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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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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.

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.

• 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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How to do Market Research: a Step-by-Step Guide

14 min read

Looking for the best way to do market research? From framing your initial question to extracting valuable customer insights, we’ll walk you through the lean market research process step-by-step. You will learn effective techniques for collecting and analyzing data , with practical tips on applying your findings to benefit your SaaS. Get ready to empower your decisions with real-world market intelligence.

• Market research is vital for making informed business decisions, enabling companies to understand the market, target audience, and competitors, reducing risks, and optimizing marketing communications and product strategies .
• Effective market research requires clear and measurable objectives, guiding decision-making and ensuring relevance to the project’s needs, and should be accompanied by appropriate methods , including both primary and secondary research .
• Applying insights from market research to product development and marketing strategies can significantly enhance business growth. This allows businesses to tailor their offerings and engage more effectively with their target market.

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What is market research

Essentially, market research is the process of understanding one’s target audience’s needs and wants to validate a new product, feature, or service idea. It involves probing and extracting answers based on empirical evidence instead of relying on hunches or speculative judgment.

Why should you do market research?

Understanding your consumers’ behavior and needs well through methodical market research is vital for informed decision-making when it comes to your product roadmap. These choices can make or break your SaaS company. Without thorough market research, you’re navigating blindly, basing crucial judgments on antiquated notions of customer habits, imprecise economic gauges, or untested assumptions rather than solid competitive analysis.

The outcome? Sharper marketing messages, savvy product development strategies, and an intimate grasp of both prospective buyers and existing customers’ preferences and needs.

Identifying your market research goals

Before you do anything – you need to determine specific and actionable goals of your market research project. Setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) goals will help you stay on track, come up with better market research questions and achieve more reliable results faster.

For effective market research outcomes, your goals must be:

• Quantifiable .
• Attainable.
• Directly aligned with project requirements.

Having established unambiguous goals prior to delving into data analysis sets up a solid foundation ensuring pivotal questions, hypotheses, and indicators are systematically tackled during effective market research.

Market research methods

Now that you understand the role of well-defined research objectives, let’s examine the different types of market research and research techniques for realizing these goals. These methods are essentially your toolkit for extracting valuable insights and they fall into two broad categories: primary research and secondary research . Choosing between them depends on many factors such as your budget, time availability, and whether you’re looking for more exploratory research data or concrete answers.

Engaging in primary research is comparable to unearthing precious metals—it requires gathering new information straight from sources through several approaches including:

• Focus groups.

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. For a 360 view of your market trends, combine both techniques – exploratory primary research and secondary channels of inquiry.

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.

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 market 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.

The role of qualitative and quantitative data in market research

In market research, there are two main types of data: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data explores the reasons behind consumer actions, collecting non-numeric information to understand consumer behaviors and motivations. For more on gathering and analyzing qualitative data, see How to Analyse Qualitative Data . On the other hand, quantitative data uses numeric data to measure consumer preferences, behaviors, and market sizes. To learn more about handling this type of data, check out User Analytics .

A thorough market analysis usually combines both qualitative and quantitative data. This approach provides a full view of the market by merging detailed qualitative insights with concrete quantitative statistics. For more on combining these approaches, refer to Generative vs. Evaluative Research .

Gathering qualitative insights

Qualitative research involves direct engagement with customers, like having detailed discussions. It includes observational studies that capture genuine consumer reactions. This type of research provides deep insights into consumer perceptions, brand comparisons, consumer behavior, and feedback on specific product features.

Studies on customer satisfaction and loyalty reveal effective strategies for keeping customers and what keeps them loyal, such as loyalty programs and quality customer service. The strength of qualitative research lies in its ability to dig deeper than just numbers, reaching insights that quantitative data might miss. By using qualitative data to customize experiences, businesses can increase customer satisfaction, interaction , and loyalty, leading to greater business growth.

Analyzing quantitative data

Quantitative research provides precision and the ability to measure findings using structured data collection methods like polls and surveys. Product analytics tools such as Userpilot , Amplitude , Heap , and Mixpanel are highly effective for collecting and organizing quantifiable data. This type of data is crucial for identifying trends and insights, which can help businesses track important performance indicators such as conversion rates or customer lifetime value , supporting their growth strategies.

Quantitative research data is divided into two types: discrete data, which includes countable numbers, and continuous data, which consists of numbers that can have fractions or decimals. These are vital for revealing important demographic information.

Segmenting your target market

Market research plays a key role in segmenting your target audience into manageable segments.

These market segments are typically grouped by similar needs or attributes, and display similar responses in marketing research surveys and initiatives. The full market segmentation process is vital for comprehensively grasping and satisfying the requirements of your targeted consumer base.

Accumulating demographic information forms the basis for executing effective market segmentation strategies. Businesses prioritize obtaining user data such as:

• Job functions.
• Organizational scale.
• Customer demographics profiles.
• Lifestyle choices.
• Values systems.
• Product usage patterns.

This information can be collected in the initial sign-up flow (through a signup flow survey; see the Asana example below) or by conducting comprehensive market research surveys .

At its core, successful market segmentation enables businesses to communicate effectively in their target customers’ dialects while catering explicitly to their distinct demands.

Userpilot allows you to easily segment your users not only by demographic information, company size, plan, or role – but also by their in-app engagement ( behavioral segmentation ):

In summary, the techniques used to create detailed analyses, like conducting specialized surveys and carefully collecting relevant participant information, are crucial for identifying groups within a larger target population. These groups are defined by usage patterns and broad demographic and economic indicators, enabling companies to not only reach but also deeply connect with each niche market they aim to capture.

Creating buyer personas based on your market research

Creating buyer personas is a strategic process that helps businesses better understand and cater to their target customers. Here’s how you can systematically approach creating effective buyer personas:

• Gather Initial Data : Start by collecting basic demographic information such as age, gender, location, and education level. This can come from existing customer databases, market research, or industry reports.

• Segment the Audience : Based on the collected data, segment your audience into distinct groups. Each segment should represent a type of customer with similar characteristics and behaviors. This segmentation helps in personalizing marketing and sales strategies effectively.
• Build Detailed Personas : For each segment, create a detailed persona that includes not only demographic and behavioral traits but also psychographics like interests, values, and lifestyle. Each persona should tell the story of an ideal customer, making them relatable for your marketing team.
• Refine Over Time : Buyer personas are not static. As you gather more data and the market evolves, revisit and refine your personas to keep them relevant and accurate.
• Utilize Tools Like Userpilot : Tools such as Userpilot can enhance this process by providing analytics that reveal how users interact with your product. This can confirm hypotheses or uncover new insights about user preferences and behaviors, which can be integrated into existing personas to make them even more accurate.

By carefully crafting and continually updating buyer personas, businesses can achieve a deeper understanding of their customers. This enables them to tailor their offerings and communications effectively, thereby enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction.

Recruiting participants for primary research

Choosing the right participants for primary research is a crucial step in market research. It’s important to find individuals who can provide relevant and meaningful consumer feedback, on your product or service, as this feedback is key to developing accurate user personas.

Userpilot can be instrumental in this process. It collects data on how users interact with and use your products, helping you identify who might be the best candidates for more detailed studies, such as interviews.

To efficiently recruit participants for interviews, Userpilot’s in-app features, such as in-app modals with embedded surveys can be extremely useful. You can use these tools to engage directly with users who meet your specific criteria, right within your app.

This method not only simplifies the recruitment process but also ensures that you’re interacting with the most relevant users. By leveraging these features, you can gather deep insights that significantly enhance the development of your user personas, ensuring your research is both timely and informed.

Competitive analysis for strategic advantage

Competitive analysis helps businesses understand their rivals’ strategies. It involves identifying which industries or markets to target and listing key competitors to gain a clear view of the competitive environment. This includes evaluating competitors’ market share, strengths, weaknesses, and potential entry barriers, often using tools like SWOT analysis.

By understanding competitors’ operations and past marketing efforts, businesses can craft new strategies, pinpoint opportunities, and learn from competitors’ mistakes. Employing market research, brand perception surveys, and market statistics, alongside analytical frameworks like Porter’s Five Forces Model, helps businesses uncover new opportunities and maintain a competitive advantage.

Ultimately, competitive analysis uses the understanding of competition to fuel business growth.

Conducting effective market research surveys

Primary market research often uses surveys as a cost-effective way to gather data. These surveys reach wide audiences and provide quick feedback. It’s crucial to carefully plan the creation and distribution of these surveys to ensure they are effective. Given the high amount of web traffic from mobile devices, it’s particularly important to make surveys mobile-friendly.

To get the most comprehensive data, include both quantitative (closed-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) questions in your survey . Offering incentives like financial compensation or vouchers can encourage participation, but it’s important to manage these carefully to avoid biasing the responses.

Well-designed surveys are like direct interviews with your target audience and are key to obtaining valuable insights about their views and experiences.

Userpilot offers over 50 in-app survey templates along with a bespoke builder, which are important tools for collecting the right responses. These features allow you to tailor surveys precisely to your needs, ensuring you gather accurate and relevant data directly from your users. By leveraging these templates and customizing them with the bespoke builder, you can effectively engage your audience and enhance the quality of insights you receive. This setup is crucial for conducting efficient and effective market research.

Analyzing and interpreting market research data

Once you have collected data through surveys, market research data analysis is the next critical step. It involves identifying patterns, establishing connections, and extracting insights that inform business decisions.

Userpilot’s analytics suite offers deep and easily accessible insights into your market research data:

This process starts with preparing the data by cleaning and organizing it to ensure accuracy and ease of analysis. Depending on the study’s goals, various analytical methods can be used, from simple descriptive statistics to complex multivariate analyses, all chosen to provide meaningful insights.

The core of this analysis aims to uncover market trends and understand industry specifics, which can highlight key factors such as impactful customer experiences, profitable products or services, and effective marketing strategies. Communicating these findings effectively involves presenting them in clear reports and using visual aids while making practical recommendations and addressing any limitations in the research scope or methods. Ultimately, data analysis transforms raw data into compelling narratives that offer actionable business intelligence.

Applying market research to product or service development

Market research is much more than just collecting data and uncovering insights; it’s a vital tool for driving business growth and guiding product development at every stage. Here’s how market research supports business throughout the product lifecycle:

• Concept Creation : Helps identify market needs and opportunities to inform the initial product idea.
• Building a Business Case : Provides evidence and data to justify investment in the new product.
• Product Development : Offers insights into customer preferences and feedback for refining product features.
• Market Introduction : Aids in strategizing the launch, targeting the right audience, and setting the right price.
• Lifecycle Management : Continuously gathers data on customer usage and satisfaction to enhance the product over time.

Consider a B2B SaaS company that develops project management software. By engaging in targeted market research activities like surveys and doing focus group call groups among its business clients, the company can:

• Understand Business Needs : Gain insights into the specific project management challenges and needs of different industries.
• Refine Product Features : Discover which software features are most valued by businesses, such as integration capabilities, user-friendliness, or specific tools for collaboration.
• Tailor Marketing Strategies : Identify the most effective communication channels and messaging that resonate with business clients, such as emphasizing efficiency gains or return on investment.

Market research guides businesses from the initial idea through to launch and beyond, acting as a strategic tool that ensures all actions are aligned with market demands and customer needs , ultimately aiming for successful business outcomes.

Utilizing tools for efficient market research

Using tools like Userpilot, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, and Typeform, market researchers can reach a wide audience and get fast responses. These platforms help to design, distribute, and analyze surveys efficiently.

Userpilot stands out by allowing businesses to create targeted in-app experiences that engage users directly where they are most active—within the app itself. This direct engagement method improves the quality of the feedback collected as it relates to specific features or user experiences.

Userpilot also offers features such as demographic filtering and behavioral-based segmentation, which speeds up the process of finding and recruiting the right participants for market research.

These tools are essential for performing detailed and effective market research. They break down geographic and cultural barriers, offer access to diverse user groups, and enable businesses to conduct deep, actionable analyses across different market segments.

Translating research findings into business growth

Market research does more than just gather and analyze data; it aims to transform these insights into tangible business improvements. This process is crucial in guiding product development and helping increase a company’s market share by informing targeted strategies. For instance, a B2B SaaS company could use market research to:

• Tailor marketing strategies specifically for key user personas.
• Identify the most valued features for your users.
• Develop pricing strategies that appeal to companies of different sizes.
• Gain insight into the specific needs and expectations of their customers.

By implementing effective market research techniques, companies can customize their products or services to better serve their target audience’s needs, fundamental for stimulating company growth . Conducting personalized market research adds value, while collaborating with specialized firms may yield additional profound insights.

Market research is not just about collecting data; it’s about deeply understanding your customers, spotting opportunities, and making informed decisions that drive your business forward. It provides essential insights into the market and business environment, influencing how potential clients perceive your company.

By conducting competitor analysis and market research, organizations can:

• Connect with their target audience.
• Understand their competitive position.
• Plan strategically for future initiatives.
• Gain insights into customer perceptions of their brand, uncovering new perspectives or opportunities for improvement.

Since competitors also use market research to their advantage, engaging in these analytical processes is crucial for a comprehensive marketing strategy, aimed at business growth.

Start your own market research and journey today to pave the way to success.

Frequently asked questions

What is market research and why is it important.

Understanding their target market through collected information and insights, businesses can make informed decisions, diminish risks, and enhance marketing strategies with the aid of market research. This ensures that choices are based on reliable data, which is crucial for business success.

What is the difference between primary and secondary research?

To summarize, primary research entails the gathering of original data directly from the source, whereas secondary research utilizes previously compiled data sources to add perspective and reinforce conclusions derived from primary research.

How does market research guide product development?

By offering critical data on consumer habits and preferences, market research steers the enhancement of product features, thereby influencing decisions across all stages of a product’s life cycle and aiding in the evolution of product development.

What tools can be used for efficient market research?

Platforms such as Userpilot, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, and Typeform can be leveraged alongside technologies that are driven by data to simplify the process of crafting, disseminating, and examining online surveys which play a crucial role in conducting market research effectively.

How can market research translate into business growth?

By informing product development, marketing strategies, and identifying opportunities for growth through enlightened decision-making, market research results can propel business expansion.

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• Updated on July 7, 2020
• By Market Research Guy
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The Market Research Process: 6 Steps to Success

The market research process is a systematic methodology for informing business decisions.  The figure below breaks the process down into six steps:

Step 1. Define the Objective & Your “Problem”

Perhaps the most important step in the market research process is defining the goals of the project.  At the core of this is understanding the root question that needs to be informed by market research.  There is typically a key business problem (or opportunity) that needs to be acted upon, but there is a lack of information to make that decision comfortably; the job of a market researcher is to inform that decision with solid data.  Examples of  “business problems” might be “How should we price this new widget?” or “Which features should we prioritize?”

By understanding the business problem clearly, you’ll be able to keep your research focused and effective.  At this point in the process, well before any research has been conducted, I like to imagine what a “perfect” final research report would look like to help answer the business question(s).  You might even go as far as to mock up a fake report, with hypothetical data, and ask your audience: “If I produce a report that looks something like this, will you have the information you need to make an informed choice?”  If the answer is yes, now you just need to get the real data.  If the answer is no, keep working with your client/audience until the objective is clear, and be happy about the disappointment you’ve prevented and the time you’ve saved.

Step 2. Determine Your “Research Design”

Now that you know your research object, it is time to plan out the type of research that will best obtain the necessary data.  Think of the “research design” as your detailed plan of attack.  In this step you will first determine your market research method (will it be a survey, focus group, etc.?).  You will also think through specifics about how you will identify and choose your sample (who are we going after?  where will we find them?  how will we incentivize them?, etc.).  This is also the time to plan where you will conduct your research (telephone, in-person, mail, internet, etc.).  Once again, remember to keep the end goal in mind–what will your final report look like?  Based on that, you’ll be able to identify the types of data analysis you’ll be conducting (simple summaries, advanced regression analysis, etc.), which dictates the structure of questions you’ll be asking.

Your choice of research instrument will be based on the nature of the data you are trying to collect.  There are three classifications to consider:

Exploratory Research – This form of research is used when the topic is not well defined or understood, your hypothesis is not well defined, and your knowledge of a topic is vague.   Exploratory research will help you gain broad insights, narrow your focus, and learn the basics necessary to go deeper.  Common exploratory market research techniques include secondary research, focus groups and interviews.  Exploratory research is a qualitative form of research.

Descriptive Research – If your research objective calls for more detailed data on a specific topic, you’ll be conducting quantitative descriptive research .  The goal of this form of market research is to measure specific topics of interest, usually in a quantitative way.  Surveys are the most common research instrument for descriptive research.

Causal Research – The most specific type of research is causal research, which usually comes in the form of a field test or experiment.  In this case, you are trying to determine a causal relationship between variables.  For example, does the music I play in my restaurant increase dessert sales (i.e. is there a causal relationship between music and sales?).

Step 3. Design & Prepare Your “Research Instrument”

In this step of the market research process, it’s time to design your research tool.  If a survey is the most appropriate tool (as determined in step 2), you’ll begin by writing your questions and designing your questionnaire.  If a focus group is your instrument of choice, you’ll start preparing questions and materials for the moderator.  You get the idea.  This is the part of the process where you start executing your plan.

By the way, step 3.5 should be to test your survey instrument with a small group prior to broad deployment.  Take your sample data and get it into a spreadsheet; are there any issues with the data structure?  This will allow you to catch potential problems early, and there are always problems.

Step 4. Collect Your Data

This is the meat and potatoes of your project; the time when you are administering your survey, running your focus groups, conducting your interviews, implementing your field test, etc.  The answers, choices, and observations are all being collected and recorded, usually in spreadsheet form.  Each nugget of information is precious and will be part of the masterful conclusions you will soon draw.

Step 5. Analyze Your Data

Step 4 (data collection) has drawn to a close and you have heaps of raw data sitting in your lap.  If it’s on scraps of paper, you’ll probably need to get it in spreadsheet form for further analysis.  If it’s already in spreadsheet form, it’s time to make sure you’ve got it structured properly.  Once that’s all done, the fun begins.  Run summaries with the tools provided in your software package (typically Excel , SPSS , Minitab , etc.), build tables and graphs, segment your results by groups that make sense (i.e. age, gender, etc.), and look for the major trends in your data.  Start to formulate the story you will tell.

Step 6. Visualize Your Data and Communicate Results

You’ve spent hours pouring through your raw data, building useful summary tables, charts and graphs .  Now is the time to compile the most meaningful take-aways into a digestible report or presentation.  A great way to present the data is to start with the research objectives and business problem that were identified in step 1.  Restate those business questions, and then present your recommendations based on the data, to address those issues.

When it comes time to presenting your results, remember to present insights , answers and recommendations , not just charts and tables.  If you put a chart in the report, ask yourself “what does this mean and what are the implications?”  Adding this additional critical thinking to your final report will make your research more actionable and meaningful and will set you apart from other researchers.

While it is important to “answer the original question,” remember that market research is one input to a business decision (usually a strong input), but not the only factor.

Here’s an Example

So, that’s the market research process.  The figure below walks through an example of this process in action, starting with a business problem of “how should we price this new widget?”

Ok, if you think you understand this stuff here’s a brief quiz:

25 thoughts on “The Market Research Process: 6 Steps to Success”

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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 .

Free Market Research Kit

• SWOT Analysis Template
• Survey Template
• Focus Group Template

Download Free

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You're all set!

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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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Free Guide & Templates to Help Your Market Research

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The Marketing Research Process in 6 Steps

Learn about the six steps in the marketing research process so you can better understand your target consumer and your marketing strategy.

When launching into marketing strategy, it’s important to have a marketing research process so that one isn’t going into it unprepared. Your market research process may involve tracking the engagement with social media posts or questioning a focus group about their household spending habits. Whatever the path, companies have long embraced different types of research methods to gain consumer insight, help strengthen a brand, and achieve a competitive edge in the market.

These approaches are part of marketing research, a process that can reveal information about a company’s marketing efforts, such as which products have the highest potential for success or what advertising strategies will be the most impactful. Marketing research is a valuable tool in developing an effective marketing strategy. For example, conducting marketing research helps a business discover key information about its market standing and target customers. It also provides essential details about demographics and where to prioritize marketing investments. Yet, less than 40% of marketers use consumer research to influence their decisions. 

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What is marketing research? 

Marketing research is the process of collecting and analyzing data from consumers and competitors to help businesses explore who their target customer is and what they want from the brand. Good marketing research can also provide insight into how effective marketing efforts are, and explore potential areas for growth. Marketing research covers a business’s entire marketing plan—from creating brand awareness to securing brand loyalists.  

To conduct marketing research, businesses collect information from consumers to help identify a product’s target market and how best to reach it. They do this by gathering consumer feedback from product surveys, focus groups, social media tracking, phone interviews, and consumer observation. A company may also complete a competitor analysis to assess market share and check how it’s stacking up against the competition. 

The 6 steps in the marketing process

The market research process is designed to paint a thorough picture of a company’s marketing plan, helping to identify where the weaknesses and strengths exist. The first step in the marketing research process is defining the problem or the question your research is trying to answer, followed by developing a research plan to answer that question, collecting and analyzing the data, and then producing a report. 

1. Identify the opportunity

The first step is to define the problem you’re aiming to solve. Asking specific questions will help pinpoint the most pressing needs or reveal the biggest opportunities to reach your research objectives . Questions you might ask in this initial stage include:

• How many of our recent buyers are first-time customers? 
• How can we turn them into repeat customers?
• Why are sales lower than last quarter? 
• Are our prices too high?
• Why do customers put items in their shopping cart but don’t complete the purchase? 
• How can we make our checkout flow more efficient?

2. Develop a research plan

A marketing research plan can help a business outline how to find the ways to address the questions it seeks to answer or the problems it wishes to solve. How you plan and design this research depends on the budget available, the research method chosen to source data, and the scope of the project.

There are two main research methods you can use to collect your data: primary research and secondary research. Each pulls information from different sources to provide a clear snapshot of your marketing research plan. 

• Primary research. Primary research involves gathering original data through collection methods such as surveys or in-person interviews, then synthesizing that data into a report. Although potentially time-consuming and costly, it may be among the best ways to accurately collect answers to your questions.
• Secondary research. Secondary research data involves gathering and synthesizing information gleaned from other sources, such as research reports, websites, or government files. Most research plans start with secondary data since it’s usually less expensive and readily available. You can use the information you gleaned using secondary data to inform how you will approach your primary research. 

