Market research is an essential tool for all brands. Not only does it give you deep insight into your consumer’s buying patterns, but it better equips you to strategize your business plan effectively.
At the same time, it is essential to have proper market research at your disposal. Proper market research should be methodical, organized, and well-planned. Here are a few common market research pitfalls that you should not fall into and how to avoid them.
Don’t Have a Singular Focus for Your Research
The first step to conducting successful market research is to have a singular focus in mind.
- Have a set of questions pertaining to one topic for market research
- Don’t cram many topics to be explored under one market research
- It is more useful to have in-depth knowledge about one topic concerning your brand
- rather than having bits and pieces of information about different focus topics
Don’t Use Questionable Research Instruments
You need to make sure the survey or questionnaire that you are handing out to the focus group is easily understandable by the target audience. Using good market research software can help you with honing your research instrument to perfection.
Don’t Rely on a Poor Choice of Reference Materials
The next step to conducting a proper qualitative or quantitative market research is to have it backed by adequate research.
- You need to study if you are considering the right focus group and if you are equipped with the right questions to ask them
- Where is your information about the research coming from?
- You can’t rely on Google research for your reference materials
- You need to know if whatever reference materials you have searched are backed with valid research.
Don’t Rely on Only One Set of Data
When you are studying the reference materials before you make a research instrument, you can’t rely on one set of materials. Use various forms of data, taken from multiple data sources.
Don’t Assume Everyone Shares Your View of the Data
Everyone has a perspective about the way they see the world which might influence the way they see data. You need to put your own research bias aside before you analyze the research data.
For example, you might be overenthusiastic about your brand, and this might make you have an subconscious, but positive interpretation of the data, no matter how bad it is.
Having the Right Focus Group
Data is going to be useless if it is not relevant, so remember to define your target audience well. You can’t conduct market research on a group of people that the brand doesn’t cater to.
For example: A high-end brand of scotch like Johnnie Walker will not cater to a group of young students just out of college, so it doesn’t make sense trying to conduct market research for Johnnie Walker with college kids.
Your Family and Friends Can’t Be Your Focus Group
It might sound convenient but your survey group can’t be exclusively made out of your friends and family. They might already have a preconceived bias about the product, or you as a researcher might carry some notions about them.
The key to planning successful market research takes patience and diligence about data on the part of the researcher. Remember your data might be rendered useless if there is a small slip up, or you might take the wrong business decisions based on the wrong market research. It is important to have accuracy when planning your market research and make sure you don’t make these common mistakes.
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