If you want to truly understand the pattern of marketing, then research is critical. This can be easily done by tapping into existing data that has to do with business marketing. There are many forms included in marketing research, or problem identification as it is sometimes known, including research into business-to-business (B2B) marketing and business marketing research.
Research is also performed in the advertising arena, with tests run to determine how effective the ad copy is and how likely customers will be to pay attention to the ads once they have been placed. That means researching to see how the ad affects people and whether or not it drives them to buy. Commercial eye tracking is used to come to terms with how a customer views the ad, with websites, traditional ads, and more all coming under this scrutiny.
No ad ever gets released to the market without first undergoing a series of copy testing that measures the customer’s awareness of the brand and how it motivates them.
Very few online customers simply log on and buy a product right away. They will often analyze it thoroughly before making a final decision, which is considered one of the main criteria of customer decision research. Customer satisfaction studies are performed after the purchase, to get honest opinions about the product and the satisfaction level from the buyer. Segmentation research is used to focus on a particular demographic or geographical region.
When the analysis being performed is all about a particular brand, ad tracking is done to get feedback on brand awareness, recognition, performance, and preference. Brand equity research can quickly determine a favorite brand, whereas brand name testing is used to gauge exactly what customers feel about a specific brand or product.
Demand estimation is used to understand product demand. Once the demand has been ascertained, it’s important to make frequent checks on the quality. Market research firms often employ mystery shoppers to take care of that. The mystery shopper will go through the complete buying process, taking notes about everything from the store to the performance of the salesperson. This is a technique often employed by businesses that want to check in on competitors.
New concepts are often great in principle, but they are never brought to market until concept testing is completed to see how customers will react to the new idea. One of the easiest ways to do this is to release the new product into the market in limited batches and pay close attention to the sales. If the results are positive, the product is then released on a wider scale.
When the initial testing has been concluded, companies often think about increasing the product price. Price elasticity testing is performed to get a feeling of what the customer thinks about the price change. The people who sell the products are often as important as the customer, which is why distribution channel audits are regularly performed to get a feel for how distributors and retailers like specific products.
Technology is now regularly used in Internet marketing research. Internet strategic alliance measures the likes, dislikes, and comments of customers in chat rooms, blogs, and online forums. A group of experts will form an online panel to accept online marketing research.
Every piece of research that is carried out can be broken down into two categories. Primary research is all based on original information, whereas secondary research is comprised of new information and existing research culled from other sources. As you might imagine, secondary research is cheaper than primary, but the results aren’t always as efficient.
The results of marketing research are usually reached using questioning or observations. Quantitative and qualitative marketing research is used in questioning. Quantitative marketing research uses the likes of forms and surveys to get answers, whereas quantitative research delves a little deeper by using thorough projective and interview techniques.
On the observation side of research, experimental techniques and ethnographic studies are the most commonly used. Purchase laboratories and test markets are considered to be experimental techniques. The measured quantity is derived from having knowledge of what makes a product successful and then changing one or more of those factors to see how the results change. Ethnographic studies are never linear and are usually done at different periods or in a cross-sectional manner.
Market research bears something of a similarity to exit polling in elections. Different angles, times, and circumstances are used to gather the results.
