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Unlock This CourseMarket research is how businesses gather information about their customers, competitors and the market. It helps companies make smart decisions about products, pricing and marketing. Think of it as a business's way of listening to what customers want before spending money on new ideas.
Key Definitions:
Qualitative research explores opinions, motivations and reasons. It answers questions like "why" and "how" people make decisions. This type of research gives you detailed insights but from fewer people.
Examples:
Quantitative research collects numerical data that can be turned into statistics. It answers questions like "how many" and "how often". This research gives you broader insights from many people.
Examples:
Research methods can be divided into two main categories based on where the data comes from:
Primary research involves collecting new data directly from sources. It's like baking a cake from scratch - you gather all the ingredients yourself.
Secondary research uses existing data collected by someone else. It's like using a ready-made cake mix - someone else has already gathered the ingredients.
Good market research follows a clear process to ensure you get useful results:
In 2008, Walkers launched the "Do Us a Flavour" campaign where they asked customers to suggest new crisp flavours. This was a brilliant example of market research in action.
They used qualitative research by asking open-ended questions about what flavours people would like to see. They then used quantitative research by having people vote on the final six flavours.
The campaign generated over 1.2 million flavour suggestions. The winning flavour, Builder's Breakfast, was created by Emma Rushin from Belper in Derbyshire. This campaign not only provided valuable market research but also engaged customers and created buzz around the brand.
When conducting research, it's usually impossible to ask everyone in your target market. Instead, you select a sample - a smaller group that represents your whole target market.
Everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected. Like pulling names from a hat.
Example: Selecting every 10th person from a customer database.
The population is divided into groups (strata) and samples are taken from each group.
Example: Ensuring you have respondents from different age groups, with the same proportion as in your target market.
Once you've collected your data, you need to make sense of it:
Look for themes, patterns and insights in text or visual data. This is more subjective and interpretive.
Use statistical methods to analyse numerical data. This is more objective and focuses on numbers.
Netflix uses both qualitative and quantitative research to decide what shows to produce. They analyse:
This research helped them create hit shows like "House of Cards" and "Stranger Things" because they knew what viewers wanted before they even made them.
When conducting research, businesses must consider ethical issues:
The best research approach often combines qualitative and quantitative methods:
Remember, the best market research combines both approaches to get a complete picture of your market. Qualitative research helps you understand the "why" behind customer behaviour, while quantitative research helps you measure "how many" and "how much".