Market research does not always have to be terribly expensive for your small business. If you work with an experienced and strategic market research firm, you will always feel like you received value from the project no matter what was spent. Strong market research firms go beyond the data for you.
Too many market research companies are data-heavy and insight light. This means they spend too much time trying to impress you with tables and the number of pages in your final report, and not enough time on actionable findings. As a client, you should be looking for a company that analyzes, interprets, and shares the implications of the data findings with you. Market research firms should be as much of a strategic advisor as a data collection company. Your market research firm should become a strategic partner.
No matter the size or the goal of your market research project, you'll likely have a budget. Although all companies would love to conduct in-depth telephone interviews with each of their 35,000 customers, this is often unrealistic for small businesses. This is not to say you should avoid market research completely if you have a small budget. Remember, strong insights and strategic direction can be found even with the smallest amount of Voice of Customer (VoC) work (e.g., 4-5 qualitative customer surveys.)
Here are 2 examples of smaller market research studies that are budget-friendly:
- Online Customer Satisfaction Survey - Your customer already has some form of relationship with you so you'll typically see strong response rates with this type of study. You'll also save on sample since you have the database in-house. Conducting this study online or through email will save your company from paying a third-party market research firm from hiring callers to place telephone calls to collect survey data. All-in-all a customer satisfaction online survey offers the best bang for your buck of any type of market research. You'll receive the data you need to understand your NPS rating, how you compare to competitors, and what needs to be improved from a customers' perspective.
- In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) - this is a market research project that is usually conducted by phone. It involves a professional moderator conducting 8 to 10 in-depth interviews with your key customers or stakeholders (most knowledgeable, most loyal, biggest spenders, those who recently left your company, or any other category you choose.) A guide of questions is developed and interviews are scheduled by phone. Research interviews last anywhere from 15 minutes to 60 minutes. The moderator is able to probe and dig into the findings. Using a separate market research company helps provide a middle layer for honest, credible, and reliable feedback.
Drive Research is a market research firm in Syracuse NY. Our firm offers a number of customized market research studies to fit your goals, timeline, and budget. Whether you are looking for a customer satisfaction survey company or an image and awareness survey company, Drive has you covered. Contact us today at 315-303-2040 or email our team at [email protected]. Unlike many company info@ inboxes, this is one we check regularly. Try us.