The scope and budget for the plan will likely influence the time it takes to complete the research. A smaller sample size, for example, may only need a few weeks, while a larger, complex research project may take months (and more money) to collect the necessary information.   

3. Collect the data

After identifying objectives, it’s important to start collecting information . There are several different data collection methods that you can use to source information.

• Surveys. Conducting a survey is an effective primary research method that can provide valuable feedback about business practices, marketing tactics, and product demand. Unbiased survey research can help capture the thoughts and feelings of a particular demographic. 
• A/B testing. This research methodology compares two or more versions of a variable— say, two layouts of the same website (version A and B)—to collect information to test which would result in better outcomes and consumer engagement. In this scenario, the goal may be to see which site attracts more direct traffic to increase the number of monthly visitors.
• Social media polling. Setting up a social media poll can be an effective and inexpensive way to collect user data. Polling current and potential customers gathers insight from  your target audience, which can impact how the company curates its products and user experiences. 
• Interviews. Face-to-face or phone interviews can help companies assess consumer expectations from a brand. During these interviews, participants may be asked questions like: How long have you been a customer? Or: Why did you choose this brand over the competitor?
• Focus groups. Focus groups gather a select group of people together based on demographics, buying history, or other factors to collect non-numerical (qualitative) data about a particular product or service . With focus groups, moderators can capture a variety of opinions and emotions via open-ended conversation or lines of questioning to capture the feelings potential (or current) customers have toward a product or service. 

4. Analyze your data

Analyzing data is a way to uncover trends or patterns within the company or in the marketplace that can impact a business’s market performance. Data analysis transforms raw metrics into digestible information to provide the answers to your initial research questions.

There are four main types of analysis you can use to evaluate data: 

• Descriptive analytics. Analysis tools that lay out data in charts and graphs, for example, so you can see the big picture are known as descriptive analytics. This type of analysis presents a snapshot of performance in numbers, such as unique users or page views. 
• Diagnostic analytics. Analysis tools that provide more than a general overview can help you find the “cause and effect” of a problem. For example, if the number of visitors to your website has decreased by 15% within the last six months, you’ll want to investigate why. Are too many pop-ups making it more difficult for users to navigate the site, or is the page load speed too slow and users are clicking out to another website? 
• Predictive analytics. Based on existing data, predictive analytics help companies establish predictive models to forecast future outcomes more accurately. For instance, if data points to a correlation between the start of the school year and increased clothing sales, your ecommerce company may need additional solutions to help take care of increased web traffic during this time of year. 
• Prescriptive analytics. This analytics tool combines descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive analytics methods to help companies optimize their best course of action. For example, if predictive analytics show clothing sales go up at the beginning of the school year, prescriptive analytics would assist in prescribing a solution—in this case, finding web hosting plans that upgrade site bandwidth to accommodate increased web traffic.

5. Present your results

Once you’ve done the research and analyzed the data, you can build a research report to present your key findings. You can present your report in a slideshow format, as an illustrated book, as a video, or in an interactive dashboard that allows users to look at the data in different ways. The emphasis should be to present the information in a way that is comprehensible and accessible. 

Marketing research reports contain, at minimum, key company-specific details like customer profiles, target audience buying habits, and market competitors, and address the questions your research sought to answer. Beyond that, reports typically present the findings from the research in a narrative format that incorporates visuals, like charts and graphs, alongside “real people” feedback. You’re not looking to present a stack of numbers—you want to establish a story about real people, how they behave, and their desires (as they pertain to the company or product). The report also needs to present the solutions to these problems—how the company should tailor its strategies to optimize its marketing and target its consumers better.

Other information to include in your report is how you arrived at these conclusions. Which research methods did you use? How long did it take? How big were your sample groups? Once the report is compiled, share these results with all necessary parties, like relevant stakeholders such as the marketing team, company managers, or other people this proposed shift in strategy might affect, like engineering. 

6. Incorporate your findings

Once you’ve presented your data, it’s time to develop actionable plans that put your findings into play, whether it’s developing brand-new strategies or improving existing ones. Some findings may result in big shifts to your marketing plans or small improvements that can help you optimize your company strategy overall. 

For instance, if your marketing report points to an issue with retaining a younger audience, you may need to redesign your entire social media campaign to accommodate a wider demographic. Or, you might only need a smaller shift, like offering extra promotions through social media accounts to entice current young customers to stay loyal. An ever-changing market means that your data won’t stay relevant forever, so turning your info into action can help you improve your business when it counts.

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Marketing Research FAQ

What is an example of marketing research, what are the 7 types of marketing research.

• Exploratory Research
• Descriptive Research
• Causal Research
• Survey Research
• Secondary Research
• Experimental Research
• Qualitative Research

What is the main idea of marketing research?

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The 6-Step Guide to Market Research Processes

Looking for a step-by-step guide to market research processes? Learn more about the marketing research process and methods to gather data—and make the most of it.

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Say what you will about McDonald’s, but one of the things most respected about their brand is the international menu concept.

From maple and bacon poutine in Canada and gazpacho in Spain to India’s McPaneer Royale, McDonald’s knows how to give the people what they want.

And how do they inject local appeal in a global brand? By gaining a deep understanding of the consumers in every target market they plan to enter.

If you’re thinking about doing consumer insights research, you should be familiar with market research processes. Let’s start with the basics. What is market research, and how is it different from marketing research?

What is market research?

People often confuse market research and marketing research. Aren’t they just different words for the same thing?

ESOMAR, the global research and data association, and the American Marketing Association would disagree. Here’s the gist:

Market research emphasizes the process of collecting consumer data , while marketing research refers to the product of that information and/or a function within an organization.

Essentially, you might be looking for a marketing researcher to conduct market research. Market research will help you answer questions about your customers, your competitors, or current and potential markets.

The 6-step marketing research process

Market research can seem like a mystery.

However, market research processes are quite systematic—well, in theory. In practice, the steps involve exploration, creativity, and abstraction.

Here are a few steps you can follow to make it a bit easier.

1. Identify the problem

Researchers are curious people. That’s why every research project starts with a question.

What is the part of your business you want to know more about? Identifying the problem is the most important step in market research processes. It’s going to determine every step you take in the future—of market research, anyway.

Not sure where to start? Here are a few tips:

Look for marketing challenges or opportunities. Maybe your brand awareness could use a boost. You've noticed declining customer loyalty, or you’re considering opportunities in emerging markets.

Frame it as a question. Why is customer loyalty decreasing? How can we enter the market for luxury hotels? What does our customer’s typical path to purchase look like?

Determine what type of problem you have. In market research, a problem can be ambiguous, clearly defined, or somewhere in the middle. Do you know the variables and factors influencing what you want to measure? This is important as it'll influence your overall research design, which is up next.

2. Design the research

There are three types of research designs. The design you choose will be informed by how well-defined your problem is.

If you don’t know much about the problem, you need:

Exploratory research: If you don’t know the major variables or factors at play, your research is ambiguous. Exploratory research can help you develop a hypothesis or ask a more precise question. If you have a vague idea about what’s important to solve the problem, you need:

Descriptive research: Descriptive research does what it says on the box— it describes a certain phenomenon or the characteristics of a population. It can build on exploratory research but doesn’t give insight into the how, when, or why. Descriptive research is useful for parsing out market segments and measuring performance. Consequently, you need a pretty good idea of what you’re measuring and how it'll be measured. If you want to know how cause and effect are linked, you need:

Causal research: Market researchers conduct causal research when they want to understand the relationships between two or more variables. Simply put, causal research helps you understand cause and effect.

3. Choose your sample and market research methods

Data is the essence of market research. At the end of these market research processes, data is analyzed, interpreted, and turned into information and actionable insights.

Data can be qualitative or quantitative . Qualitative data can take many forms, from descriptions to audio and video. Quantitative data is typically presented in values and figures.

When choosing your sample, you must select the population you want to study. A population is a group with some shared characteristics that you’re interested in gathering data from. It can be broad (Canadians) or narrow (independent gym owners in Chicago).

No matter how small or large your population, you’ll unlikely be able to work with everyone.

The key to choosing a good sample is that it is representative. That means the people you select to participate (the sample) should reflect the larger group you’re studying.

4. Get the data

There are two forms of data you can collect: primary and secondary data.

Primary data is gathered specifically for your project. Secondary data has already been collected, either internally or externally through government agencies, consulting or market research firms, websites, social networks, and so on.

Depending on your research design, you may want to check internally for secondary data. For example, let’s say you’re trying to understand the annual purchase cycle for your business. You'd gather sales and reports and company records—that's secondary data.

But of course, secondary data still needs to be prepared for analysis

There are two ways to collect primary data: directly or indirectly. Direct data collection is just that—you are speaking to your participants directly. That can be through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and so on. Indirect data collection typically means observation. Think in-store observation, shelf experiments, or website heatmaps.

5. Analyze the data

Data analysis is a process of looking for patterns in data and trying to understand why those patterns exist. Data can be analyzed quantitatively or qualitatively.

Quantitative data analysis is a process more complicated than can be described here. Unless you’re a math whiz, you’ll probably just use a data analysis software like SPSS or StatCrunch.

Qualitative data analysis typically involves coding—but not the computer programming kind, don’t you worry. This type of coding can be done by hand or using software such as NVivo. It involves looking for themes, concepts, and words that are repeated throughout the data.

6. Interpret and present the insights

Interpretation involves answering the question: What does the data tell me about what I wanted to know?

That’s where themes and patterns come in. You can describe trends and present them using figures or descriptions drawn from your participants.

Part of interpretation is using what you know about customers, businesses, or markets to provide recommendations for how to move forward. These data-driven suggestions should offer a solution to the initial problem. The results of the research can also bring to light a problem you weren’t even aware you had.

Overview of market research methods

Market researchers are able to draw on a large toolbox of market research methods. Typically, they fall into the qualitative or quantitative category because of the type of data they produce.

Focus groups

Best for: Exploratory research

Type of method: Qualitative

A market research technique that involves a group discussion about certain topics led by a moderator to uncover the thoughts and opinions of participants.

In-depth interviews

Best for: Descriptive research

An interview that's conducted with an individual aimed at getting deeper insights about attitudes, motivations, or experiences.

Ethnography

Best for: Descriptive research 

Also known as participant observation, it involves spending time with participants in their natural environment (as opposed to a lab setting). 

Observational

Carefully watch people to understand what they’re doing. It allows you to learn about consumer or employee behavior but not the motivation behind it.

Discourse analysis

Best for: Exploratory or descriptive research

This is a fancy way of saying “analyzing what people say.” Social listening is a form of discourse analysis. Examining customer reviews, help transcripts, social media comments, and more are all forms of discourse analysis.

Type of method: Quantitative

Surveys are the crux of market research. They involve collecting facts, figures, and opinions using a questionnaire. Surveys can also yield qualitative data if participants write out answers. Surveys may seem simple, but there are a lot of factors that can turn good intentions into bad data—be sure to read our tips on the right question types to ask . 

Structured observation

Observation research can also be quantitative if you are observing participants without direct involvement and assigning values to certain behaviors.

A/B testing

Also called split testing, this is a way to compare responses to a variation of a single variable to see which performs better. For example, presenting users with two versions of an ad to see which gets more clicks.

Best for: Causal research

Marketing experimentation typically involves manipulating a variable to see how it influences behavior. It can be conducted in a lab or in the field. 

Examples of market research

Time to put this into practice. Let’s look at market research examples of various types of research designs. 

Exploratory market research

Mobile phone company HTC wanted to understand how they could improve the user experience of their phones. This problem required exploratory research because there wasn’t a specific feature they wanted to test. They simply wanted to learn more from their customers.

With market research, they observed how participants interacted with their phones. They looked for challenges people had with everyday usage. After analyzing these pain points, they added new functions to their next model that made the phones easier to use.

Descriptive market research

Company ABC wants to understand how large the market for vegan cheese is in Canada. They have a somewhat defined research problem: What is the potential market share for vegan cheese?

In order to provide an answer, market researchers will have to describe various characteristics: who the customers are, why they buy vegan cheese, competitor market penetration, and potential opportunities.

This requires mixed-method research. The researchers might collect secondary data on the number of vegans in Canada or how much vegan cheese is sold in the country and through which companies. They may also conduct focus groups to understand what motivates people to buy vegan cheese.

Once complete, they'll be able to present statistics on vegans in Canada and estimate Company ABC’s potential market share.

Causal market research

Causal research requires keeping variables and conditions the same, save for the one you are testing. German marketing and sensory research company iSi is a company that runs both field and lab experiments.

They worked with a chocolate bar company to design an experiment that tested 12 different chocolate bar recipes.

The consumers sequentially tested the recipes and provided ratings (quantitative data) and descriptions (qualitative data) of each one. The result was that consumers were most satiated by “a firm, tough texture and a higher amount of caramel and peanuts.”

Discovering market research processes

One thing to remember is that market research is an iterative process. You can keep using what you learn to conduct better studies and evaluate the changing market conditions and the whims of consumers. 

Ready to tackle the market research process? Build a market research survey with Typeform—choose from one of our customizable templates to gather beautifully designed data.

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Market research: What it is, how to use it, + examples

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The marketing research process explained in 6 steps.

If you operate a business, you likely already realize that constant change is something you need to be prepared for. This applies to most aspects of your business, but none more so than marketing.

Market research is a crucial tool for businesses to choose the best marketing strategies, and provides a way to evaluate those decisions by collecting hard data . However, it can seem a bit overwhelming when you’re getting started.

Just as you wouldn’t go on holiday without a plan, you shouldn’t kick off your marketing strategy journey without having data and research to guide you. A market research plan is an integral part of making the right business decisions - it ensures you can solve any problems and that you don’t waste valuable time and effort.

Did you realize that many businesses that need to reduce their marketing budget cut out market research first? This is a mistake you want to avoid, especially if you’re launching a new service or moving into a new market.

The good news is that, if you have a process in place, marketing research doesn’t have to be overly expensive or time-consuming.

In this blog post we’ll share the important steps of the marketing research process. You can follow this guide to cut costs, improve data collection, and create the perfect market research project for your company.

Define and identify the issue

The very first step in market research is identifying a problem your business is currently facing. It also happens to be the most important part of the entire process.

Most of the time this will be a large business opportunity, or an obvious issue that needs to be acted on (or even a charitable cause you want to fight for). However, sometimes there might not be enough information available to make a decision you’re comfortable with.

• That’s where a market researcher comes in. A market researcher is someone who digs into a problem and finds data that makes it easier to come up with a solution. For example, the problem might turn out to be ‘too few people are making purchases after receiving your emails’, or ‘some features of your app aren’t being used as expected,’, or 'the fluctuations in the global cotton market are affecting profit margins.'

Once you have an explanation for the business problem , you can then focus your efforts on that specific issue for the most effective results. This is also a good time to let your imagination run wild and consider what the final research report will look like. How will it help you improve?

If the answers you expect to receive will solve the problem, then you can move forward with obtaining the data. But if you’re unsure, keep refining your objective until you hit the sweet spot.

Consider the right type of research design

At this point, you’ve defined the issue and you know what types of answers you want to have by the end of the process. Now you’re ready to progress further into the marketing research process.

It’s time to choose your data collection method . This will influence everything from your research questions to the demographic you concentrate on. It’s normal for this step of the process to feel a bit overwhelming, because of all the research tools and methods available.

Don’t worry. Each different method offers a unique way to meet your research objectives and start growing your business. A few options that might work include:

Conducting surveys

Conducting a market research survey is an effective way to better understanding your target audience and their needs. There are a few different types of surveys you can use to help improve your business.

Since this step is so integral to creating a product or service that addresses a real problem, you want to make sure it's an interactive form that incites objective and accurate responses. Play around with our ready-made market research survey template below.

market research survey

Interviewing clients and prospects.

Qualitative data like interviews offer great feedback. They let you speak with the people who are going to be most affected by any marketing that you do. By taking the time to listen to their unique opinions, you’ll be able to decide on the right path of action.

A great way to do this would be to hold a Zoom interview with a large group, run an online webinar , or hold one on one sessions that are more intimate. If you’re unsure who to talk to, use the research issue to help you decide who to interview and what to ask them.

For example, if you were looking to undertake a massive marketing research project, it would make sense to talk to any marketers in your team, as well as other key decision makers.

Running user tests

This can be done on your landing page or another webpage. It’s cost effective and can provide tons of useful takeaways and insights on how current and potential customers react to a new product, different branding, or unique messaging.

An A/B test will work well to give you data on user behaviour. It’ll give you primary data that shows you things a questionnaire won’t. Heat Mapping tools are also an excellent way to get results based on the data you’re collecting.

In some cases this will be a lot of work, involving massive amounts of data. That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it - even if someone has done similar research in the past. However, it’s a good idea to find out what results other companies have had. This can help tweak your data analysis strategy, so you can get the best results possible.

The three types of market research

Now is also the time to consider what kind of research is right for you based on the data you want to collect. There are three types of market research : causal, descriptive and exploratory.

• Causal - This research methodology is the most specific, and usually involves a field test or an experiment. This kind of research helps find a cause between two different things. For example, you might ask whether the placement of your call to action impacts how many sales you make.
• Descriptive - Do you need detailed information about a certain topic? If so, then descriptive research will be the right solution. This research helps measure topics of interest, usually in a quantitative manner. For example, you may use an online survey to gauge customer satisfaction.
• Exploratory - If your issue isn’t well understood or defined, you’ll need exploratory research. It helps narrow your focus, gain larger insights, and work through the basics before moving forward. Common exploratory market research techniques include interviews, secondary data and focus groups.

Prepare and create your research instrument

Now you have enough information to start designing a research tool. Maybe you want to create an online survey? In that case, it’s the time to start creating your questionnaire or selecting what kind kind of respondents you’re after.

product research survey

Feel like a focus group is a better option? Then you’ll have to come up with material for the moderator and prepare questions for the group interview. Think about the method you plan to use, and start getting things ready so you can progress.

But before you get off and running with your research, it’s good practice to test the tool using a small group first. This will give you additional insights into whether your choice of research fits well with the kind of results you’re after.

Once you have the sample data, place it in an Excel spreadsheet and look for anything that seems off. By doing this you can identify problems early, and guide your decision making before diving deeper into the market research process.

There are a few things to keep in mind when creating a research instrument, especially if it’s a survey. Follow the “rules” below for the best results:

• Make sure it’s simple for respondents to take part.
• Ensure each question is short and to the point.
• Offer instructions for each type of question you ask.
• Start with general questions and work towards specific queries.
• Ensure the questionnaire looks good and is easy to read.
• Pre-test it to check everything makes sense.

Start collecting relevant data

Most market research data you’ll be collecting will be numbers (quantitative) rather than observations (qualitative). However, doing both quantitative and qualitative research can be useful to get the most comprehensive results.

Sure, as a general rule quantitative data might be more practical, but combining the two gives you the best of both worlds. Then you can make sure your solution is flawless.

For example, if you’re considering new tiers of pricing for items on your website, an A/B test will give you sufficient data. But you could also interview customers to find out if a new pricing tier is something they would approve.

If your audience sample size is too small, or you don’t have enough customers to get useful data from an interview, an innovative technique is to use an influencer marketing campaign on social media for your market research.

Try to make sure that the data collected is unbiased and valid. Questions should be as neutral as possible, and incorporate both closed-ended and open-ended styles to get additional information. This can include yes or no questions, multiple-choice questions, and questions that customers can answer with contextual information.

Analyze the data and report the findings

Once you have all the information needed for your marketing research process, it’s time to analyze what that data means. While some data might immediately stand out, looking for trends is an important piece of the puzzle. Try to avoid looking for patterns based on your own assumptions - approach your research as objectively as possible.

It’s a good idea to create a research study summary explaining what process you used, the results you got, and what conclusions you came to. This can mean incorporating a written report outlining the steps that you plan to take based on the data you collected.

Even if this isn’t a formal requirement of your business, it’s a useful practice to ensure you review the results properly and can share which action should be taken and why.

Simply providing data and charts you gathered doesn’t create an action plan.

When you’re presenting your research, make sure to include answers, insights and any recommendations you have. Tables and charts can be included, but make sure there’s good reason for them to be there.

Take the time to add outcomes and suggestions on actions to take as a result of what you have learned. You could even create simple graphics with a free online tool. It makes your research feel more meaningful and makes the path to improvement much easier to visualize.

Take the research and move forward into action

The research is done. Now you can take some time to enjoy a well-deserved pat on the back. However, you’re not done working just yet. Once you have a solution to whatever issue you were dealing with, you have to take action to fix it.

Now is the time to start developing your marketing campaigns and strategies. Test each option and get started. And keep in mind that just because you’re done with this market research project, it doesn’t mean you won’t have to do more in the future.

As we mentioned earlier, the business world’s problems and trends change regularly. That’s why consistent research is so important. The data and insights you received in this phase of research will evolve as time goes on - it’s critical to constantly analyze data over time to continue improving.

The techniques at your disposal will evolve as you learn about the industry, your specific buyer personas, and your company as a whole. When you take all of these things into consideration, it should be clear why businesses should spend more money and time on market research, rather than cutting down when times get a little tough.

These six steps to building a successful marketing research process will set you on the right path to making the most of your business. Just remember that you can always dive deeper to improve your marketing campaigns.

Don’t be afraid to branch out and try new things as they become available. The most important thing is having a system that helps rather than hinders your company - so get out there and get started today.

Neal Schaffer is an authority on helping innovative businesses digitally transform their sales and marketing. Founder of the digital marketing consultancy PDCA Social, Neal also teaches at Rutgers Business School and the Irish Management Institute.

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• Market Research Company Blog

Explaining the Market Research Process [With Examples]

by Emily Rodgers

Posted at: 5/23/2023 12:30 PM

I n today's rapidly evolving business landscape, staying ahead of the competition requires more than just a great product or service. It demands a deep understanding of the market, consumer behavior, and emerging trends. 

This is where the market research process becomes invaluable. 

In this blog post, we will delve more into market research and explore its significance in driving business success.

We will also walk you through each step of the market research process, offering practical examples along the way to illustrate how market research can be applied to real-world scenarios.

What is Market Research?

Market research refers to the systematic process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data and information about a particular market, industry, or target audience. 

The purpose of conducting market research is to gain insights into consumer behavior, market trends, competitor analysis, and other primary objectives.

Although the overarching goal for many organizations is to make informed decisions with the valuable data and insights collected from their target audience. 

Market research involves various methods and techniques, such as:

Focus groups

• Qualitative recruiting
• Data analysis

The collected data is then analyzed and interpreted to identify patterns, trends, and customer preferences.

