If you’re think­ing about improv­ing your mar­ket­ing cam­paigns, it’s well worth con­sid­er­ing how mar­ket research could help. In fact, mar­ket research can help with a wide range of busi­ness oper­a­tions. So, it’s good to get in the habit of read­ing about indus­try trends and con­sumer behaviour.

How­ev­er, you’ve got to start some­where. So, this arti­cle lays out 10 mar­ket research meth­ods that can add val­ue to your mar­ket­ing and brand more broad­ly. Keep read­ing to fig­ure out which one suits your busi­ness’s cir­cum­stances best:

Types of primary research

1. Focus groups

Focus groups are a qual­i­ta­tive research method that gath­ers a small, diverse group of peo­ple to dis­cuss and pro­vide feed­back on a par­tic­u­lar sub­ject, prod­uct, ser­vice, or con­cept. These are typ­i­cal­ly facil­i­tat­ed by a skilled mod­er­a­tor, and they aim to explore the per­cep­tions, opin­ions, beliefs, and atti­tudes of participants.

These dis­cus­sions are struc­tured and guid­ed by a set of pre­de­ter­mined ques­tions or top­ics, yet they allow for free-flow­ing, open con­ver­sa­tion that can reveal use­ful insights into con­sumer behav­iour and preferences.

Par­tic­i­pants are care­ful­ly select­ed to rep­re­sent the tar­get mar­ket or demo­graph­ic of inter­est. This diver­si­ty ensures a wide range of per­spec­tives and insights.

Ses­sions are often record­ed for lat­er analy­sis, and observers (typ­i­cal­ly mar­ket researchers or com­pa­ny stake­hold­ers) may watch the ses­sion through one-way mir­rors or video feeds to gath­er addi­tion­al insights with­out influ­enc­ing the discussion.

Focus groups can be incred­i­bly valu­able for inform­ing mar­ket­ing strate­gies in sev­er­al ways:

• Things like mes­sag­ing, brand­ing, and prod­uct devel­op­ment can be guid­ed by insights into the con­sumer mind­set and pain points.
• New prod­ucts or cam­paigns can be test­ed before launch­ing, mak­ing the final roll­out more refined and like­ly to succeed.
• Con­ver­sa­tions may high­light emerg­ing trends and shifts in con­sumer atti­tudes, allow­ing com­pa­nies to stay ahead of the curve.

Focus groups offer rich and nuanced under­stand­ings of tar­get mar­kets, which is cru­cial for devel­op­ing effec­tive, res­o­nant mar­ket­ing strate­gies. By engag­ing direct­ly with con­sumers, busi­ness­es can gain invalu­able insights that quan­ti­ta­tive data alone might not reveal, dri­ving more informed, strate­gic decision-making.

2. Surveys

Sur­veys are a quan­ti­ta­tive research method used to col­lect data from a large num­ber of respon­dents. They con­sist of a series of ques­tions designed to gath­er spe­cif­ic infor­ma­tion about atti­tudes, pref­er­ences, behav­iours, or demo­graph­ic characteristics.

Sur­veys can be con­duct­ed through online forms, tele­phone inter­views, paper ques­tion­naires, or face-to-face inter­ac­tions. This method is high­ly val­ued for its effi­cien­cy in col­lect­ing data from a broad audi­ence at a rel­a­tive­ly low cost.

When using sur­veys, ques­tions must be clear, unbi­ased, and tai­lored to elic­it the nec­es­sary infor­ma­tion. This includes decid­ing between open-end­ed ques­tions, which offer depth, and closed-end­ed ques­tions, which are eas­i­er to quantify.

Sur­vey users should select a sam­ple group that rep­re­sents their tar­get pop­u­la­tion, as this will improve its reli­a­bil­i­ty and valid­i­ty. In addi­tion, busi­ness­es should con­sid­er which dis­tri­b­u­tion method will reach the intend­ed audi­ence best: email, social media, web­sites, or direct con­tact meth­ods like tele­phone or in-per­son interviews.

