wide range of free templates you can use for market research, business planning and more.
SCORE templates : SCORE is a nonprofit organization that provides templates for business plans, market analysis and financial projections.
SBA.gov : The U.S. Small Business Administration offers templates for every aspect of your business, including market research, and is particularly valuable for new startups.

Strengthen your business with market research

When conducted effectively, market research is like a guiding star. Equipped with the right tools and techniques, you can uncover valuable insights, stay competitive, foster innovation and navigate the complexities of your industry.

Throughout this guide, we’ve discussed the definition of market research, different research methods, and how to conduct it effectively. We’ve also explored various types of market research and shared practical insights and templates for getting started.

Now, it’s time to start the research process. Trust in data, listen to the market and make informed decisions that guide your company toward lasting success.

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Written by Mary Kate Miller | June 1, 2021

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Market research is a cornerstone of all successful, strategic businesses. It can also be daunting for entrepreneurs looking to launch a startup or start a side hustle . What is market research, anyway? And how do you…do it?

We’ll walk you through absolutely everything you need to know about the market research process so that by the end of this guide, you’ll be an expert in market research too. And what’s more important: you’ll have actionable steps you can take to start collecting your own market research.

What Is Market Research?

Market research is the organized process of gathering information about your target customers and market. Market research can help you better understand customer behavior and competitor strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide insight for the best strategies in launching new businesses and products. There are different ways to approach market research, including primary and secondary research and qualitative and quantitative research. The strongest approaches will include a combination of all four.

“Virtually every business can benefit from conducting some market research,” says Niles Koenigsberg of Real FiG Advertising + Marketing . “Market research can help you piece together your [business’s] strengths and weaknesses, along with your prospective opportunities, so that you can understand where your unique differentiators may lie.” Well-honed market research will help your brand stand out from the competition and help you see what you need to do to lead the market. It can also do so much more.

The Purposes of Market Research

Why do market research? It can help you…

Pinpoint your target market, create buyer personas, and develop a more holistic understanding of your customer base and market.
Understand current market conditions to evaluate risks and anticipate how your product or service will perform.
Validate a concept prior to launch.
Identify gaps in the market that your competitors have created or overlooked.
Solve problems that have been left unresolved by the existing product/brand offerings.
Identify opportunities and solutions for new products or services.
Develop killer marketing strategies .

What Are the Benefits of Market Research?

Strong market research can help your business in many ways. It can…

Strengthen your market position.
Help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Help you identify your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Minimize risk.
Center your customers’ experience from the get-go.
Help you create a dynamic strategy based on market conditions and customer needs/demands.

What Are the Basic Methods of Market Research?

The basic methods of market research include surveys, personal interviews, customer observation, and the review of secondary research. In addition to these basic methods, a forward-thinking market research approach incorporates data from the digital landscape like social media analysis, SEO research, gathering feedback via forums, and more. Throughout this guide, we will cover each of the methods commonly used in market research to give you a comprehensive overview.

Primary vs. Secondary Market Research

Primary and secondary are the two main types of market research you can do. The latter relies on research conducted by others. Primary research, on the other hand, refers to the fact-finding efforts you conduct on your own.

This approach is limited, however. It’s likely that the research objectives of these secondary data points differ from your own, and it can be difficult to confirm the veracity of their findings.

Primary Market Research

Primary research is more labor intensive, but it generally yields data that is exponentially more actionable. It can be conducted through interviews, surveys, online research, and your own data collection. Every new business should engage in primary market research prior to launch. It will help you validate that your idea has traction, and it will give you the information you need to help minimize financial risk.

You can hire an agency to conduct this research on your behalf. This brings the benefit of expertise, as you’ll likely work with a market research analyst. The downside is that hiring an agency can be expensive—too expensive for many burgeoning entrepreneurs. That brings us to the second approach. You can also do the market research yourself, which substantially reduces the financial burden of starting a new business .

Secondary Market Research

Secondary research includes resources like government databases and industry-specific data and publications. It can be beneficial to start your market research with secondary sources because it’s widely available and often free-to-access. This information will help you gain a broad overview of the market conditions for your new business.

Identify Your Goals and Your Audience

Before you begin conducting interviews or sending out surveys, you need to set your market research goals. At the end of your market research process, you want to have a clear idea of who your target market is—including demographic information like age, gender, and where they live—but you also want to start with a rough idea of who your audience might be and what you’re trying to achieve with market research.

You can pinpoint your objectives by asking yourself a series of guiding questions:

What are you hoping to discover through your research?
Who are you hoping to serve better because of your findings?
What do you think your market is?
Who are your competitors?
Are you testing the reception of a new product category or do you want to see if your product or service solves the problem left by a current gap in the market?
Are you just…testing the waters to get a sense of how people would react to a new brand?

Once you’ve narrowed down the “what” of your market research goals, you’re ready to move onto how you can best achieve them. Think of it like algebra. Many math problems start with “solve for x.” Once you know what you’re looking for, you can get to work trying to find it. It’s a heck of a lot easier to solve a problem when you know you’re looking for “x” than if you were to say “I’m gonna throw some numbers out there and see if I find a variable.”

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How to Do Market Research

This guide outlines every component of a comprehensive market research effort. Take into consideration the goals you have established for your market research, as they will influence which of these elements you’ll want to include in your market research strategy.

Secondary Data

Secondary data allows you to utilize pre-existing data to garner a sense of market conditions and opportunities. You can rely on published market studies, white papers, and public competitive information to start your market research journey.

Secondary data, while useful, is limited and cannot substitute your own primary data. It’s best used for quantitative data that can provide background to your more specific inquiries.

Find Your Customers Online

Once you’ve identified your target market, you can use online gathering spaces and forums to gain insights and give yourself a competitive advantage. Rebecca McCusker of The Creative Content Shop recommends internet recon as a vital tool for gaining a sense of customer needs and sentiment. “Read their posts and comments on forums, YouTube video comments, Facebook group [comments], and even Amazon/Goodreads book comments to get in their heads and see what people are saying.”

If you’re interested in engaging with your target demographic online, there are some general rules you should follow. First, secure the consent of any group moderators to ensure that you are acting within the group guidelines. Failure to do so could result in your eviction from the group.

Not all comments have the same research value. “Focus on the comments and posts with the most comments and highest engagement,” says McCusker. These high-engagement posts can give you a sense of what is already connecting and gaining traction within the group.

Social media can also be a great avenue for finding interview subjects. “LinkedIn is very useful if your [target customer] has a very specific job or works in a very specific industry or sector. It’s amazing the amount of people that will be willing to help,” explains Miguel González, a marketing executive at Dealers League . “My advice here is BE BRAVE, go to LinkedIn, or even to people you know and ask them, do quick interviews and ask real people that belong to that market and segment and get your buyer persona information first hand.”

Market research interviews can provide direct feedback on your brand, product, or service and give you a better understanding of consumer pain points and interests.

When organizing your market research interviews, you want to pay special attention to the sample group you’re selecting, as it will directly impact the information you receive. According to Tanya Zhang, the co-founder of Nimble Made , you want to first determine whether you want to choose a representative sample—for example, interviewing people who match each of the buyer persona/customer profiles you’ve developed—or a random sample.

“A sampling of your usual persona styles, for example, can validate details that you’ve already established about your product, while a random sampling may [help you] discover a new way people may use your product,” Zhang says.

Market Surveys

Market surveys solicit customer inclinations regarding your potential product or service through a series of open-ended questions. This direct outreach to your target audience can provide information on your customers’ preferences, attitudes, buying potential, and more.

Every expert we asked voiced unanimous support for market surveys as a powerful tool for market research. With the advent of various survey tools with accessible pricing—or free use—it’s never been easier to assemble, disseminate, and gather market surveys. While it should also be noted that surveys shouldn’t replace customer interviews , they can be used to supplement customer interviews to give you feedback from a broader audience.

Who to Include in Market Surveys

Current customers
Past customers
Your existing audience (such as social media/newsletter audiences)

Example Questions to Include in Market Surveys

While the exact questions will vary for each business, here are some common, helpful questions that you may want to consider for your market survey. Demographic Questions: the questions that help you understand, demographically, who your target customers are:

“What is your age?”
“Where do you live?”
“What is your gender identity?”
“What is your household income?”
“What is your household size?”
“What do you do for a living?”
“What is your highest level of education?”

Product-Based Questions: Whether you’re seeking feedback for an existing brand or an entirely new one, these questions will help you get a sense of how people feel about your business, product, or service:

“How well does/would our product/service meet your needs?”
“How does our product/service compare to similar products/services that you use?”
“How long have you been a customer?” or “What is the likelihood that you would be a customer of our brand?

Personal/Informative Questions: the deeper questions that help you understand how your audience thinks and what they care about.

“What are your biggest challenges?”
“What’s most important to you?”
“What do you do for fun (hobbies, interests, activities)?”
“Where do you seek new information when researching a new product?”
“How do you like to make purchases?”
“What is your preferred method for interacting with a brand?”

Survey Tools

Online survey tools make it easy to distribute surveys and collect responses. The best part is that there are many free tools available. If you’re making your own online survey, you may want to consider SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google Forms, or Zoho Survey.

Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis is a breakdown of how your business stacks up against the competition. There are many different ways to conduct this analysis. One of the most popular methods is a SWOT analysis, which stands for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.” This type of analysis is helpful because it gives you a more robust understanding of why a customer might choose a competitor over your business. Seeing how you stack up against the competition can give you the direction you need to carve out your place as a market leader.

Social Media Analysis

Social media has fundamentally changed the market research landscape, making it easier than ever to engage with a wide swath of consumers. Follow your current or potential competitors on social media to see what they’re posting and how their audience is engaging with it. Social media can also give you a lower cost opportunity for testing different messaging and brand positioning.

SEO Analysis and Opportunities

SEO analysis can help you identify the digital competition for getting the word out about your brand, product, or service. You won’t want to overlook this valuable information. Search listening tools offer a novel approach to understanding the market and generating the content strategy that will drive business. Tools like Google Trends and Awario can streamline this process.

Ready to Kick Your Business Into High Gear?

Now that you’ve completed the guide to market research you know you’re ready to put on your researcher hat to give your business the best start. Still not sure how actually… launch the thing? Our free mini-course can run you through the essentials for starting your side hustle .

About Mary Kate Miller

Mary Kate Miller writes about small business, real estate, and finance. In addition to writing for Foundr, her work has been published by The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Bustle, and more. She lives in Chicago.

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How to do market research: The complete guide for your brand

Written by by Jacqueline Zote

Published on April 13, 2023

Reading time 10 minutes

Blindly putting out content or products and hoping for the best is a thing of the past. Not only is it a waste of time and energy, but you’re wasting valuable marketing dollars in the process. Now you have a wealth of tools and data at your disposal, allowing you to develop data-driven marketing strategies . That’s where market research comes in, allowing you to uncover valuable insights to inform your business decisions.

Conducting market research not only helps you better understand how to sell to customers but also stand out from your competition. In this guide, we break down everything you need to know about market research and how doing your homework can help you grow your business.

Table of contents:

What is market research?

Why is market research important, types of market research, where to conduct market research.

Steps for conducting market research
Tools to use for market research

Market research is the process of gathering information surrounding your business opportunities. It identifies key information to better understand your audience. This includes insights related to customer personas and even trends shaping your industry.

Taking time out of your schedule to conduct research is crucial for your brand health. Here are some of the key benefits of market research:

Understand your customers’ motivations and pain points

Most marketers are out of touch with what their customers want. Moreover, these marketers are missing key information on what products their audience wants to buy.

Simply put, you can’t run a business if you don’t know what motivates your customers.

And spoiler alert: Your customers’ wants and needs change. Your customers’ behaviors today might be night and day from what they were a few years ago.

Market research holds the key to understanding your customers better. It helps you uncover their key pain points and motivations and understand how they shape their interests and behavior.

Figure out how to position your brand

Positioning is becoming increasingly important as more and more brands enter the marketplace. Market research enables you to spot opportunities to define yourself against your competitors.

Maybe you’re able to emphasize a lower price point. Perhaps your product has a feature that’s one of a kind. Finding those opportunities goes hand in hand with researching your market.

Maintain a strong pulse on your industry at large

Today’s marketing world evolves at a rate that’s difficult to keep up with.

Fresh products. Up-and-coming brands. New marketing tools. Consumers get bombarded with sales messages from all angles. This can be confusing and overwhelming.

By monitoring market trends, you can figure out the best tactics for reaching your target audience.

Not everyone conducts market research for the same reason. While some may want to understand their audience better, others may want to see how their competitors are doing. As such, there are different types of market research you can conduct depending on your goal.

Interview-based market research allows for one-on-one interactions. This helps the conversation to flow naturally, making it easier to add context. Whether this takes place in person or virtually, it enables you to gather more in-depth qualitative data.

Buyer persona research

Buyer persona research lets you take a closer look at the people who make up your target audience. You can discover the needs, challenges and pain points of each buyer persona to understand what they need from your business. This will then allow you to craft products or campaigns to resonate better with each persona.

Pricing research

In this type of research, brands compare similar products or services with a particular focus on pricing. They look at how much those products or services typically sell for so they can get more competitive with their pricing strategy.

Competitive analysis research

Competitor analysis gives you a realistic understanding of where you stand in the market and how your competitors are doing. You can use this analysis to find out what’s working in your industry and which competitors to watch out for. It even gives you an idea of how well those competitors are meeting consumer needs.

Depending on the competitor analysis tool you use, you can get as granular as you need with your research. For instance, Sprout Social lets you analyze your competitors’ social strategies. You can see what types of content they’re posting and even benchmark your growth against theirs.

Dashboard showing Facebook competitors report on Sprout Social

Brand awareness research

Conducting brand awareness research allows you to assess your brand’s standing in the market. It tells you how well-known your brand is among your target audience and what they associate with it. This can help you gauge people’s sentiments toward your brand and whether you need to rebrand or reposition.

If you don’t know where to start with your research, you’re in the right place.

There’s no shortage of market research methods out there. In this section, we’ve highlighted research channels for small and big businesses alike.

Considering that Google sees a staggering 8.5 billion searches each day, there’s perhaps no better place to start.

A quick Google search is a potential goldmine for all sorts of questions to kick off your market research. Who’s ranking for keywords related to your industry? Which products and pieces of content are the hottest right now? Who’s running ads related to your business?

For example, Google Product Listing Ads can help highlight all of the above for B2C brands.

row of product listing ads on Google for the search term "baby carrier"

The same applies to B2B brands looking to keep tabs on who’s running industry-related ads and ranking for keyword terms too.

list of sponsored results for the search term "email marketing tool"

There’s no denying that email represents both an aggressive and effective marketing channel for marketers today. Case in point, 44% of online shoppers consider email as the most influential channel in their buying decisions.

Looking through industry and competitor emails is a brilliant way to learn more about your market. For example, what types of offers and deals are your competitors running? How often are they sending emails?

list of promotional emails from different companies including ASOS and Dropbox

Email is also invaluable for gathering information directly from your customers. This survey message from Asana is a great example of how to pick your customers’ brains to figure out how you can improve your quality of service.

email from asana asking users to take a survey

Industry journals, reports and blogs

Don’t neglect the importance of big-picture market research when it comes to tactics and marketing channels to explore. Look to marketing resources such as reports and blogs as well as industry journals

Keeping your ear to the ground on new trends and technologies is a smart move for any business. Sites such as Statista, Marketing Charts, AdWeek and Emarketer are treasure troves of up-to-date data and news for marketers.

And of course, there’s the Sprout Insights blog . And invaluable resources like The Sprout Social Index™ can keep you updated on the latest social trends.

Social media

If you want to learn more about your target market, look no further than social media. Social offers a place to discover what your customers want to see in future products or which brands are killin’ it. In fact, social media is become more important for businesses than ever with the level of data available.

It represents a massive repository of real-time data and insights that are instantly accessible. Brand monitoring and social listening are effective ways to conduct social media research . You can even be more direct with your approach. Ask questions directly or even poll your audience to understand their needs and preferences.

The 5 steps for how to do market research

Now that we’ve covered the why and where, it’s time to get into the practical aspects of market research. Here are five essential steps on how to do market research effectively.

Step 1: Identify your research topic

First off, what are you researching about? What do you want to find out? Narrow down on a specific research topic so you can start with a clear idea of what to look for.

For example, you may want to learn more about how well your product features are satisfying the needs of existing users. This might potentially lead to feature updates and improvements. Or it might even result in new feature introductions.

Similarly, your research topic may be related to your product or service launch or customer experience. Or you may want to conduct research for an upcoming marketing campaign.

Step 2: Choose a buyer persona to engage

If you’re planning to focus your research on a specific type of audience, decide which buyer persona you want to engage. This persona group will serve as a representative sample of your target audience.

Engaging a specific group of audience lets you streamline your research efforts. As such, it can be a much more effective and organized approach than researching thousands (if not millions) of individuals.

You may be directing your research toward existing users of your product. To get even more granular, you may want to focus on users who have been familiar with the product for at least a year, for example.

Step 3: Start collecting data

The next step is one of the most critical as it involves collecting the data you need for your research. Before you begin, make sure you’ve chosen the right research methods that will uncover the type of data you need. This largely depends on your research topic and goals.

Remember that you don’t necessarily have to stick to one research method. You may use a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. So for example, you could use interviews to supplement the data from your surveys. Or you may stick to insights from your social listening efforts.

To keep things consistent, let’s look at this in the context of the example from earlier. Perhaps you can send out a survey to your existing users asking them a bunch of questions. This might include questions like which features they use the most and how often they use them. You can get them to choose an answer from one to five and collect quantitative data.

Plus, for qualitative insights, you could even include a few open-ended questions with the option to write their answers. For instance, you might ask them if there’s any improvement they wish to see in your product.

Step 4: Analyze results

Once you have all the data you need, it’s time to analyze it keeping your research topic in mind. This involves trying to interpret the data to look for a wider meaning, particularly in relation to your research goal.

So let’s say a large percentage of responses were four or five in the satisfaction rating. This means your existing users are mostly satisfied with your current product features. On the other hand, if the responses were mostly ones and twos, you may look for opportunities to improve. The responses to your open-ended questions can give you further context as to why people are disappointed.

Step 5: Make decisions for your business

Now it’s time to take your findings and turn them into actionable insights for your business. In this final step, you need to decide how you want to move forward with your new market insight.

What did you find in your research that would require action? How can you put those findings to good use?

The market research tools you should be using

To wrap things up, let’s talk about the various tools available to conduct speedy, in-depth market research. These tools are essential for conducting market research faster and more efficiently.

Social listening and analytics

Social analytics tools like Sprout can help you keep track of engagement across social media. This goes beyond your own engagement data but also includes that of your competitors. Considering how quickly social media moves, using a third-party analytics tool is ideal. It allows you to make sense of your social data at a glance and ensure that you’re never missing out on important trends.

Email marketing research tools

Keeping track of brand emails is a good idea for any brand looking to stand out in its audience’s inbox.

Tools such as MailCharts , Really Good Emails and Milled can show you how different brands run their email campaigns.

Meanwhile, tools like Owletter allow you to monitor metrics such as frequency and send-timing. These metrics can help you understand email marketing strategies among competing brands.

Content marketing research

If you’re looking to conduct research on content marketing, tools such as BuzzSumo can be of great help. This tool shows you the top-performing industry content based on keywords. Here you can see relevant industry sites and influencers as well as which brands in your industry are scoring the most buzz. It shows you exactly which pieces of content are ranking well in terms of engagements and shares and on which social networks.

SEO and keyword tracking

Monitoring industry keywords is a great way to uncover competitors. It can also help you discover opportunities to advertise your products via organic search. Tools such as Ahrefs provide a comprehensive keyword report to help you see how your search efforts stack up against the competition.

organic traffic and keywords report on ahrefs

Competitor comparison template

For the sake of organizing your market research, consider creating a competitive matrix. The idea is to highlight how you stack up side-by-side against others in your market. Use a social media competitive analysis template to track your competitors’ social presence. That way, you can easily compare tactics, messaging and performance. Once you understand your strengths and weaknesses next to your competitors, you’ll find opportunities as well.

Customer persona creator

Finally, customer personas represent a place where all of your market research comes together. You’d need to create a profile of your ideal customer that you can easily refer to. Tools like Xtensio can help in outlining your customer motivations and demographics as you zero in on your target market.

user persona example template on xtensio

Build a solid market research strategy

Having a deeper understanding of the market gives you leverage in a sea of competitors. Use the steps and market research tools we shared above to build an effective market research strategy.

But keep in mind that the accuracy of your research findings depends on the quality of data collected. Turn to Sprout’s social media analytics tools to uncover heaps of high-quality data across social networks.

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How to Set Marketing Research Goals and Objectives

Marketing research goals.

Begin with the END

Instead of setting your goals and objectives from where you are NOW, imagine yourself ALREADY having achieved your goal – then work backwards and document HOW YOU GOT THERE.

The reason for this is very simple. If you set your goal based on where you are now – there is a good chance that you will get caught up in fixing a problem that is actually irrelevant in getting your business to where you want it to be.

Set your goals and objectives based on your vision for where you want your company to BE and not where it is NOW.

An Example:

If the vision and mission of your business is to help your customers be successful in their business — then imagine your customers being successful and then imagine in what ways you are helping them do that. This may include things you are currently doing — or NOT. And this is the key to creating marketing research goals and objectives that will help you measure the potential market opportunity, the target audience for your products and how they buy.

(I know that this sounds a little way out. But if you’re wondering how some of the successful businesses you see out there got that way — this is IT)

Take Clate Mask and Scott Martineau from InfusionSoft as an example. InfusionSoft is an email marketing intelligence software that automates your sales and marketing process. It’s a high-end software and it isn’t cheap. Clate and Scott found out that their customers really didn’t know how to put marketing messages together — and hence, the software didn’t appear to be “working.”

They quickly realized that if their customers knew what to put INTO the software – the customers would make more than enough money to pay the fee for the software and also refer the software to their friends and colleagues. As a result, they set a goal to have their entire client base double their sales within a 12 month period.

Having set this goal and objective — they were not only fired up and inspired about what was possible for their business. But their customers bought into the very same goal. Suddenly finding out what their customers needed or wanted that would help them grow and prosper was easy.

And what do you think happened to their response rates? Of course, every time they asked their customers what they wanted — these customers were eager to tell them.

So How is this Relevant to YOU?

If you’ve not been successful collecting feedback from your community or if the research you’ve done hasn’t delivered on results — you might want to look at the goals and objectives that you’ve set.