Watch the video below to dive deeper into common market research methodologies.

Why Do Companies Conduct Market Research?

Market research plays a crucial role in reducing risks, identifying opportunities, and ensuring business success by providing valuable information about the market and consumer behavior. 

As a result, it helps businesses stay competitive and responsive to changing market trends and customer needs. In fact, data-driven organizations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers.

The reasons companies and organizations conduct market research vary.

Although, based on our market research company’s experience working with B2B and B2C brands, the key objectives of market research often include:

Understanding a target audience

Market research helps businesses understand their customers, their needs, preferences, and behaviors. This information enables companies to tailor their products, services, and marketing channels to effectively meet customer demands.

Assessing market potential

By conducting a market analysis , businesses can evaluate the size, growth rate, and profitability of a particular market. This assessment helps in identifying new market opportunities and determining the feasibility of launching new products or entering new market segments.

For instance, Drive Research worked with a liquor store to understand what area of a community would be most beneficial to open a new branch. Read more about their story in the blog post, How to Choose the Right Liquor Store Location .

Analyzing the competition

Market research such as conducting a competitor analysis helps companies gain insights into their competitors, their strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and market positioning.

This knowledge enables businesses to develop effective competitive strategies and differentiate themselves in the market.

Evaluating marketing campaigns

Advertising testing with market research involves testing concepts before launching them into the world.

In doing so, brands can make necessary adjustments based on their audience’s feedback to increase the potential ROI of the marketing campaign.

In addition, market research helps in assessing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, advertisements, and promotional activities after they've been in the market for some time.

Making informed business decisions

Regardless of what type of market research an organization is conducting, or their reason for doing so, it all steps down to making data-driven decisions . 

The insights gained from market research assist businesses in making informed choices regarding product development, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and overall business planning.

What are the Types of Market Research?

There are many types of market research that are often used together to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the market. 

Although, market research can be broadly categorized into two main types: 

• Primary research: This type of research involves collecting data directly from original sources to address specific research objectives.
• Secondary research: This type of research involves using existing data and information that has been collected by others for purposes other than the current research.

Primary research provides specific and tailored insights, while secondary research offers broader industry trends, benchmarks, and historical data.

Let’s explore each type of market research in more detail.

1. Primary research

Primary research is conducted firsthand and is tailored to the specific needs of a particular study. Common methods used in primary research include:

Surveys involve gathering data through structured questionnaires, either online, over the phone, through email, or in person. They are often conducted with a sample of the target population or the entire population, depending on the research goals.

In-depth interviews (IDIs)

In-depth interviews or IDIs for short, involve one-on-one conversations with individuals or small groups to gather in-depth insights. Interviews can be structured (with predefined questions) or unstructured (allowing for open-ended discussions).

Observations

Observations or mobile ethnography involve systematically observing and recording consumer behavior in real-life settings. This method is often used in retail environments, user testing, or ethnographic studies.

Focus groups bring together a small group of individuals (typically 6-10) to discuss specific topics or concepts in a facilitated environment. It allows for interactive discussions and provides exploratory or qualitative insights.

They can be conducted in person at a focus group facility or remotely through online focus groups .

2. Secondary research

This type of research is more cost-effective and time-efficient. Common sources of secondary research include:

Market reports

Published reports by market research firms, industry associations, and government agencies provide comprehensive data and insights on various markets, industries, and consumer trends.

For example, here are the syndicated reports available on the Drive Research website:

• Grocery Shopping Consumer Segmentation Report
• Cannabis Consumer Report
• Voice of Influencer Report

Academic research

Academic journals, research papers, and dissertations can be valuable sources of information for specific industries or topics.

Publicly available data

Government databases, statistical publications, and public records provide a wealth of data, such as census data, economic indicators, and demographic information.

Internal company data

Companies can leverage their internal data, such as sales figures, customer feedback, and website analytics, to gain insights into their existing customer base and market performance.

What is the Market Research Process?

How market research is conducted will differ from firm to firm and provider to provider, regardless of whether it is a qualitative or quantitative study. However, it typically follows a systematic step-by-step process. 

The market research process follows a step-by-step best practice approach including these 6 steps:

• Kickoff meeting to discuss project objectives
• Designing the market research tool
• Testing and fieldwork
• Analysis and reporting
• Develop a strategy for the next steps
• Taking action with the data

Additionally, one of the first considerations you'll have for your business is whether or not to use an outside market research company to assist. 

The benefits of using an outside firm include expertise, time savings, honest and reliable feedback, and the ability to benchmark results against others.

Although it's important to choose a market research firm that matches your goals, works well with your team, and delivers on expectations.

If you decide to work with a market research firm, here are the steps of the market research process you can expect.

Step 1: Kickoff meeting to discuss project objectives

The kickoff meeting is the first step in the market research process once the proposal is squared away.

This can be handled internally with your team, on a conference call, or through an in-person meeting with your provider.

Here you will tackle the core objectives of the market research. This includes what you want to learn from the research, what you want to do with the results, and other expectations and action items anticipated from the market research.

Step 2: Designing the market research tool

As we discussed, there are different types of market research so this step will vary. However, it is a core stage in the market research process. 

This step involves the design of the survey, moderator's guide, interviewer guide, or other script.

The design is the setup of your instrument. It's crucial that lots of time and attention be spent on this step. If this is not done well it will have trickle effects on every step after.

Additionally, we recommend creating an outline first before building out a full draft.

The outline should reflect those core objectives from the kickoff. Once the structure and outline are agreed upon, it is easier to take the next steps with the full draft.

Step 3: Testing and fieldwork

Once the survey instrument is designed, you'll want to test it.

This could be a test interview with an employee, a mock focus group with colleagues, or sending a link out to a group of people to take the test survey.

Once you ensure everything is working correctly and you have no further edits, you are ready for fieldwork.

Fieldwork is the data collection phase of the market research process.

This is when all of the work is put in to acquire feedback and data points to analyze. This could mean conducting focus groups, conducting in-depth interviews (IDIs), conducting the UX, or running a survey.

Step 4: Analysis and reporting

Once fieldwork is closed, the next step is data quality cleaning . Here you'll want to make sure all of the data collected is of the highest quality.

With qualitative there isn't as much of a concern as the quantitative data.

With qualitative because you are so close to the participants, you know the feedback is honest and real. However, with surveys many cases are submitted that you might not have had a chance to review.

Here are some quick data quality-checking tips .

After the data is cleaned, it's time to create a topline or comprehensive market research report .

You'll want to ensure the report tells a story. This means taking all of the data and turning it into digestible tidbits and themes. This works well for an executive summary.

The market research firm would also provide benchmarks or context, recommendations, action items, an infographic, a customer persona, and an appendix with more detailed data.

But, if you are completing this in-house, your report should reflect this as well.

Step 5: Develop a strategy for the next steps

After you create your report, you'll want to schedule a debrief with your core team and possibly your management team.

Because no one is closer to the data than you or your market research firm, you'll want to supply the management team with your interpretations, assumptions, and takeaways.

These debrief meetings help an outsider take away the key points rather than forcing him or her to read the full report on their own.

A market research firm's report may be upwards of 100+ pages. Therefore, not everyone will have the time to read through it. It is important to walk them through the highlights.

Step 6: Taking action with the data

The final step is laying out action items and changes from the market research. It's one thing to do the research but another to then make changes with it.

Particularly if it was a customer survey or an employee survey, those respondents are expecting your business to take action with the results.

If it is any other type of study, changes, and improvements are suggested as well.

Market Research Examples

The market research process can be applied to many different scenarios. 

From identifying customer needs to evaluating the competition and assessing market potential, market research empowers companies to navigate the dynamic marketplace with confidence.

For instance, here are 4 different examples of how market research can be used in the real world:

1. Measuring customer satisfaction

A company in the telecommunications industry wants to understand customer satisfaction levels and identify areas for improvement. 

They work with a customer satisfaction survey company to distribute a questionnaire to their existing customer base. 

The survey collects feedback on aspects such as:

• Service quality
• Customer support
• Likelihood to recommend ( NPS )
• Overall experience

The survey data helps the company gain insights into customer preferences, pain points, and satisfaction drivers, allowing them to make informed decisions to enhance their offerings and retain more customers.

Recommended Reading: Conducting Customer Surveys [Ultimate Guide]

2. Evaluating the competition

A fashion retailer aims to gain a competitive edge in the market by understanding their competitors' strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. 

They work with a competitive assessment company to analyze competitor websites, product offerings, pricing, promotional activities, and customer reviews. 

This example of market research helps the retailer…

• Identify gaps in the market
• Differentiate their brand
• Refine pricing strategies
• Develop marketing campaigns that highlight their unique selling points

3. Improving new products

An electronics company is planning to introduce a new line of smartphones. 

Before investing in the development process, they conduct new product development market research to understand consumer preferences, needs, and trends. 

They work with a focus group company to host group interviews with their target audience, seeking feedback on features, design, pricing, and potential demand. 

These focus groups help guide the electronics company in developing a smartphone that aligns with customer expectations, ensuring a higher chance of success in the market.

4. Evaluating advertising and marketing campaigns

A software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup wants to optimize its marketing campaigns to attract more leads and increase conversions.

The startup follows the market research process to gain insights into its target audience, including their demographics, preferences, and buying behavior. 

Through campaign evaluation surveys and data analysis, they identify the most effective marketing channels, messaging strategies, and customer touchpoints. 

As a result, the SaaS team can tailor their marketing campaigns to resonate with their audience. This leads to improved engagement, higher conversions, and increased customer acquisition.

Final Thoughts

The market research process follows a step-by-step best practice approach. This starts with a proposal from a market research provider followed by a kickoff meeting, research instrument design, testing and fieldwork, analysis and reporting, and a final debrief.

Whether you're a business owner, a marketing professional, or simply someone curious about understanding market demand, this guide has now equipped you with the knowledge to unlock the power of market research.

If you are interested in working with a third-party company to execute the market research process, contact Drive Research today .

Contact Our Market Research Company

Drive Research is a full-service market research company specializing in various qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Our team helps clients execute the market research process from kickoff to reporting.

If you are interested in learning more about our market research services , contact us today.

• Message us on our website
• Email us at [email protected]
• Call us at 888-725-DATA
• Text us at 315-303-2040

Emily Rodgers

A SUNY Cortland graduate, Emily has taken her passion for social and content marketing to Drive Research as the Marketing Manager. She has earned certificates for both Google Analytics and Google AdWords.

Learn more about Emily, here .

Categories: Market Research Glossary

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Market Research Process: 6 Steps to Project Success

Market research is all about understanding your audience, but it also includes a deep dive into the broader market landscape, including trends affecting your industry and top competitors within your market. Market research is vital to bolstering marketing and sales efforts. But where do you begin?

What Is Market Research?

Market Research involves gathering data and information to help you identify your target audience, understand their wants and needs, and ultimately shape your messaging and offerings to fit the demands of your market.

The information you gather can include customer feedback about your current products, services, events, or other offerings; insights into your competitors; perception of your brand versus competitors; and more.

Once you’ve captured the right market research data, you can leverage it to make strategic decisions about your products or services, craft more targeted marketing and sales messaging, improve the customer experience, advance your company’s position within your market, and generally help guide business decisions within your company.

Benefits of Market Research

There are numerous benefits to implementing market research. With the right tactics, market research can:

• Help you identify your target audience and gain a deeper understanding of their needs
• Provide insights into current market trends and your top competitors
• Guide product development and identify new market opportunities
• Increase engagement, generate feedback, and build customer loyalty
• Improve marketing and sales channel tactics
• Help you identify business risks, challenges, and opportunities for growth
• Provide a framework for measuring KPIs and ROI
• Allow you to make data-driven, strategic decisions to grow your business

Marketing Research Process Examples

Market research is a critical step to help businesses make informed decisions about their products, services, and market positioning. No matter how large a company may be, there’s always room for improvement.

Take Apple, for instance. To understand why they were losing iPhone customers and Android sales were booming, Apple leveraged market research to determine why consumers decide to buy iPhones (or not).

Coca-Cola is another company that conducts market research to inform business decisions – sometimes to its own detriment. Based on a study in the 1980s, Coca-Cola decided they should completely alter the recipe for Coke and introduce “New Coke.” While the research seemed to support the decision, their market research strategy was flawed , leading to a pretty disastrous decline in sales.

Even the biggest and most competitive brands are looking for ways to grow their businesses, and sometimes, they get it wrong. To help ensure your market research is a success, follow the steps outlined below, and carefully consider how you’re building your study.

6 Steps of the Marketing Research Process

Ready to dive into market research? Follow this six-step process to help you get started, and check out these tips for creating a successful market research strategy.

1. Identify and Define the Problem

The market research process begins by identifying your research question or problem and defining your goals and objectives. Think of your research question as a SMART goal (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) to help you dig deep.

2. Develop Your Research Approach

In this step, you’ll develop a plan for designing your study and collecting and analyzing your data. This involves:

• Establishing a budget
• Formulating hypotheses
• Evaluating external factors like the economy or environment
• Choosing your data collection methods, including surveys , interviews, focus groups, etc.
• Identifying a sample size and sampling technique
• Determining your methods for analyzing the data

3. Collect the Data

Data can be collected using online surveys, phone interviews, focus groups, or in-person one-on-one interviews. Designing a survey or questionnaire is considered the most important step in any research survey process. 

Question design takes a lot of thought and time. We like to say, " If you put garbage in, you'll get garbage out. " This means that if the questions are bad, the data will be bad as well. During the survey research design, keep in mind the sampling methods and data analysis factors you intend to use.

Don't forget to test your survey before to ensure you're fielding the correct data.  Thankfully, with the help of an online survey tool , this step is relatively painless.

4. Analyze the Data

Once you’ve collected the pertinent data, it’s time for analysis. Here, you should be able to leverage any online survey tools you’ve used to collect data to help you analyze it quickly. Analyzing your data requires looking for trends, patterns, and insights that can help you answer your research question.

5. Interpret Your Results

The results you generate during data analysis should be viewed from the lens of your research question and applied to your business. Based on your findings, you can draw conclusions about future business decisions, from product development to pricing strategies and marketing campaigns.

At this stage, you’ll use all the rich data you’ve collected to create a go-forward market strategy that’s ready to be shown to your broader teams.

6. Present Your Findings and Take Action

The final step in the market research process is to outline your research process to establish credibility, report your survey research findings, and present your recommendations and call to action based on these findings.

Ready to get started with your market research? Start your study off right with tools to help you collect and analyze your data !

Hope Salvatori

Hope is a Senior Content Marketing Associate who has been with Cvent for more than two years. She has 8 years of experience producing content for corporations, small businesses, associations, nonprofits, and universities. As a content professional, she has created content for a wide range of industries, including meetings and events, government and defense, education, health, and more.

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10.2 Steps in the Marketing Research Process

Learning objective.

• Describe the basic steps in the marketing research process and the purpose of each step.

The basic steps used to conduct marketing research are shown in Figure 10.6 “Steps in the Marketing Research Process” . Next, we discuss each step.

Figure 10.6 Steps in the Marketing Research Process

Step 1: Define the Problem (or Opportunity)

There’s a saying in marketing research that a problem half defined is a problem half solved. Defining the “problem” of the research sounds simple, doesn’t it? Suppose your product is tutoring other students in a subject you’re a whiz at. You have been tutoring for a while, and people have begun to realize you’re darned good at it. Then, suddenly, your business drops off. Or it explodes, and you can’t cope with the number of students you’re being asked help. If the business has exploded, should you try to expand your services? Perhaps you should subcontract with some other “whiz” students. You would send them students to be tutored, and they would give you a cut of their pay for each student you referred to them.

Both of these scenarios would be a problem for you, wouldn’t they? They are problems insofar as they cause you headaches. But are they really the problem? Or are they the symptoms of something bigger? For example, maybe your business has dropped off because your school is experiencing financial trouble and has lowered the number of scholarships given to incoming freshmen. Consequently, there are fewer total students on campus who need your services. Conversely, if you’re swamped with people who want you to tutor them, perhaps your school awarded more scholarships than usual, so there are a greater number of students who need your services. Alternately, perhaps you ran an ad in your school’s college newspaper, and that led to the influx of students wanting you to tutor them.

Businesses are in the same boat you are as a tutor. They take a look at symptoms and try to drill down to the potential causes. If you approach a marketing research company with either scenario—either too much or too little business—the firm will seek more information from you such as the following:

• In what semester(s) did your tutoring revenues fall (or rise)?
• In what subject areas did your tutoring revenues fall (or rise)?
• In what sales channels did revenues fall (or rise): Were there fewer (or more) referrals from professors or other students? Did the ad you ran result in fewer (or more) referrals this month than in the past months?
• Among what demographic groups did your revenues fall (or rise)—women or men, people with certain majors, or first-year, second-, third-, or fourth-year students?

The key is to look at all potential causes so as to narrow the parameters of the study to the information you actually need to make a good decision about how to fix your business if revenues have dropped or whether or not to expand it if your revenues have exploded.

The next task for the researcher is to put into writing the research objective. The research objective is the goal(s) the research is supposed to accomplish. The marketing research objective for your tutoring business might read as follows:

To survey college professors who teach 100- and 200-level math courses to determine why the number of students referred for tutoring dropped in the second semester.

This is admittedly a simple example designed to help you understand the basic concept. If you take a marketing research course, you will learn that research objectives get a lot more complicated than this. The following is an example:

“To gather information from a sample representative of the U.S. population among those who are ‘very likely’ to purchase an automobile within the next 6 months, which assesses preferences (measured on a 1–5 scale ranging from ‘very likely to buy’ to ‘not likely at all to buy’) for the model diesel at three different price levels. Such data would serve as input into a forecasting model that would forecast unit sales, by geographic regions of the country, for each combination of the model’s different prices and fuel configurations (Burns & Bush, 2010).”

Now do you understand why defining the problem is complicated and half the battle? Many a marketing research effort is doomed from the start because the problem was improperly defined. Coke’s ill-fated decision to change the formula of Coca-Cola in 1985 is a case in point: Pepsi had been creeping up on Coke in terms of market share over the years as well as running a successful promotional campaign called the “Pepsi Challenge,” in which consumers were encouraged to do a blind taste test to see if they agreed that Pepsi was better. Coke spent four years researching “the problem.” Indeed, people seemed to like the taste of Pepsi better in blind taste tests. Thus, the formula for Coke was changed. But the outcry among the public was so great that the new formula didn’t last long—a matter of months—before the old formula was reinstated. Some marketing experts believe Coke incorrectly defined the problem as “How can we beat Pepsi in taste tests?” instead of “How can we gain market share against Pepsi?” (Burns & Bush, 2010)

New Coke Is It! 1985

(click to see video)

This video documents the Coca-Cola Company’s ill-fated launch of New Coke in 1985.

1985 Pepsi Commercial—“They Changed My Coke”

This video shows how Pepsi tried to capitalize on the blunder.

Step 2: Design the Research

The next step in the marketing research process is to do a research design. The research design is your “plan of attack.” It outlines what data you are going to gather and from whom, how and when you will collect the data, and how you will analyze it once it’s been obtained. Let’s look at the data you’re going to gather first.

There are two basic types of data you can gather. The first is primary data. Primary data is information you collect yourself, using hands-on tools such as interviews or surveys, specifically for the research project you’re conducting. Secondary data is data that has already been collected by someone else, or data you have already collected for another purpose. Collecting primary data is more time consuming, work intensive, and expensive than collecting secondary data. Consequently, you should always try to collect secondary data first to solve your research problem, if you can. A great deal of research on a wide variety of topics already exists. If this research contains the answer to your question, there is no need for you to replicate it. Why reinvent the wheel?

Sources of Secondary Data

Your company’s internal records are a source of secondary data. So are any data you collect as part of your marketing intelligence gathering efforts. You can also purchase syndicated research. Syndicated research is primary data that marketing research firms collect on a regular basis and sell to other companies. J.D. Power & Associates is a provider of syndicated research. The company conducts independent, unbiased surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality, and buyer behavior for various industries. The company is best known for its research in the automobile sector. One of the best-known sellers of syndicated research is the Nielsen Company, which produces the Nielsen ratings. The Nielsen ratings measure the size of television, radio, and newspaper audiences in various markets. You have probably read or heard about TV shows that get the highest (Nielsen) ratings. (Arbitron does the same thing for radio ratings.) Nielsen, along with its main competitor, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), also sells businesses scanner-based research . Scanner-based research is information collected by scanners at checkout stands in stores. Each week Nielsen and IRI collect information on the millions of purchases made at stores. The companies then compile the information and sell it to firms in various industries that subscribe to their services. The Nielsen Company has also recently teamed up with Facebook to collect marketing research information. Via Facebook, users will see surveys in some of the spaces in which they used to see online ads (Rappeport, Gelles, 2009).

By contrast, MarketResearch.com is an example of a marketing research aggregator. A marketing research aggregator is a marketing research company that doesn’t conduct its own research and sell it. Instead, it buys research reports from other marketing research companies and then sells the reports in their entirety or in pieces to other firms. Check out MarketResearch.com’s Web site. As you will see there are a huge number of studies in every category imaginable that you can buy for relatively small amounts of money.

Figure 10.7

Market research aggregators buy research reports from other marketing research companies and then resell them in part or in whole to other companies so they don’t have to gather primary data.

Source: http://www.marketresearch.com .

Your local library is a good place to gather free secondary data. It has searchable databases as well as handbooks, dictionaries, and books, some of which you can access online. Government agencies also collect and report information on demographics, economic and employment data, health information, and balance-of-trade statistics, among a lot of other information. The U.S. Census Bureau collects census data every ten years to gather information about who lives where. Basic demographic information about sex, age, race, and types of housing in which people live in each U.S. state, metropolitan area, and rural area is gathered so that population shifts can be tracked for various purposes, including determining the number of legislators each state should have in the U.S. House of Representatives. For the U.S. government, this is primary data. For marketing managers it is an important source of secondary data.

The Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan also conducts periodic surveys and publishes information about trends in the United States. One research study the center continually conducts is called the “Changing Lives of American Families” ( http://www.isr.umich.edu/home/news/research-update/2007-01.pdf ). This is important research data for marketing managers monitoring consumer trends in the marketplace. The World Bank and the United Nations are two international organizations that collect a great deal of information. Their Web sites contain many free research studies and data related to global markets. Table 10.1 “Examples of Primary Data Sources versus Secondary Data Sources” shows some examples of primary versus secondary data sources.