Sur­veys can play a cru­cial role in shap­ing mar­ket­ing strate­gies through:

• Demo­graph­ic, psy­cho­graph­ic, and behav­iour­al data can help mar­keters seg­ment the mar­ket more accu­rate­ly, allow­ing for tar­get­ed mar­ket­ing efforts.
• Sur­veys pro­vide direct insights into what cus­tomers want, their pref­er­ences, and their expec­ta­tions from a prod­uct or ser­vice, which is invalu­able for tai­lor­ing prod­ucts, ser­vices, and mar­ket­ing messages.
• Under­stand­ing the per­cep­tion of your brand vs com­peti­tors can guide deci­sions in brand­ing, posi­tion­ing, and com­pet­i­tive differentiation.
• Post-cam­paign sur­veys can assess the effec­tive­ness of mar­ket­ing cam­paigns, pro­vid­ing insights into what worked, what did­n’t, and how future cam­paigns can be improved.
• Sur­vey answers can inform the prod­uct devel­op­ment process, ensur­ing that new offer­ings align with cus­tomer desires and mar­ket gaps.

Sur­veys are a struc­tured means to gath­er action­able data across a wide range of sub­jects, offer­ing reli­able evi­dence for informed decision-making.

3. Customer feedback analysis

Cus­tomer feed­back refers to the insights and infor­ma­tion pro­vid­ed by cus­tomers about their expe­ri­ences with a com­pa­ny’s prod­ucts, ser­vices, or over­all brand. This organ­i­cal­ly gath­ered feed­back can come in var­i­ous forms, includ­ing reviews, com­ments, sat­is­fac­tion sur­veys, and direct com­mu­ni­ca­tion through cus­tomer ser­vice channels.

While sur­veys and ques­tion­naires are made to col­lect spe­cif­ic data points, cus­tomer feed­back can accu­mu­late over time with­out a spe­cif­ic goal in mind. How­ev­er, it can be called upon when the time comes to learn about cus­tomers, prod­ucts, and sat­is­fac­tion to inform new projects.

If you plan to use cus­tomer feed­back one day in the future, make sure you’re encour­ag­ing every cus­tomer to leave com­ments and reviews. These can be facil­i­tat­ed through incen­tives or sim­ply via email after purchases.

Busi­ness­es using feed­back data must look for com­mon themes and issues and cat­e­gorise feed­back into: 1) areas for improve­ment, 2) poten­tial inno­va­tions, and 3) strengths to be lever­aged further.

Cus­tomer feed­back is a gold­mine of infor­ma­tion for inform­ing mar­ket­ing strate­gies in sev­er­al impact­ful ways:

• Insights can high­light fea­tures that are work­ing well and those that are not, guid­ing prod­uct devel­op­ment and cus­tomer expe­ri­ences to bet­ter meet cus­tomer needs.
• Feed­back can help in seg­ment­ing cus­tomers more accu­rate­ly, allow­ing for more per­son­alised mar­ket­ing efforts that res­onate with dif­fer­ent cus­tomer groups.
• Real tes­ti­mo­ni­als and insights can inform the cre­ation of more authen­tic and com­pelling mar­ket­ing con­tent, improv­ing engage­ment and con­ver­sion rates.
• By respond­ing to feed­back, com­pa­nies can strength­en their rela­tion­ship with cus­tomers, fos­ter­ing loyalty.

Cus­tomer feed­back serves as a direct line to the con­sumer’s per­spec­tive, offer­ing invalu­able insights that can shape more effec­tive, cus­tomer-cen­tric mar­ket­ing strate­gies. In addi­tion, the research method of cus­tomer feed­back will like­ly be read­i­ly avail­able for many busi­ness­es that have been oper­at­ing long-term.

4. Interviews

Inter­views are one-on-one con­ver­sa­tions between a researcher and a par­tic­i­pant. This method is used to gath­er in-depth infor­ma­tion, opin­ions, and insights from indi­vid­u­als about their expe­ri­ences, pref­er­ences, and behav­iours relat­ed to a prod­uct, ser­vice, or any top­ic of interest.

Inter­views can be struc­tured, semi-struc­tured, or unstruc­tured, vary­ing from high­ly guid­ed con­ver­sa­tions based on a set list of ques­tions to more open-end­ed dis­cus­sions that allow the con­ver­sa­tion to flow nat­u­ral­ly based on the inter­vie­wee’s responses.