Are these goals and objectives more focused on solving a problem you have today? If so, that problem might be relevant to YOU but not your customer.

Use Social Media Chatter to Help You Find a Meaningful Goal

Enough of the heady stuff. Let’s get to the meat of how you can set these kinds of goals and objectives.

If you don’t already, set up several social media communication channels that include the following:

Facebook Fan Page
LinkedIn Company Profile
LinkedIn Industry Group
Twitter Account

The next thing you want to do is start posting articles on your blog that focus on your vision and how you are helping you customers be successful. Get active on industry community sites and spaces, ask questions, answer questions and participate. Then, TELL your customers, suppliers, industry experts to participate as well.

If you keep participating and reminding your audience to visit these sites – you will see conversations, get data and start forming relevant, success based goals and objectives.

Trying this backwards strategy of setting goals and objectives might identify new and exciting opportunities for your business.

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Better Knowledge. Your Insight Is Sharper

Marketing Research: Objectives, Types, Steps, Methods

November 28, 2020

What’s it: Marketing research is the efforts of systematically collecting and analyzing markets to support more effective marketing decision making. The stages usually include setting objectives, designing research and methods, collecting data, analyzing data, and reporting research results.

Why marketing research is important

Companies need accurate and current information about the marketing environment’s conditions to develop an effective marketing strategy. Demand and competition in the market continue to change from time to time, including about:

Trending tastes and needs of consumers – for example, people are getting online and leaving conventional media such as print newspapers.
Changes in the macro-environment , be it political, economic, social, technological, environmental, or regulatory. For example, technology enables companies to explore more data about consumers. Or, COVID-19 can make the economy crash and reduce outdoor activities.
Competitive dynamics – for example, globalization brings more fierce competition because companies are not only competing with local companies but also globally.

Such changes present both threats and opportunities. Competitive advantage can turn into a disadvantage because companies do not adapt to such changes. They need different strategies and tactics to support a sustainable competitive advantage.

Marketing research objectives

Marketing research aims to identify challenges and opportunities to achieve marketing goals. Companies process data, analyze data, and interpret relevant facts to provide valuable information about it.

Research results also help companies plan, evaluate, and develop marketing strategies and tactics. Management uses it in decision making related to exploiting opportunities, minimizing threats, designing alternative actions, and solving marketing problems.

Meanwhile, the specific objectives of marketing research are:

Understand what consumers need today – as consumer tastes and preferences change, companies may need different marketing strategies.
Identifying market gaps – the company may find opportunities to develop new products, which are not being served by products currently on the market.
Reducing product failure – marketing research information is useful for developing the right marketing mix, so it is profitable and better than competitors.
Minimizing business risk – companies use research results to anticipate and develop appropriate responses to address threats in their business environment.
Forecasting future trends – the company anticipates future consumer needs, so it is one step ahead of competitors exploiting market opportunities.

Types of marketing research

Marketing research covers three research areas:

Market research : about the market, such as market size, profitability level, growth prospects, and competition intensity.
Product research : about the characteristics and attributes of the right product to satisfy customers
Consumer research : about consumer needs, tastes, preferences, attitudes, and behavior.

Marketing research can be causal, exploratory, or descriptive.

Causality research is when companies are trying to understand the cause-and-effect relationship of a phenomenon. For example, how much does a company’s advertising affect customer perception?

Descriptive research seeks to understand more about the nature or characteristics of the phenomenon itself. For example, companies try to understand the shopping habits of consumers when they go to the mall.

Exploratory research seeks to understand phenomena more profoundly and is usually useful for developing new products. For example, a company explores the shopping experience to gain insight into what first-time consumers see when shopping, whether price, packaging, store atmosphere, or brand.

Marketing research steps

The marketing stages usually include:

First , determine the problem or research objective. Marketing research covers various aspects of the market, such as product, sales, promotion, distribution, buyer behavior, pricing, and packaging. You cannot investigate them all at once. Therefore, you must be selective and determine what problems you want to answer through research.

Second , determine the research design, whether you want to do exploratory, descriptive, or causality studies.

Third , determine the data collection method. In this section, you have to decide whether to use secondary data or primary data. If it is primary data, will you use surveys, observations, experiments, or consumer panels? Another task is to design data collection forms, questionnaires, and sampling.

Fourth , collect data. Data can be either qualitative or quantitative.

Data collection depends on the research method you use, whether it is primary or secondary research. For example, suppose you decide to use secondary data. In that case, you may have to collect some statistics or reports from government agencies, international agencies, research firms, competitors, or trade associations.

Fifth , analyze and interpret data. Your first task is usually to integrate data into a database. Also, you may need to clean it up, so it’s ready for analysis.

You can use several descriptive or inferential statistical methods to describe the data, depending on your needs. The statistical techniques commonly used for social research are regression analysis, t-test, cluster analysis, factor analysis, cross-tabulation, and conjoint analysis.

Sixth , preparing a research report. You draw conclusions from the results of the analysis and, perhaps, make recommendations. You may need to make a full report or just present your findings in a PowerPoint.

Tables and charts are two tools for summarizing data so that it is easy to read. Both help you explain your findings and support the arguments for your recommendations.

Marketing research methods

Marketing research methods fall into two categories based on its data sources:

Primary research – you are the first to collect data. This is also known as field research.
Secondary research – you are second hand collecting data. Also known as desk research because you are collecting data from external sources.

Primary research

You are taking data from original sources, such as consumers. You can use various methods, such as surveys, observations, and focus groups, to collect data.

In a survey, you create a questionnaire containing several questions. You may do it yourself or hire a few people to help you. You then meet with respondents and ask questions in the questionnaire.

Questions may be closed questions for which you have provided alternative answers. Or, it is an open-ended question where you let the respondent answer according to their knowledge.

You can also do interviews without a questionnaire. You have some open-ended questions for you to ask respondents. Then, you record each answer. You can do this face-to-face, over the phone, or via online channels.

Then, you can also interview focus groups. In this case, you gather a few people, say, six to ten people. You then ask for their opinion on a particular topic. You listen to their views or record them.

Under observation, you observe people’s reactions, often without having to get into the conversation directly. If you’re researching shoppers, you’ll probably notice the first shelf they go to, the items they cart, and the items they end up buying at the checkout.

Secondary research

In this method, you rely on data from secondary sources. These sources can come from:

Publications from government institutions such as central statistical agencies.
Publications from international institutions such as the world bank and world trade center.
Publications from research companies like Nielsen.
Company or other stakeholder reports such as financial reports, annual reports, public presentations and press releases.
General media such as newspapers and magazines, both print and online.
Publications from business associations or trade journals.

Secondary research offers the convenience of collecting data, as well as being cheap. You can do it on the table without having to go out on the pitch.

However, unlike primary research, the accuracy of the data is a significant problem for secondary research. You depend on external parties for data quality. It can produce biased information and errors in making conclusions and decisions.

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9 Key stages in your marketing research process

You can conduct your own marketing research. Follow these steps, add your own flair, knowledge and creativity, and you’ll have bespoke research to be proud of.

Marketing research is the term used to cover the concept, development, placement and evolution of your product or service, its growing customer base and its branding – starting with brand awareness , and progressing to (everyone hopes) brand equity . Like any research, it needs a robust process to be credible and useful.

Marketing research uses four essential key factors known as the ‘marketing mix’ , or the Four Ps of Marketing :

Product (goods or service)
Price ( how much the customer pays )
Place (where the product is marketed)
Promotion (such as advertising and PR)

These four factors need to work in harmony for a product or service to be successful in its marketplace.

The marketing research process – an overview

A typical marketing research process is as follows:

Identify an issue, discuss alternatives and set out research objectives
Develop a research program
Choose a sample
Gather information
Gather data
Organize and analyze information and data
Present findings
Make research-based decisions
Take action based on insights

Step 1: Defining the marketing research problem

Defining a problem is the first step in the research process. In many ways, research starts with a problem facing management. This problem needs to be understood, the cause diagnosed, and solutions developed.

However, most management problems are not always easy to research, so they must first be translated into research problems. Once you approach the problem from a research angle, you can find a solution. For example, “sales are not growing” is a management problem, but translated into a research problem, it becomes “ why are sales not growing?” We can look at the expectations and experiences of several groups : potential customers, first-time buyers, and repeat purchasers. We can question whether the lack of sales is due to:

Poor expectations that lead to a general lack of desire to buy, or
Poor performance experience and a lack of desire to repurchase.

This, then, is the difference between a management problem and a research problem. Solving management problems focuses on actions: Do we advertise more? Do we change our advertising message? Do we change an under-performing product configuration? And if so, how?

Defining research problems, on the other hand, focus on the whys and hows, providing the insights you need to solve your management problem.

Step 2: Developing a research program: method of inquiry

The scientific method is the standard for investigation. It provides an opportunity for you to use existing knowledge as a starting point, and proceed impartially.

The scientific method includes the following steps:

Define a problem
Develop a hypothesis
Make predictions based on the hypothesis
Devise a test of the hypothesis
Conduct the test
Analyze the results

This terminology is similar to the stages in the research process. However, there are subtle differences in the way the steps are performed:

the scientific research method is objective and fact-based, using quantitative research and impartial analysis
the marketing research process can be subjective, using opinion and qualitative research, as well as personal judgment as you collect and analyze data

Step 3: Developing a research program: research method

As well as selecting a method of inquiry (objective or subjective), you must select a research method . There are two primary methodologies that can be used to answer any research question:

Experimental research : gives you the advantage of controlling extraneous variables and manipulating one or more variables that influence the process being implemented.
Non-experimental research : allows observation but not intervention – all you do is observe and report on your findings.

Step 4: Developing a research program: research design

Research design is a plan or framework for conducting marketing research and collecting data. It is defined as the specific methods and procedures you use to get the information you need.

There are three core types of marketing research designs: exploratory, descriptive, and causal . A thorough marketing research process incorporates elements of all of them.

Exploratory marketing research

This is a starting point for research. It’s used to reveal facts and opinions about a particular topic, and gain insight into the main points of an issue. Exploratory research is too much of a blunt instrument to base conclusive business decisions on, but it gives the foundation for more targeted study. You can use secondary research materials such as trade publications, books, journals and magazines and primary research using qualitative metrics, that can include open text surveys, interviews and focus groups.

Descriptive marketing research

This helps define the business problem or issue so that companies can make decisions, take action and monitor progress. Descriptive research is naturally quantitative – it needs to be measured and analyzed statistically , using more targeted surveys and questionnaires. You can use it to capture demographic information , evaluate a product or service for market, and monitor a target audience’s opinion and behaviors. Insights from descriptive research can inform conclusions about the market landscape and the product’s place in it.

Causal marketing research

This is useful to explore the cause and effect relationship between two or more variables. Like descriptive research , it uses quantitative methods, but it doesn’t merely report findings; it uses experiments to predict and test theories about a product or market. For example, researchers may change product packaging design or material, and measure what happens to sales as a result.

Step 5: Choose your sample

Your marketing research project will rarely examine an entire population. It’s more practical to use a sample - a smaller but accurate representation of the greater population. To design your sample, you’ll need to answer these questions:

Which base population is the sample to be selected from? Once you’ve established who your relevant population is (your research design process will have revealed this), you have a base for your sample. This will allow you to make inferences about a larger population.
What is the method (process) for sample selection? There are two methods of selecting a sample from a population:

1. Probability sampling : This relies on a random sampling of everyone within the larger population.

2. Non-probability sampling : This is based in part on the investigator’s judgment, and often uses convenience samples, or by other sampling methods that do not rely on probability.

What is your sample size? This important step involves cost and accuracy decisions. Larger samples generally reduce sampling error and increase accuracy, but also increase costs. Find out your perfect sample size with our calculator .

Step 6: Gather data

Your research design will develop as you select techniques to use. There are many channels for collecting data, and it’s helpful to differentiate it into O-data (Operational) and X-data (Experience):

O-data is your business’s hard numbers like costs, accounting, and sales. It tells you what has happened, but not why.
X-data gives you insights into the thoughts and emotions of the people involved: employees, customers, brand advocates.

When you combine O-data with X-data, you’ll be able to build a more complete picture about success and failure - you’ll know why. Maybe you’ve seen a drop in sales (O-data) for a particular product. Maybe customer service was lacking, the product was out of stock, or advertisements weren’t impactful or different enough: X-data will reveal the reason why those sales dropped. So, while differentiating these two data sets is important, when they are combined, and work with each other, the insights become powerful.

With mobile technology, it has become easier than ever to collect data. Survey research has come a long way since market researchers conducted face-to-face, postal, or telephone surveys. You can run research through:

Social media ( polls and listening )

Another way to collect data is by observation. Observing a customer’s or company’s past or present behavior can predict future purchasing decisions. Data collection techniques for predicting past behavior can include market segmentation , customer journey mapping and brand tracking .

Regardless of how you collect data, the process introduces another essential element to your research project: the importance of clear and constant communication .

And of course, to analyze information from survey or observation techniques, you must record your results . Gone are the days of spreadsheets. Feedback from surveys and listening channels can automatically feed into AI-powered analytics engines and produce results, in real-time, on dashboards.

Step 7: Analysis and interpretation

The words ‘ statistical analysis methods ’ aren’t usually guaranteed to set a room alight with excitement, but when you understand what they can do, the problems they can solve and the insights they can uncover, they seem a whole lot more compelling.

Statistical tests and data processing tools can reveal:

Whether data trends you see are meaningful or are just chance results
Your results in the context of other information you have
Whether one thing affecting your business is more significant than others
What your next research area should be
Insights that lead to meaningful changes

There are several types of statistical analysis tools used for surveys. You should make sure that the ones you choose:

Work on any platform - mobile, desktop, tablet etc.
Integrate with your existing systems
Are easy to use with user-friendly interfaces, straightforward menus, and automated data analysis
Incorporate statistical analysis so you don’t just process and present your data, but refine it, and generate insights and predictions.

Here are some of the most common tools:

Benchmarking : a way of taking outside factors into account so that you can adjust the parameters of your research. It ‘levels the playing field’ – so that your data and results are more meaningful in context. And gives you a more precise understanding of what’s happening.
Regression analysis : this is used for working out the relationship between two (or more) variables. It is useful for identifying the precise impact of a change in an independent variable.
T-test is used for comparing two data groups which have different mean values. For example, do women and men have different mean heights?
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) Similar to the T-test, ANOVA is a way of testing the differences between three or more independent groups to see if they’re statistically significant.
Cluster analysis : This organizes items into groups, or clusters, based on how closely associated they are.
Factor analysis: This is a way of condensing many variables into just a few, so that your research data is less unwieldy to work with.
Conjoint analysis : this will help you understand and predict why people make the choices they do. It asks people to make trade-offs when making decisions, just as they do in the real world, then analyzes the results to give the most popular outcome.
Crosstab analysis : this is a quantitative market research tool used to analyze ‘categorical data’ - variables that are different and mutually exclusive, such as: ‘men’ and ‘women’, or ‘under 30’ and ‘over 30’.
Text analysis and sentiment analysis : Analyzing human language and emotions is a rapidly-developing form of data processing, assigning positive, negative or neutral sentiment to customer messages and feedback.

Stats IQ can perform the most complicated statistical tests at the touch of a button using our online survey software , or data from other sources. Learn more about Stats iQ now .

Step 8: The marketing research results

Your marketing research process culminates in the research results. These should provide all the information the stakeholders and decision-makers need to understand the project.

The results will include:

all your information
a description of your research process
the results
conclusions
recommended courses of action

They should also be presented in a form, language and graphics that are easy to understand, with a balance between completeness and conciseness, neither leaving important information out or allowing it to get so technical that it overwhelms the readers.

Traditionally, you would prepare two written reports:

a technical report , discussing the methods, underlying assumptions and the detailed findings of the research project
a summary report , that summarizes the research process and presents the findings and conclusions simply.

There are now more engaging ways to present your findings than the traditional PowerPoint presentations, graphs, and face-to-face reports:

Live, interactive dashboards for sharing the most important information, as well as tracking a project in real time.
Results-reports visualizations – tables or graphs with data visuals on a shareable slide deck
Online presentation technology, such as Prezi
Visual storytelling with infographics
A single-page executive summary with key insights
A single-page stat sheet with the top-line stats

You can also make these results shareable so that decision-makers have all the information at their fingertips.

Step 9 Turn your insights into action

Insights are one thing, but they’re worth very little unless they inform immediate, positive action. Here are a few examples of how you can do this:

Stop customers leaving – negative sentiment among VIP customers gets picked up; the customer service team contacts the customers, resolves their issues, and avoids churn .
Act on important employee concerns – you can set certain topics, such as safety, or diversity and inclusion to trigger an automated notification or Slack message to HR. They can rapidly act to rectify the issue.
Address product issues – maybe deliveries are late, maybe too many products are faulty. When product feedback gets picked up through Smart Conversations, messages can be triggered to the delivery or product teams to jump on the problems immediately.
Improve your marketing effectiveness - Understand how your marketing is being received by potential customers, so you can find ways to better meet their needs
Grow your brand - Understand exactly what consumers are looking for, so you can make sure that you’re meeting their expectations

Download now: 8 Innovations to Modernize Market Research

Scott Smith

Scott Smith, Ph.D. is a contributor to the Qualtrics blog.

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Market Research Objectives

Market research objectives are specific, measurable, and achievable goals that organizations set when conducting research to gather information about their target markets, customers, competitors, and industry trends. These objectives serve as a roadmap, guiding the research process and ensuring that efforts are focused and results are relevant to the organization’s needs.

Table of Contents

Key Characteristics of Market Research Objectives

Market research objectives possess several key characteristics:

Specific: Objectives should be clearly defined and specific in terms of what information is sought, who the target audience is, and what the research aims to achieve.
Measurable: Objectives should be quantifiable, allowing for the measurement of progress and success.
Achievable: Objectives should be realistic and attainable within the constraints of available resources, such as time and budget.
Relevant: Objectives should align with the organization’s overall goals and be relevant to its current situation or challenges.

Importance of Market Research Objectives

Market research objectives play a pivotal role in the success of businesses and organizations for several reasons:

1. Focus and Direction:

They provide a clear sense of purpose and direction for the research effort, ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently.

2. Alignment with Business Goals:

Objectives help align market research with broader business goals, ensuring that the insights gained contribute to strategic decision-making.

3. Measurement of Success:

Objectives serve as benchmarks for success, allowing organizations to evaluate the effectiveness of their research efforts.

4. Resource Optimization:

By defining specific objectives, organizations can allocate resources, such as time and budget, more effectively to achieve their research goals.

5. Competitive Advantage:

Well-defined research objectives enable organizations to gain a competitive advantage by making informed, data-driven decisions.

Types of Market Research Objectives

Market research objectives can vary based on the specific needs and goals of an organization. Some common types of market research objectives include:

1. Exploratory Objectives:

These objectives aim to gain a deeper understanding of a market, its dynamics, and potential opportunities or challenges.

2. Descriptive Objectives:

Descriptive objectives seek to provide a comprehensive overview of a market’s characteristics, such as demographics, preferences, and behaviors.

3. Causal Objectives:

Causal objectives focus on understanding cause-and-effect relationships, such as how changes in pricing impact consumer purchasing decisions.

4. Predictive Objectives:

Predictive objectives aim to forecast future market trends, allowing organizations to proactively respond to changing conditions.

5. Diagnostic Objectives:

Diagnostic objectives seek to identify the root causes of specific issues or challenges within a market.

Setting Market Research Objectives

The process of setting market research objectives.

Setting effective market research objectives involves a systematic process:

Identify Information Needs:
Begin by identifying the specific information needs of the organization. What questions or challenges does the research aim to address?
Define Clear Objectives:
Transform information needs into clear and specific objectives. Objectives should answer the “what,” “who,” and “why” of the research.
Prioritize Objectives:
Prioritize objectives based on their importance and relevance to the organization’s goals and decision-making processes.
Specify Metrics and Measurements:
Determine how each objective will be measured and what metrics or data points are relevant to assess success.
Consider Constraints:
Account for constraints, such as budget and timeline, when setting objectives to ensure feasibility.
Align with Stakeholders:
Collaborate with relevant stakeholders to ensure that objectives align with their expectations and needs.
Document Objectives:
Document the objectives in a clear and concise manner, ensuring that they are accessible to all involved in the research process.

Real-World Examples of Market Research Objectives

To better understand how market research objectives are applied in practice, here are some real-world examples:

Example 1: Product Launch

Objective: To determine the market demand and potential acceptance of a new smartphone model among consumers aged 18-34 in the United States.

Metrics: Measure the projected sales volume, customer feedback on product features, and brand perception among the target demographic.

Example 2: Competitive Analysis

Objective: To assess the competitive landscape in the fast-food industry within a specific region and identify opportunities for market entry.

Metrics: Analyze market share data, conduct mystery shopping evaluations, and assess consumer preferences for various fast-food chains.

Example 3: Customer Satisfaction

Objective: To evaluate customer satisfaction with the company’s recent customer service initiatives and identify areas for improvement.

Metrics: Collect and analyze customer feedback through surveys, assess customer retention rates, and track changes in Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Example 4: Market Expansion

Objective: To explore the feasibility of expanding into international markets and identify potential entry strategies.

Metrics: Analyze market size, assess regulatory barriers, and conduct competitor analysis in selected international markets.

Best Practices for Market Research Objectives

Setting effective market research objectives requires careful consideration and planning. Here are some best practices to follow:

1. Start with Clear Information Needs:

Ensure that objectives are driven by specific questions or challenges that the organization needs to address.

2. Make Objectives SMART:

Follow the SMART criteria (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to create well-defined objectives.

3. Prioritize Objectives:

Recognize that not all objectives are of equal importance. Focus on the most critical ones that will have the greatest impact.

4. Involve Stakeholders:

5. document objectives:.

Clearly document objectives in a format that is accessible to all involved in the research process.

6. Review and Update Objectives:

Regularly review and update objectives as the research progresses to account for changing circumstances or emerging insights.

Market research objectives are the cornerstone of any successful research effort. They provide clarity, focus, and direction to organizations seeking to gain insights into their target markets, customers, and competitors. By setting clear and well-defined objectives that align with their goals, businesses can make informed decisions, stay competitive, and thrive in dynamic market environments. Whether it’s launching a new product, assessing customer satisfaction, or expanding into new markets, effective market research objectives are the compass that guides organizations toward success.