Table 10.1 Examples of Primary Data Sources versus Secondary Data Sources

Gauging the Quality of Secondary Data

When you are gathering secondary information, it’s always good to be a little skeptical of it. Sometimes studies are commissioned to produce the result a client wants to hear—or wants the public to hear. For example, throughout the twentieth century, numerous studies found that smoking was good for people’s health. The problem was the studies were commissioned by the tobacco industry. Web research can also pose certain hazards. There are many biased sites that try to fool people that they are providing good data. Often the data is favorable to the products they are trying to sell. Beware of product reviews as well. Unscrupulous sellers sometimes get online and create bogus ratings for products. See below for questions you can ask to help gauge the credibility of secondary information.

Gauging the Credibility of Secondary Data: Questions to Ask

• Who gathered this information?
• For what purpose?
• What does the person or organization that gathered the information have to gain by doing so?
• Was the information gathered and reported in a systematic manner?
• Is the source of the information accepted as an authority by other experts in the field?
• Does the article provide objective evidence to support the position presented?

Types of Research Design

Now let’s look specifically at the types of research designs that are utilized. By understanding different types of research designs, a researcher can solve a client’s problems more quickly and efficiently without jumping through more hoops than necessary. Research designs fall into one of the following three categories:

• Exploratory research design
• Descriptive research design
• Causal research design (experiments)

An exploratory research design is useful when you are initially investigating a problem but you haven’t defined it well enough to do an in-depth study of it. Perhaps via your regular market intelligence, you have spotted what appears to be a new opportunity in the marketplace. You would then do exploratory research to investigate it further and “get your feet wet,” as the saying goes. Exploratory research is less structured than other types of research, and secondary data is often utilized.

One form of exploratory research is qualitative research. Qualitative research is any form of research that includes gathering data that is not quantitative, and often involves exploring questions such as why as much as what or how much . Different forms, such as depth interviews and focus group interviews, are common in marketing research.

The depth interview —engaging in detailed, one-on-one, question-and-answer sessions with potential buyers—is an exploratory research technique. However, unlike surveys, the people being interviewed aren’t asked a series of standard questions. Instead the interviewer is armed with some general topics and asks questions that are open ended, meaning that they allow the interviewee to elaborate. “How did you feel about the product after you purchased it?” is an example of a question that might be asked. A depth interview also allows a researcher to ask logical follow-up questions such as “Can you tell me what you mean when you say you felt uncomfortable using the service?” or “Can you give me some examples?” to help dig further and shed additional light on the research problem. Depth interviews can be conducted in person or over the phone. The interviewer either takes notes or records the interview.

Focus groups and case studies are often utilized for exploratory research as well. A focus group is a group of potential buyers who are brought together to discuss a marketing research topic with one another. A moderator is used to focus the discussion, the sessions are recorded, and the main points of consensus are later summarized by the market researcher. Textbook publishers often gather groups of professors at educational conferences to participate in focus groups. However, focus groups can also be conducted on the telephone, in online chat rooms, or both, using meeting software like WebEx. The basic steps of conducting a focus group are outlined below.

The Basic Steps of Conducting a Focus Group

• Establish the objectives of the focus group. What is its purpose?
• Identify the people who will participate in the focus group. What makes them qualified to participate? How many of them will you need and what they will be paid?
• Obtain contact information for the participants and send out invitations (usually e-mails are most efficient).
• Develop a list of questions.
• Choose a facilitator.
• Choose a location in which to hold the focus group and the method by which it will be recorded.
• Conduct the focus group. If the focus group is not conducted electronically, include name tags for the participants, pens and notepads, any materials the participants need to see, and refreshments. Record participants’ responses.
• Summarize the notes from the focus group and write a report for management.

A case study looks at how another company solved the problem that’s being researched. Sometimes multiple cases, or companies, are used in a study. Case studies nonetheless have a mixed reputation. Some researchers believe it’s hard to generalize, or apply, the results of a case study to other companies. Nonetheless, collecting information about companies that encountered the same problems your firm is facing can give you a certain amount of insight about what direction you should take. In fact, one way to begin a research project is to carefully study a successful product or service.

Two other types of qualitative data used for exploratory research are ethnographies and projective techniques. In an ethnography , researchers interview, observe, and often videotape people while they work, live, shop, and play. The Walt Disney Company has recently begun using ethnographers to uncover the likes and dislikes of boys aged six to fourteen, a financially attractive market segment for Disney, but one in which the company has been losing market share. The ethnographers visit the homes of boys, observe the things they have in their rooms to get a sense of their hobbies, and accompany them and their mothers when they shop to see where they go, what the boys are interested in, and what they ultimately buy. (The children get seventy-five dollars out of the deal, incidentally.) (Barnes, 2009)

Projective techniques are used to reveal information research respondents might not reveal by being asked directly. Asking a person to complete sentences such as the following is one technique:

People who buy Coach handbags __________.

(Will he or she reply with “are cool,” “are affluent,” or “are pretentious,” for example?)

KFC’s grilled chicken is ______.

Or the person might be asked to finish a story that presents a certain scenario. Word associations are also used to discern people’s underlying attitudes toward goods and services. Using a word-association technique, a market researcher asks a person to say or write the first word that comes to his or her mind in response to another word. If the initial word is “fast food,” what word does the person associate it with or respond with? Is it “McDonald’s”? If many people reply that way, and you’re conducting research for Burger King, that could indicate Burger King has a problem. However, if the research is being conducted for Wendy’s, which recently began running an advertising campaign to the effect that Wendy’s offerings are “better than fast food,” it could indicate that the campaign is working.

Completing cartoons is yet another type of projective technique. It’s similar to finishing a sentence or story, only with the pictures. People are asked to look at a cartoon such as the one shown in Figure 10.8 “Example of a Cartoon-Completion Projective Technique” . One of the characters in the picture will have made a statement, and the person is asked to fill in the empty cartoon “bubble” with how they think the second character will respond.

Figure 10.8 Example of a Cartoon-Completion Projective Technique

In some cases, your research might end with exploratory research. Perhaps you have discovered your organization lacks the resources needed to produce the product. In other cases, you might decide you need more in-depth, quantitative research such as descriptive research or causal research, which are discussed next. Most marketing research professionals advise using both types of research, if it’s feasible. On the one hand, the qualitative-type research used in exploratory research is often considered too “lightweight.” Remember earlier in the chapter when we discussed telephone answering machines and the hit TV sitcom Seinfeld ? Both product ideas were initially rejected by focus groups. On the other hand, relying solely on quantitative information often results in market research that lacks ideas.

The Stone Wheel—What One Focus Group Said

Watch the video to see a funny spoof on the usefulness—or lack of usefulness—of focus groups.

Descriptive Research

Anything that can be observed and counted falls into the category of descriptive research design. A study using a descriptive research design involves gathering hard numbers, often via surveys, to describe or measure a phenomenon so as to answer the questions of who , what , where , when , and how . “On a scale of 1–5, how satisfied were you with your service?” is a question that illustrates the information a descriptive research design is supposed to capture.

Physiological measurements also fall into the category of descriptive design. Physiological measurements measure people’s involuntary physical responses to marketing stimuli, such as an advertisement. Elsewhere, we explained that researchers have gone so far as to scan the brains of consumers to see what they really think about products versus what they say about them. Eye tracking is another cutting-edge type of physiological measurement. It involves recording the movements of a person’s eyes when they look at some sort of stimulus, such as a banner ad or a Web page. The Walt Disney Company has a research facility in Austin, Texas, that it uses to take physical measurements of viewers when they see Disney programs and advertisements. The facility measures three types of responses: people’s heart rates, skin changes, and eye movements (eye tracking) (Spangler, 2009).

Figure 10.9

A woman shows off her headgear for an eye-tracking study. The gear’s not exactly a fashion statement but . . .

lawrencegs – Google Glass – CC BY 2.0.

A strictly descriptive research design instrument—a survey, for example—can tell you how satisfied your customers are. It can’t, however, tell you why. Nor can an eye-tracking study tell you why people’s eyes tend to dwell on certain types of banner ads—only that they do. To answer “why” questions an exploratory research design or causal research design is needed (Wagner, 2007).

Causal Research

Causal research design examines cause-and-effect relationships. Using a causal research design allows researchers to answer “what if” types of questions. In other words, if a firm changes X (say, a product’s price, design, placement, or advertising), what will happen to Y (say, sales or customer loyalty)? To conduct causal research, the researcher designs an experiment that “controls,” or holds constant, all of a product’s marketing elements except one (or using advanced techniques of research, a few elements can be studied at the same time). The one variable is changed, and the effect is then measured. Sometimes the experiments are conducted in a laboratory using a simulated setting designed to replicate the conditions buyers would experience. Or the experiments may be conducted in a virtual computer setting.

You might think setting up an experiment in a virtual world such as the online game Second Life would be a viable way to conduct controlled marketing research. Some companies have tried to use Second Life for this purpose, but the results have been somewhat mixed as to whether or not it is a good medium for marketing research. The German marketing research firm Komjuniti was one of the first “real-world” companies to set up an “island” in Second Life upon which it could conduct marketing research. However, with so many other attractive fantasy islands in which to play, the company found it difficult to get Second Life residents, or players, to voluntarily visit the island and stay long enough so meaningful research could be conducted. (Plus, the “residents,” or players, in Second Life have been known to protest corporations invading their world. When the German firm Komjuniti created an island in Second Life to conduct marketing research, the residents showed up waving signs and threatening to boycott the island.) (Wagner, 2007)

Why is being able to control the setting so important? Let’s say you are an American flag manufacturer and you are working with Walmart to conduct an experiment to see where in its stores American flags should be placed so as to increase their sales. Then the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occur. In the days afterward, sales skyrocketed—people bought flags no matter where they were displayed. Obviously, the terrorist attacks in the United States would have skewed the experiment’s data.

An experiment conducted in a natural setting such as a store is referred to as a field experiment . Companies sometimes do field experiments either because it is more convenient or because they want to see if buyers will behave the same way in the “real world” as in a laboratory or on a computer. The place the experiment is conducted or the demographic group of people the experiment is administered to is considered the test market . Before a large company rolls out a product to the entire marketplace, it will often place the offering in a test market to see how well it will be received. For example, to compete with MillerCoors’ sixty-four-calorie beer MGD 64, Anheuser-Busch recently began testing its Select 55 beer in certain cities around the country (McWilliams, 2009).

Figure 10.10

Select 55 beer: Coming soon to a test market near you? (If you’re on a diet, you have to hope so!)

Martine – Le champagne – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Many companies use experiments to test all of their marketing communications. For example, the online discount retailer O.co (formerly called Overstock.com) carefully tests all of its marketing offers and tracks the results of each one. One study the company conducted combined twenty-six different variables related to offers e-mailed to several thousand customers. The study resulted in a decision to send a group of e-mails to different segments. The company then tracked the results of the sales generated to see if they were in line with the earlier experiment it had conducted that led it to make the offer.

Step 3: Design the Data-Collection Forms

If the behavior of buyers is being formally observed, and a number of different researchers are conducting observations, the data obviously need to be recorded on a standardized data-collection form that’s either paper or electronic. Otherwise, the data collected will not be comparable. The items on the form could include a shopper’s sex; his or her approximate age; whether the person seemed hurried, moderately hurried, or unhurried; and whether or not he or she read the label on products, used coupons, and so forth.

The same is true when it comes to surveying people with questionnaires. Surveying people is one of the most commonly used techniques to collect quantitative data. Surveys are popular because they can be easily administered to large numbers of people fairly quickly. However, to produce the best results, the questionnaire for the survey needs to be carefully designed.

Questionnaire Design

Most questionnaires follow a similar format: They begin with an introduction describing what the study is for, followed by instructions for completing the questionnaire and, if necessary, returning it to the market researcher. The first few questions that appear on the questionnaire are usually basic, warm-up type of questions the respondent can readily answer, such as the respondent’s age, level of education, place of residence, and so forth. The warm-up questions are then followed by a logical progression of more detailed, in-depth questions that get to the heart of the question being researched. Lastly, the questionnaire wraps up with a statement that thanks the respondent for participating in the survey and information and explains when and how they will be paid for participating. To see some examples of questionnaires and how they are laid out, click on the following link: http://cas.uah.edu/wrenb/mkt343/Project/Sample%20Questionnaires.htm .

How the questions themselves are worded is extremely important. It’s human nature for respondents to want to provide the “correct” answers to the person administering the survey, so as to seem agreeable. Therefore, there is always a hazard that people will try to tell you what you want to hear on a survey. Consequently, care needs to be taken that the survey questions are written in an unbiased, neutral way. In other words, they shouldn’t lead a person taking the questionnaire to answer a question one way or another by virtue of the way you have worded it. The following is an example of a leading question.

Don’t you agree that teachers should be paid more ?

The questions also need to be clear and unambiguous. Consider the following question:

Which brand of toothpaste do you use ?

The question sounds clear enough, but is it really? What if the respondent recently switched brands? What if she uses Crest at home, but while away from home or traveling, she uses Colgate’s Wisp portable toothpaste-and-brush product? How will the respondent answer the question? Rewording the question as follows so it’s more specific will help make the question clearer:

Which brand of toothpaste have you used at home in the past six months? If you have used more than one brand, please list each of them 1 .

Sensitive questions have to be asked carefully. For example, asking a respondent, “Do you consider yourself a light, moderate, or heavy drinker?” can be tricky. Few people want to admit to being heavy drinkers. You can “soften” the question by including a range of answers, as the following example shows:

How many alcoholic beverages do you consume in a week ?

• __0–5 alcoholic beverages
• __5–10 alcoholic beverages
• __10–15 alcoholic beverages

Many people don’t like to answer questions about their income levels. Asking them to specify income ranges rather than divulge their actual incomes can help.

Other research question “don’ts” include using jargon and acronyms that could confuse people. “How often do you IM?” is an example. Also, don’t muddy the waters by asking two questions in the same question, something researchers refer to as a double-barreled question . “Do you think parents should spend more time with their children and/or their teachers?” is an example of a double-barreled question.

Open-ended questions , or questions that ask respondents to elaborate, can be included. However, they are harder to tabulate than closed-ended questions , or questions that limit a respondent’s answers. Multiple-choice and yes-and-no questions are examples of closed-ended questions.

Testing the Questionnaire

You have probably heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out.” If the questions are bad, the information gathered will be bad, too. One way to make sure you don’t end up with garbage is to test the questionnaire before sending it out to find out if there are any problems with it. Is there enough space for people to elaborate on open-ended questions? Is the font readable? To test the questionnaire, marketing research professionals first administer it to a number of respondents face to face. This gives the respondents the chance to ask the researcher about questions or instructions that are unclear or don’t make sense to them. The researcher then administers the questionnaire to a small subset of respondents in the actual way the survey is going to be disseminated, whether it’s delivered via phone, in person, by mail, or online.

Getting people to participate and complete questionnaires can be difficult. If the questionnaire is too long or hard to read, many people won’t complete it. So, by all means, eliminate any questions that aren’t necessary. Of course, including some sort of monetary incentive for completing the survey can increase the number of completed questionnaires a market researcher will receive.

Step 4: Specify the Sample

Once you have created your questionnaire or other marketing study, how do you figure out who should participate in it? Obviously, you can’t survey or observe all potential buyers in the marketplace. Instead, you must choose a sample. A sample is a subset of potential buyers that are representative of your entire target market, or population being studied. Sometimes market researchers refer to the population as the universe to reflect the fact that it includes the entire target market, whether it consists of a million people, a hundred thousand, a few hundred, or a dozen. “All unmarried people over the age of eighteen who purchased Dirt Devil steam cleaners in the United States during 2011” is an example of a population that has been defined.

Obviously, the population has to be defined correctly. Otherwise, you will be studying the wrong group of people. Not defining the population correctly can result in flawed research, or sampling error. A sampling error is any type of marketing research mistake that results because a sample was utilized. One criticism of Internet surveys is that the people who take these surveys don’t really represent the overall population. On average, Internet survey takers tend to be more educated and tech savvy. Consequently, if they solely constitute your population, even if you screen them for certain criteria, the data you collect could end up being skewed.

The next step is to put together the sampling frame , which is the list from which the sample is drawn. The sampling frame can be put together using a directory, customer list, or membership roster (Wrenn et. al., 2007). Keep in mind that the sampling frame won’t perfectly match the population. Some people will be included on the list who shouldn’t be. Other people who should be included will be inadvertently omitted. It’s no different than if you were to conduct a survey of, say, 25 percent of your friends, using friends’ names you have in your cell phone. Most of your friends’ names are likely to be programmed into your phone, but not all of them. As a result, a certain degree of sampling error always occurs.

There are two main categories of samples in terms of how they are drawn: probability samples and nonprobability samples. A probability sample is one in which each would-be participant has a known and equal chance of being selected. The chance is known because the total number of people in the sampling frame is known. For example, if every other person from the sampling frame were chosen, each person would have a 50 percent chance of being selected.

A nonprobability sample is any type of sample that’s not drawn in a systematic way. So the chances of each would-be participant being selected can’t be known. A convenience sample is one type of nonprobability sample. It is a sample a researcher draws because it’s readily available and convenient to do so. Surveying people on the street as they pass by is an example of a convenience sample. The question is, are these people representative of the target market?

For example, suppose a grocery store needed to quickly conduct some research on shoppers to get ready for an upcoming promotion. Now suppose that the researcher assigned to the project showed up between the hours of 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. on a weekday and surveyed as many shoppers as possible. The problem is that the shoppers wouldn’t be representative of the store’s entire target market. What about commuters who stop at the store before and after work? Their views wouldn’t be represented. Neither would people who work the night shift or shop at odd hours. As a result, there would be a lot of room for sampling error in this study. For this reason, studies that use nonprobability samples aren’t considered as accurate as studies that use probability samples. Nonprobability samples are more often used in exploratory research.

Lastly, the size of the sample has an effect on the amount of sampling error. Larger samples generally produce more accurate results. The larger your sample is, the more data you will have, which will give you a more complete picture of what you’re studying. However, the more people surveyed or studied, the more costly the research becomes.

Statistics can be used to determine a sample’s optimal size. If you take a marketing research or statistics class, you will learn more about how to determine the optimal size.

Of course, if you hire a marketing research company, much of this work will be taken care of for you. Many marketing research companies, like ResearchNow, maintain panels of prescreened people they draw upon for samples. In addition, the marketing research firm will be responsible for collecting the data or contracting with a company that specializes in data collection. Data collection is discussed next.

Step 5: Collect the Data

As we have explained, primary marketing research data can be gathered in a number of ways. Surveys, taking physical measurements, and observing people are just three of the ways we discussed. If you’re observing customers as part of gathering the data, keep in mind that if shoppers are aware of the fact, it can have an effect on their behavior. For example, if a customer shopping for feminine hygiene products in a supermarket aisle realizes she is being watched, she could become embarrassed and leave the aisle, which would adversely affect your data. To get around problems such as these, some companies set up cameras or two-way mirrors to observe customers. Organizations also hire mystery shoppers to work around the problem. A mystery shopper is someone who is paid to shop at a firm’s establishment or one of its competitors to observe the level of service, cleanliness of the facility, and so forth, and report his or her findings to the firm.

Make Extra Money as a Mystery Shopper

Watch the YouTube video to get an idea of how mystery shopping works.

Survey data can be collected in many different ways and combinations of ways. The following are the basic methods used:

• Face-to-face (can be computer aided)
• Telephone (can be computer aided or completely automated)
• Mail and hand delivery
• E-mail and the Web

A face-to-face survey is, of course, administered by a person. The surveys are conducted in public places such as in shopping malls, on the street, or in people’s homes if they have agreed to it. In years past, it was common for researchers in the United States to knock on people’s doors to gather survey data. However, randomly collected door-to-door interviews are less common today, partly because people are afraid of crime and are reluctant to give information to strangers (McDaniel & Gates, 1998).

Nonetheless, “beating the streets” is still a legitimate way questionnaire data is collected. When the U.S. Census Bureau collects data on the nation’s population, it hand delivers questionnaires to rural households that do not have street-name and house-number addresses. And Census Bureau workers personally survey the homeless to collect information about their numbers. Face-to-face surveys are also commonly used in third world countries to collect information from people who cannot read or lack phones and computers.

A plus of face-to-face surveys is that they allow researchers to ask lengthier, more complex questions because the people being surveyed can see and read the questionnaires. The same is true when a computer is utilized. For example, the researcher might ask the respondent to look at a list of ten retail stores and rank the stores from best to worst. The same question wouldn’t work so well over the telephone because the person couldn’t see the list. The question would have to be rewritten. Another drawback with telephone surveys is that even though federal and state “do not call” laws generally don’t prohibit companies from gathering survey information over the phone, people often screen such calls using answering machines and caller ID.

Probably the biggest drawback of both surveys conducted face-to-face and administered over the phone by a person is that they are labor intensive and therefore costly. Mailing out questionnaires is costly, too, and the response rates can be rather low. Think about why that might be so: if you receive a questionnaire in the mail, it is easy to throw it in the trash; it’s harder to tell a market researcher who approaches you on the street that you don’t want to be interviewed.

By contrast, gathering survey data collected by a computer, either over the telephone or on the Internet, can be very cost-effective and in some cases free. SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang are two Web sites that will allow you to create online questionnaires, e-mail them to up to one hundred people for free, and view the responses in real time as they come in. For larger surveys, you have to pay a subscription price of a few hundred dollars. But that still can be extremely cost-effective. The two Web sites also have a host of other features such as online-survey templates you can use to create your questionnaire, a way to set up automatic reminders sent to people who haven’t yet completed their surveys, and tools you can use to create graphics to put in your final research report. To see how easy it is to put together a survey in SurveyMonkey, click on the following link: http://help.surveymonkey.com/app/tutorials/detail/a_id/423 .

Like a face-to-face survey, an Internet survey can enable you to show buyers different visuals such as ads, pictures, and videos of products and their packaging. Web surveys are also fast, which is a major plus. Whereas face-to-face and mailed surveys often take weeks to collect, you can conduct a Web survey in a matter of days or even hours. And, of course, because the information is electronically gathered it can be automatically tabulated. You can also potentially reach a broader geographic group than you could if you had to personally interview people. The Zoomerang Web site allows you to create surveys in forty different languages.