Par­tic­i­pants are cho­sen based on cri­te­ria that align with the research objec­tives, such as demo­graph­ics, user or non-user sta­tus, or spe­cif­ic expe­ri­ences. Inter­views can sig­nif­i­cant­ly inform and enhance mar­ket­ing strate­gies through:

• The depth and detail obtained from inter­views pro­vide a rich under­stand­ing of con­sumer needs, pref­er­ences, and atti­tudes, guid­ing deci­sions around prod­uct posi­tion­ing and pric­ing strategies.
• The detailed nar­ra­tives gath­ered from inter­views help refine Buy­er Per­sonas, mak­ing them more accu­rate and nuanced. This, in turn, allows for more effec­tive tar­get­ing and per­son­al­i­sa­tion in mar­ket­ing campaigns.
• The qual­i­ta­tive insights from inter­views can pro­vide a com­pet­i­tive edge by reveal­ing unmet needs or iden­ti­fy­ing poten­tial areas for dif­fer­en­ti­a­tion that com­peti­tors may overlook.

Inter­views are a pow­er­ful tool for uncov­er­ing the rich, qual­i­ta­tive data that quan­ti­ta­tive meth­ods can­not cap­ture. This depth of insight is invalu­able for craft­ing mar­ket­ing strate­gies that are tru­ly aligned with con­sumer needs and pref­er­ences, ulti­mate­ly lead­ing to more effec­tive engage­ment and stronger brand loyalty.

5. Market trials

Mar­ket tri­als, also known as test mar­ket­ing, involve launch­ing a new prod­uct or ser­vice in a lim­it­ed area of the mar­ket before a full-scale roll­out. This method allows com­pa­nies to test the waters with their offer­ings, gath­er real-world data on sales per­for­mance, and under­stand con­sumer response in a con­trolled yet live environment.

Mar­ket tri­als can help in fine-tun­ing the prod­uct, pric­ing, dis­tri­b­u­tion chan­nels, and mar­ket­ing strate­gies based on direct mar­ket feed­back. Sim­i­lar­ly to oth­er meth­ods, sam­ples should be rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the intend­ed market.

Sales data, cus­tomer feed­back, and mar­ket­ing effec­tive­ness are close­ly mon­i­tored dur­ing the tri­al peri­od. This may involve addi­tion­al mar­ket research meth­ods, such as sur­veys or focus groups, to gath­er more detailed insights.

Mar­ket tri­als are instru­men­tal in inform­ing and refin­ing mar­ket­ing strate­gies in sev­er­al key ways:

• They pro­vide a prac­ti­cal test to see if the prod­uct meets the mar­ket’s needs and if the tar­get con­sumers are will­ing to pur­chase it.
• Tri­als can also reveal poten­tial issues or oppor­tu­ni­ties in the dis­tri­b­u­tion and logis­tics plan, enabling com­pa­nies to address these before they become larg­er problems.
• By iden­ti­fy­ing poten­tial issues and mar­ket resis­tance ear­ly, mar­ket tri­als help mit­i­gate the risk asso­ci­at­ed with new prod­uct launch­es, sav­ing time, resources, and rep­u­ta­tion­al capital.

Mar­ket tri­als serve as a crit­i­cal step in the prod­uct launch process, offer­ing invalu­able insights that can sig­nif­i­cant­ly impact the suc­cess of the prod­uct in the broad­er mar­ket. By under­stand­ing how real con­sumers respond to the prod­uct in a semi-con­trolled set­ting, com­pa­nies can make informed deci­sions, adjust strate­gies accord­ing­ly, and increase the like­li­hood of a suc­cess­ful full-scale launch.

6. Experiments

Exper­i­ments can be used as a research method to test hypothe­ses and estab­lish cause-and-effect rela­tion­ships. This is done by manip­u­lat­ing one or more vari­ables while keep­ing oth­ers constant.

In the con­text of mar­ket research, exper­i­ments often involve com­par­ing dif­fer­ent mar­ket­ing strate­gies, prod­uct designs, pric­ing mod­els, or oth­er vari­ables to see how changes affect con­sumer behav­iour and out­comes. This method enables researchers to iso­late the effects of spe­cif­ic changes and deter­mine their impact on cus­tomer actions, pref­er­ences, or perceptions.