Key Highlights:

Market research objectives provide direction and focus to research efforts, ensuring relevance and alignment with organizational goals.
Objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant to the organization’s needs.
They help in focusing efforts, aligning with business goals, measuring success, optimizing resources, and gaining a competitive advantage.
Exploratory, descriptive, causal, predictive, and diagnostic objectives cater to different research needs and goals.
The process involves identifying information needs, defining clear objectives, prioritizing, specifying metrics, considering constraints, aligning with stakeholders, and documenting objectives.
Examples include assessing demand for a new product, analyzing the competitive landscape, evaluating customer satisfaction, and exploring market expansion opportunities.
Start with clear information needs, make objectives SMART, prioritize, involve stakeholders, document objectives, and review/update as needed.
Market research objectives serve as a roadmap for organizations, guiding research efforts to yield valuable insights that drive informed decision-making and strategic planning.

Connected Analysis Frameworks

Failure Mode And Effects Analysis

Agile Business Analysis

Business Valuation

Paired Comparison Analysis

Monte Carlo Analysis

Cost-Benefit Analysis

CATWOE Analysis

VTDF Framework

Pareto Analysis

Comparable Analysis

SWOT Analysis

PESTEL Analysis

Business Analysis

Financial Structure

Financial Modeling

Value Investing

Buffet Indicator

Financial Analysis

Post-Mortem Analysis

Retrospective Analysis

Root Cause Analysis

Blindspot Analysis

Break-even Analysis

Decision Analysis

DESTEP Analysis

STEEP Analysis

STEEPLE Analysis

Activity-Based Management

PMESII-PT Analysis

SPACE Analysis

Lotus Diagram

Functional Decomposition

Multi-Criteria Analysis

Stakeholder Analysis

Strategic Analysis

Related Strategy Concepts: Go-To-Market Strategy , Marketing Strategy , Business Models , Tech Business Models , Jobs-To-Be Done , Design Thinking , Lean Startup Canvas , Value Chain , Value Proposition Canvas , Balanced Scorecard , Business Model Canvas , SWOT Analysis , Growth Hacking , Bundling , Unbundling , Bootstrapping , Venture Capital , Porter’s Five Forces , Porter’s Generic Strategies , Porter’s Five Forces , PESTEL Analysis , SWOT , Porter’s Diamond Model , Ansoff , Technology Adoption Curve , TOWS , SOAR , Balanced Scorecard , OKR , Agile Methodology , Value Proposition , VTDF Framework , BCG Matrix , GE McKinsey Matrix , Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model .

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Business Models
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The Ultimate Guide to Market Research: Types, Benefits, and Real-World Examples

Team Fratzke

Today's consumers hold a lot of power when making purchase decisions. With a quick inquiry in a search engine or search bar within a social media platform, they can access genuine reviews from their peers without relying on sales reps.

Considering this shift in consumer behavior, adjusting your marketing strategy so it caters to the modern-day buying process is essential . To achieve this, you must thoroughly understand your target audience, the market you operate in, and the factors influencing their decision-making.

This is where market research can be leveraged so you stay current with your audience and industry.

Article Overview

In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about how to conduct market research, including:

Why market research is essential for understanding your target audience, the market you operate in, and factors influencing decision-making
What are the different types of market research, such as primary and secondary market research
How to collect information about your customers and target market to determine the success of a new or existing product, improve your brand, and communicate your company's value
Real-world examples of companies leveraging market research

Schedule your Free Market Research Consultation with Fratzke

What is market research?

Market research is a necessary process that involves collecting and documenting information about your target market and customers. This helps you determine the success of a new product, improve an existing one, or understand how your brand is perceived. You can then turn this research into profits by developing marketing strategies and campaigns to effectively communicate your company's value .

While market research can provide insights into various aspects of an industry, it is not a crystal ball that can predict everything about your customers. Market researchers typically explore multiple areas of the market, which can take several weeks or even months to get a complete picture of the business landscape.

Even by researching just one of those areas, you can gain better insights into who your buyers are and what unique value proposition you can offer them that no other business currently provides.

Of course, you can simply use your industry experience and existing customer insights to make sound judgment calls. However, it's important to note that market research provides additional benefits beyond these strategies. There are two things to consider:

Your competitors also have experienced individuals in the industry and a customer base. Your immediate resources may equal those of your competition's immediate resources. Seeking a larger sample size for answers can provide a better edge.
Your brand's customers do not represent the entire market's attitudes, only those who are attracted to your brand.

The market research services industry is experiencing rapid growth , indicating a strong interest in market research as we enter 2024. The market is expected to grow from approximately $75 billion in 2021 to $90.79 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 5%.

Your competitors have highly skilled individuals within the industry, meaning your available personnel resources are likely similar to those of your competitors. So what are you going to do to get ahead?

You’re going to do thorough market research, which is why seeking answers from a larger sample size is essential. Remember that your customers represent only a portion of the market already attracted to your brand, and their attitudes may not necessarily reflect those of the entire market. You could be leaving money on the table by leaving out untapped customers .

Why do market research?

Market research helps you meet your buyers where they are. Understanding your buyer's problems, pain points, and desired outcomes is invaluable as our world becomes increasingly noisy and demanding. This knowledge will help you tailor your product or service to appeal to them naturally.

What’s even better is when you're ready to grow your business, market research can also guide you in developing an effective market expansion strategy.

Market research provides valuable insights into factors that impact your profits and can help you to :

Identify where your target audience and current customers are conducting their product or service research
Determine which competitors your target audience looks to for information, options, or purchases
Keep up with the latest trends in your industry and understand what your buyers are interested in
Understand who makes up your market and what challenges they are facing
Determine what influences purchases and conversions among your target audience
Analyze consumer attitudes about a particular topic, pain, product, or brand
Assess the demand for the business initiatives you're investing in
Identify unaddressed or underserved customer needs that can be turned into selling opportunities
Understand consumer attitudes about pricing for your product or service.

Market research provides valuable information from a larger sample size of your target audience, enabling you to obtain accurate consumer attitudes. By eliminating any bias or assumptions you have about your target audience, you can make better business decisions based on the bigger picture.

As you delve deeper into your market research, you will come across two types of research: primary and secondary market research . Simply put, think of two umbrellas beneath market research - one for primary and one for secondary research. In the next section, we will discuss the difference between these two types of research. That way, if you work with a market who wants to use them, you’ll be ready with an understanding of how they can each benefit your business.

Primary vs. Secondary Research

Both primary and secondary research are conducted to collect actionable information on your product. That information can then be divided into two types: qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitative research focuses on public opinion and aims to determine how the market feels about the products currently available. On the other hand, quantitative research seeks to identify relevant trends in the data gathered from public records.

Let's take a closer look at these two types.

Primary Research

Primary research involves gathering first-hand information about your market and its customers. It can be leveraged to segment your market and create focused buyer personas . Generally, primary market research can be categorized into exploratory and specific studies.

Exploratory Primary Research

This type of primary market research is not focused on measuring customer trends; instead, it is focused on identifying potential problems worth addressing as a team. It is usually conducted as an initial step before any specific research is done and may involve conducting open-ended interviews or surveys with a small group of people.

Specific Primary Research

After conducting exploratory research, businesses may conduct specific primary research to explore issues or opportunities they have identified as necessary. Specific research involves targeting a smaller or more precise audience segment and asking questions aimed at solving a suspected problem. Specific primary research reveals problems that are unique to your audience so you can then offer a unique (and valuable) solution.

Secondary Research

Secondary research refers to collecting and analyzing data that has already been published or made available in public records. This may include market statistics, trend reports, sales data, and industry content you already can access. Secondary research really shines when you go to your competitors . The most commonly used sources of secondary market research include:

Public sources
Commercial sources
Internal sources

Public Sources

When conducting secondary market research, the first and most accessible sources of information are usually free . That’s right–these public sources are free and at your fingertips so there’s no reason for you to not be checking them out and leveraging them for your own gain.

One of the most common types of public sources is government statistics. According to Entrepreneur, two examples of public market data in the United States are the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor & Statistics. These sources offer helpful information about the state of various industries nationwide including:

Commercial Sources

Research agencies such as Pew, Fratzke, Gartner, or Forrester often provide market reports containing industry insights from their own in-depth studies . These reports usually come at a cost if you want to download and obtain the information, but these agencies are experts at what they do, so the research is most likely valuable.

Internal Sources

Internal sources of market data can include average revenue per sale, customer retention rates, and other data on the health of old and new accounts. They are often overlooked when it comes to conducting market research because of how specific the data is; however, these sources can be valuable as they provide information on the organization's historical data.

By analyzing this information, you can gain insights into what your customers want now . In addition to these broad categories, there are various ways to conduct market research. Let’s talk about them.

Types of Market Research

Interviews (in-person or remote)

Focus Groups

Product/ Service Use Research

Observation-Based Research

Buyer persona research, market segmentation research, pricing research.

Competitive Analysis Research

Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

Brand awareness research, campaign research.

Interviews can be conducted face-to-face or virtually, allowing for a natural conversation flow while observing the interviewee's body language. By asking questions about themselves, the interviewee can help you create buyer personas , which are made by using information about the ideal customer, such as:

Family size
Challenges faced at work or in life

And other aspects of their lifestyle. This buyer profile can shape your entire marketing strategy , from the features you add to your product to the content you publish on your website. Your target audience will feel that the marketing was made just for them and will be drawn to your product or service.

Focus groups are market research involving a few carefully selected individuals who can test your product, watch a demonstration, offer feedback, and answer specific questions. This research can inspire ideas for product differentiation or highlight the unique features of your product or brand that set it apart from others in the market. This is a great market research option to gain specific feedback, which you can use to improve your services .

Product/Service Use Research

Product or service usage research provides valuable insights into how and why your target audience uses your product or service. This research can help in various ways including:

Identifying specific features of your offering that appeal to your audience.
Allowing you to assess the usability of your product or service for your target audience.

According to a report published in 2020, usability testing was rated the most effective method for discovering user insights, with a score of 8.7 out of 10. In comparison, digital analytics scored 7.7, and user surveys scored 6.4.

Observation-based research is a process that involves observing how your target audience members use your product or service. The way that you intended your product or service to be used may not be the actual way that it is used. Observation-based research helps you understand what works well in terms of customer experience (CX) and user experience (UX), what problems they face, and which aspects of your product or service can be improved to make it easier for them to use.

To better understand how your potential customers make purchasing decisions in your industry, it is essential to know who they are. This is where buyer persona research comes in handy. Buyer or marketing personas are fictional yet generalized representations of your ideal customers. They give you someone to whom you want your marketing efforts to empathize and move, even though they don’t really exist.

Gathering survey data and additional research to correctly identify your buyer personas will help you to visualize your audience so you can streamline your communications and inform marketing strategy . Key characteristics to include in a buyer persona are:

Job title(s)
Family size
Major challenges

Market segmentation research enables you to classify your target audience into various groups or segments based on specific and defining characteristics. This method allows you to understand their needs, pain points, expectations, and goals more effectively.

Pricing research can provide valuable insights about the prices of similar products or services in your market. It can help you understand what your target audience expects to pay for your offerings and what would be a reasonable price for you to set. Correct pricing is important because if you set it too high, consumers will go to your cheaper competitor; but if you set it too low, your consumers may become suspicious of your product or service and still end up with your competitor. This information allows you to develop a solid pricing strategy aligning with your business goals and objectives.

Competitive Analysis

Competitive analyses are incredibly valuable as they provide a deep understanding of your market and industry competition. Through these analyses, you can gain insights like:

What works well in your industry
What your target audience is already interested in regarding products like yours
Which competitors you should work to keep up with and surpass
How you can differentiate yourself from the competition

Understanding customer satisfaction and loyalty is crucial to encouraging repeat business and identifying what drives customers to return (such as loyalty programs, rewards, and exceptional customer service). Researching this area will help you determine the most effective methods to keep your customers coming back again and again. If you have a CRM system, consider further utilizing automated customer feedback surveys to improve your understanding of their needs and preferences.

Brand awareness research helps you understand the level of familiarity your target audience has with your brand. It provides insights into your audience members' perceptions and associations when they think about your business.This type of research reveals what they believe your brand represents. This information is valuable for developing effective marketing strategies, improving your brand's reputation, and increasing customer loyalty .

To improve your marketing campaigns, you need to research by analyzing the success of your past campaigns among your target audience and current customers. This requires experimentation and thoroughly examining the elements that resonate with your audience. By doing so, you can identify the aspects of your campaigns that matter most to your audience and use them as a guide for future campaigns.

Now that you understand the different market research categories and types let's look at how to conduct your market research. Using our expertise and experience, we’ve created a step-by-step guide to conducting market research.

How to Do Market Research (Detailed Roadmap)

Define the problem or objective of the research.
Determine the type of data needed.
Identify the sources of data.
Collect the data.
Analyze the data.
Interpret the results.
Report the findings.
Take action based on the findings.

1. Define the problem or objective of the research

Defining the problem or objective of the research is the first step in conducting market research. This involves identifying the specific issue that the research is trying to address. It is essential to be clear and specific about the research problem or objective, as it will guide the entire research process.

2. Determine the type of data needed

After defining the research problem or objective, the next step is determining the data type needed to address the issue. This involves deciding whether to collect primary or secondary data. Primary data is collected directly from the source, while secondary data is collected from existing sources such as government reports or market research studies.

3. Identify the sources of data

Once the data type has been determined, the next step is identifying the data sources. This involves identifying potential sources of primary and secondary data that can be used to address the research problem or objective. Primary data sources can include surveys, focus groups, and interviews, while secondary data sources can include government reports, industry publications, and academic journals.

4. Collect the data

After identifying the data sources, the next step is to collect the data. This involves designing and implementing a data collection plan consistent with the research problem or objective. The data collection plan should specify the methods and procedures for collecting data, sample size, and sampling method.

5. Analyze the data

Once the data has been collected, the next step is to analyze the data. This involves organizing, summarizing, and interpreting the data to identify patterns, relationships, and trends. The research problem or objective should guide the data analysis process and be conducted using appropriate statistical methods and software.

6. Interpret the results

After analyzing the data, the next step is to interpret the results. This involves drawing conclusions from the data analysis and using the results to address the research problem or objective. It is essential to analyze the results objectively and to avoid making assumptions or drawing conclusions that are not supported by the data.

7. Report the findings

Try identifying common themes to create a story and action items.To make the process easier, use your favorite presentation software to create a report, as it will make it easy to add quotes, diagrams, or call clips.

Feel free to add your flair, but the following outline should help you craft a clear summary:

Background: What are your goals, and why did you conduct this study?
Participants: Who you talked to? A table works well to break groups down by persona and customer/prospect.
Executive Summary: What were the most exciting things you learned? What do you plan to do about it?
Key Findings: Identify the key findings using data visualizations and emphasize key points.
Recommendations + Action Plan: Your analysis will uncover actionable insights to fuel strategies and campaigns you can run to get your brand in front of buyers earlier and more effectively. Provide your list of priorities, action items , a timeline, and its impact on your business.

8. Take action based on the findings

The final step in conducting market research is to take action based on the findings. This involves using the results to make informed decisions about the marketing strategy, product development, or other business decisions. It is important to use the findings to drive action and to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the action taken continuously.

How to Prepare for Market Research Projects

Identify a persona group to engage, prepare research questions for your market research participants, list your primary competitors.

The idea is to use your persona as a reference point for understanding and reaching out to your industry's audience members. Your business might cater to more than one persona, and that's completely acceptable! However, you must be mindful of each persona while strategizing and planning your content and campaigns.

How to Identify the Right People to Engage for Market Research

When selecting a group on which to conduct market research , it is essential to consider individuals with the same characteristics as your target audience.

If you need to research multiple target audiences, recruit separate groups for each one. Select people who have recently interacted with you by looking through social media for post interactions or seeing if they’ve made recent purchases from you.

If you are planning to conduct an evaluation, it is recommended that you focus on people who have completed it within the last six months. However, if you have a longer sales cycle or a specific market, you can extend the period up to a year. It is crucial to ask detailed questions during the evaluation, so the participants' experience must be fresh.

Gather a mix of participants

If you want to expand your customer base, you’re going to want to get viewpoints of your product or service from every angle. Consider getting this mix by recruiting individuals who have already purchased your product, those who have bought a competitor's product, and those who haven't purchased anything. While targeting your existing customers may be the easiest option, gathering information from non-customers can help you gain a more balanced market perspective .

We recommend taking the following steps to select a mix of participants:

Create a list of customers who made a recent purchase . This is usually the most accessible group to recruit. If you have a CRM system with list segmentation capabilities, run a report of deals that closed within the past six months and filter it for the characteristics you're looking for. Otherwise, work with your sales team to get them a list of appropriate accounts.
Create a list of customers who were in an active evaluation but didn't make a purchase. You should get a mix of buyers who either purchased from a competitor or decided not to purchase. Again, you can obtain this list from your CRM or your Sales team's system to track deals.
Use social media to call for participants. Try reaching out to people who follow you on social media but decided not to buy from you. Some may be willing to talk to you and explain why they did not purchase your product.
Leverage your network . Spread the word that you're conducting a study to your coworkers, former colleagues, and LinkedIn connections. Even if your direct connections don't qualify, some will likely have a coworker, friend, or family member who does.
Choose an incentive to motivate participants to spend time on your study. If you're on a tight budget , you can reward participants for free by giving them exclusive access to content.

Related Resources:

Digital Marketing Strategy: Keep It Simple
5 Marketing Predictions for the Looming Recession
Recession Proof Marketing Strategies for Your Business
Marketing Operations Framework - The Five Ps
Biggest Marketing Challenges Leaders Face
Digital Marketing Benchmarks & KPIs - How To Compare Your Performance

Preparation is key when conducting research in hopes of gaining productive and informative conversations. This involves creating a discussion guide, whether it is for a focus group, an online survey, or a phone interview. The guide should help you cover all the relevant topics and manage your time efficiently.

The discussion guide should be in an outline format, with an allocated time and open-ended questions for each section. All the questions must be open-ended, as asking closed questions may lead the interviewee to respond with a simple "yes" or "no" answer. You may need more detailed answers to make informed decisions, so be sure to ask follow-up questions as necessary. Also leave out any leading questions as they may unintentionally influence the interviewee's response, skewing your research results.

It's essential to identify your competitors accurately and you may even have some hidden in plain sight. There are some instances where your company's business division might compete with your main product or service, even though that company's brand might have a different focus. Take a look at Apple: the company is known primarily for its laptops and mobile devices, but Apple Music competes with Spotify over its music streaming service.

From a content perspective, you might compete with a blog, YouTube channel, or similar publication for inbound website visitors — even though their products don't overlap with yours. An example of this is when a toothpaste company might compete with publications like Health.com or Prevention on specific blog topics related to health and hygiene, even though the magazines don't sell oral care products.

Here are a few ways to build your competitor list:

Check your industry quadrant on G2 Crowd: This is a significant first step for secondary market research in some industries. G2 Crowd aggregates user ratings and social data to create "quadrants" that show companies as contenders, leaders, niche players, or high performers in their respective industries. G2 Crowd specializes in digital content, IT services, HR, e-commerce, and related business services.
Download a market report: Companies like Forrester and Gartner offer free and gated market forecasts yearly on the vendors leading their industry. On Forrester's website, for example, you can select "Latest Research" from the navigation bar and browse Forrester's latest material using a variety of criteria to narrow your search. These reports are good assets to save on your computer.
Use social media : Social networks can be excellent company directories if you use the search bar correctly. On LinkedIn, for example, select the search bar and enter the name of the industry you're pursuing. Then, under "More," select "Companies" to narrow your results to the businesses that include this or a similar industry term on their LinkedIn profile.

Identifying Content Competitors

Search engines can be beneficial when it comes to secondary market research . To identify the online publications competing with your business, start with the overarching industry term you identified earlier, and then come up with more specific industry terms that are related to your company . For example, if you run a catering business, you might consider yourself a "food service" company, as well as a vendor in "event catering," "cake catering," "baked goods," and so on.

Once you have this list, follow these steps:

Google it: Running a search on Google for the industry terms that describe your company can be very beneficial. You may come across a mix of product developers, blogs, magazines, and other websites.
Compare your search results against your buyer persona: Remember the persona you created during the primary research stage? You can use it to evaluate whether a publication you found through Google could steal website traffic from you. If the website's content aligns with what your buyer persona would want to see, it is a potential competitor and should be added to your list of competitors.

After a series of similar Google searches for the industry terms you identify with, look for repetition in the website domains that have come up.

When searching, examine the first two or three pages of results. These websites are considered reputable sources of content in your industry and should be monitored closely as you create your collection of videos, reports, web pages, and blog posts.

Make faster, smarter decisions with market research.

Market Research Examples

Mcdonald's focus on customer feedback and profiling.

McDonald's invests in developing a detailed consumer profile to attract and retain customers, including parents of young children who appreciate the family-friendly atmosphere and menus. The brand seeks feedback from customers through surveys and questionnaires in stores, social media, and its mobile app. It also monitors customer feedback on digital channels.

Nike's Extensive Research and Collaboration for Running Shoes Development

Nike invests heavily in creating running shoes that cater to the needs of its customers, which it determines through extensive market research and customer surveys. The brand goes to great lengths to understand its customers' preferences, such as the type of running surface, the distance they run, and their running style, to develop shoes that meet their specific needs.

In addition to customer surveys, Nike also collaborates with athletes to develop shoes that cater to their specific requirements. This research helps Nike improve its existing running shoe models and innovate new ones, ensuring that the brand stays ahead of the competition.

Disney employs focus groups that specifically cater to children to test out their new characters and ideas.

The Walt Disney Company invests millions of dollars in creating captivating stories tested for their effectiveness with children, the intended audience. Disney executives hold focus groups with preschoolers and kindergartners several times a year to gather their opinions and feedback on TV episodes, Disney characters, and more.

This market research strategy is effective because children are the ultimate audience that Disney aims to please. The collected feedback helps the company improve existing content to meet the preferences of its audience and ensure continued success as a multi-billion dollar enterprise.

KFC tested its meatless product in specific markets before launching it nationwide.

In 2019, KFC began developing and testing a meatless version of its famous chicken. However, instead of immediately launching the product nationwide, they decided to test it in select stores in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

This is an innovative and practical approach to market research, as it allows the company to determine the product's sales performance on a smaller scale before committing too many resources to it. If the meatless chicken fails to gain popularity in Georgia, KFC can make the necessary changes to the product before introducing it to the broader market.

Yamaha conducted a survey to determine whether to use knobs or sliding faders on the Montage keyboard.