Another plus for Web and computer surveys (and electronic phone surveys) is that there is less room for human error because the surveys are administered electronically. For instance, there’s no risk that the interviewer will ask a question wrong or use a tone of voice that could mislead the respondents. Respondents are also likely to feel more comfortable inputting the information into a computer if a question is sensitive than they would divulging the information to another person face-to-face or over the phone. Given all of these advantages, it’s not surprising that the Internet is quickly becoming the top way to collect primary data. However, like mail surveys, surveys sent to people over the Internet are easy to ignore.

Lastly, before the data collection process begins, the surveyors and observers need to be trained to look for the same things, ask questions the same way, and so forth. If they are using rankings or rating scales, they need to be “on the same page,” so to speak, as to what constitutes a high ranking or a low ranking. As an analogy, you have probably had some teachers grade your college papers harder than others. The goal of training is to avoid a wide disparity between how different observers and interviewers record the data.

Figure 10.11

Training people so they know what constitutes different ratings when they are collecting data will improve the quality of the information gathered in a marketing research study.

Ricardo Rodriquez – Satisfaction survey – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

For example, if an observation form asks the observers to describe whether a shopper’s behavior is hurried, moderately hurried, or unhurried, they should be given an idea of what defines each rating. Does it depend on how much time the person spends in the store or in the individual aisles? How fast they walk? In other words, the criteria and ratings need to be spelled out.

Collecting International Marketing Research Data

Gathering marketing research data in foreign countries poses special challenges. However, that doesn’t stop firms from doing so. Marketing research companies are located all across the globe, in fact. Eight of the ten largest marketing research companies in the world are headquartered in the United States. However, five of these eight firms earn more of their revenues abroad than they do in the United States. There’s a reason for this: many U.S. markets were saturated, or tapped out, long ago in terms of the amount that they can grow. Coke is an example. As you learned earlier in the book, most of the Coca-Cola Company’s revenues are earned in markets abroad. To be sure, the United States is still a huge market when it comes to the revenues marketing research firms generate by conducting research in the country: in terms of their spending, American consumers fuel the world’s economic engine. Still, emerging countries with growing middle classes, such as China, India, and Brazil, are hot new markets companies want to tap.

What kind of challenges do firms face when trying to conduct marketing research abroad? As we explained, face-to-face surveys are commonly used in third world countries to collect information from people who cannot read or lack phones and computers. However, face-to-face surveys are also common in Europe, despite the fact that phones and computers are readily available. In-home surveys are also common in parts of Europe. By contrast, in some countries, including many Asian countries, it’s considered taboo or rude to try to gather information from strangers either face-to-face or over the phone. In many Muslim countries, women are forbidden to talk to strangers.

And how do you figure out whom to research in foreign countries? That in itself is a problem. In the United States, researchers often ask if they can talk to the heads of households to conduct marketing research. But in countries in which domestic servants or employees are common, the heads of households aren’t necessarily the principal shoppers; their domestic employees are (Malhotra).

Translating surveys is also an issue. Have you ever watched the TV comedians Jay Leno and David Letterman make fun of the English translations found on ethnic menus and products? Research tools such as surveys can suffer from the same problem. Hiring someone who is bilingual to translate a survey into another language can be a disaster if the person isn’t a native speaker of the language to which the survey is being translated.

One way companies try to deal with translation problems is by using back translation. When back translation is used, a native speaker translates the survey into the foreign language and then translates it back again to the original language to determine if there were gaps in meaning—that is, if anything was lost in translation. And it’s not just the language that’s an issue. If the research involves any visual images, they, too, could be a point of confusion. Certain colors, shapes, and symbols can have negative connotations in other countries. For example, the color white represents purity in many Western cultures, but in China, it is the color of death and mourning (Zouhali-Worrall, 2008). Also, look back at the cartoon-completion exercise in Figure 10.8 “Example of a Cartoon-Completion Projective Technique” . What would women in Muslim countries who aren’t allowed to converse with male sellers think of it? Chances are, the cartoon wouldn’t provide you with the information you’re seeking if Muslim women in some countries were asked to complete it.

One way marketing research companies are dealing with the complexities of global research is by merging with or acquiring marketing research companies abroad. The Nielsen Company is the largest marketing research company in the world. The firm operates in more than a hundred countries and employs more than forty thousand people. Many of its expansions have been the result of acquisitions and mergers.

Step 6: Analyze the Data

Step 6 involves analyzing the data to ensure it’s as accurate as possible. If the research is collected by hand using a pen and pencil, it’s entered into a computer. Or respondents might have already entered the information directly into a computer. For example, when Toyota goes to an event such as a car show, the automaker’s marketing personnel ask would-be buyers to complete questionnaires directly on computers. Companies are also beginning to experiment with software that can be used to collect data using mobile phones.

Once all the data is collected, the researchers begin the data cleaning , which is the process of removing data that have accidentally been duplicated (entered twice into the computer) or correcting data that have obviously been recorded wrong. A program such as Microsoft Excel or a statistical program such as Predictive Analytics Software (PASW, which was formerly known as SPSS) is then used to tabulate, or calculate, the basic results of the research, such as the total number of participants and how collectively they answered various questions. The programs can also be used to calculate averages, such as the average age of respondents, their average satisfaction, and so forth. The same can done for percentages, and other values you learned about, or will learn about, in a statistics course, such as the standard deviation, mean, and median for each question.

The information generated by the programs can be used to draw conclusions, such as what all customers might like or not like about an offering based on what the sample group liked or did not like. The information can also be used to spot differences among groups of people. For example, the research might show that people in one area of the country like the product better than people in another area. Trends to predict what might happen in the future can also be spotted.

If there are any open-ended questions respondents have elaborated upon—for example, “Explain why you like the current brand you use better than any other brand”—the answers to each are pasted together, one on top of another, so researchers can compare and summarize the information. As we have explained, qualitative information such as this can give you a fuller picture of the results of the research.

Part of analyzing the data is to see if it seems sound. Does the way in which the research was conducted seem sound? Was the sample size large enough? Are the conclusions that become apparent from it reasonable?

The two most commonly used criteria used to test the soundness of a study are (1) validity and (2) reliability. A study is valid if it actually tested what it was designed to test. For example, did the experiment you ran in Second Life test what it was designed to test? Did it reflect what could really happen in the real world? If not, the research isn’t valid. If you were to repeat the study, and get the same results (or nearly the same results), the research is said to be reliable . If you get a drastically different result if you repeat the study, it’s not reliable. The data collected, or at least some it, can also be compared to, or reconciled with, similar data from other sources either gathered by your firm or by another organization to see if the information seems on target.

Stage 7: Write the Research Report and Present Its Findings

If you end up becoming a marketing professional and conducting a research study after you graduate, hopefully you will do a great job putting the study together. You will have defined the problem correctly, chosen the right sample, collected the data accurately, analyzed it, and your findings will be sound. At that point, you will be required to write the research report and perhaps present it to an audience of decision makers. You will do so via a written report and, in some cases, a slide or PowerPoint presentation based on your written report.

The six basic elements of a research report are as follows.

• Title Page . The title page explains what the report is about, when it was conducted and by whom, and who requested it.
• Table of Contents . The table of contents outlines the major parts of the report, as well as any graphs and charts, and the page numbers on which they can be found.
• Executive Summary . The executive summary summarizes all the details in the report in a very quick way. Many people who receive the report—both executives and nonexecutives—won’t have time to read the entire report. Instead, they will rely on the executive summary to quickly get an idea of the study’s results and what to do about those results.

Methodology and Limitations . The methodology section of the report explains the technical details of how the research was designed and conducted. The section explains, for example, how the data was collected and by whom, the size of the sample, how it was chosen, and whom or what it consisted of (e.g., the number of women versus men or children versus adults). It also includes information about the statistical techniques used to analyze the data.

Every study has errors—sampling errors, interviewer errors, and so forth. The methodology section should explain these details, so decision makers can consider their overall impact. The margin of error is the overall tendency of the study to be off kilter—that is, how far it could have gone wrong in either direction. Remember how newscasters present the presidential polls before an election? They always say, “This candidate is ahead 48 to 44 percent, plus or minus 2 percent.” That “plus or minus” is the margin of error. The larger the margin of error is, the less likely the results of the study are accurate. The margin of error needs to be included in the methodology section.

• Findings . The findings section is a longer, fleshed-out version of the executive summary that goes into more detail about the statistics uncovered by the research that bolster the study’s findings. If you have related research or secondary data on hand that back up the findings, it can be included to help show the study did what it was designed to do.
• Recommendations . The recommendations section should outline the course of action you think should be taken based on the findings of the research and the purpose of the project. For example, if you conducted a global market research study to identify new locations for stores, make a recommendation for the locations (Mersdorf, 2009).

As we have said, these are the basic sections of a marketing research report. However, additional sections can be added as needed. For example, you might need to add a section on the competition and each firm’s market share. If you’re trying to decide on different supply chain options, you will need to include a section on that topic.

As you write the research report, keep your audience in mind. Don’t use technical jargon decision makers and other people reading the report won’t understand. If technical terms must be used, explain them. Also, proofread the document to ferret out any grammatical errors and typos, and ask a couple of other people to proofread behind you to catch any mistakes you might have missed. If your research report is riddled with errors, its credibility will be undermined, even if the findings and recommendations you make are extremely accurate.

Many research reports are presented via PowerPoint. If you’re asked to create a slideshow presentation from the report, don’t try to include every detail in the report on the slides. The information will be too long and tedious for people attending the presentation to read through. And if they do go to the trouble of reading all the information, they probably won’t be listening to the speaker who is making the presentation.

Instead of including all the information from the study in the slides, boil each section of the report down to key points and add some “talking points” only the presenter will see. After or during the presentation, you can give the attendees the longer, paper version of the report so they can read the details at a convenient time, if they choose to.

Key Takeaway

Step 1 in the marketing research process is to define the problem. Businesses take a look at what they believe are symptoms and try to drill down to the potential causes so as to precisely define the problem. The next task for the researcher is to put into writing the research objective, or goal, the research is supposed to accomplish. Step 2 in the process is to design the research. The research design is the “plan of attack.” It outlines what data you are going to gather, from whom, how, and when, and how you’re going to analyze it once it has been obtained. Step 3 is to design the data-collection forms, which need to be standardized so the information gathered on each is comparable. Surveys are a popular way to gather data because they can be easily administered to large numbers of people fairly quickly. However, to produce the best results, survey questionnaires need to be carefully designed and pretested before they are used. Step 4 is drawing the sample, or a subset of potential buyers who are representative of your entire target market. If the sample is not correctly selected, the research will be flawed. Step 5 is to actually collect the data, whether it’s collected by a person face-to-face, over the phone, or with the help of computers or the Internet. The data-collection process is often different in foreign countries. Step 6 is to analyze the data collected for any obvious errors, tabulate the data, and then draw conclusions from it based on the results. The last step in the process, Step 7, is writing the research report and presenting the findings to decision makers.

Review Questions

• Explain why it’s important to carefully define the problem or opportunity a marketing research study is designed to investigate.
• Describe the different types of problems that can occur when marketing research professionals develop questions for surveys.
• How does a probability sample differ from a nonprobability sample?
• What makes a marketing research study valid? What makes a marketing research study reliable?
• What sections should be included in a marketing research report? What is each section designed to do?

1 “Questionnaire Design,” QuickMBA , http://www.quickmba.com/marketing/research/qdesign (accessed December 14, 2009).

Barnes, B., “Disney Expert Uses Science to Draw Boy Viewers,” New York Times , April 15, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/arts/television/14boys.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 (accessed December 14, 2009).

Burns A. and Ronald Bush, Marketing Research , 6th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010), 85.

Malhotra, N., Marketing Research: An Applied Approach , 6th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall), 764.

McDaniel, C. D. and Roger H. Gates, Marketing Research Essentials , 2nd ed. (Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing, 1998), 61.

McWilliams, J., “A-B Puts Super-Low-Calorie Beer in Ring with Miller,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch , August 16, 2009, http://www.stltoday.com/business/next-matchup-light-weights-a-b-puts-super-low-calorie/article_47511bfe-18ca-5979-bdb9-0526c97d4edf.html (accessed April 13, 2012).

Mersdorf, S., “How to Organize Your Next Survey Report,” Cvent , August 24, 2009, http://survey.cvent.com/blog/cvent-survey/0/0/how-to-organize-your-next-survey-report (accessed December 14, 2009).

Rappeport A. and David Gelles, “Facebook to Form Alliance with Nielsen,” Financial Times , September 23, 2009, 16.

Spangler, T., “Disney Lab Tracks Feelings,” Multichannel News 30, no. 30 (August 3, 2009): 26.

Wagner, J., “Marketing in Second Life Doesn’t Work…Here Is Why!” GigaOM , April 4, 2007, http://gigaom.com/2007/04/04/3-reasons-why-marketing-in-second-life-doesnt-work (accessed December 14, 2009).

Wrenn, B., Robert E. Stevens, and David L. Loudon, Marketing Research: Text and Cases , 2nd ed. (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 2007), 180.

Zouhali-Worrall, M., “Found in Translation: Avoiding Multilingual Gaffes,” CNNMoney.com , July 14, 2008, http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/07/smallbusiness/language_translation.fsb/index.htm (accessed December 14, 2009).

Principles of Marketing Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Do Market Research: A Definitive Guide

Article Snapshot

Section 1: introduction to market research.

Before we dive into the intricacies of market research, let's first establish a solid understanding of what it entails. Market research is the systematic process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data about a target market or industry. It involves gathering information about potential customers, their needs and preferences, as well as assessing the overall market landscape and identifying opportunities for growth.

Market research plays a vital role in shaping business strategies and decision-making processes. It helps businesses identify market trends, evaluate product or service viability, understand customer behavior, and develop effective marketing campaigns. By leveraging market research, companies can minimize risks, optimize resources, and increase their chances of success.

Section 2: Preparing for Market Research

Before embarking on any market research endeavor, it is crucial to establish clear objectives and determine the appropriate research methodology. In this section, we will guide you through the essential steps of preparing for market research.

Defining Research Objectives

The first step in any market research project is to define clear research objectives. These objectives should align with your business goals and provide a framework for your research efforts. Whether you aim to understand customer satisfaction, evaluate market potential for a new product, or analyze competitor strategies, defining specific and measurable objectives is essential to ensure the research is focused and effective.

Choosing the Right Research Methodology

Once you have defined your research objectives, the next step is to select the most appropriate research methodology. There are various methodologies available, each with its strengths and limitations. Qualitative research methods, such as interviews and focus groups, allow for in-depth exploration of customer opinions and perceptions. On the other hand, quantitative research methods, like surveys and data analysis, provide statistical insights and numerical data.

Creating a Research Plan

To ensure the success of your market research endeavor, it is essential to develop a comprehensive research plan. A research plan outlines the steps, timeline, budget, and resources required for your market research project. By creating a well-structured plan, you can effectively manage your research activities, allocate resources efficiently, and stay on track to achieve your research objectives.

Section 3: Conducting Primary Market Research

Primary market research involves collecting firsthand data directly from your target audience. This section will explore various primary research methods and provide insights into how to conduct effective primary market research.

Survey Research

Surveys are a popular and effective method for gathering primary research data. They allow businesses to collect a large volume of data from a diverse audience. Designing effective survey questions, selecting appropriate survey administration methods, and maximizing response rates are crucial elements to consider when conducting survey research.

Interviews and Focus Groups

Interviews and focus groups offer a more in-depth understanding of customer opinions and behaviors. By engaging directly with participants, businesses can explore complex topics and gain valuable insights. This section will cover techniques for conducting successful interviews and focus groups, as well as analyzing and interpreting the qualitative data obtained.

Observational Research

Observational research involves observing and analyzing consumer behavior in real-life situations. This method provides rich insights into consumer interactions, preferences, and decision-making processes. We will discuss different types of observational research and address ethical considerations associated with this methodology.

Section 4: Gathering and Analyzing Secondary Market Research

Secondary market research involves gathering existing data and information from various sources. This section will explore reliable sources for secondary research data, data collection methods, and techniques for analyzing and interpreting secondary research findings.

Sources of Secondary Research Data

Identifying reputable sources for secondary market research data is crucial for obtaining accurate and reliable information. We will explore a wide range of sources, including market research firms, industry reports, government publications, and online databases.

Data Collection and Analysis

Once you have gathered the secondary research data, the next step is to organize and analyze it effectively. This section will provide insights into various data collection methods and techniques for analyzing and interpreting secondary research findings. We will also discuss the utilization of data visualization tools to present data in a visually appealing and informative manner.

Section 5: Utilizing Market Research Findings

Market research findings hold immense value only when they are effectively utilized to drive business growth. In this section, we will explore how to interpret and apply research findings, communicate results, and continually monitor and evaluate market research efforts.

Interpreting and Applying Research Findings

Interpreting research findings accurately is vital to extract actionable insights. We will discuss techniques and strategies for interpreting research findings and applying them to make informed business decisions. Real-world case studies will be presented to illustrate the practical application of market research findings.

Communicating Research Results

Effectively communicating research results is essential for ensuring that the insights gained are understood and utilized by key stakeholders. This section will provide tips for creating visually appealing and informative research reports and delivering impactful presentations to stakeholders and decision-makers.

Monitoring and Evaluating Market Research

Market research is an ongoing process, and continuous monitoring and evaluation are crucial to stay abreast of market trends and changes. We will explore strategies for tracking market dynamics, monitoring the effectiveness of research efforts, and adjusting research strategies based on feedback and evolving market conditions.

Understanding the Importance of Market Research

Market research is an indispensable component of any successful business strategy. It provides crucial insights into customer behavior, market trends, and competitor analysis, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and gain a competitive edge. In this section, we will explore the significance of market research and its role in driving business success.

The Value of Market Research

Market research serves as a guiding light for businesses, helping them navigate the complex landscape of consumer demands and market dynamics. By conducting thorough research, businesses can gain a deep understanding of their target audience, identify unmet needs, and develop products or services that truly resonate with their customers.

One of the primary benefits of market research is its ability to minimize risk. By gathering data and insights before launching a new product or expanding into a new market, businesses can assess market potential, evaluate customer preferences, and anticipate potential challenges. This proactive approach reduces the likelihood of costly mistakes and increases the chances of success.

Moreover, market research plays a vital role in identifying and capitalizing on market opportunities. By staying attuned to market trends, businesses can spot emerging consumer needs, industry shifts, and technological advancements. Armed with this knowledge, they can adapt their strategies, develop innovative solutions, and stay ahead of the competition.

Market research also provides a solid foundation for effective marketing campaigns. By understanding the target audience's preferences, motivations, and pain points, businesses can tailor their messaging, positioning, and communication channels to effectively reach and engage their customers. This targeted approach not only increases customer acquisition but also enhances customer loyalty and brand advocacy.

The Risks of Neglecting Market Research

Failing to conduct market research can have dire consequences for businesses. Without a deep understanding of their target audience, businesses risk developing products or services that do not meet customer needs or preferences. This can lead to low customer satisfaction, decreased sales, and ultimately, business failure.

Additionally, neglecting market research can result in missed opportunities. In a rapidly evolving marketplace, failing to track consumer trends, competitor strategies, and industry shifts can leave businesses lagging behind. By the time they realize the need for change, it may be too late to catch up, leading to lost market share and diminished competitiveness.

Furthermore, without market research, businesses may struggle to effectively allocate their resources. They may invest in marketing campaigns that do not resonate with their target audience or allocate resources to markets with limited potential. This misalignment of resources can drain finances and hinder overall business growth.

The Role of Market Research in Decision-Making

Market research serves as a compass for decision-making, guiding businesses in making strategic choices based on data-driven insights. Whether it is launching a new product, entering a new market, or adjusting pricing strategies, market research provides the necessary information to make informed decisions.

By conducting market research, businesses can gain a comprehensive understanding of their target audience's preferences, needs, and behaviors. This knowledge allows them to develop products or services that align with customer expectations, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and increased sales.

Market research also empowers businesses to assess the competitive landscape. By studying competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning, businesses can identify gaps and opportunities for differentiation. This knowledge enables them to develop unique value propositions and competitive strategies that set them apart from their rivals.

Additionally, market research helps businesses evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. By measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyzing consumer responses, businesses can identify areas for improvement and refine their marketing strategies. This iterative approach ensures that marketing budgets are optimized and yields the highest return on investment (ROI).

In conclusion, market research is an invaluable tool for businesses aiming to thrive in a competitive marketplace. By understanding the importance of market research and leveraging its insights, businesses can make informed decisions, minimize risks, seize opportunities, and ultimately drive sustainable growth. Now that we have established the significance of market research, let's delve into the practical steps of preparing for and conducting market research.

Preparing for Market Research

Before diving into market research, it is crucial to lay a solid foundation by preparing for the research process. This section will explore the essential steps involved in preparing for market research, including defining research objectives, selecting the appropriate research methodology, and creating a comprehensive research plan.

Clearly defining research objectives is the cornerstone of any successful market research project. Research objectives serve as guiding principles that outline the specific goals and outcomes you hope to achieve through your research efforts. These objectives should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

When defining your research objectives, consider what you aim to accomplish. Are you seeking to understand customer preferences for a new product? Do you want to assess market potential for a specific geographic region? Defining clear and focused research objectives will help you stay on track and ensure that your research efforts yield actionable insights.

Once you have defined your research objectives, the next step is to select the most appropriate research methodology. Different research methodologies offer unique advantages and are suited for different research objectives.

Qualitative research methods, such as interviews and focus groups, provide in-depth insights into customer opinions, attitudes, and perceptions. These methods allow for rich, nuanced data collection and are particularly useful for exploring complex topics or understanding the underlying motivations and emotions driving consumer behavior.

Quantitative research methods, on the other hand, involve the collection and analysis of numerical data. Surveys and questionnaires are common quantitative research tools that allow for large-scale data collection. These methods are useful for measuring customer satisfaction, analyzing customer preferences, and identifying statistical relationships between variables.

It's important to choose a research methodology that aligns with your research objectives, budget, and time constraints. Consider the advantages and limitations of each methodology and select the one that will provide the most relevant and accurate data for your specific research needs.

A well-structured research plan is essential for conducting market research efficiently and effectively. A research plan serves as a roadmap that outlines the steps, timeline, budget, and resources required for your research project.

By creating a comprehensive research plan, you can ensure that your market research efforts are well-organized, efficient, and yield valuable insights. The plan will also serve as a reference point to track progress and make adjustments as needed throughout the research process.

Now that you understand the importance of preparing for market research, we will delve into the practicalities of conducting primary market research in the next section.

