Market Research is defined as the action or activity of gathering information about consumers’ needs and preferences. There are various different types of market research according to the channels used to collect the information.
The channels utilised to collect the information are:
- Postal
- Online
- Phone
- Face to face
- Group
- Individual
It’s important to select an appropriate market research team with adequate facilities, regardless of the channel used. For example focus groups, interviews, surveys, online questionnaires, CATI surveys and mystery shopping.
1. Market Research through Postal Survey:
It’s important to select a partner that provides you with mailing support (to store and send your surveys), has a business’ address, receives the answers and processes the surveys. If the data is inputted on a manual basis, a team with knowledge of database management would be an asset.
2. Market Research through Online Surveys:
Key elements to consider are: Is your current database up to date (clean your database before using it to increase ROI), knowledge of on-line survey software (i.e. survey monkey), the creation of personalised emails including your company logo, collect, process and analyse the data.
3. Market Research through Phone Surveys / Phone Interviews/ Phone Mystery Shopping:
A market research company with an internal call centre improves successful rates: Employees are familiar with similar market research projects and software required to perform the survey. Training is reduced and set up can be done in hours. Furthermore, it’s not a requirement to outsource the “field research” to a third party which guarantees data protection.
4. Face to face Market Research:
This can be performed in one or various locations (i.e. interviewed house/workplace, street or external location, market research agency office). Hence, it is paramount to have a workforce near to the location where the research will take place. You should select a Market Research agency with meeting room agreements in place or a national workforce available if it is required for your project.
Market research projects can be classified by other criteria
Other criteria can be used to classify Market Research Projects. For example:
Market Research projects can be classified by other criteria
Other criteria can be used to classify Market Research projects. For example:
Types of Market Research according to the objectives of the project
- Qualitative
- Quantitative
Type of market research according information to be collected
- Customer Satisfaction Survey
- Competitor Research
- Employee Performance (Mystery Shopping)
- Buyer Experience
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