Yamaha is a Japanese corporation that produces various products, from motorcycles to golf cars to musical instruments. When it began developing its new Montage keyboard, the team was unsure whether to use knobs or sliding faders on the product.

To address this dilemma, Yamaha used Qualtrics to send a survey to their customers. Within just a few hours , they received 400 responses. By using survey feedback, Yamaha ensured that it was designing a product that would perfectly meet the preferences of its audiences.

The Body Shop used social listening to determine how to reposition brand campaigns based on customer feedback.

The Body Shop is a well-known brand that offers ethically sourced and natural products. They take pride in their core value of sustainability. The Body Shop team tracked conversations to understand the sustainability subtopics that were most important to their audiences.

They found that their customers cared a lot about refills. Based on this information, the Body Shop team confidently relaunched their Refill Program across 400 stores globally in 2021, with plans to add another 400 in 2022. Market research confirmed that their refill concept was on the right track and also highlighted the need for increased efforts to demonstrate how much the Body Shop cares about its customers' values .

VideoTranscript

The takeaway.

Fratzke Consulting offers a comprehensive suite of market research services to help brands gain valuable insights into their target market, competitors, and industry trends. Our expert team utilizes various primary and secondary research methods to gather accurate and unbiased data, including surveys, competitive research, and industry reports. With Fratzke Consulting, you'll have the tools to succeed in today's rapidly evolving business landscape.

Interested in learning more? Book a free audit consultation today.

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What is Marketing Research? Examples and Best Practices

12 min read

Marketing research is essentially a method utilized by companies to collect valuable information regarding their target market. Through the common practice of conducting market research, companies gather essential information that enables them to make informed decisions and develop products that resonate with consumers. It encompasses the gathering, analysis, and interpretation of data, which aids in identifying consumer demands, anticipating market trends, and staying ahead of the competition.

Exploratory research is one of the initial steps in the marketing research process. It helps businesses gain broad insights when specific information is unknown. If you are seeking insight into how marketing research can influence the trajectory of your SaaS, then you have come to the right place!

Market research is a systematic and objective process crucial for understanding target markets, refining business strategies, and informing decisions, which includes collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data on customers, competitors, and the industry.
Primary market research gathers specific data directly from the target audience using tools like surveys and focus groups, while secondary market research utilizes existing data from various sources to provide broader market insights.
Effective market research combines both qualitative methods, which explore consumer motivations, and quantitative methods, which provide measurable statistics, to create comprehensive insights that guide business strategy and decision-making.

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Defining marketing research

Launching a product without knowing what your target audience wants is like walking in the dark. Market research lights the way, helping you collect, analyze, and understand information about your target market. This allows you to refine your business strategies and make decisions based on solid evidence.

Gone are the days when just intuition or subjective judgment was enough. Objective insights from market research help avoid costly mistakes and meet consumer needs by identifying trends and changes in the market. This is crucial for assessing a product’s potential success, optimizing marketing strategies, and preparing for market shifts.

Market research is a systematic approach that provides essential information, helping businesses navigate the complexities of the commercial world. Partnering with market research companies can offer additional benefits, leveraging their expertise in understanding market demands, trends, market size, economic indicators, location, market saturation, and pricing. Whether starting a new business, developing products, or updating marketing plans, understanding how to conduct effective market research is key to success.

To conduct market research effectively, businesses must determine study goals, identify target consumers, collect and analyze data, and use the findings to make informed decisions. This process is vital for evaluating past performance, measuring changes over time, and addressing specific business needs. It guides businesses in product development, marketing strategies, and overall decision-making, ensuring a better ROI and providing an eye-opening view of the market through various research methods, whether conducted in-house or outsourced.

The purpose of marketing research

Conducting marketing research is more than just gathering data; it’s about turning that data into actionable insights to refine your business strategies. This process helps you understand what motivates your customers, enabling you to tailor your products and services to minimize risks from the start. Importantly, market research plays a pivotal role in measuring and enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty, which are critical for understanding key demographics, improving user experience, designing better products, and driving customer retention. Customer satisfaction is measured as a key outcome, directly linked to the success of marketing strategies and business activities.

For SaaS product managers, market research, including competitive analysis, is crucial. It evaluates past strategies and gauges the potential success of new offerings. This research provides essential insights into brand strength, consumer behavior, and market position, which are vital for teams focused on sales, marketing, and product development.

A key aspect of market research is analyzing customer attitudes and usage. This analysis offers detailed insights into what customers want, the choices they make, and the challenges they face. It helps identify opportunities in the market and aids in formulating effective strategies for market entry.

Overall, market research equips SaaS entrepreneurs with the knowledge to meet their target audience’s needs effectively, guiding product adjustments and innovations based on informed decisions.

Key components of market research

Conducting market research is analogous to preparing a cake, requiring precise ingredients in specific quantities to achieve the intended outcome. Within this realm, necessary components consist of primary and secondary data gathering, thorough analysis, and insightful interpretation.

Primary research techniques such as exploratory studies, product evolution inquiries, estimations of market dimensions and shares, and consumer behavior examinations play a crucial role in collecting targeted information that can be directly applied. These methods afford a deeper understanding of your target demographic, allowing for customized strategy development.

In contrast, secondary research enriches the specificity of primary findings by adding wider context. It taps into external resources encompassing works from other investigators, sector-specific reports, and demographics data, which provide an expansive yet less particularized landscape view of the marketplace.

The subsequent phase involves meticulous analysis of collated data offering unbiased perspectives critical for identifying deficiencies while recognizing emerging patterns. Technological progress now facilitates examination efforts on both structured and unstructured datasets effectively addressing large-scale analytical complexities.

Ultimately, it’s through expert-led interpretation that value transcends raw figures, yielding strategies grounded in deep comprehension. Akin to decoding recipes using selected ingredients—this interpretative step enables crafting optimal business maneuvers just as one would bake their ideal confectionery creation utilizing proper culinary guidance.

Types of market research: primary and secondary

Now that you know the importance of clear research objectives, let’s explore the different types of market research and the techniques available to achieve these goals. Market research methods can be divided into two main categories: primary research and secondary research . The choice between these depends on factors like your budget, time constraints, and whether you need exploratory data or definitive answers.

Primary research involves collecting new data directly from sources. This process is like mining for precious metals, as it requires using various methods to gather fresh insights.

Surveys (here – in-app survey templates from Userpilot ).

Interviews.

Focus groups.
Product trials.

This approach gives you first-hand insight into your target audience.

Conversely, secondary research uses already established datasets of primary data – which can add depth and reinforcement to your firsthand findings.

Conducting your own market research using primary research tools can be a cost-effective strategy, allowing businesses to gather valuable insights directly and tailor their research to specific needs.

Let’s look a bit deeper into them now.

What is primary market research?

Market research uses primary market research as an essential tool. This involves collecting new data directly from your target audience using various methods, such as surveys , focus groups, and interviews.

Each method has its benefits. For example, observational studies allow you to see how consumers interact with your product.

There are many ways to conduct primary research.

Focus Groups : Hold discussions with small groups of 5 to 10 people from your target audience. These discussions can provide valuable feedback on products, perceptions of your company’s brand name, or opinions on competitors. Additionally, these discussions can help understand the characteristics, challenges, and buying habits of target customers, optimizing brand strategy.

Interviews : Have one-on-one conversations to gather detailed information from individuals in your target audience.

Surveys : These are a common tool in primary market research and can be used instead of focus groups to understand consumer attitudes. Surveys use structured questions and can reach a broad audience efficiently.

Navigating secondary market research

While marketing research using primary methods is like discovering precious metals, secondary market research technique is like using a treasure map. This approach uses data collected by others from various sources, providing a broad industry view. These sources include market analyses from agencies like Statista, historical data such as census records, and academic studies.

Secondary research provides the basic knowledge necessary for conducting primary market research goals but may lack detail on specific business questions and could also be accessible to competitors.

To make the most of secondary market research, it’s important to analyze summarized data to identify trends, rely on reputable sources for accurate data, and remain unbiased in data collection methods.

The effectiveness of secondary research depends significantly on how well the data is interpreted, ensuring that this information complements the insights from primary research.

Qualitative vs quantitative research

Market research employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, offering distinct insights that complement each other. Qualitative research aims to understand consumer behaviors and motivations through detailed analysis, while quantitative research collects measurable data for statistical analysis.

The selection of qualitative or quantitative methods should align with your research goals. If you need to uncover initial insights or explore deep consumer motivations, qualitative techniques like surveys or interviews are ideal.

On the other hand, if you need data that can be measured and analyzed for reliability, quantitative methods are more suitable.

However, these approaches don’t have to be used separately. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in mixed-method studies allows you to capture both detailed exploratory responses and concrete numerical data. This integration offers a comprehensive view of the market, leveraging the strengths of both approaches to provide a fuller understanding of market conditions.

Implementing market research tools: Userpilot’s role

Similar to how a compass is essential for navigation at sea, businesses need appropriate instruments to carry out effective market research. Userpilot’s suite of product analytics and in-app engagement tools are critical components for this purpose.

Acting as a Buyer Persona Research instrument, Userpilot’s product analytics provide key quantitative research capabilities. This helps clearly define and comprehend the attributes and behaviors of potential customers, providing you with insights into your ICP (Ideal Customer Persona), user preferences, and product-market fit.

Beyond product analytics, Userpilot offers robust in-app engagement features such as modals and surveys that support real time collection of market research information. These interactive features work synergistically with the analytical tools to enable companies to gather detailed data and feedback crucial for informed business decision-making.

Marketing research process: Step-by-step guide

Marketing research conists of several critical stages:

Defining precise goals.
Delving into the knowledge of your target demographic.
Collecting and scrutinizing data.
Revealing insights that can be translated into tangible actions.

Following these steps allows you to gather critical information that guides business decisions.

An effective research strategy is crucial and involves:

Properly allocating funds.
Formulating testable hypotheses.
Choosing appropriate methods for the study.
Determining the number of study participants.
Considering external variables.

A well-planned strategy ensures that your market research is focused, efficient, and produces useful outcomes.

After collecting data, the next step is to analyze it. This involves comparing the data to your initial questions to draw conclusions relevant to your business strategies.

Userpilot makes your data analysis easier by providing handy analytics dashboards for key user metrics such as activation, engagement, core feature adoption, and retention out of the box:

Finally, you report the findings and the process, providing recommendations based on the evidence. This is like solving a puzzle: each piece helps to complete the overall picture.

Challenges and best practices in market research

Delving into market research comes with its own set of hurdles. Those conducting the research must deliver more profound insights within increasingly shorter timespans, and they need to cultivate strategic, continuous research methods to stay abreast of an ever-changing business landscape.

Ensuring high-quality data can be demanding due to issues such as disjointed tools or insufficient analytical expertise. New solutions like Userpilot are surfacing that make these obstacles less daunting by offering accessible and user-friendly options. Maintaining clear lines of communication with your market research team is crucial for achieving both punctuality and quality in outcomes.

The advantages of engaging in marketing research cannot be overstated.

Real-life examples of successful market research

Real-life examples of market research in the SaaS industry often showcase innovative approaches to understanding customer needs and product-market fit.

For instance, Slack, the communication platform, utilized extensive market research to identify gaps in communication tools and understand the workflows of teams. This led to the development of features that seamlessly integrated with other tools and catered to the needs of various team sizes and structures.

Another example is HubSpot, which conducted market research to understand the pain points of small to medium-sized businesses in managing customer relationships. The insights gained helped shape their all-in-one inbound marketing, sales, and service platform, which has become integral to their users’ daily operations. These examples demonstrate how SaaS companies can employ market research to inform product development, improve user experience, and strategically position themselves in a competitive market.

Choosing the right market research tools

For B2B SaaS product managers aiming to do market research, having the right set of tools can make a significant difference. Here’s a list of valuable SaaS tools that can be leveraged for effective market research:

Userpilot : A comprehensive Product Growth Platform offering in-depth product analytics, a code-free in-app experience builder, bespoke in-app survey capabilities, and robust integration options with platforms like Salesforce and Hubspot. This tool is particularly useful for understanding user behavior, enhancing user engagement, and gathering targeted feedback.
Qualtrics : Known for its powerful survey tools, Qualtrics helps businesses gather and analyze customer feedback effectively. Its advanced analytics features are ideal for testing market hypotheses and understanding customer sentiments.
SurveyMonkey : A versatile tool that enables product managers to create, send, and analyze surveys quickly and easily. SurveyMonkey is suitable for gauging customer satisfaction and collecting feedback on potential new features.
Mixpanel : Specializes in user behavior analytics, offering detailed insights into how users interact with your product. This is essential for identifying patterns and optimizing product features.
Hotjar : Combines analytics and feedback tools to give teams insights into user behavior and preferences. Hotjar’s heatmaps and session recordings are invaluable for understanding the user experience on a deeper level.
Tableau : A leading platform for business intelligence and data visualization, Tableau allows product managers to create comprehensive visual reports that can inform strategic decisions based on user data analysis.

Each of these tools provides unique functionalities that can assist SaaS product managers in conducting thorough market research, thereby ensuring that their products are perfectly aligned with user needs and market demands.

Measuring the impact of market research

The pivotal challenge for market research lies in demonstrating its return on investment (ROI) and overall influence on corporate success sufficiently enough to justify regular financial commitment from company leaders. The worth attributed to a market research firm hinges not only on their ability to deliver relevant and high-caliber information, but also on their pricing structures and their contribution towards propelling organizational growth.

To gauge how effectively business choices made based on market research findings succeed, various metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) are utilized. These numerical tools act as navigational aids directing enterprises toward achieving objectives while simultaneously verifying that efforts invested in conducting market analysis are yielding fruitful guidance.

Throughout our look at market research, we’ve seen its importance and impact. Our discussion covered the basics of market research, its key components, and different types, including both qualitative and quantitative methods, and the role of Userpilot’s tools. We’ve examined the details of the market research process, tackled challenges, identified best practices, and shared success stories. We also provided advice on choosing the right market research partner and how to measure the effectiveness of your market research.

In today’s data-driven world, comprehensive market research is crucial for companies that want to succeed. It acts like a guide, helping businesses navigate the complex market landscape. Start your own detailed research today, supported by insightful analytics to help you succeed.

Frequently asked questions

What is market research and why is it important.

Understanding your target market, honing business strategies, and making informed decisions are all essential components that depend heavily on effective market research. It offers objective insights to help avoid expensive errors and foresees the needs of customers .

What is the difference between primary and secondary market research?

Primary market research is characterized by the direct gathering of data, in contrast to secondary market research which leverages existing information from alternative sources for addressing research inquiries.

Such a distinction can guide you in selecting an approach that aligns with your precise needs for conducting specific research.

What are some examples of successful market research?

Examples of successful market research are evident in the operations of well-known companies such as Starbucks, Apple, and McDonald’s. They have harnessed this tool to fine-tune their business strategies and make decisions based on solid information.

By employing market research, these businesses have managed to gain insight into their customers’ desires and needs, which has contributed significantly to their success.

How can I choose the right market research partner?

Selecting an ideal market research ally involves identifying a firm that resonates with your project requirements, financial plan, and corporate goals while also verifying their track record of dependability and consistency via reviews from previous clients.

Best wishes on your endeavor!

How is the impact of market research measured?

The effectiveness of market research hinges on the precision, representativeness, and pertinence of its data, along with how successful business decisions are when they’re based on the findings from this research. These elements define the impact of the research conducted.

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Market research examines consumer behavior and trends in the economy to help a business develop and fine-tune its business idea and strategy. It helps a business understand its target market by gathering and analyzing data.

Market research is the process of evaluating the viability of a new service or product through research conducted directly with potential customers. It allows a company to define its target market and get opinions and other feedback from consumers about their interest in a product or service.

Research may be conducted in-house or by a third party that specializes in market research. It can be done through surveys and focus groups, among other ways. Test subjects are usually compensated with product samples or a small stipend for their time.

Key Takeaways

Companies conduct market research before introducing new products to determine their appeal to potential customers.
Tools include focus groups, telephone interviews, and questionnaires.
The results of market research inform the final design of the product and determine how it will be positioned in the marketplace.
Market research usually combines primary information, gathered directly from consumers, and secondary information, which is data available from external sources.

Market Research

How market research works.

Market research is used to determine the viability of a new product or service. The results may be used to revise the product design and fine-tune the strategy for introducing it to the public. This can include information gathered for the purpose of determining market segmentation . It also informs product differentiation , which is used to tailor advertising.

A business engages in various tasks to complete the market research process. It gathers information based on the market sector being targeted by the product. This information is then analyzed and relevant data points are interpreted to draw conclusions about how the product may be optimally designed and marketed to the market segment for which it is intended.

It is a critical component in the research and development (R&D) phase of a new product or service introduction. Market research can be conducted in many different ways, including surveys, product testing, interviews, and focus groups.

Market research is a critical tool that companies use to understand what consumers want, develop products that those consumers will use, and maintain a competitive advantage over other companies in their industry.

Primary Market Research vs. Secondary Market Research

Market research usually consists of a combination of:

Primary research, gathered by the company or by an outside company that it hires
Secondary research, which draws on external sources of data

Primary Market Research

Primary research generally falls into two categories: exploratory and specific research.

Exploratory research is less structured and functions via open-ended questions. The questions may be posed in a focus group setting, telephone interviews, or questionnaires. It results in questions or issues that the company needs to address about a product that it has under development.
Specific research delves more deeply into the problems or issues identified in exploratory research.

Secondary Market Research

All market research is informed by the findings of other researchers about the needs and wants of consumers. Today, much of this research can be found online.

Secondary research can include population information from government census data , trade association research reports , polling results, and research from other businesses operating in the same market sector.

History of Market Research

Formal market research began in Germany during the 1920s. In the United States, it soon took off with the advent of the Golden Age of Radio.

Companies that created advertisements for this new entertainment medium began to look at the demographics of the audiences who listened to each of the radio plays, music programs, and comedy skits that were presented.

They had once tried to reach the widest possible audience by placing their messages on billboards or in the most popular magazines. With radio programming, they had the chance to target rural or urban consumers, teenagers or families, and judge the results by the sales numbers that followed.

Types of Market Research

Face-to-face interviews.

From their earliest days, market research companies would interview people on the street about the newspapers and magazines that they read regularly and ask whether they recalled any of the ads or brands that were published in them. Data collected from these interviews were compared to the circulation of the publication to determine the effectiveness of those ads.

Market research and surveys were adapted from these early techniques.

To get a strong understanding of your market, it’s essential to understand demand, market size, economic indicators, location, market saturation, and pricing.

Focus Groups

A focus group is a small number of representative consumers chosen to try a product or watch an advertisement.

Afterward, the group is asked for feedback on their perceptions of the product, the company’s brand, or competing products. The company then takes that information and makes decisions about what to do with the product or service, whether that's releasing it, making changes, or abandoning it altogether.

Phone Research

The man-on-the-street interview technique soon gave way to the telephone interview. A telephone interviewer could collect information in a more efficient and cost-effective fashion.

Telephone research was a preferred tactic of market researchers for many years. It has become much more difficult in recent years as landline phone service dwindles and is replaced by less accessible mobile phones.

Survey Research

As an alternative to focus groups, surveys represent a cost-effective way to determine consumer attitudes without having to interview anyone in person. Consumers are sent surveys in the mail, usually with a coupon or voucher to incentivize participation. These surveys help determine how consumers feel about the product, brand, and price point.

Online Market Research

With people spending more time online, market research activities have shifted online as well. Data collection still uses a survey-style form. But instead of companies actively seeking participants by finding them on the street or cold calling them on the phone, people can choose to sign up, take surveys, and offer opinions when they have time.

This makes the process far less intrusive and less rushed, since people can participate on their own time and of their own volition.

How to Conduct Market Research

The first step to effective market research is to determine the goals of the study. Each study should seek to answer a clear, well-defined problem. For example, a company might seek to identify consumer preferences, brand recognition, or the comparative effectiveness of different types of ad campaigns.

After that, the next step is to determine who will be included in the research. Market research is an expensive process, and a company cannot waste resources collecting unnecessary data. The firm should decide in advance which types of consumers will be included in the research, and how the data will be collected. They should also account for the probability of statistical errors or sampling bias .

The next step is to collect the data and analyze the results. If the two previous steps have been completed accurately, this should be straightforward. The researchers will collect the results of their study, keeping track of the ages, gender, and other relevant data of each respondent. This is then analyzed in a marketing report that explains the results of their research.

The last step is for company executives to use their market research to make business decisions. Depending on the results of their research, they may choose to target a different group of consumers, or they may change their price point or some product features.

The results of these changes may eventually be measured in further market research, and the process will begin all over again.

Benefits of Market Research

Market research is essential for developing brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Since it is unlikely for a product to appeal equally to every consumer, a strong market research program can help identify the key demographics and market segments that are most likely to use a given product.

Market research is also important for developing a company’s advertising efforts. For example, if a company’s market research determines that its consumers are more likely to use Facebook than X (formerly Twitter), it can then target its advertisements to one platform instead of another. Or, if they determine that their target market is value-sensitive rather than price-sensitive, they can work on improving the product rather than reducing their prices.

Market research only works when subjects are honest and open to participating.

Example of Market Research

Many companies use market research to test new products or get information from consumers about what kinds of products or services they need and don’t currently have.

For example, a company that’s considering starting a business might conduct market research to test the viability of its product or service. If the market research confirms consumer interest, the business can proceed confidently with its business plan . If not, the company can use the results of the market research to make adjustments to the product to bring it in line with customer desires.

What Are the Main Types of Market Research?

The main types of market research are primary research and secondary research. Primary research includes focus groups, polls, and surveys. Secondary research includes academic articles, infographics, and white papers.

Qualitative research gives insights into how customers feel and think. Quantitative research uses data and statistics such as website views, social media engagement, and subscriber numbers.

What Is Online Market Research?

Online market research uses the same strategies and techniques as traditional primary and secondary market research, but it is conducted on the Internet. Potential customers may be asked to participate in a survey or give feedback on a product. The responses may help the researchers create a profile of the likely customer for a new product.

What Are Paid Market Research Surveys?

Paid market research involves rewarding individuals who agree to participate in a study. They may be offered a small payment for their time or a discount coupon in return for filling out a questionnaire or participating in a focus group.

What Is a Market Study?

A market study is an analysis of consumer demand for a product or service. It looks at all of the factors that influence demand for a product or service. These include the product’s price, location, competition, and substitutes as well as general economic factors that could influence the new product’s adoption, for better or worse.

Market research is a key component of a company’s research and development (R&D) stage. It helps companies understand in advance the viability of a new product that they have in development and to see how it might perform in the real world.