Conducting Primary Market Research

Survey research is one of the most commonly used methods for collecting primary research data. Surveys allow businesses to gather a large volume of data from a diverse audience efficiently. They can be conducted through various channels, including online surveys, phone interviews, or in-person questionnaires.

When designing a survey, it is important to carefully craft the survey questions to ensure they are clear, unbiased, and relevant to the research objectives. Use a combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. Open-ended questions provide respondents with the opportunity to express their opinions and provide detailed feedback, while closed-ended questions offer predefined response choices that can be easily analyzed.

To maximize response rates, it is essential to carefully consider the survey administration method. Online surveys are cost-effective and convenient, allowing respondents to complete the survey at their convenience. Phone interviews provide a personal touch and allow for follow-up questions, while in-person questionnaires enable businesses to interact directly with respondents. Choosing the appropriate survey administration method depends on factors such as target audience demographics, research objectives, and available resources.

Additionally, it is crucial to consider respondent fatigue and survey length. Long and tedious surveys can lead to decreased response rates and inaccuracies in responses. Keep the survey concise, focused, and engaging to ensure higher participation and reliable data.

Interviews and focus groups provide valuable qualitative insights into consumer opinions, preferences, and behaviors. These methods allow businesses to engage directly with participants and gain a deeper understanding of their thoughts and motivations.

Interviews can be conducted in-person, over the phone, or through video calls. They provide an opportunity to ask probing questions, delve into specific topics, and explore in-depth responses. The interviewer can adapt the questioning based on the participant's responses, allowing for a dynamic and personalized conversation.

Focus groups involve bringing together a small group of individuals to discuss a specific topic or product. This method allows participants to interact with one another, share their opinions, and generate insights through group discussions. Focus groups provide a unique perspective by capturing the collective thoughts and experiences of the participants.

To conduct successful interviews and focus groups, it is essential to carefully plan the session. Develop a discussion guide or interview script that includes a set of key questions or topics to cover. This will ensure consistency and enable comparability across interviews or focus groups. Actively listen to participants, encourage open and honest responses, and create a comfortable environment for sharing opinions.

Qualitative data obtained from interviews and focus groups require careful analysis. Use techniques such as thematic analysis or coding to identify recurring themes, patterns, and insights. These qualitative insights can provide valuable context and depth to complement quantitative data collected through surveys or other methods.

Observational research involves observing and analyzing consumer behavior in real-life settings. This method allows businesses to gain insights into consumer interactions, preferences, and decision-making processes. It can be particularly useful in retail environments, public spaces, or during product usage.

Participant observation involves immersing oneself in the context being studied and actively participating in the observed activities. This method allows researchers to gain firsthand experience and capture the nuances of behavior and interactions. Non-participant observation, on the other hand, involves observing from a distance without directly engaging with the participants. This method allows for more objective observations and avoids potential biases that may arise from researcher-participant interaction.

When conducting observational research, it is essential to consider ethical considerations and obtain necessary permissions, especially in public spaces or when observing sensitive behavior. Maintain confidentiality and anonymity of participants and ensure that the research does not infringe upon their privacy.

Observational research often involves recording observations through notes, photographs, or video recordings. These records serve as valuable data for analysis and interpretation. Analyze the collected data by identifying patterns, behaviors, and trends. Observational research findings can be used to supplement and validate other primary research methods, providing a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior.

As we have explored the various primary research methods, it is important to note that choosing the appropriate method depends on the research objectives, target audience, available resources, and the depth of insights required. By carefully selecting and conducting primary market research methods, businesses can uncover valuable insights about their target audience, preferences, and behaviors.

Gathering and Analyzing Secondary Market Research

While primary market research provides valuable firsthand data, secondary market research involves gathering existing data and information from various sources. This section will explore the sources of secondary research data and provide insights into data collection methods and techniques for analyzing and interpreting secondary research findings.

Secondary market research relies on existing data and information that has been collected by others. There are various sources from which businesses can gather secondary research data, including:

When gathering secondary research data, it is crucial to consider the reliability and credibility of the sources. Ensure that the data comes from reputable sources and is up-to-date. Cross-referencing information from multiple sources can help validate the accuracy and consistency of the data.

Once you have gathered the relevant secondary research data, the next step is to organize and analyze it effectively. The process of data collection and analysis involves several key steps:

Secondary research findings should be interpreted and used in conjunction with primary research data to gain a comprehensive understanding of the market landscape. Combining primary and secondary research data allows for triangulation, validation, and a more holistic analysis of the research objectives.

By effectively gathering and analyzing secondary research data, businesses can gain valuable insights into market trends, consumer behavior, and industry dynamics. These insights serve as a foundation for informed decision-making, strategy formulation, and staying ahead of the competition.

Utilizing Market Research Findings

Interpreting and analyzing research findings is a critical step in extracting actionable insights that can drive business decisions. Here are some key considerations when interpreting and applying research findings:

Remember that market research is an iterative process, and new insights may emerge as you delve deeper into the data. Continuously revisit and refine your interpretation of the research findings to ensure that you capture the most accurate and valuable insights.

Effectively communicating research results is crucial to ensure that the insights gained are understood and utilized by key stakeholders. Here are some tips for communicating research results:

Market research is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring and evaluation. Here are some key aspects to consider when monitoring and evaluating market research efforts:

By monitoring and evaluating market research efforts, you can ensure that the insights gained are effectively utilized and that your research strategies remain aligned with the evolving market landscape.

In conclusion, effectively utilizing market research findings is essential for driving business growth and staying ahead of the competition. By interpreting and applying research findings, communicating results effectively, and continuously monitoring and evaluating research efforts, businesses can make informed decisions, improve customer experiences, and seize market opportunities.

Conclusion: The Power of Market Research

Market research is a powerful tool that empowers businesses to make informed decisions, understand their target audience, and gain a competitive edge. Throughout this comprehensive guide, we have explored the various aspects of market research, from understanding its importance to conducting primary and secondary research, and utilizing research findings effectively. Now, let's recap the key points and emphasize the power of market research in driving business success.

Market research serves as a compass for businesses, guiding them through the complex landscape of consumer demands, market trends, and competitor analysis. By conducting thorough research, businesses can gain valuable insights into their target audience, identify market opportunities, and mitigate risks. Market research enables businesses to make informed decisions, optimize resources, and drive sustainable growth.

One of the primary benefits of market research is its ability to provide a deep understanding of customer preferences and needs. By gaining insights into customer behavior, businesses can develop products and services that truly resonate with their target audience, leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Market research also enables businesses to stay ahead of the competition. By monitoring market trends, tracking competitor activities, and assessing industry dynamics, businesses can identify emerging opportunities and adapt their strategies accordingly. This flexibility allows businesses to maintain a competitive edge and seize market opportunities before their competitors.

Furthermore, market research plays a vital role in effective marketing campaigns. By understanding consumer preferences, motivations, and pain points, businesses can tailor their messaging, positioning, and communication channels to reach and engage their target audience more effectively. This targeted approach increases customer acquisition, enhances brand perception, and drives business growth.

However, market research is not a one-time endeavor. It requires continuous monitoring and evaluation to stay attuned to evolving market trends, consumer preferences, and competitive dynamics. By monitoring key metrics, tracking market trends, and gathering ongoing customer feedback, businesses can refine their strategies, identify areas for improvement, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

In conclusion, market research is an indispensable tool for businesses aiming to thrive in a competitive marketplace. By understanding the importance of market research, preparing thoroughly, conducting primary and secondary research effectively, interpreting and applying research findings, and continuously monitoring and evaluating research efforts, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their target audience, make informed decisions, and drive business growth. Embrace the power of market research and unlock the endless opportunities it holds for your organization.

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• Step by Step Guide to the Market Research Process

Summary: The market research process requires decisions related to budget, target sample, development of data collection tools, fielding, analysis, and reporting. Here is a check list to make the process easier.

5 minutes to read. By author Michaela Mora on March 15, 2022 Topics: Business Strategy , Market Research

The market research process requires making decisions at many steps that can be overwhelming for non-researchers put in charge of research projects.

Consider these practical tips to conduct the following 6 steps during the implementation of a market research project.

Step 1. Define the Problem and Translate It into Research Objectives

• This is the most important step. It sets the direction of the whole market research process. Ask clients how they will use the research results, and what business decisions they will make based on the data. They should be specific. Get a consensus among key stakeholders on the main research objectives. Get them involved from the start.
• Avoid objective creep. Don’t try to research everything under the sky in a project. Focus on what’s needed for decision-making. Trying to cram many things into a project because of budget constraints is often a waste of money as data quality suffers.
• Discuss limitations early in the process. Set clear expectations of what the research will cover and what data it will provide.
• Do secondary research , and check if previous research has been conducted on the same issue to avoid effort duplication and waste of money. Interview key stakeholders to put the research objectives into a greater context.
• Exploratory primary research may be needed with your target market (customers /users, non-customers) to better define the information needs.
• DO NOT select a data collection method before establishing clear objectives and identifying the target population. Think objectives firsts, methods second. Not the other way around.
• How much are the key stakeholders willing to invest in the requested research? Get a number! If there is no commitment to a budget, you will be wasting your time (RFP) and your research vendor’s time (proposal). There is always a trade-off between research quality, deadline, and cost. Make your internal clients aware of that. There is a limit to “ better, faster, and cheaper ” in market research. Push it too hard and you will get fast cheap, crappy research.

Step 2. Formulate the Approach

• Based on the research objective think, which research methodology would be the best fit. Start with the broader categories: Secondary? Primary? Qualitative? Quantitative?
• Based on the decisions that will be made, determine what type of data is needed and expected.
• Example: Need to know how to price a new product before it goes to market? Conjoint Analysis may be a good fit. Check: Conjoint Analysis And Realism In Price Research
• Example: Need to pick the product name that elicits the highest purchase intent from a list of 30? Consider MaxDiff. Check: Making the Case for MaxDiff
• Example: Need to find new growth opportunities? Segmentation research can help to find segments with the highest potential. Check: Segmentation is Key to Success
• The analysis techniques selected will also influence the decision on sample size.
• Ideally, if budget permits do qualitative research before or after quantitative research
• Consider qualitative research for exploration before quantitative and deep-diving after quantitative research.
• Consider quantitative research if a go/no go decision will be made. DO NOT make these types of decisions based only on qualitative research

Step 3. Define The Research Design

Define the target population for the research.

• Who do you want to gather data from? Customers? Non-Customers? Category users? Be realistic. Given your budget, you may or may not be able to reach your target population.
• Sample definition helps decide on what data collection method we use. More than one method may be needed. To read more about mixed-mode  data collection check: Mixed Data Collection Modes – Round-Up
• Create clear screening criteria. Discuss them with key stakeholders. Make sure they align with the research objectives.
• Discuss the caveats and limitations of the sample definition and how they will affect the results and decision-making.
• Determine the sample size based on your tolerance for risk.  Check Sample Size Matter
• A large sample doesn’t guarantee representativeness. Check: Does A Large Sample Size Guarantee A Representative Sample?
• If you have access to a customer database with emails, use it for studies related to customer retention goals and new product development.
• For customer acquisition, efforts use samples of non-customers in the category.
• If the study is online get bids from multiple online panels.
• Don’t buy third-party email lists and blast them with survey invites. It is illegal (SPAM-CAN Act).
• If you are conducting qualitative research , small samples are expected given the exploration nature of this methodology category. Consider issues of sample size saturation . Depending on the overall research objectives, results from qualitative research may need validation via quantitative research.

 Select Data Collection Method (s)

• Objectives, sample plan, analytical plan, and cost have the highest influence on which methods we use. Be open to using hybrid approaches combining qualitative and quantitative data collection methods
• Discuss which methods are the best fit to research the target pop. Some target groups may be difficult to reach with the same method
• If you decide on mixed-mode surveys, be aware of potential measurement errors each mode introduces. Check: Understanding the Pros and Cons of Mixed-Mode Research
• Once the data collection methods are selected, determine if you can do it with internal resources or need a research vendor.
• If time, staff, or lack of tools are limitations, consider outsourcing the project to an external research vendor. For more on this check: When Do You Need A Market Research Vendor ?
• If you are doing surveys, put time into its design. To create surveys that gather quality data check: 10 Things to Consider in Survey Design
• Considering focus groups? Check if it makes sense here: When Using Focus Groups Makes Sense
• If you are doing focus groups, avoid common mistakes. To know which they are, check: Common Mistakes When Doing Focus Groups
• Consider online qualitative research techniques. Check: Online Qualitative Research Techniques Review

Step 4. Collect Data

• Do a soft launch if you are doing online surveys to catch any potential problems.
• Get involved, monitor. early to catch any potential issues that can affect data quality (e.g., bad respondents, programming errors, etc.).

Step 5. Data Processing

• Clean your data. It doesn’t matter if it is quantitative or qualitative data, quality controls are needed.
• Fraudulent research participants are always trying to game the system to get their incentives. Try to catch them on the fly with the help of fraud prevention software and smart programming in recruitment screeners and question design and programming.
• Code open-ended questions to find patterns in the data.
• Create cross-tabulated tables to help organize the data if you do surveys.
• Transcribe interviews and focus group discussions to use tools to organize qualitative data to facilitate thematic analysis.

Step 6. Analyze & Report

• Keep the key objectives in mind to connect market research to business impact. Check: How To Connect Market Research To Business Impact
• Share preliminary results with key stakeholders, discuss, and check if they make sense from a practical standpoint.
• Focus on the story behind the numbers and how it supports your recommendations. Don’t do a data dump. Focus on insights.

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• Don’t Let The Budget Dictate Your Market Research Approach
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Make informed decisions with the marketing research process

Reading time: about 7 min

Who is your target consumer? What does their buying journey look like? How should you price your new product or service?  

Today’s business markets are complex and rapidly evolving. So when answering questions like these, you can’t afford to guess. You need data. 

That’s where the marketing research process comes in. 

The marketing research process encompasses a number of activities focused on gathering product and consumer data to understand your target customers, validate new product ideas, iterate on existing products, and improve marketing and business decisions.  

If you want to understand your customer and set your products and marketing strategies up for success, you need marketing research. But where should you begin? And how can you ensure your efforts lead to actionable insights?

Below we’ll walk you through the 5 main marketing research steps. 

What is the marketing research process?

The marketing research process is a series of steps used to plan and conduct research on your target market. This process starts before the research ever begins, and it covers everything needed to make research effective, from planning to conducting to analyzing—all the way to finally presenting the results.

As much as we might want to believe our instincts are always right, that’s simply not the case. Research may back up your gut feeling, but it often reveals new, unexpected facts as well. The marketing research process helps you get all the information you need to make and justify a choice–and even gain a competitive edge.

Types of marketing research

There are multiple ways to conduct marketing research, depending on the question you’re trying to answer or the problem you’re trying to solve. Some marketing research process examples include: 

• Customer interviews
• Focus groups
• Competitive analysis
• Surveys or questionnaires
• Observation

Which method you should choose will depend on your objectives.

Benefits of doing market research

In 2018, less than 40% of marketers used consumer research to drive decisions. By 2021, 60% of marketers said they use customer data the majority of the time when making decisions. 

Why the jump? Marketers have realized the significant value of the marketing research process and are using it to improve their decision making across the business. 

Market research is powerful because it can help solve real problems. The marketing research process helps leaders answer questions and gain insight into their business, such as:  

• Why do customers buy certain products or behave a certain way
• What problems do customers have and what pain points the business can address
• What’s trending in the industry and what the competitive landscape looks like
• The level of demand for a type of product or service
• Customer perceptions or opinions on pricing
• Untapped opportunities for product development or marketing  

Bottom line? The marketing research process helps your bottom line. 

When you understand customer behavior and needs, the market landscape, and your own product performance, you can make better, strategic decisions that drive the business forward.

5 marketing research process steps

There are five basic steps to the marketing research process. The specific execution of these steps will vary based on your company’s specific needs and capabilities, but the outline below provides a good starting point.

1. Define the problem

In this initial step, determine why you need to conduct research in the first place. Once you’ve defined why you need research, decide what kind of information you need and how your team will use that information. This will make it easy to design an appropriate research plan in the next step.

For example, let’s say the business is seeing a drop in sales on one product. Your research question could be “Why are sales for product A dropping?” There could be a few reasons, such as loss of customer interest based on product performance or industry competition. Your marketing research can then be designed around investigating those possibilities.

Pro tip: Consult with decision-makers in your company. You’ll want to be sure that your marketing research adequately addresses their concerns and gives them the information they need to make a decision. Work with them to determine any specific metrics they’ll use to make their decision so you can tailor your research process to include their needs.

2. Develop a research plan

Next, begin outlining your research approach. Develop a hypothesis, and then determine how you will conduct research. There are many ways to gather data, including surveys and focus groups, so it’s important to choose a method that will give you the information you need from the people you care about.

• Your target audience
• The research tools you will use
• Who will be involved in the research process (e.g., customers, internal staff, or both?)
• How you will select research participants
• Your research timeline
• Project resources

If you’re conducting a survey, interviews, or focus group, consider how you will incentivize participants, what kinds of questions you will ask, and how to collect the responses.

3. Collect data

With a research plan in place, you can begin conducting your research. As you do so, ensure that everyone involved in collecting data has received training to do so effectively. You’ll want to supervise and evaluate their efforts throughout the research process to ensure you get quality data.

Make sure to collect and record data in a secure place, preferably using a standardized format, to ensure you have accurate, usable data.

4. Analyze data

As your research concludes, begin data analysis . This step includes editing, coding, or transcribing data as needed to make it readable and manipulatable. Data analysis can take many forms, but it often includes making graphs and tables to spot trends. Remember, your analysis should reveal whether your hypothesis established in step two was correct.

5. Prepare a report

The marketing research process concludes with a presentation of your research. Generally, this takes the form of a written report that includes the initial problem, an outline of the research, and recommendations for how to proceed. This step can also take the form of oral reports or presentations—anything that communicates your research clearly.

However you present this information, make your report clear and understandable for any individuals who weren’t directly involved in the research process. Give them all the information necessary for decision-making. At this point, your company can take action based on your findings, thus concluding the marketing research process.

Lucidchart and the marketing research process

One size does not fit all when it comes to the marketing research process. While the basic steps are applicable to most organizations, they will often be executed very differently. Your organization needs to personalize your process, and Lucidchart makes it easy to do so.

For example, the formality of the marketing research process varies from company to company. Smaller businesses might conduct casual research with a Google survey. A large company, however, might require carefully selected focus groups and formal questionnaires. With Lucidchart, you can customize your marketing research process to fit your organization’s needs.

Marketing research can play a key role in making the right decisions for your company. Developing your own marketing research process will help you achieve even better results from your data collection and analysis, in turn helping you make more informed choices.

Define your marketing research process today with Lucidchart.

About Lucidchart

Lucidchart, a cloud-based intelligent diagramming application, is a core component of Lucid Software's Visual Collaboration Suite. This intuitive, cloud-based solution empowers teams to collaborate in real-time to build flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, customer journey maps, and more. Lucidchart propels teams forward to build the future faster. Lucid is proud to serve top businesses around the world, including customers such as Google, GE, and NBC Universal, and 99% of the Fortune 500. Lucid partners with industry leaders, including Google, Atlassian, and Microsoft. Since its founding, Lucid has received numerous awards for its products, business, and workplace culture. For more information, visit lucidchart.com.

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The 7 Key Steps of the Market Research Process

Blog Summary Structure with Top Takeaways

Introduction to the blog summary.

• The blog explores the importance of market research in strategic decision-making within organizations, emphasizing the steps, tools, and technologies involved in gathering and analyzing insightful data.

Key Points Overview

• Market research begins with identifying a clear research problem and determining the data collection approach.
• Advanced tools like AI and big data play crucial roles in enhancing data collection and analysis.
• Proper data integration and visualization are key to presenting findings effectively to stakeholders.

Top Takeaways

• A well-defined research problem is essential for targeted and effective market research.
• AI technology significantly boosts the efficiency and depth of market analysis.
• Integrating and visualizing data effectively ensures insights are actionable and comprehensible.
• Effective market research is vital for informed decision-making in modern businesses, utilizing advanced AI technologies and strategic data analysis to provide actionable insights that guide consumer and market strategies.

Market research is the process of gathering business intelligence through the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. It enables different people within the organization to make informed decisions about their daily tasks, ongoing projects, and the overall strategy––and it relies on capturing exceptional insight.

Some of the most common reasons organizations conduct market research include:

• Improving or creating products.
• Understanding new market segments.
• Boosting brand health.

The process is organized into market research steps that any brand can follow to accomplish its own objectives.

The first step in market research is to identify or define the research problem. The research problem determines the scope of the research, the tools and methods to be used, and the sources of data.

The research problem is an information gap that the organization wants to close. It should be specific–and if it’s not well understood by the researcher or organization, an exploratory study should be done first.

Once the problem has been identified, a problem statement is prepared highlighting the importance of the subject matter, contextualizing the issue, and establishing the success criteria.

The success criteria is what will determine whether the problem has been solved after the exercise is done.

While some research problems can only be solved through a fresh study, sometimes the problem has an existing answer. In such cases, it is not necessary to do market research as the process can be costly in terms of both money and time.

Successful organizations have market research platforms that help them identify research problems and find existing answers. This frees their resources for the pursuit of problems that haven’t been solved yet and requires deeper analysis.

Organizations can adopt different approaches in their market research processes depending on various factors. These factors include: The area of study, the research budget, and most importantly, the research problem.

A research strategy specifies the approach to be taken on a particular project including the market research steps, methods, tools, objectives, budget, and time allocation for each stage.

To formulate the proper strategy, it is important to have in mind the different approaches to market research.

Market research can be   primary   or   secondary   where the data used is either first-hand or second-hand, respectively. Each of these two divisions can take a quantitative or qualitative approach.

Quantitative research deals with data that is represented by magnitudes such as numbers, sizes, and percentages. Qualitative research deals with the attributes in data e.g. emotions, opinions, and behaviors. It’s best understand these days as structured and unstructured data.

The market research approach can also be defined by the methods used – whether they are traditional or modern. Depending on the approach, the research strategy may include different methods and materials.

Lately, the multimodal market research approach has been preferred by many organizations. This approach takes different research techniques and applies them in stages, capitalizing on their strengths.

The research strategy informs the materials to be used in the process. Materials include the methods and tools used to collect, analyze, and present data.

Traditionally, the most effective market research methods include surveys, interviews, focus groups, direct observation, and ethnography. Advances in technology have allowed researchers to improve the capabilities of each of these methods.

