The Top 3 Types of Marketing Research

Smart business owners know that there are several types of marketing research available. Take the time to connect and understand what the market needs from your company, and you will put your business in a better position to reach customers. Whether you’re planning to open a new business, provide additional services to the community, or offer new products from your store or home business, utilizing these strategic marketing and research techniques will improve your chances for success.

Ask the Question

Questionnaires are an excellent way to get feedback from current customers or from a list of potential clients. They can be filled out after the customer has made a purchase, or through further contact via phone, email, or traditional mail. Questionnaires can provide important information about the customer’s likes or dislikes, an overall experience with a product or service, or requests for additional information. Even though questionnaires are valuable when customers take the time to answer them thoroughly, there can be a few drawbacks, such as low response rate or the arduous task of creating a correctly worded questionnaire.

Request an Interview

Bringing together a small group of 6 – 10 people as a focus group, whether as a targeted audience or a broad demographic, is another example of strategic marketing and research techniques. In this instance, an interviewer asks targeted questions from the group about the company’s goods or services, and writes down any feedback from the audience. For a deeper understanding of your customer's thoughts, consider setting up individual interviews. These types of marketing research offer a chance to discover the feelings and thoughts that your products and services bring out in your current or potential clients.

Perform Some Experiments

Experiments are another great way to test people's responses to different goods, services, or promotions. As you set up two or more products and let the consumer try them, you will gain important data as you analyze their responses. Because experiments work best based off of a single question, the information gathered can be detailed and very specific. On the flip side though, experiments can be rather expensive for the specialized feedback you receive.

Overall, all of these types of marketing research are valuable in creating a successful business. Use them individually or all-together for amazing results!

About the Author

Stephen Gill is the editor of Marketing-Strategy-Solutions.com - a guide to marketing strategy for small businesses. Read more about importance of marketing research at his site.