Britannica Money. “ Market Research .”

U.S. Small Business Administration. “ Market Research and Competitive Analysis .”

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How to do market research in 4 steps: a lean approach to marketing research

From pinpointing your target audience and assessing your competitive advantage, to ongoing product development and customer satisfaction efforts, market research is a practice your business can only benefit from.

Learn how to conduct quick and effective market research using a lean approach in this article full of strategies and practical examples.

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A comprehensive (and successful) business strategy is not complete without some form of market research—you can’t make informed and profitable business decisions without truly understanding your customer base and the current market trends that drive your business.

In this article, you’ll learn how to conduct quick, effective market research using an approach called 'lean market research'. It’s easier than you might think, and it can be done at any stage in a product’s lifecycle.

How to conduct lean market research in 4 steps

What is market research, why is market research so valuable, advantages of lean market research, 4 common market research methods, 5 common market research questions, market research faqs.

We’ll jump right into our 4-step approach to lean market research. To show you how it’s done in the real world, each step includes a practical example from Smallpdf , a Swiss company that used lean market research to reduce their tool’s error rate by 75% and boost their Net Promoter Score® (NPS) by 1%.

Research your market the lean way...

From on-page surveys to user interviews, Hotjar has the tools to help you scope out your market and get to know your customers—without breaking the bank.

The following four steps and practical examples will give you a solid market research plan for understanding who your users are and what they want from a company like yours.

1. Create simple user personas

A user persona is a semi-fictional character based on psychographic and demographic data from people who use websites and products similar to your own. Start by defining broad user categories, then elaborate on them later to further segment your customer base and determine your ideal customer profile .

How to get the data: use on-page or emailed surveys and interviews to understand your users and what drives them to your business.

How to do it right: whatever survey or interview questions you ask, they should answer the following questions about the customer:

Who are they?

What is their main goal?

What is their main barrier to achieving this goal?

Pitfalls to avoid:

Don’t ask too many questions! Keep it to five or less, otherwise you’ll inundate them and they’ll stop answering thoughtfully.

Don’t worry too much about typical demographic questions like age or background. Instead, focus on the role these people play (as it relates to your product) and their goals.

How Smallpdf did it: Smallpdf ran an on-page survey for a couple of weeks and received 1,000 replies. They learned that many of their users were administrative assistants, students, and teachers.

#One of the five survey questions Smallpdf asked their users

Next, they used the survey results to create simple user personas like this one for admins:

Who are they? Administrative Assistants.

What is their main goal? Creating Word documents from a scanned, hard-copy document or a PDF where the source file was lost.

What is their main barrier to achieving it? Converting a scanned PDF doc to a Word file.

💡Pro tip: Smallpdf used Hotjar Surveys to run their user persona survey. Our survey tool helped them avoid the pitfalls of guesswork and find out who their users really are, in their own words.

You can design a survey and start running it in minutes with our easy-to-use drag and drop builder. Customize your survey to fit your needs, from a sleek one-question pop-up survey to a fully branded questionnaire sent via email.

We've also created 40+ free survey templates that you can start collecting data with, including a user persona survey like the one Smallpdf used.

2. Conduct observational research

Observational research involves taking notes while watching someone use your product (or a similar product).

Overt vs. covert observation

Overt observation involves asking customers if they’ll let you watch them use your product. This method is often used for user testing and it provides a great opportunity for collecting live product or customer feedback .

Covert observation means studying users ‘in the wild’ without them knowing. This method works well if you sell a type of product that people use regularly, and it offers the purest observational data because people often behave differently when they know they’re being watched.

Tips to do it right:

Record an entry in your field notes, along with a timestamp, each time an action or event occurs.

Make note of the users' workflow, capturing the ‘what,’ ‘why,’ and ‘for whom’ of each action.

#Sample of field notes taken by Smallpdf

Don’t record identifiable video or audio data without consent. If recording people using your product is helpful for achieving your research goal, make sure all participants are informed and agree to the terms.

Don’t forget to explain why you’d like to observe them (for overt observation). People are more likely to cooperate if you tell them you want to improve the product.

💡Pro tip: while conducting field research out in the wild can wield rewarding results, you can also conduct observational research remotely. Hotjar Recordings is a tool that lets you capture anonymized user sessions of real people interacting with your website.

Observe how customers navigate your pages and products to gain an inside look into their user behavior . This method is great for conducting exploratory research with the purpose of identifying more specific issues to investigate further, like pain points along the customer journey and opportunities for optimizing conversion .

With Hotjar Recordings you can observe real people using your site without capturing their sensitive information

How Smallpdf did it: here’s how Smallpdf observed two different user personas both covertly and overtly.

Observing students (covert): Kristina Wagner, Principle Product Manager at Smallpdf, went to cafes and libraries at two local universities and waited until she saw students doing PDF-related activities. Then she watched and took notes from a distance. One thing that struck her was the difference between how students self-reported their activities vs. how they behaved (i.e, the self-reporting bias). Students, she found, spent hours talking, listening to music, or simply staring at a blank screen rather than working. When she did find students who were working, she recorded the task they were performing and the software they were using (if she recognized it).

Observing administrative assistants (overt): Kristina sent emails to admins explaining that she’d like to observe them at work, and she asked those who agreed to try to batch their PDF work for her observation day. While watching admins work, she learned that they frequently needed to scan documents into PDF-format and then convert those PDFs into Word docs. By observing the challenges admins faced, Smallpdf knew which products to target for improvement.

“Data is really good for discovery and validation, but there is a bit in the middle where you have to go and find the human.”

3. Conduct individual interviews

Interviews are one-on-one conversations with members of your target market. They allow you to dig deep and explore their concerns, which can lead to all sorts of revelations.

Listen more, talk less. Be curious.

Act like a journalist, not a salesperson. Rather than trying to talk your company up, ask people about their lives, their needs, their frustrations, and how a product like yours could help.

Ask "why?" so you can dig deeper. Get into the specifics and learn about their past behavior.

Record the conversation. Focus on the conversation and avoid relying solely on notes by recording the interview. There are plenty of services that will transcribe recorded conversations for a good price (including Hotjar!).

Avoid asking leading questions , which reveal bias on your part and pushes respondents to answer in a certain direction (e.g. “Have you taken advantage of the amazing new features we just released?).

Don't ask loaded questions , which sneak in an assumption which, if untrue, would make it impossible to answer honestly. For example, we can’t ask you, “What did you find most useful about this article?” without asking whether you found the article useful in the first place.

Be cautious when asking opinions about the future (or predictions of future behavior). Studies suggest that people aren’t very good at predicting their future behavior. This is due to several cognitive biases, from the misguided exceptionalism bias (we’re good at guessing what others will do, but we somehow think we’re different), to the optimism bias (which makes us see things with rose-colored glasses), to the ‘illusion of control’ (which makes us forget the role of randomness in future events).

How Smallpdf did it: Kristina explored her teacher user persona by speaking with university professors at a local graduate school. She learned that the school was mostly paperless and rarely used PDFs, so for the sake of time, she moved on to the admins.

A bit of a letdown? Sure. But this story highlights an important lesson: sometimes you follow a lead and come up short, so you have to make adjustments on the fly. Lean market research is about getting solid, actionable insights quickly so you can tweak things and see what works.

💡Pro tip: to save even more time, conduct remote interviews using an online user research service like Hotjar Engage , which automates the entire interview process, from recruitment and scheduling to hosting and recording.

You can interview your own customers or connect with people from our diverse pool of 200,000+ participants from 130+ countries and 25 industries. And no need to fret about taking meticulous notes—Engage will automatically transcribe the interview for you.

4. Analyze the data (without drowning in it)

The following techniques will help you wrap your head around the market data you collect without losing yourself in it. Remember, the point of lean market research is to find quick, actionable insights.

A flow model is a diagram that tracks the flow of information within a system. By creating a simple visual representation of how users interact with your product and each other, you can better assess their needs.

#Example of a flow model designed by Smallpdf

You’ll notice that admins are at the center of Smallpdf’s flow model, which represents the flow of PDF-related documents throughout a school. This flow model shows the challenges that admins face as they work to satisfy their own internal and external customers.

Affinity diagram

An affinity diagram is a way of sorting large amounts of data into groups to better understand the big picture. For example, if you ask your users about their profession, you’ll notice some general themes start to form, even though the individual responses differ. Depending on your needs, you could group them by profession, or more generally by industry.

We wrote a guide about how to analyze open-ended questions to help you sort through and categorize large volumes of response data. You can also do this by hand by clipping up survey responses or interview notes and grouping them (which is what Kristina does).

“For an interview, you will have somewhere between 30 and 60 notes, and those notes are usually direct phrases. And when you literally cut them up into separate pieces of paper and group them, they should make sense by themselves.”

Pro tip: if you’re conducting an online survey with Hotjar, keep your team in the loop by sharing survey responses automatically via our Slack and Microsoft Team integrations. Reading answers as they come in lets you digest the data in pieces and can help prepare you for identifying common themes when it comes time for analysis.

Hotjar lets you easily share survey responses with your team

Customer journey map

A customer journey map is a diagram that shows the way a typical prospect becomes a paying customer. It outlines their first interaction with your brand and every step in the sales cycle, from awareness to repurchase (and hopefully advocacy).

The above customer journey map , created by our team at Hotjar, shows many ways a customer might engage with our tool. Your map will be based on your own data and business model.

📚 Read more: if you’re new to customer journey maps, we wrote this step-by-step guide to creating your first customer journey map in 2 and 1/2 days with free templates you can download and start using immediately.

Next steps: from research to results

So, how do you turn market research insights into tangible business results? Let’s look at the actions Smallpdf took after conducting their lean market research: first they implemented changes, then measured the impact.

#Smallpdf used lean market research to dig below the surface, understand their clients, and build a better product and user experience

Implement changes

Based on what Smallpdf learned about the challenges that one key user segment (admins) face when trying to convert PDFs into Word files, they improved their ‘PDF to Word’ conversion tool.

We won’t go into the details here because it involves a lot of technical jargon, but they made the entire process simpler and more straightforward for users. Plus, they made it so that their system recognized when you drop a PDF file into their ‘Word to PDF’ converter instead of the ‘PDF to Word’ converter, so users wouldn’t have to redo the task when they made that mistake.

In other words: simple market segmentation for admins showed a business need that had to be accounted for, and customers are happier overall after Smallpdf implemented an informed change to their product.

Measure results

According to the Lean UX model, product and UX changes aren’t retained unless they achieve results.

Smallpdf’s changes produced:

A 75% reduction in error rate for the ‘PDF to Word’ converter

A 1% increase in NPS

Greater confidence in the team’s marketing efforts

"With all the changes said and done, we've cut our original error rate in four, which is huge. We increased our NPS by +1%, which isn't huge, but it means that of the users who received a file, they were still slightly happier than before, even if they didn't notice that anything special happened at all.”

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Market research (or marketing research) is any set of techniques used to gather information and better understand a company’s target market. This might include primary research on brand awareness and customer satisfaction or secondary market research on market size and competitive analysis. Businesses use this information to design better products, improve user experience, and craft a marketing strategy that attracts quality leads and improves conversion rates.

David Darmanin, one of Hotjar’s founders, launched two startups before Hotjar took off—but both companies crashed and burned. Each time, he and his team spent months trying to design an amazing new product and user experience, but they failed because they didn’t have a clear understanding of what the market demanded.

With Hotjar, they did things differently . Long story short, they conducted market research in the early stages to figure out what consumers really wanted, and the team made (and continues to make) constant improvements based on market and user research.

Without market research, it’s impossible to understand your users. Sure, you might have a general idea of who they are and what they need, but you have to dig deep if you want to win their loyalty.

Here’s why research matters:

Obsessing over your users is the only way to win. If you don’t care deeply about them, you’ll lose potential customers to someone who does.

Analytics gives you the ‘what’, while research gives you the ‘why’. Big data, user analytics , and dashboards can tell you what people do at scale, but only research can tell you what they’re thinking and why they do what they do. For example, analytics can tell you that customers leave when they reach your pricing page, but only research can explain why.

Research beats assumptions, trends, and so-called best practices. Have you ever watched your colleagues rally behind a terrible decision? Bad ideas are often the result of guesswork, emotional reasoning, death by best practices , and defaulting to the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO). By listening to your users and focusing on their customer experience , you’re less likely to get pulled in the wrong direction.

Research keeps you from planning in a vacuum. Your team might be amazing, but you and your colleagues simply can’t experience your product the way your customers do. Customers might use your product in a way that surprises you, and product features that seem obvious to you might confuse them. Over-planning and refusing to test your assumptions is a waste of time, money, and effort because you’ll likely need to make changes once your untested business plan gets put into practice.

Lean User Experience (UX) design is a model for continuous improvement that relies on quick, efficient research to understand customer needs and test new product features.

Lean market research can help you become more...

Efficient: it gets you closer to your customers, faster.

Cost-effective: no need to hire an expensive marketing firm to get things started.

Competitive: quick, powerful insights can place your products on the cutting edge.

As a small business or sole proprietor, conducting lean market research is an attractive option when investing in a full-blown research project might seem out of scope or budget.

There are lots of different ways you could conduct market research and collect customer data, but you don’t have to limit yourself to just one research method. Four common types of market research techniques include surveys, interviews, focus groups, and customer observation.

Which method you use may vary based on your business type: ecommerce business owners have different goals from SaaS businesses, so it’s typically prudent to mix and match these methods based on your particular goals and what you need to know.

1. Surveys: the most commonly used

Surveys are a form of qualitative research that ask respondents a short series of open- or closed-ended questions, which can be delivered as an on-screen questionnaire or via email. When we asked 2,000 Customer Experience (CX) professionals about their company’s approach to research , surveys proved to be the most commonly used market research technique.

What makes online surveys so popular?

They’re easy and inexpensive to conduct, and you can do a lot of data collection quickly. Plus, the data is pretty straightforward to analyze, even when you have to analyze open-ended questions whose answers might initially appear difficult to categorize.

We've built a number of survey templates ready and waiting for you. Grab a template and share with your customers in just a few clicks.

💡 Pro tip: you can also get started with Hotjar AI for Surveys to create a survey in mere seconds . Just enter your market research goal and watch as the AI generates a survey and populates it with relevant questions.

Once you’re ready for data analysis, the AI will prepare an automated research report that succinctly summarizes key findings, quotes, and suggested next steps.

An example research report generated by Hotjar AI for Surveys

2. Interviews: the most insightful

Interviews are one-on-one conversations with members of your target market. Nothing beats a face-to-face interview for diving deep (and reading non-verbal cues), but if an in-person meeting isn’t possible, video conferencing is a solid second choice.

Regardless of how you conduct it, any type of in-depth interview will produce big benefits in understanding your target customers.

What makes interviews so insightful?

By speaking directly with an ideal customer, you’ll gain greater empathy for their experience , and you can follow insightful threads that can produce plenty of 'Aha!' moments.

3. Focus groups: the most unreliable

Focus groups bring together a carefully selected group of people who fit a company’s target market. A trained moderator leads a conversation surrounding the product, user experience, or marketing message to gain deeper insights.

What makes focus groups so unreliable?

If you’re new to market research, we wouldn’t recommend starting with focus groups. Doing it right is expensive , and if you cut corners, your research could fall victim to all kinds of errors. Dominance bias (when a forceful participant influences the group) and moderator style bias (when different moderator personalities bring about different results in the same study) are two of the many ways your focus group data could get skewed.

4. Observation: the most powerful

During a customer observation session, someone from the company takes notes while they watch an ideal user engage with their product (or a similar product from a competitor).

What makes observation so clever and powerful?

‘Fly-on-the-wall’ observation is a great alternative to focus groups. It’s not only less expensive, but you’ll see people interact with your product in a natural setting without influencing each other. The only downside is that you can’t get inside their heads, so observation still isn't a recommended replacement for customer surveys and interviews.

The following questions will help you get to know your users on a deeper level when you interview them. They’re general questions, of course, so don’t be afraid to make them your own.

1. Who are you and what do you do?

How you ask this question, and what you want to know, will vary depending on your business model (e.g. business-to-business marketing is usually more focused on someone’s profession than business-to-consumer marketing).

It’s a great question to start with, and it’ll help you understand what’s relevant about your user demographics (age, race, gender, profession, education, etc.), but it’s not the be-all-end-all of market research. The more specific questions come later.

2. What does your day look like?

This question helps you understand your users’ day-to-day life and the challenges they face. It will help you gain empathy for them, and you may stumble across something relevant to their buying habits.

3. Do you ever purchase [product/service type]?

This is a ‘yes or no’ question. A ‘yes’ will lead you to the next question.

4. What problem were you trying to solve or what goal were you trying to achieve?

This question strikes to the core of what someone’s trying to accomplish and why they might be willing to pay for your solution.

5. Take me back to the day when you first decided you needed to solve this kind of problem or achieve this goal.

This is the golden question, and it comes from Adele Revella, Founder and CEO of Buyer Persona Institute . It helps you get in the heads of your users and figure out what they were thinking the day they decided to spend money to solve a problem.

If you take your time with this question, digging deeper where it makes sense, you should be able to answer all the relevant information you need to understand their perspective.

“The only scripted question I want you to ask them is this one: take me back to the day when you first decided that you needed to solve this kind of problem or achieve this kind of a goal. Not to buy my product, that’s not the day. We want to go back to the day that when you thought it was urgent and compelling to go spend money to solve a particular problem or achieve a goal. Just tell me what happened.”

— Adele Revella , Founder/CEO at Buyer Persona Institute

Bonus question: is there anything else you’d like to tell me?

This question isn’t just a nice way to wrap it up—it might just give participants the opportunity they need to tell you something you really need to know.

That’s why Sarah Doody, author of UX Notebook , adds it to the end of her written surveys.

“I always have a last question, which is just open-ended: “Is there anything else you would like to tell me?” And sometimes, that’s where you get four paragraphs of amazing content that you would never have gotten if it was just a Net Promoter Score [survey] or something like that.”

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

Qualitative research asks questions that can’t be reduced to a number, such as, “What is your job title?” or “What did you like most about your customer service experience?”

Quantitative research asks questions that can be answered with a numeric value, such as, “What is your annual salary?” or “How was your customer service experience on a scale of 1-5?”

→ Read more about the differences between qualitative and quantitative user research .

How do I do my own market research?

You can do your own quick and effective market research by

Surveying your customers

Building user personas

Studying your users through interviews and observation

Wrapping your head around your data with tools like flow models, affinity diagrams, and customer journey maps

What is the difference between market research and user research?

Market research takes a broad look at potential customers—what problems they’re trying to solve, their buying experience, and overall demand. User research, on the other hand, is more narrowly focused on the use (and usability ) of specific products.

What are the main criticisms of market research?

Many marketing professionals are critical of market research because it can be expensive and time-consuming. It’s often easier to convince your CEO or CMO to let you do lean market research rather than something more extensive because you can do it yourself. It also gives you quick answers so you can stay ahead of the competition.

Do I need a market research firm to get reliable data?

Absolutely not! In fact, we recommend that you start small and do it yourself in the beginning. By following a lean market research strategy, you can uncover some solid insights about your clients. Then you can make changes, test them out, and see whether the results are positive. This is an excellent strategy for making quick changes and remaining competitive.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

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→ The 8 types of market research and ho...

The 8 types of market research and how to use them

There are eight types of marketing research you can try to stay ahead of the competition. Learn more about marketing research methods and how to use them.

Person conducting different types of market research.

Latest posts on Tips

Typeform | 07.2024

Typeform | 06.2024

“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.”

Doesn’t sound too threatening if you’ve always been successful, right?

Continuing to do what you’ve always done means you’ll fall behind—and probably fade to darkness—to where all the forgotten brands go.

Take Kodak. They were a major player in photography for decades—remember? When digital photography boomed, Kodak kept doing what they always did. Their business floundered and people forgot about them. Well, everyone apart from Pitbull.

Now, look at Fujifilm, one of Kodak’s biggest competitors. They did the opposite and looked for ways to apply their expertise in film to the technology of the new millennium instead. Their company is still going strong.

The same goes for research. If you’re doing the same old types of market research, speaking to the same old people, and doing the same old tired surveys—you’re already behind.

How do you decide what kind of market research you need to do? It all comes down to what you need to know and what your business goals are.

In this article, we’ll explain the various types of market research you can use to solve issues and challenges in your business. We’ll throw you a freebie, too, and provide some market research tips about when to use each strategy.

Let’s get you ahead of the curve.

1. Brand research

Brand research helps with creating and managing a company’s brand, or identity. A company’s brand is the images, narratives, and characteristics people associate with it.

When to use it

Brand research can be used at every stage in a business’s lifecycle, from creation to new product launches and re-branding. There are at least seven types of brand research:

Brand advocacy: How many of your customers are willing to recommend your brand?

Brand awareness : Does your target market know who you are and consider you a serious option?

Brand loyalty: Are you retaining customers?

Brand penetration: What is the proportion of your target market using your brand?

Brand perception : What do people think of as your company’s identity or differentiating qualities?

Brand positioning: What is the best way to differentiate your brand from others in the consumer’s mind and articulate it in a way that resonates?

Brand value: How much are people willing to pay for an experience with your brand over another?

How to do it

A researcher will use several types of market research methods to assess your and your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Generally, they will conduct competitor research, both qualitative and quantitative, to get a picture of the overall marketplace. Focus groups and interviews can be used to learn about their emotions and associations with certain brands.

Market research surveys are useful to determine features and benefits that differentiate you from competitors . These are then translated into emotionally compelling consumer language.

2. Campaign effectiveness

This type of market research is designed to evaluate whether your advertising messages are reaching the right people and delivering the desired results. Successful campaign effectiveness research can help you sell more and reduce customer acquisition costs.

It’s estimated people see up to 5,000 advertising messages each day. That means attention is a scarce resource, so campaign effectiveness research should be used when you need to spend your advertising dollars effectively.

Campaign effectiveness research depends on which stage of the campaign you use it in (ideally, it’s all of them!). Quantitative research can be conducted to provide a picture of how your target market views advertising and address weaknesses in the advertising campaign.

3. Competitive analysis

Different companies are conducting competitor analysis.

Competitive analysis allows you to assess your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace, providing you with fuel to drive a competitive advantage.

No business exists in a vacuum—competitive analysis is an integral part of any business and market plan. Whether you’re just getting started, moving into a new market, or doing a health check of your business, a competitive analysis will be invaluable.