Additionally, there have been new additions to the list including   social listening,   sentiment analysis, and   netnography.

Among the tools, traditional market research has heavily relied on analog alternatives such as questionnaires, recording equipment, and spaces such as observation rooms and the open field.

The internet is a boon for modern market research. Not only does it accommodate and improve traditional methods, but it also allows for the development of new research tools.

Beyond the internet, AI technology has allowed market research to flourish in an environment of big data. AI-backed tools and platforms are the modern organization’s main component of the market research toolkit.

Data is the heart of market research. This makes data collection the most important of the market research steps. Therefore, the quality of the data gathered can make or break the whole process.

The key features of high quality data are accuracy, consistency, relevance, completeness, and timeliness. Without any of these features, the data is corrupted.

The process of data collection must be carefully executed to ultimately ensure that the business makes accurate decisions.

Done correctly, the previous market research steps help make sure of this. The sources of data are well defined in the research strategy based on the research problem; and the tools necessary are picked on the third step.

Modern organizations can get most of the data that they need for most of their projects on the internet. However, the data is distributed across various sources and the larger portion of it is unstructured.

It takes an advanced AI consumer and market research platform to access this data, parse it, and make it available for analysis.

Once collected, the data that’s in raw form must be analyzed to yield information which then provides insights. The analysis of data should be done by experts using dedicated tools.

Data experts help get the most out of the data collected because they understand the language and can more effectively get rid of the noise to get to pure information.

Almost equally as important are the data analysis tools that are used. Advanced tools can crunch large volumes of data quickly and automatically. This takes care of the tediousness (and the mere impossibility) of doing it manually.

On the other hand, with the help of these tools, humans are able to apply their mental powers to tasks that machines cannot perform.

To enhance this synergistic relationship, the data gathered must be collected in one location – what is known as   data integration . However, this is not always possible as the data may be collected in different tools.

To bridge this gap, analysts use business intelligence platforms that allow the integration of data from separate platforms into a single dashboard.

After analysis, the data must be compiled and presented or reported to the relevant people i.e. those who will derive the insights: Marketers, managers, sales people, and customer service personnel, among others.

The report should be accurate based on the data analysis. Important information and notes should be included to address any confusion. And it should be visualized to enhance the attention, understanding, and memory of the stakeholders.

Market research data should be visualized in reports.

Finally, the market research steps are not complete without testing the utility of the process. And this is best done through the application of insights in business.

Modern businesses use data to inform all their strategies be it acquiring customers, beating the competition, or taking advantage of various opportunities.

All data-driven strategies in modern business can be summed up in two categories: Consumer and market strategies.

Consumer strategies address consumer needs while market strategies are aimed at other factors such as suppliers, partners, technologies, and competitors.

Thus, the organization needs consumer and market data to develop effective strategies.

With Quid’s AI-backed consumer and market intelligence platform , modern brands can perform an effective market research process that ends in truly actionable information. We can show you how right now – just   reach out for a demo .

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Business & Marketing

Definition – “Market research is a continuous process for gathering data on product characteristics, suppliers’ capabilities, and the business practices/trends that surround them — plus the analysis of that data to make smart acquisition decisions.” (FAR 2.1)

Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) for Market Research

5 steps in the marketing research process, step 1 – locating and defining issues or problems, step 2 – designing the market research project, step 3 – collecting data, step 4 – interpreting & analyzing research data, step 5 – report research findings, research reporting formats:, final step: take action, acqnotes tutorial, example of utilizing the market research process, acqlinks and references:.

Updated: 6/28/2023

Research/Study Research/Study

Inside Project 2025's attack on reproductive rights: Mifepristone and alternative abortion pills

Special Programs Abortion Rights & Reproductive Health

Written by Sophie Lawton , Jacina Hollins-Borges & Jack Wheatley

Published 06/24/24 1:30 PM EDT

At least 31 partner organizations of the Project 2025 initiative have published written content, supported legal efforts, or had organizational leadership make comments against the use of safe and effective abortion pills, specifically mifepristone, according to a Media Matters review. 

Project 2025 is organized by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, and has laid out a radical plan for governance during the next Republican administration. The initiative's wide-ranging policy proposals, including extreme anti-abortion policies, are laid out in its “ Mandate for Leadership .” 

The policy book includes a chapter on the Department of Health and Human Services written by Roger Severino, husband of anti-abortion figure Carrie Severino. The chapter lays out policies against the use and distribution of abortion pills, advising the next Republican administration to heavily restrict access to mifepristone and so-called “mail-order abortions” through various means. 

Later in the policy book, America First Legal’s Gene Hamilton recommends that the Department of Justice should take steps to enforce the Comstock Act as a way to limit the distribution of abortion pills. In these passages, Project 2025 lays out a plan for the next Republican administration to criminalize the shipment of abortion pills and cut off huge swaths of Americans from accessing this lifeline of reproductive healthcare. 

Anti-choice organizations have been waging a legal battle against mifepristone for years, culminating in the ongoing Supreme Court case, U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , in which anti-choice groups challenge the FDA’s approval of mifepristone in 2000 and attempt to reinstate stricter rules around prescribing the drug that were in place prior to 2016. 

Project 2025 partner the Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF) is behind the anti-choice “Alliance” along with Project 2025 partner, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG). A number of other Project 2025 partner organizations have signed letters, filed amicus briefs, or otherwise supported these efforts. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case in March, and reportedly appeared skeptical of the plaintiffs’ right to sue, which would suggest the justices could rule in a way that allows mifepristone to remain broadly available. 

Organizations affiliated with Project 2025 use misinformation and scare tactics to push for restrictions, if not outright bans, of abortion pills despite evidence that they are safe and effective , even after regulations on prescribing the medication were eased in 2021. Some of the organizations argue that expanded access to abortion pills will result in the use of the drug by abusive partners or sex traffickers. Mother Jones recently  debunked the claim that telehealth abortion facilitates intimate partner violence. There has also been pushback against the idea that access to abortion pills negatively impacts victims of trafficking.

At least seven of the organizations partnered with Project 2025 have also promoted and helped advance legislation to force doctors to offer bogus “abortion reversal” treatment. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states , “Medication abortion ‘reversal’ is not supported by science. 

For the full report on Project 2025's attack on reproductive rights, click here .

Select a Partner Organization

The heritage foundation, 1792 exchange, alliance defending freedom , american association of pro-life obstetricians and gynecologists, aclj action, the american conservative, american family association, america first legal, american principles project, americans united for life, amac action, california family council, center for family and human rights, center for renewing america, concerned women for america, discovery institute, eagle forum, ethics and public policy center, family policy alliance, family research council, first liberty institute, the frederick douglass foundation, the heartland institute, dr. james dobson family institute, media research center, the national center for public policy research and project 21 black leadership network, students for life of america, susan b. anthony pro-life america, texas public policy foundation, turning point usa, young america’s foundation.