Exper­i­ments can be incred­i­bly valu­able for inform­ing and refin­ing mar­ket­ing strate­gies, offer­ing clear insights into:

• Test­ing dif­fer­ent prod­uct fea­tures or designs to see which ones are most appeal­ing to consumers.
• Exper­i­ment­ing with dif­fer­ent pric­ing lev­els or struc­tures to find the price point that max­imis­es sales vol­ume or profitability.
• Com­par­ing dif­fer­ent mar­ket­ing mes­sages, slo­gans, or imagery.
• Assess­ing the impact of dif­fer­ent mar­ket­ing chan­nels (e.g., email vs. social media) to allo­cate resources more effi­cient­ly and max­imise ROI.

Through exper­i­ments, busi­ness­es can be con­fi­dent that their deci­sions are sup­port­ed by sol­id data. Plus, exper­i­ments can be adapt­ed to under­stand a broad range of variables.

Types of secondary research

7. Competitor analysis

Com­peti­tor analy­sis is a strate­gic approach used in mar­ket research to assess the strengths and weak­ness­es of cur­rent and poten­tial com­peti­tors. This analy­sis pro­vides crit­i­cal infor­ma­tion about com­peti­tors’ strate­gies, mar­ket posi­tions, prod­uct offer­ings, pric­ing struc­tures, mar­ket­ing tac­tics, and more.

By under­stand­ing the com­pet­i­tive land­scape, busi­ness­es can iden­ti­fy oppor­tu­ni­ties for dif­fer­en­ti­a­tion and areas where they can cap­i­talise on com­peti­tors’ weak­ness­es or fill gaps in the market.

Busi­ness­es can gath­er a wealth of infor­ma­tion from pub­lic sources, includ­ing com­peti­tors’ web­sites, press releas­es, and annu­al reports. This data offers insights into prod­uct offer­ings, com­pa­ny strat­e­gy, finan­cial health, and mar­ket focus.

You may choose to mon­i­tor com­peti­tors’ social media accounts and online cus­tomer reviews as part of your analy­sis. This can offer insights into cus­tomer per­cep­tions, engage­ment strate­gies, and areas where com­peti­tors are strug­gling or excelling.

Plus, you may inte­grate some com­peti­tor analy­sis into your inter­views or focus groups to ask cus­tomers about their expe­ri­ences with com­peti­tors’ prod­ucts or ser­vices. This can pro­vide direct insights into strengths and weak­ness­es from the con­sumer’s perspective.

These research meth­ods can ben­e­fit your mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy in sev­er­al ways:

• It can reveal gaps in the mar­ket that com­peti­tors are not effec­tive­ly addressing.
• Busi­ness­es can bench­mark their per­for­mance and iden­ti­fy areas for improve­ment in prod­uct qual­i­ty, cus­tomer ser­vice, or oper­a­tional efficiency.
• Busi­ness­es can devel­op their unique sell­ing propo­si­tions (USPs) and mes­sag­ing to dif­fer­en­ti­ate them from competitors.
• Insights into com­peti­tors’ pric­ing mod­els can guide busi­ness­es in set­ting com­pet­i­tive prices.

Com­peti­tor analy­sis is a cor­ner­stone of strate­gic plan­ning, enabling busi­ness­es to nav­i­gate their fields clev­er­ly. It allows them to main­tain an advan­tage, cap­i­talise on new oppor­tu­ni­ties, and mit­i­gate against poten­tial threats.

8. Syndicated research

Syn­di­cat­ed research is a form of mar­ket research where data col­lec­tion and analy­sis are con­duct­ed by a third-par­ty firm, and the find­ings are then sold to mul­ti­ple organisations.

This type of research typ­i­cal­ly cov­ers broad top­ics of inter­est across an indus­try, such as mar­ket trends and con­sumer behav­iours. The reports offer valu­able insights with­out the need for indi­vid­ual com­pa­nies to con­duct their own cost­ly and time-con­sum­ing pri­ma­ry research.

If you’re inter­est­ed in this form of mar­ket research, know that you can buy it direct­ly from spe­cialised firms. Some mar­ket research firms will even offer a sub­scrip­tion ser­vice that gives you access to a whole library of reports.

