Market Research is such a broad subject, that people are often afraid to get into it, because they don't know where to start, or what they should be researching first.
Whereas in reality, those questions are actually the beginning of the process itself, and done well, will pay fabulous dividends.
Your brand is one of the most powerful tools within your entire business, yet often it goes unplanned. You don't entirely own your brand, it's shared with your customers or fans. Because your brand is the sum of how you are perceived, and what your customers think, may not marry precisely with what you intend.
To successfully grow your business, it is essential to gain a deep understanding of your customers, and their motivations for buying your products and services.
A lot of businesses talk about having a good NPS or wanting to improve their NPS. But what exactly is it; why should you care about it; and how do you go about measuring and improving it?
A key objective of most research is to get closer to your customers, or potential customers, to find out everything you can about them, in relation to your product or service.
Business Market Research, or B2B Research, as it is commonly known, is no different. Your customers just happen to be other businesses, individuals, or departments within those businesses rather than members of the general public, or consumers.
Although there is no one-size fits all definition, Market Research can reasonably be defined as the activity of gathering and analysing information (data) to answer questions about your business or organisation and its products or services. This process, and the insight from it allows you to get closer to your customers and make more informed decisions.
5 Things to Consider When Buying Primary Market Research
Market research is a very broad church, with as many definitions as there are cat hairs on my kitchen floor just now. However, a good general description for me is - market research helps answer questions about your business and/or its customers so you can make more informed decisions and reduce risk.
As we wait for additional clarifications and detail on exactly when and how our shops and services can re-open for business, now is the time to reflect on how you are going to re-connect with your customers.
What does Customer Experience look like now, and how will that evolve over the next few months?
There are a lot of research tracker studies going on at the moment, for sentiment analysis and consumer behaviour, looking at how we are reacting to the lockdown and other changes wrought by the coronavirus crisis.
But where are they all taking us? And what role can research play in finding the path ahead as we continue to navigate our way through the coronavirus crisis?
This week, guest writer Alessa Decker, examined the question of why fast-fashion brands are falling so hard, and whether Customer Experience is already more than actual interface experience. Are businesses missing the underlying needs of customers, and failing to deliver them across the broader experience landscape?