• In an article about the Supreme Court case on the FDA’s mifepristone regulations, senior legal fellow Thomas Jipping claims abortion pills are “dangerous drugs.” Jipping opened the piece saying that “abortion poisons everything it touches,” and goes on to argue that the FDA violated the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law considered “dead” by some in Congress who support its repeal. [The Heritage Foundation, 1/17/24 ; The Hill, 4/2/24 ]
• In a post on X, The Heritage Foundation wrote, “Think the abortion pill is safe? Think again.”  [Twitter/X, 12/13/23 ]
• The Heritage Foundation hosted a panel on abortion pills moderated by Perry that included Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), ADF senior counsel Erik Baptist, and CEO of AAPLOG Christina Francis. Francis claimed that mifepristone users visit the emergency room more often than those who get surgical abortions, even claiming up to 35% of chemical abortions result in an ER visit. These claims are the same as those from a retracted 2021 study. Francis repeated this claim later in the panel stating abortion drugs have “high complication rates.” [YouTube, 11/13/23 ,  11/13/23 ; Salon, 3/20/24 ]
• In a piece celebrating the U.S. District Court ruling against both the initial approval of the drug and the FDA’s relaxation of mifepristone regulations, Perry called Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s opinion a “recognition of the dangers of mifepristone to both mother and child.” [The Heritage Foundation, 8/13/23 ]
• In a 2023 post on X, Heritage stated “FACT: The abortion pill poses serious health risks to women. The FDA should never have authorized it.” [Twitter/X, 3/20/23 ]
• In another article by Perry on the Heritage site, she claimed states can use “police power to restrict or prohibit abortion—including particular methods of abortion, such as by pill.” [The Heritage Foundation, 2/22/23 ]
• Perry wrote in a 2023 article that states should be working to ban abortion drugs, despite the FDA calling them “safe and effective.” She also claimed the Supreme Court overturning Roe means “states can close off chemical abortions altogether.” [The Heritage Foundation, 1/11/23 ]
• In an article on the Heritage site about the Biden administration allowing pharmacies to distribute mifepristone, visiting fellow Melanie Israel wrote that “abortion pills aren’t safe.” [The Heritage Foundation, 1/6/23 ]
• In 2022, The Heritage Foundation published a coalition letter to members of Congress in an effort to “legislate abortion policy at the federal level.” The letter called on the federal government to “limit the interstate flow of dangerous abortion drugs” and falsely claimed abortion pills put “women’s health and safety at risk.” The letter was also signed by other Project 2025 partner organizations including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Americans United for Life, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and Concerned Women for America. [The Heritage Foundation, 12/4/22 ]
• Right-wing nonprofit 1792 Exchange wrote in its corporate bias rating report on CVS Health that the company is “high risk” because it continued to dispense mifepristone at some pharmacies in spite of a related wrongful termination lawsuit from a former employee. 1792 Exchange also criticized CVS Health because it supposedly “pushes for the use of abortion-inducing drugs across the country.” [1792 Exchange, accessed 4/16/24 ]
• Along with other anti-abortion medical groups and doctors, Alliance Defending Freedom is a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the FDA to limit access to mifepristone. [The Guardian, 5/17/23 ]
• ADF has defended plaintiffs in at least 22 cases in 10 states and the District of Columbia which challenged the Obama-era requirement for employers to provide insurance that covers mifepristone and other reproductive care. [ADF, accessed  4/18/24 ]
• ADF intervened to defend a nurse practitioner named Chelsea Mynyk who offered abortion pill reversal in Colorado in spite of a state law barring the protocol, arguing that “by banning Chelsea from providing this care, Colorado is violating her religious freedom.” [ADF, 4/12/24 ]
• In a piece that criticized retail pharmacies dispensing mifepristone, ADF senior counsel Erin Morrow Hawley wrote that looser restrictions on the medication “all but ensure the abortion drug will be unsafe for many women, ubiquitous, and routinely mailed into states where it is unlawful.” She added that CVS and Walgreens have removed “important safeguards on abortion drugs.” [ADF, 3/26/24 ]
• ADF CEO Kristen Waggoner said that the data on mifepristone “suggests that it endangers women.” [Politico, 3/25/24 ,  11/18/22 ]
• In an article titled “The FDA’s Unforgivable Deceptions on Chemical-Abortion Drugs,” Hawley wrote that “no one should be okay with the FDA leaving pregnant women to take these high-risk drugs all alone.” She then urged the Supreme Court to “put the health and well-being of pregnant women first by reinstating necessary safeguards for abortion drugs.” [ADF, 3/15/24 ]
• In a piece titled “What the FDA Hasn’t Told You About Mifepristone,” ADF senior counsel Erik Baptist claimed that “the FDA has ignored” that abortion pills “can cause significant and serious complications.” [ADF, 3/14/23 ]
• The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists is a plaintiff in the Alliance Defending Freedom’s lawsuit against the FDA to suspend the use of mifepristone. [Washington State Standard, 2/6/24 ]
• AAPLOG runs a program called “Abortion Pill Reversal” that invites “pro-life medical professionals” to “provide urgent care to women who regret starting medication abortions.” The idea of reversing an abortion pill’s effect with progesterone is not supported by science. A 2012 study on the protocol had just six participants and no control group, and was not supervised or reviewed. A later 2020 study was ended early “due to safety concerns among the participants.” In its statement on abortion pill reversal, the organization included statistics on serious complications from abortion medication and referred to reversal as “another reproductive choice for women facing the abortion decision.” It repeatedly emphasizes that abortions are reversed with a “natural hormone.” [AAPLOG, accessed  4/17/24 ,  2019 ; ACOG, accessed 4/19/24 ]
• In response to efforts to ban abortion “reversal” treatments in Colorado, AAPLOG released a statement which said: “Efforts by abortion proponents to outlaw progesterone therapy after mifepristone consumption are not based on science or good medical ethics.” [AAPLOG, 9/27/23 ; Reuters, 10/23/23 ]
• AAPLOG often attacks mifepristone as a way for “abusers and traffickers” to easily coerce patients into abortion. In a response to the Fifth Circuit of Appeals ruling to reinstate restrictions on mifepristone, AAPLOG wrote that the previous “deregulations have placed women and girls at greater risk of life-threatening complications, as well as coerced abortion by abusers and traffickers.” [APPLOG, 8/16/23 ]
• In a “Myth vs. Fact” piece on “maternal medical care,” AAPLOG wrote that “the dangerous push in recent years to dispense abortion pills through the mail or without a doctor’s visit presents a grave threat to women’s health.” [AAPLOG, 8/29/22 ]
• Now-CEO Christina Francis warned in 2021 of “mounting evidence of significant adverse events and maternal deaths” from mifepristone in a piece originally published by Deseret News. [AAPLOG, 5/18/21 ; Salt Lake Tribune, 11/18/23 ]
• Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, AAPLOG argued through letters, press releases, and articles that mifepristone is dangerous. [AAPLOG, 1/25/10 ]
• ACLJ’s Jay and Jordan Sekulow called mifepristone “deadly abortion pills” while describing the organization’s position in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. [ACLJ, 6/22/23 ]
• In a piece explaining why the organization filed an amicus brief in that case, ACLJ senior counsel Walter M. Weber wrote that “mailing abortion pills is an act of racketeering that violates the federal RICO statute.” The ACLJ’s brief asked the court “to uphold an injunction against federal approval of abortion pills and against federal loosening of restrictions on abortion pills.” [ACLJ, 5/12/23 ; U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , Brief of Amicus Curiae, 5/09/23 ]
• The American Conservative celebrated U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , saying that banning access to mifepristone would be “a major blow to abortion activists’ cause” and would create precedent to change “an untouchable federal agency.” Contributing editor Carmel Richardson wrote that the anti-abortion movement “has been all but apologizing for” overturning Roe v. Wade “at the ballot box ever since,” but the possibility of a mifepristone ban is a “positive step forward.” [The American Conservative, 5/19/23 ]
• After the Supreme Court said that mifepristone should stay broadly available as the case is litigated, Richardson called on Congress to ban abortion, “including a ban on drugs prescribed for the purpose of inducing the death of a pre-born child.” [The American Conservative, 4/28/23 ]
• Richardson has also claimed that mifepristone is dangerous for patients, writing that “the lives of unborn babies, and those of several of their mothers” are at stake in the mifepristone case. [The American Conservative, 4/14/23 ]
• American Family Association’s news outlet, American Family News, published an article on the Louisiana law categorizing mifepristone as a controlled dangerous substance that called the drug “Fetus-killing abortion pills” and failed to include that the law will likely inhibit access to the drug and ensure harsher penalties for people who obtain it without a prescription. The piece misleadingly implies the new law would mainly be used to punish people for “misusing” the drugs by coercing a pregnant person to take them or slipping it unknowingly to a pregnant person. [American Family News, 5/28/24 ; CNN, 5/24/24 ]
• Jordan Chamblee, a writer for American Family Association’s publication The Stand, claimed that the Biden administration paving the way for retail pharmacies to dispense abortion pills is “prioritizing the interests of the abortion industry over women’s health and safety.” He claimed that “chemical abortions are dangerous,” as they “can result in serious complications such as sepsis, hemorrhaging, and even death.” Chamblee also promoted The Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), which offers abortion pill reversal. [American Family Association, 4/10/23 ]
• After the FDA allowed mifepristone to be dispensed by mail, AFA Executive Vice President Ed Vitagliano said that this promoted “an agenda of wanton destruction eliminating tens of thousands of people who would become innovators and creators.” [American Family Association, 12/20/21 ]
• An AFA article criticized abortion clinics for not advertising the existence of abortion reversal, and claimed that they “fail to inform their patients about what to expect after they take the pill and leave the clinic.” [American Family Association, 7/15/19 ]
• Project 2025 contributor and vice president of America First Legal Gene Hamilton, who wrote the section of Mandate for Leadership on the Department of Justice, pushed in that section to enforce the Comstock Act, which could be used to restrict abortion medication nationwide. [Rolling Stone, 12/22/23 ; Teen Vogue, 2/7/24 ]
• The American Principles Project backed the bill of Reps. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) and Kevin Hern (R-OK) to tighten restrictions on mifepristone, with the APP's President Terry Schilling arguing that easier access to abortion pills means dispensing “dangerous pills online” and “empowering abusers by making it even easier for them to get their hands on abortion drugs.” [Website of Rep. Diana Harshbarger, 1/18/23 ]
• On Twitter, APP shared an article promoting abortion pill reversal: “#Abortion Pill Reversal: When ‘Pro-Choicers’ Don’t Support a Woman’s Choice.” [Twitter/X, 9/14/17 ]
• During the Obama administration, APP celebrated the fight against what it calls “the abortion pill mandate,” the Department of Health and Human Services requirement for employers to provide insurance that covers abortion pills. [Twitter/X, 3/6/13 ,  7/10/12 ]
• Americans United for Life federal policy director Jesse Southerland told Politico that fighting against “chemical abortion” is a “priority” for the organization. [Politico, 3/27/24 ]
• AUL drafted a model law for anti-abortion lawmakers to restrict or ban telehealth prescriptions for abortion pills. [Politico, 3/27/24 ; Stateline, 1/30/23 ]
• In February, AUL filed two amicus briefs in support of the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine in its case against the FDA. [Americans United for Life, 2/29/24 ]
• AUL listed the court battle to re-restrict mifepristone as one of its “top ten developments in the Life arena of 2023.” [Americans United for Life, 12/20/23 ]
• Chief legal officer and general counsel of AUL Steven H. Aden said that loosening regulations on mifepristone “has been a healthcare disaster for women and has normalized the wholesale destruction of human life.” [Americans United for Life, 12/13/23 ]
• AUL filed multiple amicus briefs to the Fifth Circuit asking the court to uphold the U.S. District Court’s suspension of mifepristone’s approval. Aden, the counsel of record on the brief, explained that abortion pills are “dangerous drugs,” and suspending them “is in the interest of patient welfare.” AUL has made similar arguments in several pieces on its amicus briefs regarding this case. [Americans United for Life, 5/16/23 ,  4/18/23 ,  4/12/23 ]
• Carolyn McDonnell, litigation counsel at AUL, accused the FDA of “promoting its radical abortion agenda at the expense of patient health and safety” by relaxing mifepristone restrictions. [Americans United for Life, 2/13/23 ]
• AUL submitted testimony in support of Wyoming’s attempt to ban abortion pills partially because it was “consistent with the American legal tradition on abortion.” In its related explainer on mifepristone, AUL emphasized possible complications resulting from consumption of the drug. [Americans United for Life, 2/9/23 ; The Associated Press, 6/22/23 ]
• AUL wrote that receiving mifepristone through the mail is the “new back-alley,” as patients are receiving pills “from a stranger on the internet.” The piece emphasized that “women have died taking chemical abortion pills.” [Americans United for Life, 12/17/21 ]
• In 2021, AUL celebrated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s executive order to ban abortion pills from being prescribed via telemedicine, calling it a measure “to protect South Dakota women from the threat of chemical abortion drugs.” [Americans United for Life, 9/7/21 ]
• In the same piece, the organization attributed relaxed restrictions on mifepristone to “corporate greed.” Similarly, in 2016, AUL said that “abortion industry profits” were the motivator behind the updated guidelines. [Americans United for Life, 9/7/21 ; 11/1/16 ]
• After the FDA loosened restrictions on mifepristone in 2021, AUL accused the agency of “playing politics with women’s health.” In another piece on the issue, it said the FDA was “abandoning women to suffer through the physical and psychological impact of chemical abortion without medical supervision or support.” [Americans United for Life, 4/13/21 ,  1/12/21 ]
• In 2017, AUL’s vice president of legal affairs, Denise Burke, testified in favor of a Colorado law that would require abortion providers to tell patients about abortion reversal, which it calls “informed consent.” According to Burke, because they are not told about so-called abortion reversal, “many women are physically and psychologically harmed by the abortion process.” [Americans United for Life, 2/9/17 ]
• AUL called on state lawmakers to repeal what it called a “discriminatory rule” and an “unconstitutional abuse of power” from the Washington State Board of Pharmacists that required pharmacists to keep abortion pills stocked. The organization joined an amicus brief in support of pharmacists against “drugs misleadingly called ‘emergency contraceptives,’ specifically Plan B and ella.” [Americans United for Life, 6/28/16 ]
• AUL has been involved in multiple cases related to state laws seeking to restrict mifepristone, with AUL's president referring to looser restrictions as “patient abandonment.” In a press release celebrating an Arkansas law restricting mifepristone, AUL wrote that “the abortion industry consistently puts profits over people.” [Americans United for Life, 3/23/15 ,  10/4/13 ]
• The organization filed amicus briefs in support of embattled North Dakota and Oklahoma bills that restricted access to mifepristone. [Americans United for Life, 10/4/13 ,  8/21/13 ,  10/9/12 ]
• In a 2023 article on the Association for Mature American Citizens website, author Ben Solis repeated false claims made by Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy that “40 percent of abortions are chemical abortions that are likely to end with complications.”  More than 60% of all abortions are performed with the abortion pill and around 2% of all abortions have complications. [AMAC, 4/8/23 ; Guttmacher Institute, 3/19/24 ; Pew Research Center, 3/25/24 ] 
• AMAC hosted an interview with Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, to talk about how chemical abortions are supposedly “dangerous.” In the interview, AMAC CEO Rebecca Weber claimed the expansion of abortion pill access is really pro-abortion activists “taking advantage of frightened young women.” Mancini argued that access to mifepristone is “dangerous in a lot of different ways” claiming the drug is “actually much harder on women's health than surgical abortion.” [YouTube, 11/9/22 ]
• In a story on its site, the California Family Council (CFC) wrote about the recent Supreme Court case regarding mifepristone, saying that “true reproductive freedom includes access to comprehensive information about fertility, pregnancy, and the support available for women experiencing a crisis pregnancy.” CFC Vice President Greg Burt remarked, “This case is not merely about regulatory oversight; it’s about reaffirming the foundational values that respect life and prioritize genuine healthcare that serves both mothers and their children.” [California Family Council, 3/29/24 ] 
• On its Instagram account, the group declared, “The abortion pill is not a form of contraception; rather, it is an exceedingly hazardous drug, particularly when used without medical supervision.” The post added, “The abortion pill leads the death of an unborn baby and potential dangers to the mother.” [Instagram, 12/13/23 ]
• The group fearmongered that “Mifepristone and misoprostol put women at risk for infection, injury, loss of fertility, depression, and other life-threatening complications.” It concludes that “women deserve to know about their options and have access to life-saving medication,” referring to abortion pill reversal. [California Family Council, 9/25/23 ]
• In at least two other publications on its website, the group pushed misleading information about the safety of the abortion pill, calling it “dangerous,” and “highly controversial.” [California Family Council, 11/29/22 ,  2/7/22 ] 
• In a 2023 article on the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM) website, director of research Rebecca Oas wrote that “period pills” or medication used to “induce menstrual bleeding or early pregnancy loss” are used for “the intentional destruction of an unborn life.” [Center for Family and Human Rights, 2/10/23 ; PeriodPills.org, accessed 5/15/24 ]
• In an article complaining about expanding access to abortion pills during the COVID-19 pandemic, Oas called use of mifepristone a “dangerous procedure.” [Center for Family and Human Rights, 5/8/20 ]
• C-FAM published multiple articles condemning the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders for supporting the distribution of abortion pills. In one piece C-FAM argues “mail-order abortion pills” put patients at risk of getting an abortion “without [their] consent by abusive partners, parents, or others, such as human traffickers.” [Center for Family and Human Rights, 6/28/19 ; 2/28/20 ]
• In an article for Pacific Standard on the WHO’s endorsement of mifepristone, Oas is quoted repeating her argument that expanding access to abortion pills will result in the use of the drugs by “abusive partners” for nonconsensual abortions. [Pacific Standard, 7/15/19 ]
• In a policy issue primer published on Center for Renewing America’s site, the organization supported the Fifth Circuit's ruling against the FDA’s interpretation of the Comstock Act, and claimed the “weaponized agency is willing to violate the law to advance its abortion agenda.” CRA also suggested Congress attempt to “prohibit chemical abortions at the federal level.” [Center for Renewing America, 5/2/23 ]
• In a piece on its website, Concerned Women for America noted its support for stricter abortion pill regulations alongside other anti-abortion groups, against the FDA in the ongoing Supreme Court case. The piece describes the agency’s actions as “reckless disregard for women’s safety.” [Concerned Women for America, 3/25/24 ] 
• CWA wrote a piece directly focused on the case heading to the Supreme Court, calling mifepristone “dangerous” and the FDA’s approval of it “reckless.” CWA CEO and President Penny Nance said, “Let’s be clear; there is nothing safe or effective about allowing people to perform their own DIY abortion.” [Concerned Women for America, 12/13/23 ]
• On CWA’s podcast, Nance said supporters of the medication “want there to be abortion, as I’ve said before many times, any time, any reason, in any number, all paid for by you.” She continued, “They don’t want a girl to even leave her dorm room to have it. They’re happy for her to struggle for several days to actually miscarry this baby alone and to be traumatized and maybe, you know, have consequences that render her sterile later or maybe even death.” Later on, she added, “This is not nearly over. We have a lot of work to do. We are winning.” [Concerned Women for America, 4/19/23 ,  4/19/23 ] 
• CWA’s Deanna Drogan wrote for the website, “We can see that increasing the ability to perform DIY abortions results in many health risks for mothers (known and unknown) and an increasing number of babies innocently murdered from abortion.” [Concerned Women for America, 4/23/21 ]
• In an opinion piece for Newsmax, Nance wrote that there is “nothing safe about DIY abortion.” She added, concerning the Texas case, “Americans who are concerned for the safety and well-being of young women should be grateful that this judge had the courage to make this decision.” [Newsmax, 5/15/23 ]
• Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism fellow Arina Grossu Agnew appeared on The Lars Larson Show to discuss “How many babies do abortion pills like Mifepristone kill?” In the interview, Grossu claimed the FDA “looked at flawed studies, irrelevant studies” when approving the drug “and there are a lot of complications that can happen.” She went on to call mifepristone “a very dangerous abortion drug.” [KXL, Lars Larson Show , 5/1/23 ]
• Senior fellow of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence Michael Egnor wrote in an article for The Stream that abortion drugs “cause significant physiological and behavioral harm.” Egnor’s article is based on a study by Dr. Stephen Sammut, whose research also pushes the unsupported science of “abortion-pill reversal.” [The Stream, 7/10/19 ; Franciscain, Accessed 5/15/24 ]
• President of Eagle Forum Kristen A. Ullman published an article in March arguing against use of the abortion pill. In the article, Ullman called mifepristone “dangerous” and repeated unverified claims that the abortion pill has a notably high number of documented negative effects. [Eagle Forum, 3/24/24 ]
• Eagle Forum joined a coalition of anti-abortion groups who called on Congress to send cease-and-desist letters to pharmacies mailing abortion pills. [Eagle Forum, 3/12/24 ]
• In an article fearmongering about mifepristone titled “Danger Lurks in Local Drug Stores,” Ullman called the drug a “dangerous pill that not only kills an unborn child but causes serious side effects and even death to countless women.” [Eagle Forum, 3/4/24 ]
• Ethics and Public Policy Center fellows submitted two amicus briefs for the Supreme Court case on mifepristone supporting Alliance of Hippocratic Medicine in its case against the abortion drug. The briefs claimed the FDA and Biden administration are in “violation of federal and state law” by expanding access to mifepristone. [EPPC, 3/1/24 ]
• President of EPPC Ryan T. Anderson, previously a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation, published an article with National Review titled “Making Abortion Illegal and Unthinkable,” in which he argued, “We’ll need laws to prevent cross-state transportation of abortion pills.” [National Review, 6/11/22 ; The Heritage Foundation, accessed 4/19/24 ]
• Focus on the Family's lobbying arm, Family Policy Alliance, submitted an amicus brief for the Supreme Court case on mifepristone in which it argued the FDA’s current mifepristone guidance is “dangerous for women” and claimed, “Medical Emergencies Caused by Mifepristone are Increasing” and cites the declaration of Dr. Christina Francis, the AAPLOG CEO. [U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , Brief of Amicus Curiae, 2/28/24 ]
• After Biden supported access to mifepristone in January, FPA called on its audience to push back against the dispensing of abortion pills in pharmacies, seemingly citing a now-retracted study that led FPA to falsely claim that “women who use abortion pills are 50 percent more likely to visit an ER than with a surgical abortion.” [Family Policy Alliance, 1/24/23 ; National Library of Medicine, 11/9/21 ]
• FPA also called on pharmacies to refuse to distribute abortion pills. The FPA director of government affairs claimed in the statement, “Abortion drugs are a health and safety threat to women and their children.” [Family Policy Alliance, 1/6/23 ]
• In an episode of Family Research Council’s Washington Watch with Tony Perkins , Senior Vice President Jody Hice interviewed Louisiana state Sen. Thomas Pressly about his legislation to classify mifepristone as a dangerous substance in Louisiana. Hice called the passing of the law “good news” and called it a “model” for other states. Hice went on to congratulate Pressly and claimed the “abortion industry” is “fearmongering” over the legislation. [Family Research Council, Washington Watch with Tony Perkins , 5/24/24 ]
• FRC’s affiliated blog The Washington Stand published a piece similarly praising the Louisiana law, which claims abortion pills “are not safe.” [The Washington Stand, 5/28/24 ]
• FRC filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case over mifepristone claiming that the FDA was “reckless” in approving the drug and that use of mifepristone creates “long-lasting psychological and spiritual distress.” [Family Research Council, 3/5/24 ]
• In 2022 FRC published an issue analysis on medication abortion, which it called “The Next Abortion Battleground.” The analysis summarized FRC’s issues with abortion pills, leveling claims that there are “profound dangers such poorly supervised medical care poses to women’s health” and that “the abortion industry” is pushing abortion pills for “political, ideological, and financial goals.” [Family Research Council, 2/22 ]
• Also in its analysis on abortion pills, FRC argued that easing regulations of mifepristone would “complicate the detection of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.” In a section on “Sexual Abuse and Sex Trafficking” FRC claimed, “Abusers, along with those in the sexual exploitation industry ... would love an environment in which they can compel women to repeatedly have abortions.” The section also claimed that Planned Parenthood is aiding sex traffickers by providing abortions. [Family Research Council, 2/22 ]
• The analysis also laid out policy suggestions, such as “complete removal of the chemical abortion regimen from the market,” forcing manufacturers of the drug to “report all adverse events” from mifepristone, and prohibiting the prescription of abortion pills over telehealth. FRC claims its final goal is “to see the sale and the approval of drugs meant to intentionally kill life in the womb eliminated from our society.” [Family Research Council, 2/22 ]
• In a 2021 report, legislative assistant Chantel Hoyt claimed expansion of access to mifepristone means “the abortion industry seems willing to gamble with women's lives and health” in order to expand access to abortion. [Family Research Council, 7/19/21 ; FRC, accessed 5/15/24 ]
• Starting in 2013 First Liberty Institute represented Joe Holland in a case against the federal government challenging the so-called  “Abortion Pill Mandate.” First Liberty argued he should not have to provide insurance coverage for abortion pills because of his faith. [First Liberty Institute, accessed, 4/16/24 ]
• ForAmerica president David Bozell joined a Washington Times podcast to attack the use of mifepristone, calling it “unfathomable.” He went on to claim, “The left will not stop until there is abortion on demand funded by the United States taxpayer up to and perhaps even including the moment of birth." [The Washington Times, 3/29/24 ]
• Liberty Counsel, an anti-abortion legal organization, filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Frederick Douglass Foundation to the Supreme Court asking it to uphold the Fifth Circuit’s decision to reinstate restrictions on mifepristone. [World News Group, 3/12/24 ]
• Ashley Bateman, a policy writer for the Heartland Institute, wrote a piece for The Federalist regarding anti-abortion activists protesting at the Supreme Court about the FDA case, describing mifepristone as a “high-risk drug.” [The Federalist, 3/27/24 ]
• Heartland Daily News, a publication affiliated with the Institute, has been attacking abortion medication for years. Recently Bateman published an article where she labeled mifepristone a “high-risk drug” and a different piece by Harry Painter attempted to raise concerns about the safety of telemedicine prescriptions for mifepristone while conflating the use of the medication with “back-alley abortions.” [The Heartland Daily News, 4/15/24 ,  3/27/24 ,  12/6/22 ,  9/18/21 ]
• The James Dobson Family Institute in a piece titled “Baby-Killing Pills” claimed the Biden Administration wants to distribute mifepristone “like candy,” and said it continues to “use every tool it has to keep the number of abortions in America as high as possible.” Later on, the author describes the medication as a “killer abortion pill.” [Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, 4/14/23 ]
• The institute was one of many organizations to sign an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on the FDA battle over the drug. [U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , Brief of Amicus Curiae, 2/29/2024 ]
• A commentary piece for the organization described mifepristone described as “death by mail,” and attacked pro-choice organizations, writing, “See you in court, NARAL! JDFI proudly signed onto an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and we look forward to making the case for life before the U.S. Supreme Court.” [Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, 8/30/23 ] 
• A 2021 piece by Dobson himself endorsed a bill that aimed to strip universities of their federal funding if they distribute reproductive medication to students. [Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, 8/3/21 ]
• Media Research Center’s affiliated news outlet, NewsBusters, published an article claiming NBC “fear mongers” about Louisiana’s new law classifying mifepristone and misoprostol as dangerous substances. The piece said an NBC correspondent stating the new law will create confusion around the safety of the drugs is “fear-mongering” and tries to rebut the idea by claiming the law “isn’t banning the drugs.” [NewsBusters, 5/22/24 ]
• The right-wing “media watchdog” organization has been releasing content railing against abortion and mifepristone for years. In many pieces, the titles refer to the drugs as “harmful,” dangerous”, and “deadly.” [NewsBusters, 3/20/24 ,  4/24/23 ,  4/22/23 ,  3/24/23 ,  11/18/22 ]
• The organization has also cherry-picked stories to bolster its fearmongering about the pill. In one example, it describes a “chemical abortion nightmare” where a woman on YouTube described witnessing the heartbeat of the fetus and the health issues she faced afterward. The Media Research Center used the story as an opportunity to attack Planned Parenthood for what it describes as “its prioritization of killing babies over keeping women out of harm's way.” [Media Research Center, 1/5/24 ]
• In a commentary piece for its parent organization, the National Center for Public Policy Research, Project 21 member Patrina Mosley described mifepristone as a “lethal regime,” and compared the fight to end abortion with the fight to end slavery. She went on to claim the medication “has led to untold physical and psychological harm” to patients. Mosley also went on to claim drugs like mifepristone are an easy way for pharmaceutical organizations to make quick profits, and allow for “sexual abusers and partners who are unwilling fathers” to coerce people into taking the drug. [The National Center for Public Policy Research, 4/20/23 ] 
• Both groups also signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court asking it to reverse the approval of the drug. In a concurring statement, Project 21 chairman Horace Cooper said, “Project 21 supports ending the FDA’s attempt to radically expand the use of mifepristone into some sort of ‘morning after’ abortion pill.” He went on to call the medicine “dangerous” and claimed that pro-life doctors should be exempt from prescribing the medication as it would make them “an accessory to an evil act.” [The National Center for Public Policy Research, 3/26/24 ]
• Students for Life of America has been a leading force behind a push to prohibit reproductive medication — the organization’s website even has a “chemical abortion” landing page, which fearmongers about the safety of mifepristone. [Students for Life of America, accessed 5/15/24 ; Politico, 4/19/23 ] 
• Students for Life Action, the political arm of the organization, released a statement praising Louisiana’s new law categorizing mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances. The statement called the drugs “dangerous” and repeated claims that chemical abortions result in significantly more complications and death than surgical ones. [Students for Life Action, 5/23/24 ]
• Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins posted on X praising the Louisiana law and calling abortion pills “dangerous” and, in another post, claimed Vice President Kamala Harris was “protecting sexual predators” by speaking out against the law.  [Twitter/X, 5/22/24 , 5/23/24 ]
• I n a press call reported on by NPR, Hawkins described the process as tantamount to “death by mail delivered to your doorstep.” [NPR, 12/16/21 ]
• The group has spread debunked claims about medication abortion having a harmful impact on wildlife and the environment, and filed a petition with the FDA to require providers of the medication to be responsible for the disposal of fetal tissue similar to medical waste. Hawkins was quoted in an organization blog saying that “tainted blood, tissue, and human remains have been flushed away, without any hard look at what happens next, or what happens to us and the environment.” [Media Matters, 3/12/24 ; USA Today, 12/12/22 ; Students for Life for America, 11/23/22 ] 
• A different blog post focused on the supposed dangers of using abortion medicine and the “abortion pill myths perpetuated by the abortion industry.” It argued that it is a “myth” that the majority of patients who take the medication don’t experience “serious complications,” and claimed that it is illegal and unsafe for the medication to be sent through the mail. Additionally, the group said abortion medicine is “uniquely traumatic” to patients. [Students for Life for America, 4/26/23 ] 
• Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America released a statement congratulating Louisiana for the The Catherine and Josephine Herring Act categorizing abortion drugs as controlled substances. The statement, by Southern Regional Director Caitlin Connors, claims “pro-abortion Democrats have enabled abusers to coerce and poison mothers with dangerous abortion drugs,” seemingly referencing the FDA easing restrictions on the drugs. The organization repeated these claims in a blog posted to Substack. [Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 5/21/24 ; Substack, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 5/23/24 ]
• In March of 2024, SBA published a piece on its site titled “Five big lies about the Supreme Court mail-order abortion drug case” in which it focuses on potential harmful side effects of the drug and the effects on patients. [Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 3/25/24 ]
• Notably, two publications cited as key studies in the Texas lawsuit against the drug, produced by the research arm of SBA, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, were retracted from a medical journal for issues regarding flaws and conflict of interest. [The Associated Press, 2/7/24 ]
• The SBA was also one of several organizations to sign an amicus brief in support of reinstating the rule requiring an in-person visit to be prescribed mifepristone. [ U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , Brief of Amicus Curiae, 2/24 ]
• According to Vox, SBA has been reaching out to right-wing governors in numerous states to discuss restrictions on the shipment of abortion medication. The organization’s state director of affairs told Vox that she expects states to be “creative” in finding ways to enforce restrictions against reproductive rights. [Vox, 1/9/23 ]
• SBA has released numerous press releases following the litigation of abortion medication, in many cases describing the pills and their distribution as “dangerous” and “reckless.” [The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 4/13/23 ,  2/8/23 ,  1/25/23 ,  1/19/23 , 1/3/23 ,  11/18/22 ]
• In January 2022, SBA, alongside a coalition of other organizations, released a letter to the Senate arguing against the nomination of Dr. Robert Califf for commissioner of the FDA due to his support of abortion pills. The letter claimed Califf approved “unsafe mail-order abortion.” The letter was also signed by other Project 2025 partners such as Concerned Women for America, Americans United for Life, Family Policy Alliance, and The Ethics and Public Policy Center. [Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 1/12/22 ,  2/14/22 ]
• In 2023, The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed an amicus brief in  U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, defending other Project 2025 partners' effort to limit access to mifepristone.  [ U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , Brief of Amicus Curiae, 2/29/24 ]
• Turning Point USA has published several opinion pieces from contributors attacking mifepristone. In one piece titled “NY Passes Law Requiring Public Universities to Provide the Abortion Pill to Students,” Turning Point USA contributor Morgan Zegers highlighted mail-ordered pills, writing, “Recently, some states have approved the sale of these abortion drugs via online order and mail delivery, a move that has been called reckless as it endangers not just the pre-born child, but also the life of the mother.” [Turning Point USA, 5/3/23 ]
• Turning Point USA contributor Erin Elmore took aim at mifepristone again in a piece asking, “Did the FDA Classify Pregnancy as an Illness to Approve ‘Abortion Pill?’” Elmore said the drug is “has several side effects, doesn’t always work as intended, is linked to the deaths of nearly 30 women, and has caused life-threatening illnesses in hundreds of women.” [Turning Point USA, 4/20/23 ]
• In another blog, Morgonn McMichael wrote about FDA regulations allowing for mifepristone to be sold at retail pharmacies, heavily accentuating the negative side effects of the medication. She writes, “Despite the innumerable side effects, some tolerable, others life-threatening, Plan C, a medical abortion pill provider, still claims that abortion is ‘safer than continuing a pregnancy and having a baby.’” She goes on to add, “Making the abortion pill more accessible is not the win for women that the left is branding it as.” [Turning Point USA, 1/4/23 ]
• Young America’s Foundation published a blog on its website in July 2023 attacking a seminar at Texas A&M University which included information about mifepristone, titled “Pregnant Woman Teaches Texas A&M Students How to Perform Illegal Abortions.” YAF wrote, “Universities should never allow students or guest speakers to use official resources to promote illegal activity. Hopefully, the investigation will result in consequences for the leftist student organization as well as the administrators who approved the all-school invitation.” [Young America’s Foundation, 7/19/23 ]
• In April 2023, YAF filed an amicus brief alongside several other right-wing organizations, which argued that the “FDA abused its own regulation in approving mifepristone in 2000.”  [ U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , Brief of Amicus Curiae, 4/18/23 ]

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Marketing Meets Science in Grad Student-Researcher Collaboration

Connor mokrzycki, students in the professional mba program get real-world experience helping a ritchie school professor market his social robot..

Students in the Daniels College of Business are no strangers to using case studies to learn, but Michael Myers, associate teaching professor and academic director of the MBA program, decided to take it a step further: Why not give students the chance to collaborate with DU researchers on marketing real-world products created right here on campus?

For two students in the Professional Master of Business Administration (PMBA) program , that led to working with Mohammad Mahoor, professor of electrical and computer engineering in the Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science , to help him market a robot he developed to benefit children with autism spectrum disorders.

Much of Mahoor’s research focuses on computer vision, machine learning and algorithm development with the goal of developing social robots—automatons that can socially interact with humans, potentially offering a wide range of beneficial uses. Previously, Mahoor and his fellow researchers developed Ryan, a companion robot designed to assist patients with Alzheimer’s .

When Myers partnered with Mahoor to bring the project into his classroom, it drew the attention of Jacquelin Lalor, who has a background in school nursing, and Ashley Hill, assistant director of Equity Labs at DU. Both were immediately interested, says Lalor. “ I think it was a perfect fit . It touched on some things that were important to us.”

The two were tasked with developing a marketing plan and began by researching the existing market, potential demand and competing products, among numerous other factors. “Then, we did a lot of research around the audience—who uses the product that you're developing the marketing plan for? The user drives a majority of the way that the rest of the plan is set up,” says Hill. With a thorough understanding of the market, the product and the audience, they developed and presented a go-to-market plan in the spring quarter.

The opportunity to do real, meaningful work with researchers across the disciplines made the project even more impactful, Lalor says. “The integration and collaboration between different segments in the university was really exciting as an MBA student,” she says. “We do a lot of case studies, but this is personal. We met these people; we know what their work is—that's very different than reading and responding to a case study.” And for Hill, balancing the needs of a multi-faceted audience and user base was both interesting and challenging. Compared to other coursework, she says, “this was very multi-dimensional in a lot of different ways.”

Beyond gaining practical skills and real-world experience, Hill adds, collaborating with faculty whose research is focused on the public good was rewarding. “They want to help people and do research that is meaningful, important and generative. They’re looking for a better future. It was really refreshing and inspiring for me to be in conversation with this internal team and with Dr. Mahoor’s folks and to know that that alignment is out there,” she says.

For Myers, the project was part of a push to provide students opportunities to work with intellectual property, gaining valuable, real-world skills and knowledge, which he says is crucial for preparing students for their careers. “In the business school, we fight to bring reality in—because abstraction doesn't help,” he says. “That's what this type of project brings to students.”

Myers hopes to continue providing his students with these types of experiences. “The buffet is open. We would like [faculty] to come and bring projects in—and we will help you execute,” he says. “If you have a need, I've got a small army of brilliant students who will do great work.”

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