A researcher will typically choose a few of your main competitors and analyze things like their marketing strategy, customer perceptions, revenue or sales volume, and so on.

Secondary sources such as articles, references, and advertising are excellent sources of competitive information; however, primary research, such as mystery shopping and focus groups, can offer valuable information on customer service and current consumer opinions.

4. Consumer insights

Consumer insights research does more than tell you about who your customers are and what they do. It reveals why customers behave in certain ways and helps you leverage that to meet your business goals.

Knowing your customers deeply is integral to creating a strategic marketing plan. This type of market research can help you anticipate consumer needs, spark innovation, personalize your marketing, solve business challenges, and more.

Consumer insights research should be specific to your business—it’s about getting to know your target audience and customers. Various market research methods can be used, such as interviews, ethnography, survey research, social monitoring, and customer journey research.

Here are some of the characteristics you should understand through consumer insights research:

Purchase habits

Interests, hobbies, passions

Personal and professional information

How they consume media and advertising

5. Customer satisfaction research

Customer satisfaction research is a type of market research that measures customers’ experiences with products or services, specifically looking at how those meet, exceed, or fail to live up to their expectations.

Customer satisfaction is a strong indicator of customer retention and overall business performance. Successful customer satisfaction research should help you understand what your customers like, dislike, and feel needs improvement. You can use this type of market research to look at the quality and design of products, speed and timeliness of delivery, staff and service reliability, knowledge, and friendliness, market price, and value for money.

There are several ways to measure customer satisfaction, most commonly using surveys. An NPS or Voice of the Customer Survey can help you measure customer loyalty. Customer Effort Scoring measures how satisfied people are with customer service or problem resolution. CSAT is any survey that measures customer satisfaction , typically measured using Likert scale surveys . They can be conducted at different points in the customer experience, allowing deeper insight into that moment.

6. Customer segmentation research

Customer segmentation studies aim to divide markets or customers into smaller groups or personas with similar characteristics to enable targeted marketing. By understanding how people in each category behave, you can understand how each influences revenue.

Customer segmentation research is best used if you’re ready to give customers individualized experiences. Not every customer in your target market is the same. The more you understand each specific persona, the easier it is to focus on delivering personalized marketing, build loyal relations, price products effectively, and forecast how new products and services will perform in each segment.

Market researchers use four characteristics to segment customers.

Demographics: demographic information such as age, gender, family status, education, household income, occupation and so on

Geography: where people live, from cities and countries to whether they are city dwellers or suburbanites

Psychographics: socioeconomic status, class, lifestyle, personality traits, generation, interests, hobbies, etc.

Behavior: brand affinity, consumption and shopping habits, spending, etc.

A researcher will identify your current customers and collect data about them through various market research methods, such as surveys, database research, website analytics, interviews, and focus groups. The aim is to gather as much information as possible.

7. Product development

Market research for product development involves using customer knowledge to inform the entire process of creating or improving a product, service, or app and bringing it to market.

Innovation is hard work. A quick Google will tell you that 80–95% of new products fail every year. Conducting market research for product and app development helps minimize the risk of a new product or change going bust as it enters the market. There are three stages where you can use market research:

Conception: The moment you’re thinking about adding something new, market research can find market opportunities and provide insights into customer challenges or their jobs-to-be-done, so you can find a way to fill the gap.

Formation: Once you have an idea, market researchers can help you turn it into a concept that can be tested. You can learn more about strategizing pricing, testing advertising and packaging, value proposition, and so on.

Introduction: Market research can help you gauge attitudes toward the product once it’s in the market and adapt your messaging as it rolls out.

Keep making the product better or find opportunities to introduce it to new markets.

Product development research will utilize different market research methods, depending on the goal of the research. A researcher could present focus groups with product concepts and listen to their opinions, conduct interviews to learn more about their pain points, or perform user testing to see how they interact with an app or website.

8. Usability testing

Usability testing is concerned with understanding how customers use your products in real time. It can involve physical products, like a new blender, or digital products like a website or app.

Usability testing is helpful when you need to detect problems or bugs in early prototypes or beta versions before launching them. It typically costs far less to test a product or service beforehand than to pull a flawed product off the shelves or lose sales because of poor functionality.

There are several types of usability tests, which vary based on whether you’re testing a physical or digital product.

Journey testing involves observing the customer experience on an app or website and monitoring how they perform. This type of study can be done online

Eye tracking studies monitor where people’s eyes are drawn. Generally, they are conducted on websites and apps, but can also be done in stores to analyze where people look while shopping

Learn ability studies quantify the learning curve over time to see which problems people encounter after repeating the same task

Click tracking follows users’ activity on websites to evaluate the linking structure of a website

Checklist testing involves giving users tasks to perform and recording or asking them to review their experience

Combining types of market research with Typeform

When it comes to market research, you need to ask yourself what business challenge or question you’re trying to address. Then, select the appropriate methods and tools, such as market research automation , to simplify your process.From there, the world of useful data and actionable insights will open to you.

About the author

We're Typeform - a team on a mission to transform data collection by bringing you refreshingly different forms.

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Marketing Research – Meaning, Scope, Objectives & Process

Meaning of marketing research.

Marketing research is a process of analyzing and conducting research about the market to understand market trends. It involves proper collection, analysis and interpretation of information regarding market conditions. Marketing research is mainly conducted to identify changes in preferences and behaviour of customers arising from the change in market mix elements viz. promotion, place, price and product. It may be defined as the mechanism which helps in linking the customers, producers and several other end users to the marketer and help in finding and communicating of all required information.

Scope of Marketing Research

Determines Customer Behaviour

Provide valuable data.

Effective decision making of any organisation depends entirely on the quality of information available with it. Marketing research supplies all important information about the market to the management team. It keeps organisation aware of market factors like demand, supply, competition, technological changes, consumer behaviour etc. All this information is vital for strategic decision making. Managers frame all their organisation policies in accordance with data supplied by marketing research.

Helps in Sales Forecasting

Lower business risk.

Marketing research plays an important role in reducing business risk and raising the revenue of the business organisation. It helps businesses in carrying on their operations in accordance with market requirements. The business acquires all current data and generalized information about market trends. All decisions are taken in order to focus on the customer’s current demands and thereby producing the right product. This results in avoiding resources of organisation and lowering risk.

Evaluate Market Performance

Facilitates introduction of new products.

Marketing research enables the business to examine and introduce their new products in the market. It enables to conduct testing of new products in small or local markets initially and studies consumer reaction towards it. This helps the business in understanding the deficiencies and problem in their product. They can accordingly overcome these issues and develops an efficient marketing mix for their product. All these helps in minimising the risk involved in the launching of a new product.

Choose Best Promotion Techniques

Objectives of marketing research.

Identify Customer Needs And Expectations

Marketing research helps business in understanding the needs and wants of customers. Proper knowledge of what customer want is necessary to deliver the products as per their expectations. Marketing research involves reaching out to customers and interacting with them to understand their demands. It helps in developing the right product as per customer requirements.

Minimise Marketing Costs

Setting up proper price policy, finds target market and new opportunities.

Identifying potential customers and new opportunities are important for grabbing the market. Marketing research explores the wide and large market and find out the opportunities for new products by recognising the unfulfilled needs of customers.

Recognise Deficiencies In Product

These suggestions and feedback from customer help the customers in improving their product quality. Marketing research also informs of any technological changes in market to business so that accordingly changes can be made timely.

Product Positioning In Market

Process of marketing research, problem identification.

The first and foremost step in the marketing research process. The identification of problems. For which the research is to be conducted. Unless and until the problem is recognized clearly. No clear cut plan can be formed leading to wastage of resources.

Research Plan Formulation

Acquiring and gathering information, interpretation of information.

The successful collection of all required information. A systematic and proper study is to be done. To conduct a successful analysis of all collected information. To get details in accordance with the research plan.

Result Presentation

Decision making.

Marketing research plays an important role in studying consumer behaviour. It is very efficient tool for the marketers to understand the trends of the market that mainly consists of information relating to new product launch in the market, trends in consumer demand, pricing strategy of the competitor and available close substitutes of the product.

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What is the MoSCoW prioritization method?

Last updated

17 April 2024

Reviewed by

Mary Mikhail

Several techniques are available to project managers to plan a team’s workload by ranking projects or tasks by significance. These prioritization techniques also help communicate to project teams and stakeholders where resources must be directed to accomplish goals.

The MoSCoW method is one such popular prioritization technique. Learn what the MoSCoW method is and how to apply it.

The MoSCoW method ranks the significance of a task by determining the requirements for a project's successful completion.

Some may be essential and must be included in the project’s deliverables. You may find other specifications are not required for a successful conclusion, but you might consider them to improve the result or business value.

This prioritization technique requires you to classify projects and tasks by their levels of necessity in reaching your goal.

Where does the term MoSCoW come from?

MoSCoW is an acronym that signifies the names of the categories in which the requirements are placed:

M = Must-haves

S = Should-haves

C = Could-haves

W = Will not have at this time or wish for

The Os were added to make the acronym easier to pronounce. Using these categories makes projects more manageable, helps with better resource control, and increases the chances of meeting deadlines.

Using MoSCoW prioritization categories

Requirements with the highest level of importance are must-haves. You'll place lesser-ranked requirements in the should-haves and could-haves categories. Anything in the will-not-have category defines the requirement as nice to have, but not a necessity, at least for now.

Deliverance of effective solutions

Because a project can't be accomplished without must-have initiatives, your team must be committed to completing these requirements.

Should-haves

These tasks or elements are important to completing the project or product, but they're not necessary. Although the product will still function without should-have requirements, you shouldn't disregard them or underestimate their importance because they can significantly increase the product's value.

Performance improvements and new functions are examples of should-have requirements.

Could-haves

These initiatives take a back seat to must-haves and should-haves. If left out, they will not significantly influence the completion of a product or project. A could-have element is desired but not necessary.

Will-not-haves (at this time)

The items in this category set realistic expectations for what the product will not include. A clear visual representation of these requirements communicates to the team and stakeholders items identified as out of scope.

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When do you use the MoSCoW method for prioritization?

The idea behind Agile project management is to decrease the risk of missed goals and deadlines. It uses resources and time more efficiently by breaking the project into smaller sections and prioritizing tasks, requirements, products, and stories.

To prioritize these, you can use the MoSCoW method within the scope of an Agile project.

What is an example of the MoSCoW technique?

Imagine you're building an e-commerce website that must launch by a specific date. You'll have to prioritize its features because you don't have unlimited time to work on the site.

The functionality you want to incorporate into the website could be:

Users can log onto the website

Users should have access to a "Forgot Password" solution

Users can change account details

Users can send an email to the system requesting a change to the account page

Here's how you might categorize these features based on how effective you want the website to be and the time constraints you face:

Must-haves:

Should-haves:

Could-haves:

Will-not-haves

Users can click on a phone number on the webpage, and a call will automatically be made from their desk phone to that number

Benefits of using MoSCoW prioritization

MoSCoW prioritization offers several benefits in project management:

Clarity and focus: It helps teams identify and prioritize the most critical requirements, ensuring clarity on what needs to be delivered first.

Efficiency: By categorizing tasks into must-haves, should-haves, could-haves, and won't-haves, teams can allocate resources more efficiently and focus on delivering essential features first.

Stakeholder alignment: It facilitates stakeholder discussions by providing a common language to discuss and prioritize requirements, ensuring alignment on project goals and objectives.

Risk mitigation: MoSCoW prioritization helps mitigate project risks by addressing must-have requirements first, reducing the likelihood of critical features being overlooked or delayed.

Flexibility: It allows for flexibility in project planning and execution by accommodating changes in requirements throughout the project lifecycle while ensuring that essential features are prioritized.

Time and cost savings: By focusing on must-have requirements early in the project, teams can deliver value more quickly, potentially reducing project timelines and costs.

Overall, MoSCoW prioritization promotes a structured and systematic approach to project management, leading to more successful and efficient project outcomes.

Disadvantages of using MoSCoW prioritization

The major disadvantage of the MoSCoW method is that it isn’t an objective or consistent scoring system. For this methodology to be effective, other scoring systems, like the weighted scoring or the Kano model, should be used in conjunction with it.

Not combining another scoring system with the MoSCoW method can exclude the organization's leadership from the decision-making process. Decisions would then be in danger of being made based on the project manager's personal preferences rather than adhering to business goals and values.

This method does not involve supporting reasoning on how you prioritize requirements within the same category or why one requirement is a must-have or should-have. The parameters of each category can be blurred. There is also uncertainty about whether will-not-haves are being left out of the tasks required now or out of the entire project.

How can teams use MoSCoW to their advantage?

Resources, time, and skill sets are not unlimited in the business world. You must constantly strive to work around those constraints efficiently for a maximum return on investment (ROI). Using the MoSCoW method can help.

Use budgetary constraints to prioritize

Some projects have tight budgets. You can use the MoSCoW method by using the budget to determine which items must be and should be completed.

Use the team's skill sets to prioritize

Experience and expertise levels can help determine which tasks to prioritize. If a task requires skills that the team lacks, you must prioritize it accordingly.

Use the competing needs of the company to prioritize

While your team is working on a specific aspect of a project, the company's leaders may have added additional requirements for your team to complete within the same timeframe. You would then have to reshuffle the priorities to accommodate the additional requirements. The MoSCoW method can help you do this.

Best practices for using MoSCoW prioritization

Include all stakeholders in using the MoSCoW method, from the executive level down to the different teams involved in the successful completion of the project. Get them to also use objective scoring systems like:

Opportunity scoring: uses data from market research to determine what customers expect from your product or service. Prioritization is done according to their wants and needs.

Priority poker: based on priorities that will provide the highest yields in a specific target market. The marketing team, executive team, and customers should be involved for accurate ranking of priorities.

Cost of delay: based on determining how much money the company is losing by waiting to work on a particular task, product, or feature.

100-point method: all stakeholders vote for what they think is the most important requirement. They each get 100 points to distribute among the requirements, ranking them from most important to least. If a stakeholder thinks four requirements are of equal value, they can allocate 25 points to each. If they feel strongly that one requirement overrides all others, they can put all 100 points on that requirement.

Incorporate the data you receive from these scoring systems when inserting the requirements in your MoSCoW categories. Share the results with stakeholders so that they can understand why you prioritized the criteria as you did. This exercise might even reveal a reason to expand a budget constraint or allocate more resources to a priority the stakeholders initially thought unimportant.

How the MoSCoW method differs from the 100-point method

While the 100-point method helps in general brainstorming sessions, the MoSCoW method focuses on working within budget and time constraints.

Once the teams and stakeholders reach an agreement (perhaps by using the 100-point method) on the importance level of each requirement, the product managers or owners will use the MoSCoW method to categorize requirements based on:

High customer value

An elevated benefit to the business

Simple implementation

Inflated costs, when not applied as soon as possible

Technical specifications that are interdependent

This will help stakeholders and project teams visualize the intended direction.

MoSCoW prioritization in Agile project management

In an ideal world, your business would have unlimited time and a limitless source of funds to become the most efficient revenue generator it could be. But in the real world, you've got budget and time constraints.

When deciding on projects that will help increase revenue, decrease operational costs, boost productivity, or heighten customer satisfaction, you must choose the projects and project requirements that will most impact the goals you find important. The MoSCoW method can help you do just that.

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Training Industry

The power of research-driven content in corporate l&d marketing.

Animated business professional in front of a film camera with different forms of marketing content in the background and social media.

To be successful, training vendors must understand who they’re trying to target. This means tailoring their marketing campaigns to reach prospects who need what they’re selling. Training vendors must conduct thorough research to understand their buyer’s journey, ensuring efficacy of their marketing campaigns. This article will review how research can support your marketing strategy.

The Importance of Research in Marketing

Understanding buyer needs and pain points is essential to ensure relevancy, build trust and drive conversions. L&D marketers can use this research to create content that addresses specific challenges and interests. Here are some of the benefits of research in marketing:

Educates and establishes credibility : Positioning companies as trusted authorities in their industries. This credibility can build trust with the audience and foster long-term relationships.
Uncover industry trends : Consumer preferences and emerging challenges to identify actionable recommendations and thought-provoking analysis. This can position the company as a valuable resource for industry knowledge, attracting attention and engagement.
Understand their audience : Research-backed approach allows companies to deeply and provide meaningful, data-backed solutions. This also establishes them as thought leaders.

Selecting the Best Content for Your Prospects

Research-backed content must align with your target demographic and take into account:

Language and tone: Understanding how your target demographic communicates enables you to adopt the appropriate language and tone. Researching their preferred communication style ensures your material is relatable and accessible.
Preferred channels: Research identifies the platforms and channels your audience uses most frequently. Content delivery via these favored channels expands its audience and improves its efficacy.
Competition analysis: Examining the content tactics of rivals gives you a sense of what works and what doesn’t in your sector. Research enables you to set your material apart from the competition and close any holes that they might have missed.
Content formats: You can create content in the most engaging and consumable formats by knowing the preferred formats of your audience, which may include articles, videos, infographics, or podcasts.
Engagement metrics: Observing how members of your target audience engage with previously published material yields insightful information. These measurements are used by content strategies supported by research to help shape and enhance upcoming material so that it keeps up with audience expectations.
Audience insights: Making ensuring the information is pertinent and interesting requires knowing the characteristics, inclinations, and habits of your target audience. Finding out what matters most to people and how they absorb information is made easier with research.
Pain Points and needs: Thorough investigation identifies the particular difficulties and requirements of your target audience. Content that is specifically designed to address these problems shows empathy and offers workable solutions, increasing its value and effect.
Trends and interests: Developing current and engaging content requires keeping up of both industry trends and your audience’s interests. By conducting research, you can remain on top of trends and create content that speaks to issues and themes that are relevant today.

These components help training marketers create research-backed content that not only appeals to their target audience but also improves engagement, fosters trust and improves the performance of your marketing campaigns.

3 Tips for Marketing Research

Here are some tips to consider when researching your target audience:

Divide your audience into discrete segments : Based on demographics, habits and preferences, use research data to separate your audience into these categories.
Customize your material: Make use of research findings to produce material that speaks to your target audience. Utilize research on the motivations, pain spots and preferred communication techniques to create messages that feel customized and speak directly to the desires and specific problems of the target audience.
Maximize timing and channels: Conduct research to ascertain the best times and channels to communicate with your target audience. Examine data regarding the best times and locations for your target audience to engage and be open to receiving marketing messages. By using the most efficient channels and delivering your advertisements at the appropriate time, you can maximize their impact and visibility.

Looking Ahead

Successful marketing programs are built on research-driven content that attracts prospects looking for your specific solution. The research process in creating marketing content can save campaign costs and generate better outcomes.

If you need help marketing your training company, let us help connect you with over 250,000 learning and development professionals.

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#Corporate Learning Research
#TI Research

Hunter Carraway

Hunter Carraway is a research marketing specialist at Training Industry, Inc.

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MoSCoW Prioritization

What is moscow prioritization.

MoSCoW prioritization, also known as the MoSCoW method or MoSCoW analysis, is a popular prioritization technique for managing requirements.

The acronym MoSCoW represents four categories of initiatives: must-have, should-have, could-have, and won’t-have, or will not have right now. Some companies also use the “W” in MoSCoW to mean “wish.”

What is the History of the MoSCoW Method?

Software development expert Dai Clegg created the MoSCoW method while working at Oracle. He designed the framework to help his team prioritize tasks during development work on product releases.

You can find a detailed account of using MoSCoW prioritization in the Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM) handbook . But because MoSCoW can prioritize tasks within any time-boxed project, teams have adapted the method for a broad range of uses.

How Does MoSCoW Prioritization Work?

Before running a MoSCoW analysis, a few things need to happen. First, key stakeholders and the product team need to get aligned on objectives and prioritization factors. Then, all participants must agree on which initiatives to prioritize.

At this point, your team should also discuss how they will settle any disagreements in prioritization. If you can establish how to resolve disputes before they come up, you can help prevent those disagreements from holding up progress.

Finally, you’ll also want to reach a consensus on what percentage of resources you’d like to allocate to each category.

With the groundwork complete, you may begin determining which category is most appropriate for each initiative. But, first, let’s further break down each category in the MoSCoW method.

Start prioritizing your roadmap

Moscow prioritization categories.

1. Must-have initiatives

As the name suggests, this category consists of initiatives that are “musts” for your team. They represent non-negotiable needs for the project, product, or release in question. For example, if you’re releasing a healthcare application, a must-have initiative may be security functionalities that help maintain compliance.

The “must-have” category requires the team to complete a mandatory task. If you’re unsure about whether something belongs in this category, ask yourself the following.

If the product won’t work without an initiative, or the release becomes useless without it, the initiative is most likely a “must-have.”

2. Should-have initiatives

Should-have initiatives are just a step below must-haves. They are essential to the product, project, or release, but they are not vital. If left out, the product or project still functions. However, the initiatives may add significant value.

“Should-have” initiatives are different from “must-have” initiatives in that they can get scheduled for a future release without impacting the current one. For example, performance improvements, minor bug fixes, or new functionality may be “should-have” initiatives. Without them, the product still works.

3. Could-have initiatives

Another way of describing “could-have” initiatives is nice-to-haves. “Could-have” initiatives are not necessary to the core function of the product. However, compared with “should-have” initiatives, they have a much smaller impact on the outcome if left out.

So, initiatives placed in the “could-have” category are often the first to be deprioritized if a project in the “should-have” or “must-have” category ends up larger than expected.

4. Will not have (this time)

One benefit of the MoSCoW method is that it places several initiatives in the “will-not-have” category. The category can manage expectations about what the team will not include in a specific release (or another timeframe you’re prioritizing).

Placing initiatives in the “will-not-have” category is one way to help prevent scope creep . If initiatives are in this category, the team knows they are not a priority for this specific time frame.

Some initiatives in the “will-not-have” group will be prioritized in the future, while others are not likely to happen. Some teams decide to differentiate between those by creating a subcategory within this group.

How Can Development Teams Use MoSCoW?

Although Dai Clegg developed the approach to help prioritize tasks around his team’s limited time, the MoSCoW method also works when a development team faces limitations other than time. For example:

Prioritize based on budgetary constraints.

What if a development team’s limiting factor is not a deadline but a tight budget imposed by the company? Working with the product managers, the team can use MoSCoW first to decide on the initiatives that represent must-haves and the should-haves. Then, using the development department’s budget as the guide, the team can figure out which items they can complete.

Prioritize based on the team’s skillsets.

A cross-functional product team might also find itself constrained by the experience and expertise of its developers. If the product roadmap calls for functionality the team does not have the skills to build, this limiting factor will play into scoring those items in their MoSCoW analysis.

