What are the Most Common methods of Market Research?
It has been proven that online market research methods are more convenient, effective, and also cost-friendly when compared to traditional methods. In the recent past, market research that required hefty resources was tedious and a complex manual process was followed. It was then carried out using traditional methods without the incorporation of standardized techniques.
With the foray of the internet in these domains, multiple limitations that operated in market researches have been reduced to a major extent. Online Market Research has considerably helped in overcoming the hurdles like hefty costs involved in manual research, heavy workloads, and protracted timelines.
The limitations to market research in the traditional and manual setup have been considerably reduced with the help of the internet and the various means that it provides to ease up the entire process of research. Not just reducing the limitations, the online methodologies of market research have contributed substantially towards bettering the quality of research through online means, and the benefits that come along with it are continuously growing day by day.
The conventional hurdles that market researchers faced in the traditional methodologies have been reduced to a major extent all thanks to online market research.
The online research methodologies, be it in house or outsourced market research, have spread their wings to an extent today that both primary and secondary market researches can be conducted online without any hassle or tedious arrangements to be made.
Primary and secondary market research methodologies differ in terms of the nature of the data that is collected for the research. Primary research deals with the collection of original data that is being collected particularly for the research being conducted that is it is first-hand data collection. Whereas for secondary researches, the data collected is secondary and is extracted from already published sources.
Amidst these two, primary research yields more specific and accurate results when compared with secondary research, the former is more time consuming and expensive.
Here are the methods of online primary and secondary market research:
Online primary market research methods
1) Instant communities
Making use of instant communities online for gathering primary data for primary research is an efficient Idea as these communities provide fast feedback and help in minimizing the time required for research. Traditionally collecting data of the same volume requires hefty resources and time along with efforts. It can help in minimizing the required time from months or weeks to just a few days.
For example, chat forums online that relate to your product or service can provide insightful feedback and data for market research.
2) Online polls and surveys
Online surveys and polls are one of the best methods of online market research that can help you in the collection of specific research related data for the marketing campaign and can help you structure your research accordingly. The benefit of this method is that it provides you with reliable data collected from first-hand users of a product or service or the segment that has been directly impacted by the subject of your research. The reliability of this market research comes from the fact that all aspects of market research can be considered under this.
3) Social media
Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook have come up as great online market research channels and have contributed majorly towards online market research methodologies. Using popular social media websites, organizations can gather useful information regarding their services or products along with reviews and feedbacks in a very short span. Such reviews and feedbacks are rich in authenticity and reliability.
In order to achieve high-quality results for research, the researcher should focus on a few social groups like that of Google Plus or Twitter.
4) Focus groups
Focus groups online are audio or chat-based groups that have selected participants who interact with one another and share insights on services or products. They also attend to series of research questions. The requirement for this research method is that high-speed internet should be present to ensure a smooth discussion.
Online secondary market research methods
1) Keyword researches
Keyword research can help the researcher understand how their prospective customer looks for a service or product on the internet and can help businesses in evaluating the niche that they might explore as per their prospective customer's interest. Keyword research is can also help you understand the type of competition that your organization faces.
2) Public Records
One of the most mainstream methods of collecting secondary data while conducting online market research is public records. There are a number of online websites that offer easily accessible quantitative data that might be relevant to your subject of research. For example, free demographic data available on government sites can be used.
3) Blogs
Blogs can also be used as a secondary market research method as reading blogs that depict key opinion leaders is a brilliant way that helps in evaluating how the target audience would respond to a particular service or product offered by a brand. In addition to this, blogs come with loads of customer feedback, current content, and active participants that make it a valuable online market research option.
In conclusion, irrespective of the online market research method that you choose from primary or secondary methodologies, the researcher can benefit hugely in multiple aspects by opting for online methods. Comparing the online methodologies to traditional market research methods, the conclusion comes out that online methods are quite beneficial, cost savings, and deliver in a quick time frame.