Do you want to learn about best market research tools? Do you wish to know how to do market research? If you are researchers, business analysts, marketers, entrepreneurs or anyone else interested in this subject, this post will provide you with the information that you need. This blog contains ideas for how to utilize various tools, including surveys, focus groups, and data gathering.
From the first time you buy a product to the first time your company brings out a new product, there is research behind all of it. There are many different types of market research tools and techniques, and on this website we will help you find them
Surveys
Surveys are a commonly used market-research tool used to collect information, ideas and opinions from consumers. They can be distributed in person, by mail or online. When completed in person, respondents generally do not include their names on surveys to preserve anonymity. Surveys questions have a variety of formats, from short answer and multiple choice to true or false. Oftentimes, companies offer incentives like coupons, free products or gift certificates to respondents.
One-on-one Interviews
One-on-one interviews can be held over the phone or through web video conferencing software. A company representative speaks with a customer to get honest feedback about everything from product pricing to product design. One-on-one interviews are an effective research tool for companies looking to get opinions on sensitive topics that respondents may not feel comfortable discussing in a group setting.
Focus Groups
Companies use focus groups to help determine the most effective marketing messages to send to potential customers, select flavors for products, develop pricing, select packaging and even to assist with naming products and services. Focus groups are also formed after a product is released to get feedback from a group of individuals who represent the target market. Focus groups are similar to one-on-one interviews, except that they typically include a group of 6 to 10 people. Participants are asked a series of questions by a facilitator who moderates the discussion. The information gathered during focus groups is given to key decision makers in a report format and used to help companies solve problems.
Blogs and Social Networks
Blogs and social networks give consumers an opportunity to express their opinions without a survey or interview. Customers are more willing to share their true feelings about brands, products and ideas through these networks, so it’s important that businesses use these sites as a tool for market research. Company blogs provide consumers with a way to provide businesses with immediate feedback on the information they post by leaving comments or replying to polls.
Companies can use services such as Technorati and Google Alerts to find out when customers are talking about their brands and what they’re saying. Social networks like Twitter offer search features that also allow companies to browse for customers or potential customers that mention their products.
SurveyMonkey
Best for Creating In-Depth Online Surveys
If you’re worried about whether your customers are satisfied with your offerings, then SurveyMonkey can be your best friend. It’s a powerful software that lets you create quick surveys to gauge your target market’s response.
Using this tool, you can easily create advanced surveys, run online opinion polls, and conduct detailed marketing research. It even provides you with many pre-built survey templates and nifty features that help speed up the entire process.
The platform is extremely user-friendly and supports advanced survey logic, and all its questions are framed to eliminate any form of customer bias. Despite offering so much in terms of features, the software leaves a lot of room for customization of surveys.
Features:
One of the best things about SurveyMonkey is that you can also create surveys from scratch despite the presence of pre-built templates. With over a dozen question types ranging from MCQs to rating scales and more, you’re sure to find what you need here.
The following is a list of the essential features that SurveyMonkey offers:
- Ability to create quick surveys
- Fully optimized for mobile users
- Over a dozen pre-built question types
- Easy integration with other software
- Advanced reporting features
- Over 200 customizable survey templates
- AI-powered questions selection
- Supports advanced logic functions
- Automatic scoring and gradation for quizzes
- Easy-to-use interface
Pricing:
As far as pricing is concerned, SurveyMonkey offers enough flexibility to customers. The Basic Plan is entirely free, and you can use it with reasonable limitations. In case you’re a professional or team leader looking to upgrade, you can always opt for one of the paid plans.
Here’s a list of the paid plans that SurveyMonkey has to offer:
- Standard Monthly Plan at $99/month
- Advantage Plan at $32/month
- Premier Plan at $99/month
- Team Advantage Plan at $39/user/month
- Team Premier Plan at $75/user/month
All plans are billed annually. In addition to the above plans, SurveyMonkey provides discounts for students and educators. They also offer Enterprise Plans at custom rates.
Pew Research Center
(Free)
Insightful, rigorous and transparent data. This is what you can expect from The Pew Research Center, a non-profit organization that conducts research and analysis across a diverse range of areas. These include:
- US politics and policy
- Public opinion polling
- Social and demographic trends
- News and media
- Science
- Religion
- Technology and the internet
- Hispanic interest
- Global interest
More specific topics of interest and research include:
- Social media
- Online privacy
- Broadband access
- IoT (the internet of things)
Growthbar
(Free Trial)
The quickest and easiest way to perform market research has to be GrowthBar. The tool allows you to do market research on the fly — instantly unlocking critical data points about your competitors or any website and the growth channels and keywords that are working for them. This data will help you identify what others in your space are doing as well as identify which marketing channels may work to grow your own business.
See the following data for any website:
- Domain Authority
- Organic Traffic
- Top Organic Keywords
- Top Paid Keywords
- Top Backlinks
- Suggested Keywords
- Keyword Search Volume
Take actionable next steps to compete with the market by creating content that ranks fast, utilizing their powerful Open AI technology. Enter any keyword and instantly get a content outline that tells you exactly what to write to optimize for SEO.
Living Facts
(Free)
Described as the Pew Research Center’s sister site, and created by The Pew Charitable Trusts, Living Facts has the simple strapline, ‘about Americans today—who we are and how we live. Our goal is to inform and inspire. That’s it.’
With clean, colorful design and infographics, and chock-full of statistics, educational quizzes and fascinating facts, Living Facts covers:
- Communities
- Democracy
- Demographics
- Faith
- Health
- Money
- Trends
- Work
Google Trends
Best for Keyword Research
Google Trends is a keyword research tool offered by Google that you can use to make your content more friendly for search engines. The tool offers SEOs and marketers deep insights into what audiences around the world are searching for.
The one thing that’s different about Google Trends as compared to other keyword research tools is that it shows you relative search volumes. Relative search volume results allow you to understand how a particular search term performs against other comparable terms.
Using Google Trends, you can get detailed insights into the most popular search topics. You can segment the results according to region, time, and even search network type. This is the ideal tool for checking out seasonal keyword trends.
Features:
You can use the tool to gauge spikes or dips in search volume that specific events have triggered, along with comparative keyword research. Such data can be used in a wide variety of marketing campaigns, from SEO and paid search to content marketing.
With Google Trends you get access to the following features:
- Comparative keyword research
- Coverage across multiple search networks and types, such as image search, YouTube search, and Google Shopping
- Data segmentation based on temporal and geographic parameters
- Allows you to recognize market trends and areas of high customer interest
- Easy competition analysis
Pricing:
Google Trends differs from other market research tools in that it’s completely free to use. You don’t have to purchase a subscription for using it to its full capacity. You can just visit the website and get started with your research without even logging in to Google.
Conclusion:
Many businesses use data and information from researchers to determine what products to create and sell and how best to sell those products. Market research is the key tool in this information-gathering process. Research is a critical part of any business, and knowing which market research tools to use is crucial. By learning the basics of market research for your business you’ll find yourself better equipped to tackle any research assignment that comes your way.