In your mar­ket­ing strat­e­gy, syn­di­cat­ed research pro­vides many of the ben­e­fits already list­ed above – from insights into trends, con­sumer behav­iour, indus­try aver­ages, and mar­ket gaps. Above all, its main attrac­tion is its cost and time effi­cien­cy, as you don’t have to do the research yourself.

9. Trade journals and industry reports

Trade jour­nals and indus­try reports are pub­li­ca­tions that pro­vide spe­cialised infor­ma­tion tar­get­ing spe­cif­ic indus­tries, sec­tors, or pro­fes­sion­al fields. Trade jour­nals typ­i­cal­ly cov­er indus­try news and devel­op­ments, while indus­try reports offer in-depth analy­ses, mar­ket research find­ings, and forecasts.

These resources are invalu­able for mar­ket­ing strate­gies and busi­ness­es that want to stay informed about the lat­est indus­try devel­op­ments, tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ments, reg­u­la­to­ry changes, and mar­ket dynam­ics. Here are some of the ways you might access them:

• Sub­scrip­tions
• Pro­fes­sion­al asso­ci­a­tions and memberships
• Online data­bas­es
• Pub­lish­er websites

By lever­ag­ing the rich insights these pub­li­ca­tions offer, busi­ness­es can devel­op more informed and effec­tive mar­ket­ing strate­gies, ensur­ing they stay com­pet­i­tive and respon­sive to mar­ket demands and opportunities.

10. Public domain data

Released by var­i­ous gov­ern­ment depart­ments and archives in the pub­lic domain, this kind of sec­ondary data col­lec­tion can take the form of reports, sta­tis­tics, and datasets on a wide range of top­ics such as health, demo­graph­ics, eco­nom­ics, employ­ment, the envi­ron­ment, and more.

Busi­ness­es can also access data from inter­na­tion­al organ­i­sa­tions and non-prof­it enti­ties, as these are also freely avail­able to the pub­lic. If you want to try out this research type, you can access data from gov­ern­ment web­sites, data por­tals, and pub­li­ca­tion libraries, as well as research insti­tu­tions, uni­ver­si­ties, and pub­lic libraries.

This form of mar­ket research is attrac­tive for busi­ness­es who want to save on resources, as they don’t have to design their own sur­veys or tests and can access these datasets for free. In addi­tion, they are invalu­able for com­pa­nies want­i­ng to under­stand eco­nom­ic trends and gain insights into con­sumer behav­iour and soci­etal shifts.

The main appli­ca­tions for mar­ket­ing strate­gies include:

• Audi­ence seg­men­ta­tion accord­ing to age, income, geog­ra­phy etc.
• Iden­ti­fy­ing mar­ket oppor­tu­ni­ties or eco­nom­ic downturns.
• Loca­tion selec­tion for cam­paigns and targeting.
• Com­ply­ing with legal requirements.
• Inspir­ing prod­uct devel­op­ments to meet emerg­ing con­sumer needs.

Pub­lic domain data­bas­es are a cost-effec­tive trea­sure trove of infor­ma­tion that can be lever­aged to gain a com­pre­hen­sive under­stand­ing of the mar­ket land­scape, soci­etal trends, and eco­nom­ic con­di­tions. By incor­po­rat­ing this data into their mar­ket research efforts, busi­ness­es can make well-informed deci­sions that enhance their mar­ket­ing strate­gies, improve prod­uct offer­ings, and ulti­mate­ly dri­ve growth and competitiveness.

Final thoughts

While sec­ondary research meth­ods offer wide-rang­ing infor­ma­tion about mar­kets, indus­tries, and demo­graph­ics, pri­ma­ry research types enable busi­ness­es to get real­ly spe­cif­ic insights.

All kinds of mar­ket research meth­ods can be ben­e­fi­cial, but some will be more appro­pri­ate than oth­ers. For busi­ness­es with tight bud­gets, for exam­ple, pub­lic domain research is super cost-effec­tive. On the oth­er hand, exper­i­ments and focus groups are ide­al for brands that have the resources to coor­di­nate larg­er-scale efforts.

When your com­pa­ny wants to refine and improve its mar­ket­ing, con­sid­er how research could play a part. Learn­ing about con­sumer behav­iour, mar­ket trends, com­peti­tors, and more can help to craft cam­paigns that are more spe­cif­ic, per­son­alised, and engaging.