Prioritize based on competing needs at the company.

Cross-functional teams can also find themselves constrained by other company priorities. The team wants to make progress on a new product release, but the executive staff has created tight deadlines for further releases in the same timeframe. In this case, the team can use MoSCoW to determine which aspects of their desired release represent must-haves and temporarily backlog everything else.

What Are the Drawbacks of MoSCoW Prioritization?

Although many product and development teams have prioritized MoSCoW, the approach has potential pitfalls. Here are a few examples.

1. An inconsistent scoring process can lead to tasks placed in the wrong categories.

One common criticism against MoSCoW is that it does not include an objective methodology for ranking initiatives against each other. Your team will need to bring this methodology to your analysis. The MoSCoW approach works only to ensure that your team applies a consistent scoring system for all initiatives.

Pro tip: One proven method is weighted scoring, where your team measures each initiative on your backlog against a standard set of cost and benefit criteria. You can use the weighted scoring approach in ProductPlan’s roadmap app .

2. Not including all relevant stakeholders can lead to items placed in the wrong categories.

To know which of your team’s initiatives represent must-haves for your product and which are merely should-haves, you will need as much context as possible.

For example, you might need someone from your sales team to let you know how important (or unimportant) prospective buyers view a proposed new feature.

One pitfall of the MoSCoW method is that you could make poor decisions about where to slot each initiative unless your team receives input from all relevant stakeholders.

3. Team bias for (or against) initiatives can undermine MoSCoW’s effectiveness.

Because MoSCoW does not include an objective scoring method, your team members can fall victim to their own opinions about certain initiatives.

One risk of using MoSCoW prioritization is that a team can mistakenly think MoSCoW itself represents an objective way of measuring the items on their list. They discuss an initiative, agree that it is a “should have,” and move on to the next.

But your team will also need an objective and consistent framework for ranking all initiatives. That is the only way to minimize your team’s biases in favor of items or against them.

When Do You Use the MoSCoW Method for Prioritization?

MoSCoW prioritization is effective for teams that want to include representatives from the whole organization in their process. You can capture a broader perspective by involving participants from various functional departments.

Another reason you may want to use MoSCoW prioritization is it allows your team to determine how much effort goes into each category. Therefore, you can ensure you’re delivering a good variety of initiatives in each release.

What Are Best Practices for Using MoSCoW Prioritization?

If you’re considering giving MoSCoW prioritization a try, here are a few steps to keep in mind. Incorporating these into your process will help your team gain more value from the MoSCoW method.

1. Choose an objective ranking or scoring system.

Remember, MoSCoW helps your team group items into the appropriate buckets—from must-have items down to your longer-term wish list. But MoSCoW itself doesn’t help you determine which item belongs in which category.

You will need a separate ranking methodology. You can choose from many, such as:

Weighted scoring
Value vs. complexity
Buy-a-feature
Opportunity scoring

For help finding the best scoring methodology for your team, check out ProductPlan’s article: 7 strategies to choose the best features for your product .

2. Seek input from all key stakeholders.

To make sure you’re placing each initiative into the right bucket—must-have, should-have, could-have, or won’t-have—your team needs context.

At the beginning of your MoSCoW method, your team should consider which stakeholders can provide valuable context and insights. Sales? Customer success? The executive staff? Product managers in another area of your business? Include them in your initiative scoring process if you think they can help you see opportunities or threats your team might miss.

3. Share your MoSCoW process across your organization.

MoSCoW gives your team a tangible way to show your organization prioritizing initiatives for your products or projects.

The method can help you build company-wide consensus for your work, or at least help you show stakeholders why you made the decisions you did.

Communicating your team’s prioritization strategy also helps you set expectations across the business. When they see your methodology for choosing one initiative over another, stakeholders in other departments will understand that your team has thought through and weighed all decisions you’ve made.

If any stakeholders have an issue with one of your decisions, they will understand that they can’t simply complain—they’ll need to present you with evidence to alter your course of action.

Related Terms

2×2 prioritization matrix / Eisenhower matrix / DACI decision-making framework / ICE scoring model / RICE scoring model

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4 Tips to Ensure Sellers Get Market Value

For Sale Sign in Front Yard of House - stock photo Close-up of for sale rider on real estate sign post in front yard of house

Before listing their homes (or refinancing), sellers should understand the concept behind a fair appraisal.

NEW YORK – In a perfect world, we will all buy low and sell high. In some places, home prices have increased by 47% since the start of the 2020 pandemic, meaning many should definitely be able to sell high.

Unfortunately, not all appraisals have kept up with such fast-rising values. As a result, some homeowners have had to enter long and tedious legal battles to realize what should have been a basic fair market valuation. Although life’s not perfect, selling one’s home should easily command the current fair market value.

Thus, we all should be adamant that home sellers – BEFORE listing their homes for sale (or even refinancing) – understand what a fair appraisal encompasses.

Here are four insider tidbits real estate pros should arm homeowners/investors with to ensure maximum, fair market profitability from their real estate sales:

Investigate area comparables

Know sales comparables within the last quarter (6 months maximum). For most home sellers that are “informed neighbors” (I don’t call it being a nosey neighbor—we are simply informed), they already know which homes in the neighborhood sold recently and for how much. Truth be told, that’s usually part of the impetus for selling. Still, providing those comps is a “good agent 101” skill, so I know this needs no explanation since you are a real estate rockstar.

Check in with the lender

When considering a prospective homebuyer’s offer, review with the homeowner who the loan is through – if it is not a cash offer – and that lender’s policies regarding appraisal issues. This kind of customer service is the difference maker that sets a committed, trusted professional apart (you) from someone with simply a sales license.

Remember that under-appraisals (low appraisals) do happen at times. However, questions create options. The “O” in Fair Housing D.E.C.O.D.E.R. acronym means we real estate pros are “Options Brokers” – not from a stock trading standpoint but from an “asking the right questions” perspective.

“The first sign of an educated person is that she asks more questions than she delivers” –Johnnetta B. Cole⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣, past president of Spelman College.

Thus, before committing to a specific homebuyer or refinancing, the homeowner/investor should know what their lender’s process is if your client disagrees with the value by asking, or uncovering on the lender’s site, the following questions:

If there are concerns with the appraised value, will the lender offer a complimentary reconsideration of value (which we informally call a second appraisal)? If not, the additional cost may be an impediment to the homebuyer proceeding.
Will that second appraisal be with a different appraiser (a fresh set of eyes) or can it only be with the same appraiser (who may not be amenable to new information)?
Will the buyer’s rate be locked during the reconsideration process (since a rate change may make the home unaffordable for that specific buyer, making this an offbeat comedy of errors that create tears instead of laughs)?
Based on the buyer’s loan type, does the appraisal value stay with the home? If so, for how long? For some loan types like a VA loan, for example, the appraisal value stays with the home for six months. Yeesh! If a particular lender does not have a robust policy in place to challenge an off valuation, then that’s a long time to be stuck with a problematic appraisal.

Guide homeowners toward help

If the homeowner is not happy with the above answers, or never heard back, but still wants to proceed with the prospective homebuyer’s offer – or re-fi – then be sure to have your local fair housing center on speed dial. There is also the Appraisal Complaint National Hotline (1-877-739-0096). Lock that number in because there is a limited time frame to file a complaint (one-year statute of limitations in many instances, yikes!).

Have a stable of reputable lenders ready to go

As a real estate professional, if you like extra credit and bonus points with your clients, create a list of the various lenders that serve your area with their policies for each of the questions above. Of course, have a disclaimer that the information was last updated on ____ date and that confirming all information is still accurate is the homeowner’s responsibility to verify as part of their due diligence period.

Humans – during all points of real estate transactions – can make mistakes, but the key is how robust of a policy is available to help correct and ensure appraisals are fair.

Technology Transition Support Services

Procurement Office
Procurement Category	Business Services
Contract Awarded	No
Estimated Value	$700,000 to $2 million
Competition Type	Small Business Set-Aside
RFP Quarter	3rd QTR
Fiscal Year
NAICS	541 990
Sequence Number	2024-266
Description	The objective is to provide the support services for research and technology transition services. Research transition services include conducting market assessment of the state-of-the-practice, identifying gaps needed to further the subject, identification of key stakeholders, and potential challenges. The technology transition services include training and empowering researchers to transition their discoveries into high-impact, real world technologies in the private sector, and establish a process for transferring and disseminating transportation related scientific information to stakeholders who may apply it for private and public use.
Contact Name	Mary Huie
Email
Phone	(202) 493-3460
Is this a follow-on to a current 8(a) contract?	No
Funded By	Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Expected Period of Performance	-
Place of Performance
Personnel Clearance Requirements	Yes
Contract Vehicle	GSA OASIS, SB Pool 1
Action/Award Type	N/A
Anticipated Award Date

Date Modified: June 25, 2024

Disclaimer: Title V, of Public Law 100-656 requires that Federal agencies make available its Procurement Forecast to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and to interested business owners. The forecast listing is not intended to be all-inclusive. The Forecast is one of many tools available to small businesses. All projected procurements are subject to revision or cancellation. Final decisions on the extent of competition, small business participation, estimated value, or any aspect of the procurement action will not be made until each procurement is initiated. The forecast data is for planning purposes, does not represent a pre-solicitation synopsis, does not constitute an invitation for bid or request for proposal, and is not a commitment by the government to purchase the desired products and services. Actual solicitation notices will be posted on beta.SAM.gov as prescribed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Intelligent Investment

Global Data Center Trends 2024

Limited power availability drives rental rate growth worldwide.

June 24, 2024 20 Minute Read

Executive Summary

Data center insights & research.

Explore what’s next for digital infrastructure, including enterprise IT, networking and data center operations strategies—and what it means for corporate owners and users of data centers worldwide.

A continued worldwide power shortage is significantly inhibiting the global data center market’s growth. Sourcing power is a top priority for operators across all regions (North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific). Secondary markets with ample power should attract more data center investment.
Vacancy rates continue to decline across most global markets due to strong demand. Singapore, the world's most power-constrained market, has only 7.2 MW of available capacity and a near record-low 1% vacancy rate.
Large corporations face increasing difficulty securing data center capacity. Low supply, construction delays and power challenges are impacting all markets. For example, Querétaro, Mexico has only 0.6 MW available for lease.
The worldwide power shortage continues to fuel price increases for data center capacity. In U.S. dollar terms, Singapore still has the highest rental rates at US$315 to US$480 per month for a 250- to 500-kW requirement, while Chicago still has the lowest at $155 to $165.
Artificial intelligence (AI) advancements are projected to significantly drive future data center demand. High-performance computing will require rapid innovation in data center design and technology to manage rising power density needs.

All analysis in this report is based only on the four largest data center markets by inventory in each global region, as follows:

North America: Northern Virgina, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Chicago and Silicon Valley.
Europe: Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris.
Latin America: Querétaro (Mexico), Sáo Paulo (Brazil), Santiago (Chile) and Bogotá (Colombia).
Asia-Pacific: Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney.

Inventory (MW)

North America Despite power supply issues, North American data center inventory grew by 24.4% year-over-year in Q1 2024, adding 807.5 MW across Northern Virginia, Chicago, Dallas and Silicon Valley. Northern Virginia led with 391.1 MW of new supply, due to demand from public cloud providers and AI companies. Local governments are addressing power constraints by simplifying permitting and integrating renewable energy into the grid.

Europe The European data center market grew by nearly 20% year-over-year in Q1 2024. There was significant development in all four major FLAP markets (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris), with Paris leading at over 40% year-over-year growth. However, supply shortages persist across the continent, especially in core markets like Frankfurt. Preleasing new facilities is now common, indicating a need for ongoing investment in data center development. Power sourcing remains a key challenge.

Latin America The region's data center inventory grew by 15% year-over year in Q1 to 650.2 MW, with São Paulo accounting for 67% of the top four countries’ total inventory. Bogotá’s inventory grew the most at 25%.

Asia-Pacific The region’s data center inventory increased by 22% year-over year in Q1 to 2,996 MW. Tokyo, Sydney, Hong Kong and Singapore each contain well over a half-GW of live power capacity, despite tighter planning constraints in Singapore. The capacity pipeline is strong, with numerous developments under construction across the region.

Figure 1: Data Center Inventory by Market

North America North American data center vacancy rates hit new lows across major markets. Chicago led again with the biggest year-over-year decrease to 2.4% from 6.7%. Northern Virginia's vacancy rate decline closely followed, dropping to 0.9% from 1.8% the year prior despite an 18% increase in inventory over the same period.

Europe The FLAP markets' combined vacancy rate fell by 2 percentage points year-over-year in Q1 to 10.6%. Amsterdam had the largest decrease of nearly 8 percentage points to 11.5%. Despite expected new supply, the low vacancy rate should persist due to strong demand.

Latin America The region’s vacancy rate held steady year-over-year at 11.1%. Querétaro had the biggest decline (1.9 percentage points) to a record-low 1.2%. There is persistently strong regional demand, mainly from hyperscalers.

Asia-Pacific The vacancy rate slightly increased in Asia-Pacific due to many new project completions, with primary market vacancy rising to 16% from 13.5%. Hong Kong’s vacancy rate hit around 30% due to 195 MW of new 2023 supply amid softer leasing conditions. However, Singapore remained an extremely tight market with a vacancy rate of 1.0%.

Figure 2: Data Center Vacancy Rate by Market

Net absorption.

North America Public cloud providers and AI companies are driving strong demand for North American data centers. All four featured North American markets–Northern Virginia, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Silicon Valley–had major year-over-year net absorption increases. Northern Virginia had the largest year-over-year increase at 407.4 MW. Chicago absorbed 218.7 MW, Dallas gained 140.2 MW and Silicon Valley secured 62.6 MW.

Europe Despite macroeconomic headwinds, Europe’s data center demand remains high. FLAP markets had a significant surge in net absorption, reaching a combined 487.6 MW from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, nearly double the previous year’s absorption.

Latin America Latin America's data center demand continues to rise, with net absorption reaching 73.3 MW in Q1 2024. São Paulo, the region's leading market, absorbed 40.4 MW this year. Hyperscalers are expanding their regional presence, seeking reliable data center infrastructure for their growing needs.

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific leasing demand remains strong due to corporate and government digitization, and cloud services adoption. AI-related industries, particularly in Tokyo and Sydney, also show massive potential with multi-MW requirements. Singapore’s take-up increased despite supply constraints. Net absorption in Hong Kong improved due to demand from mainland Chinese companies and multinational hyperscalers.

Figure 3: Data Center Net Absorption by Market, Q1 2023 to Q1 2024

Pricing & rental rates.

North America North American data center pricing is significantly accelerating due to supply shortages and high demand. Average asking rates for a typical 250- to 500-kW requirement across all four featured North American markets surged by 20% year-over-year, the highest global increase.

Europe European data center pricing continues increasing due to high demand and rising construction costs. Rental rates in key markets like Frankfurt and London have steadily climbed over the past 18 months. Frankfurt saw a steeper 15% increase, reflecting its status as one of the most expensive markets in Europe.

Latin America Latin America’s data center pricing shows a mixed picture this year. Overall rental rates are rising slightly from last year, with market-specific variations. For example, Bogotá saw an unexpected 8% year-over-year colocation rate decrease, possibly due to increased competition or a temporary market correction. Conversely, Santiago’s rental rates increased by 15%, reflecting strong demand and limited supply.

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific pricing has steadily increased due to strong demand and rising construction and operational costs, despite a relatively large amount of new inventory. Singapore, one of the most expensive global markets, is asking over US$300 per kW. Tokyo’s pricing has generally increased, with rates around US$200 per kW. Sydney’s pricing remains steady at US$195 despite significant new supply.

Figure 4: Monthly Pricing Range for 250-500kW (Min-Max) $USD Without Electricity Cost

Availability.

North America North American data center availability keeps tightening due to robust demand. Significant supply additions from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024 were quickly absorbed, further reducing leasing availability. Northern Virginia saw the largest decrease (-16.2 MW), followed by Chicago (-10.6 MW) and Dallas (-1.5 MW). Silicon Valley was the only major market with increased availability (+19 MW).

Europe Despite significantly increased data center supply across FLAP markets, leasing availability stayed relatively flat from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024 due to robust demand quickly absorbing new supply. Amsterdam had Europe’s largest decline, dropping to 65.4 MW from 98.6MW.

Latin America Latin America's data center availability modestly increased in 2024, largely due to more space in São Paulo, the region's largest market. São Paulo’s availability increased to 62.1 MW from 52.3 MW in Q1 2024. However, this growth remains slight, indicating that demand still exceeds new supply in many Latin American markets.

Asia-Pacific Leasing availability in Asia-Pacific slightly rose due to a wave of recently completed facilities, yet demand remains high. Many companies are opting for pre-commitments, absorbing a sizable portion of the new supply. Singapore remains supply-constrained, benefiting alternative markets. Overall, Asia-Pacific maintains a balanced supply-and-demand dynamic, facilitating strong conditions for market entry and expansion.

Figure 5: Data Center Availability by Market

North america featured markets, northern virginia.

Northern Virginia, the world’s largest data center market, increased its inventory by 391.1MW year-over-year despite Dominion Power’s power supply issues. Public cloud providers and AI companies leased most of the market’s space, resulting in a record-low 0.9% vacancy rate. Consequently, rental rates surged by 41.6% year-over-year as tenants secured leases pre-construction to meet capacity needs. The high electricity demand also boosted power costs by 20.8% year-over-year.

Opportunities:

Dominion Energy's current transmission line projects should boost power capacity by 2026, potentially easing existing limitations. This may encourage further data center development in the region.

Persistently low vacancy and preleasing activity indicate sustained demand. Developers may explore opportunities in surrounding areas such as Central Virginia (including Fredericksburg and Richmond), Maryland and neighboring Virginia counties.

Challenges:

Power supply issues remain despite progress on transmission line construction. Power availability and permitting processes dictate data center construction timelines.

Land scarcity in core counties such as Loudoun and Prince William may increase development costs. Additionally, extended timelines could reduce profit margins for some developers.

Dallas-Ft. Worth

Dallas-Ft. Worth has cemented its status as the nation’s second-largest colocation market, with 31.9% year-over-year inventory growth to 573 MW. Currently, it has a record 372.2 MW of data center space under construction, with 91.8% pre-leased. Limited supply is driving rental rates up across all requirement sizes. Hyperscale and AI companies’ continued interest is further fueling market growth.

The independent decision-making and faster development timelines of Texas' energy grid, ERCOT, give it a unique advantage over many other markets facing power and supply chain delays. Oncor Electric's available power further strengthens Dallas-Ft. Worth's appeal for data center development.

Increasing land prices in South Dallas over the past three years indicate strong developer and hyperscale interest in this area, signaling potential for further regional expansion.

Unprecedented preleasing and record-high construction levels raise questions about the market's ability to sustain current growth and meet future demand.

Available colocation space in Chicago is scarce, with a record-low 1.9% vacancy rate, due to high demand from hyperscalers, enterprise users and especially financial services companies. This limited supply and high demand led to a 33% increase in rental rates over the past year. The challenge of power procurement is driving data center development westward towards areas like Elk Grove, Northlake, Wood Dale, Hoffman Estates and Itasca. Meanwhile, established providers are strategically acquiring developed land near existing campuses for future expansion.

Limited land availability in core areas is driving exploration of new submarkets and redevelopment opportunities, offering a chance for innovative solutions.

Affordable development land is scarce and power procurement poses a significant challenge.

Silicon Valley

Public cloud providers continue to dominate the tech industry’s epicenter, setting a gross leasing absorption record in 2023. Most leases were full building takeovers by cloud service providers, whose cloud businesses are growing partly due to AI adoption. The 6.5% market vacancy is solely in second-generation space, mainly smaller 1-2MW suites, which struggle to meet market standards for performance and efficiency. Power constraints will limit new data center supply for the foreseeable future. Asking rental rates in the 250- to 500-kW range have reached $155 to $250 per kW, the highest in our report.

The constrained power grid has opened opportunities for new technology and alternative power sources like fuel cells or on-site generation systems, to alleviate the market’s supply crunch.

Several developers who purchased property to build a data center have been informed that they won’t receive utility power for over a decade. They must decide whether to wait, sell, reposition or pursue a less-common alternative power source.

EMERGING MARKET

Northern indiana.

Two major hyperscaler announcements this year highlighted Northern Indiana as a new data center frontier. Located near major Midwest cities, it’s become one of North America’s fastest-growing markets for new greenfield data center projects. Cities within a 300-mile radius, including Chicago, Toledo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Cleveland and Columbus, are fueling interest in new data center development. Power and land availability, along with tax incentives, are set to drive further growth in 2025.

Boise, Idaho

In 2022, a leading hyperscaler announced a major development in Kuna, near Boise, Idaho, sparking significant interest for data center development land. We anticipate ongoing development in this region due to Idaho Power’s prevalent hydropower, a new solar facility in Pleasant Valley, abundant land and minimal natural disaster risk.

Europe Featured Markets

Germany’s financial capital maintains the lowest vacancy rate (6%) of any primary market. Data center space is typically preleased before a facility opens, making it nearly impossible for many organizations to find space in this market. Remaining capacity is quickly leased, with Frankfurt’s absorption rate being the lowest of any FLAP market. CBRE expects the vacancy rate to drop below 5% this year.

Despite this low availability, organizations are not deterred. There is strong demand for data center space in Frankfurt, with hyperscalers and many enterprises seeking to grow their substantial presence in the metro market. Operators have responded by adding significant capacity to their pipeline and initiating construction for 2024 and 2025 projects.

However, any space in Frankfurt not already pre-leased will likely be swiftly leased. This situation is further complicated by the difficulties providers face in delivering supply due to issues with securing power, finding suitable land and obtaining the necessary construction permits.

Providing service to Frankfurt from nearby areas like Mainz, located west of Frankfurt, may present an opportunity for providers due to its proximity to hyperscaler availability zones.

Providers face more regulations, limiting available building areas and increasing their already high construction costs.

The British capital still attracts significant demand despite its supply shortage. Hyperscalers primarily drive demand in London’s western corridor but are seeking data center space further afield. Expected demand growth from start-ups, enterprises and GPU-as-a-service providers will likely be challenged by capacity scarcity, limited power availability and few local AI-ready data centers. Hyperscalers and enterprises may struggle to find available power in the largest submarkets. However, areas well outside of London’s main regions, with less data center concentration, may offer more options. Consequently, London’s development radius will likely expand, even after key electricity substation upgrades.

Providers who find a site with available power and proximity to hyperscaler availability zones are far likelier to lease space in a data center that can be built on it.

Securing power sources for data centers is increasingly challenging for providers, potentially driving hyperscalers to invest elsewhere due to the considerable difficulty of development.

Amsterdam, a top global connectivity hub and Europe’s third-largest market, remains a strategic region for international data transfer and peering. However, stringent data center regulations and limited power availability make building data centers more challenging. This has slowed development relative to other primary European markets. There is no new supply this year and 2023’s growth was lower than any other FLAPD market, except the much larger London. Year-over-year new supply declines and take-up are common in Amsterdam, like any other data center market after a strong year.

In the short-term, limited power availability will deter development and limit new supply delivery. Numerous markets face this same issue. Still, the expected 2025 completion of a key local electricity substation upgrade should boost future data center development, as Europe faces a need for available wholesale capacity.

Amsterdam is underrepresented in hyperscaler deployments. It’s imperative for operators to make Amsterdam appealing to hyperscalers, as they account for the vast majority of data center demand.

Attracting data center investment may be difficult for Amsterdam due to regulatory constraints such as a national moratorium on data centers with a maximum IT load of over 70MW.

Paris recently surpassed Amsterdam and Dublin in terms of growth. It is expected to become Europe’s third-largest market for total supply this year, after Frankfurt and London. Demand, pricing and construction costs are rising due to record levels of data center capacity being delivered to meet the growing requirements of hyperscalers.

Over the past two years, take-up has surged due to the top hyperscalers’ local cloud regions, with much expansion and new construction delivering space in South Paris last year. Major cloud providers now offer, or soon will, a “Sovereign Cloud” product aimed at French public sector organizations and other security-needy sectors like healthcare and financial services.

More hyperscaler business is obtainable if operators can overcome regulatory and labor law challenges to deliver ample new capacity this year. The potential success makes the risk worthwhile, considering the scale of hyperscaler deployments, particularly in South Paris.

Securing land and power for new developments is increasingly difficult, particularly in the North. The zoning restrictions initiated due to the 2024 Olympics have further complicated matters for providers and others aiming to build in the region.

Data center development in Madrid is expected to accelerate this year despite its relatively high vacancy rate. In contrast, it experienced a development slowdown last year, following a peak in 2022 when market supply nearly doubled. This vacant space surplus distinguishes Madrid from other secondary markets like Milan and Vienna.

Norway’s capital and largest city hosts a mix of retail and wholesale colocation data centers. It had 70MW of supply as of Q4 2023. It is one of Europe’s faster-growing markets due to available, affordable power and land, prompting significant construction of wholesale data center campuses in the broader region.

Latin America Featured Markets

Querétaro, mexico.

Querétaro, an internet backbone connecting Mexico City and the U.S., is a favored location for hyperscale development in Mexico. Its ample land, professional industrial park operators and easy road access make it ideal for new developments. Additionally, it hosts several banks and telecom companies.

The region already hosts cloud availability zones for Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, with the latter having recently opened. Odata, KIO and Ascenty have consistently expanded their presence here over recent years. However, power challenges have slowed new data center launches and expansions. Hopes for resolving these challenges by 2025 are fading, making 2026 a more likely timeline for energy solutions implementation.

Electrical infrastructure limitations hinder market growth but strong demand persists. Securing extra electrical capacity can give operators a significant advantage. Solid government support for the tech sector enhances this market’s appeal for data center investment. Furthermore, land costs remain attractive compared with other markets.

Power supply is the main challenge in the region, impacting Querétaro and other Mexican markets. There are many industrial parks but few have secure energy capacity. Those that do often charge high prices.

São Paulo, Brazil

São Paulo is Latin America’s primary data center market, boasting its largest data center campus under development. This market’s advantages include the country’s best connectivity, strong energy supply and power infrastructure, and proximity to many corporate headquarters and a high-skilled IT labor force. Furthermore, it has the country’s largest concentration of rapidly expanding data center retailers and wholesalers. Its clean energy sources, primarily hydroelectricity, are diversifying with increasing investments in solar and wind power, ensuring stable energy supply.

The market’s potential for AI workload deployment has been studied, taking its clean energy matrix and energy availability into account. Certain areas in Barueri and Osasco have attracted development interest for smaller demands, as land and energy availability diminish.

Space and energy constraints are forcing new development farther from the market’s core.

Santiago, Chile

The Santiago market is connected to several submarine cables through Valparaíso, including the US$400-million Humboldt submarine cable project, a public-private partnership with Google, set to launch in 2026 and link the country to Sydney. This diverse data center market—encompassing retail, hyperscale and public cloud providers—creates a strong ecosystem in a key Latin American country, despite its small size and population. With market vacancy at a record-low 1.1%, hyperscalers and public cloud providers are demanding more energy. Regulation has been widely discussed, with debates over data center permits and usage in different zones.

The connection to Australia should bring more demand. New companies will likely enter the market with the lowest vacancy rate in Latin America, despite recent project completions.

This is a challenging region for data center development, with just a few areas permitting construction. Water restrictions also contribute to the difficulties developers have faced.

Bogotá, Colombia

Bogotá's data center market approached the size of Querétaro's last year due to increasing demand for cloud services, data storage and digital transformation initiatives. Hyperscalers have expanded their regional presence and newcomers have launched data centers through powered shell acquisitions in the main Free Trade Zones. These zones offer tax benefits and strategic locations near main highways and industrial corridors. The market utilizes green energy, despite some transmission constraints.

Several established free trade zones in the city’s main industrial corridors offer financial benefits. Due to some project delays in the region, there are opportunities this year to acquire remaining land subject to tax benefits.

Some free trade zones are far from the city’s core, with only a few fiber paths. Additionally, establishing the energy infrastructure needed for hyperscale projects may delay data center delivery dates.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil’s second-largest market has consistently grown, delivering key hyperscale developments. As some industrial regions become saturated, new areas are emerging, prioritizing energy supply expansion.

Peru has garnered attention for its significant data center activity. The market is transitioning from telecom sites to a third-party focus, facilitated by the entry of international companies like Equinix and Odata.

Asia-Pacific Featured Markets

As a major regional data center hub, Singapore has consistently high demand. However, scarce new supply has led to a 1.0% vacancy rate. An upcoming 80-MW supply awarded from the Data Center-Call for Application (DC-CFA) and 58 MW from the recently announced Singtel Tuas DC will provide temporary relief, supporting market expansion. As new capacity development extends to neighboring markets like Johor and Batam, Singapore will remain the regional interconnection hub. Data center operators will shift focus from size to technology and sustainability, driven by the AI demand boom requiring higher rack density specifications and advanced cooling technology.

Singapore is a top Asia-Pacific market, enjoying political stability, robust digital infrastructure and connectivity, and a tech-friendly business environment. Its serious focus on technological innovation and decarbonization also make it a regional leader, as well as a springboard to many fast-growing Asia-Pacific countries.

Power constraints and government restrictions have limited new supply. Competition from nearby countries with cheaper land, development costs, taxes and utility provide alternative opportunities to operators, investors and customers. Singapore must form part of multi-market strategy to sustain its regional leadership.

This key Asia-Pacific data center market is experiencing strong interest from occupiers and investors. The demand is largely driven by public cloud providers that seek space in strategically located central Tokyo edge facilities, and AI-related companies, which target suburban locations. Greater Tokyo’s current vacancy rate is around 10% to 15%. Despite the expected completion of numerous data centers over the next few years, prices remain stable or are rising due to strong demand. The government promotes data center development in regional areas like Osaka, Fukuoka and Hokkaido as part of its “digital garden city nation" vision.

Tokyo, Japan’s telecommunications hub, is an established data center market with strong international connectivity. It’s currently experiencing high data center demand due to the growth and adoption of cloud services. The surge in AI-related deployments also offers opportunities for colocation/edge providers.

Limited land and power constraints increase costs and potentially delay new developments. Emerging competitors from decentralized locations such as Hokkaido and Kyushu offer alternative options for non-latency-critical AI deployments.

Hong Kong is a major connectivity and commercial hub, acting as a gateway to China. Recent data center supply has outpaced demand, causing an uptick in vacancy levels. Mainland Chinese companies and international hyperscalers drive most absorption. Hong Kong IT service providers have also boosted regional take-up. The current wave of supply is expected to persist until mid-2025, then taper off, allowing greater long-term supply-and-demand balance. Given the softer vacancy rates, the outlook for colocation pricing in the retail & enterprise sectors remains relatively subdued.

Large multinational and domestic hyperscalers have leveraged the high vacancy rate to secure large transactions over the past year. Despite challenges, Hong Kong’s political and environmental stability, along with its role as a regional commercial hub, continues to attract data center occupiers with new supply and competitive prices.

Geopolitical issues still affect multinational retail & enterprise companies’ data center plans in Hong Kong, impacting absorption. The slowing Chinese economy has also reduced activity from mainland Chinese occupiers, though they remain the main market participants. With limited new land and power supply, developers and operators might retrofit existing industrial buildings for supply after 2026.

As one of Asia-Pacific’s largest data center markets, Sydney continues to attract public cloud providers, operators and investors. The persistent demand for colocation capacity is driven by governmental and corporate shifts from traditional on-premises/enterprise models to colocation and cloud service solutions. Despite a slight softening in vacancy levels, the market has seen an influx of new colocation developments, which has increased supply and kept pricing stable. Future growth is expected to be driven by significant activity in the cloud, content, gaming and AI-related industries, necessitating greater use of liquid cooling technologies for intensive computing workloads. The continued expansion by U.S.-based public cloud providers will support Sydney’s and Australia’s data center ecosystem.

Sydney offers a robust data center market, attracting public cloud providers, content, gaming and AI-related industries. With growth constraints in other Asia-Pacific markets, Sydney offers a viable alternative for meeting regional data center demand.

Sydney’s large development pipeline may pressure vacancy levels in the short-to-medium term. Power accessibility remains a challenge, impacting development timelines.

Mumbai, India

Mumbai, India’s largest data center market, boasts over 600 MW of live capacity, comprising about 54% of the overall market. Inventory is expected to surge due to strong demand from banking, financial services and insurance companies, hyperscalers, and media segments supported by international/domestic network connectivity and the government. Generative AI deployments are also fueling demand. Both established domestic and global operators are expanding in the market. International investors planning major developments in Greater Mumbai (Navi Mumbai) include Blackstone, Digital Edge, Digital Connexion and Princeton Digital Group.

Seoul, South Korea

Greater Seoul’s total capacity of 605 MW makes it Korea’s largest data center market. Previously dominated by domestic telecoms and Korean companies, the market now welcomes many new facilities from international developers, expecting a two-thirds increase in supply by 2026. The government’s restrictions on power availability are causing developers to explore land outside of Greater Seoul. Most facilities are pre-leased to hyperscalers because customer demand is high, limiting remaining capacity for enterprise users.

Related Insights

2024 global data center investor intentions survey.

June 3, 2024

The data center sector's momentum is continuing this year, fueled by institutional investment and strong underlying fundamentals.

Data Center Growth Has Economic Ripple Effects

May 23, 2024

content-team-only-datacenters_adobe_118328756-1080x1080

Digital infrastructure has never been more important to providing reliable connectivity for business, commerce and communication.

Europe Data Centres Figures Q1 2024

May 17, 2024

The demand for data centre space in Europe's five largest markets – Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin (FLAPD) – exceeded supply in Q1 2024. This demand is projected to grow to 440MW this year as hyperscalers, start-ups and enterprises seek space that can accommodate their cloud and AI-related needs. For a comprehensive analysis of the key data centre markets tracked by CBRE, read the full report.

Asia Pacific Data Centre Trends - Q1 2024

April 3, 2024

Despite a challenging economic environment, data centres remain in focus for the commercial real estate industry in Asia Pacific, with notable market developments across the region. This report explores key data centre investment trends and outlook for the sector in Asia Pacific, and offers insights into the data centre occupier and investment market in Australia, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, India and Korea.

North America Data Center Trends H2 2023

March 6, 2024

north-american-data-center-trends-h2-2023-hero

Technological innovation is driving record demand despite power constraints.

Related Service

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North America

Executive Managing Director

Phone +1 303 6281765

Molly Sackles

Senior Business Development Associate

Phone +1 303 583 2048

Gordon Dolven

Director of Americas Data Center Research

Josh Ruttner

Associate Research Director

Phone +1 212 984 8000

Head of EMEA Data Centre Solutions, Advisory & Transaction Services

Phone +44 20 7182 3461

Kevin Restivo

Head of Data Centre Research, Advisory & Transaction Services, Europe

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Alison takano.

Industrial Manager

Phone +55 30159964

Rafael Gubitoso

Asia-Pacific

Dedi iskandar.

Head of CBRE Data Center Solutions, Advisory & Transaction Services, Asia Pacific

Andrew Mackin

Head of Regional Consulting, Asia Pacific

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That comes later. Objective: Uncover the purchase journey of our target demographic. Assumption: Uncover what part search plays in the purchase journey of our target demographic. This looks unsuspecting, but in reality, we're already assuming that search plays a role in our audience's journey. That could sway the focus of the research.
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The solution is to break the objective down into your most important channels. Here are a few examples: Increase organic search visibility in the U.S. from 6% to 8% by the end of 2023. Increase search ad impression share from 47% to 65% in the U.S. among Site Audit tool buyers by the end of 2023. Increase marketing podcast audience monthly ...
Market Research: A How-To Guide and Template
Download HubSpot's free, editable market research report template here. 1. Five Forces Analysis Template. Use Porter's Five Forces Model to understand an industry by analyzing five different criteria and how high the power, threat, or rivalry in each area is — here are the five criteria: Competitive rivalry.
A Basic Guide to Defining Your Market Research Goals
1. Define the problem or opportunity and state your objectives. When creating a new goal, it is important to recognize any current problems in a company. You should also work to see whether a problem can be molded into an opportunity. Basic marketing research courses explain that a management problem is any type of issue that needs managerial ...
What is Market Research? Definition, Types, Process ...
Market research is defined as the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data about a specific market, industry, or consumer segment. It involves studying customers, competitors, and market dynamics to identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and make informed business decisions. Market research provides valuable insights into ...
How to Do Market Research: The Complete Guide
Monitor and adapt. Now that you have gained insights into the various market research methods at your disposal, let's delve into the practical aspects of how to conduct market research effectively. Here's a quick step-by-step overview, from defining objectives to monitoring market shifts. 1. Set clear objectives.
Market Research: What It Is and How to Do It
June 3, 2021 28 min read. Market research is a process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a given market. It takes into account geographic, demographic, and psychographic data about past, current, and potential customers, as well as competitive analysis to evaluate the viability of a product offer.
The Complete Guide to Market Research: What It Is, Why You ...
There are different ways to approach market research, including primary and secondary research and qualitative and quantitative research. The strongest approaches will include a combination of all four. "Virtually every business can benefit from conducting some market research," says Niles Koenigsberg of Real FiG Advertising + Marketing.
How to do market research: The complete guide for your brand
Not everyone conducts market research for the same reason. While some may want to understand their audience better, others may want to see how their competitors are doing. As such, there are different types of market research you can conduct depending on your goal. Interviews. Interview-based market research allows for one-on-one interactions.
How to Set Marketing Research Goals and Objectives
The first step was setting marketing research goals and objectives. You might think that this is a same-old, same old process for marketing research. But it isn't. ... Market Research Survey Software Real-time, automated and advanced market research survey software & tool to create surveys, collect data and analyze results for actionable ...
Marketing Research Process: Complete Guide
Integrate with 100+ apps and plug-ins to get more done. SurveyMonkey Forms. Build and customize online forms to collect info and payments. SurveyMonkey Genius. Create better surveys and spot insights quickly with built-in AI. Market Research Solutions. Purpose-built solutions for all of your market research needs. INDUSTRIES.
Marketing Research: Objectives, Types, Steps, Methods
Marketing research steps. The marketing stages usually include: First, determine the problem or research objective. Marketing research covers various aspects of the market, such as product, sales, promotion, distribution, buyer behavior, pricing, and packaging. You cannot investigate them all at once.
9 Key Stages in the Marketing Research Process
The marketing research process - an overview. A typical marketing research process is as follows: Identify an issue, discuss alternatives and set out research objectives. Develop a research program. Choose a sample. Gather information. Gather data. Organize and analyze information and data. Present findings.
Market Research Objectives
2. Alignment with Business Goals: Objectives help align market research with broader business goals, ensuring that the insights gained contribute to strategic decision-making. 3. Measurement of Success: Objectives serve as benchmarks for success, allowing organizations to evaluate the effectiveness of their research efforts. 4.
Market Research: The Ultimate Guide, Benefits and Examples
The market is expected to grow from approximately $75 billion in 2021 to $90.79 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 5%. Your competitors have highly skilled individuals within the industry, meaning your available personnel resources are likely similar to those of your competitors.
What is Marketing Research? Examples and Best Practices
Marketing research is essentially a method utilized by companies to collect valuable information regarding their target market. ... Market research is a systematic and objective process crucial for understanding target markets, refining business strategies, and informing decisions, which includes collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data on ...
How to Do Market Research, Types, and Example
Market research is the process of assessing the viability of a new good or service through research conducted directly with the consumer which allows a company to ...
How to Do Market Research [4-Step Framework]
How to conduct lean market research in 4 steps. The following four steps and practical examples will give you a solid market research plan for understanding who your users are and what they want from a company like yours. 1. Create simple user personas. A user persona is a semi-fictional character based on psychographic and demographic data ...
The 8 types of market research and how to use them
Various market research methods can be used, such as interviews, ethnography, survey research, social monitoring, and customer journey research. Here are some of the characteristics you should understand through consumer insights research: Purchase habits. Interests, hobbies, passions.
Marketing Research
Marketing research is a process of analyzing and conducting research about the market to understand market trends. It involves proper collection, analysis and interpretation of information regarding market conditions. Marketing research is mainly conducted to identify changes in preferences and behaviour of customers arising from the change in ...
14.5.1: Learning Objective
Ultimately, successful marketing executives make decisions on the basis of a blend of facts and intuition. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the marketing research process. We start the discussion with a look at business information. As noted in Exhibit 6, marketing research is applicable throughout the marketing planning process.
How to harness marketing data to support holistic business strategy
Bridging this gap is essential to advance marketing strategies and use data to refine key business questions, set executive objectives and develop go-to-market plans. The big picture
Principles of Marketing Exam 2 Flashcards
A critical part of a brand's message to the market and consumers is to not only be relevant to customers and build credibility, trust, and loyalty, but also present coherent message differentiation of its product or service from the competition. This type of coherent, unifying brand messaging is known as: consistency.
The MoSCoW Method Explained: Categories, Pros, and Cons
Include all stakeholders in using the MoSCoW method, from the executive level down to the different teams involved in the successful completion of the project. Get them to also use objective scoring systems like: Opportunity scoring: uses data from market research to determine what customers expect from your product or service. Prioritization ...
How To Target Buyers With Research-Backed Content Marketing
This article will review how research can support your marketing strategy. The Importance of Research in Marketing. Understanding buyer needs and pain points is essential to ensure relevancy, build trust and drive conversions. L&D marketers can use this research to create content that addresses specific challenges and interests.
What is MoSCoW Prioritization?
MoSCoW prioritization, also known as the MoSCoW method or MoSCoW analysis, is a popular prioritization technique for managing requirements. The acronym MoSCoW represents four categories of initiatives: must-have, should-have, could-have, and won't-have, or will not have right now. Some companies also use the "W" in MoSCoW to mean "wish.".
Gain Insights That Accelerate Growth With Forrester Research
As a research company, Forrester has helped technology, marketing, sales, customer experience, and product executives see around corners and take decisive action for more than 35 years, from an objective point of view. View our upcoming Planned Research. Signature Forrester research includes:
4 Tips to Ensure Sellers Get Market Value
As a result, some homeowners have had to enter long and tedious legal battles to realize what should have been a basic fair market valuation (like this example of a $340,000 home valuation difference, whew!). Although life's not perfect, selling one's home should easily command the current fair market value.
Procurement Forecast Opportunity-669661-2024-266
The objective is to provide the support services for research and technology transition services. Research transition services include conducting market assessment of the state-of-the-practice, identifying gaps needed to further the subject, identification of key stakeholders, and potential challenges.
Global Data Center Trends 2024
Mumbai, India's largest data center market, boasts over 600 MW of live capacity, comprising about 54% of the overall market. Inventory is expected to surge due to strong demand from banking, financial services and insurance companies, hyperscalers, and media segments supported by international/domestic network connectivity and the government.

How to Write a Marketing Research Objective

What is a Marketing Research Objective?

How Do You Create a Marketing Research Objective?

Creating a Research Objective

Common Marketing Research Objective Pitfalls

Objective is Too Broad

More Than One Objective

Making Assumptions

More Tips for Understanding Your Audience

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Market Research: A How-To Guide and Template

MARKET RESEARCH KIT

What is market research?

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Why do market research?

Primary Research

Secondary Research

1. Interviews

2. Focus Groups

3. Product/Service Use Research

4. Observation-Based Research

5. Buyer Persona Research

6. Market Segmentation Research

7. Pricing Research

8. Competitive Analysis

9. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

10. Brand Awareness Research

11. Campaign Research

1. Define your buyer persona.

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TAM, SAM & SOM: What Do They Mean & How Do You Calculate Them?

How to Run a Competitor Analysis [Free Guide]

5 Challenges Marketers Face in Understanding Audiences [New Data + Market Researcher Tips]

Causal Research: The Complete Guide

Total Addressable Market (TAM): What It Is & How You Can Calculate It

What Is Market Share & How Do You Calculate It?

3 Ways Data Privacy Changes Benefit Marketers [New Data]

A Basic Guide to Defining Your Market Research Goals

1. Define the problem or opportunity and state your objectives

2. Develop the research design to meet your objectives

3. Collect information relevant to your objectives

4. Create a final report

5. Follow up

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How to Do Market Research: The Complete Guide

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What is market research?

Why is market research important?

Types of market research

1. Qualitative research

2. Quantitative research

3. Exploratory research

4. Descriptive research

5. Causal research

6. Cross-sectional research

7. Longitudinal research

Primary vs. secondary market research

Primary market research

Secondary market research

Market research methods

1. Surveys and questionnaires

2. Interviews

3. Focus groups

4. Observational research

5. Online research tools

6. Experiments

7. Content analysis

8. Ethnographic research

How to do market research

1. Set clear objectives

2. Identify your target audience