According to Entrepreneur, market research is defined as the process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a market, product or service. Accurate information is critical to decision making within businesses, as informed decision making can reduce organizational risk, minimize tendencies towards subjective or emotion-based thinking, help to anticipate future events or trends, and more – the list goes on and on. Despite the proven importance of the role of accurate information in business decision making, many organizations are not utilizing or conducting market research as part of their arsenal. Why is this? There are several reasons, but one of the greatest is the misconceptions business leaders have around market research. Today we are going to debunk some of these ‘myths’ to show why every organization can and should use market research.
Here are a few of the top ‘myths’ surrounding market research.
Market research takes too long.
Market research can be done quickly, but it depends on a few factors. If you are doing a survey of US consumers without a lot of qualifying characteristics (e.g. US consumers over 18 who have a cellphone), that type of research can be done very quickly. Research can take longer when you want to speak to a niche audience. Our research team at TEAM LEWIS can help speed up this process. By partnering with us and identifying the specific questions you need answered or the business problem you would like to solve, we can build out a bespoke project to ensure you receive relevant, informative data. Fielding times vary depending on the number of people you want to survey and how defined you want your audience to be. If you only want the raw data or a shorter report, the length of time can be reduced even further. At TEAM LEWIS, the standard, custom research project averages around two to three months from the project kickoff to the final research deliverable. Two months is a short time when considering the result of conducting thorough market research – more informed business decisions.
Market research is too expensive.
Research can be done on any budget. TEAM LEWIS always has discussions upfront to make sure that we can do a project within the specified budget, but we also caveat where we cannot cut costs. Research costs also vary by audience. For example, a study of CMOs at large companies will cost more than surveying business decision-makers about marketing tools. TEAM LEWIS also offers omnibus surveys – a great cost-effective option to quickly gather original data. Our team’s expertise within the research industry guarantees that we can help you identify which audience is most important to your research objectives and create methodologies and questions specifically designed for that audience. TEAM LEWIS has decades of experience and will help your organization maximize your research.
When considering budget, it is also important to remember that primary research may not be the right tool for answering your questions. TEAM LEWIS’ research services are not solely limited to primary research. We can identify and pursue other research methodologies, such as competitive analysis, marketing tonality, customer segmentation or persona identification, and more, to achieve your organization’s research objectives within budgets.
Market research is unnecessary (we know our customers, or we can do our own research).
You may think you know your customers, but do you know why they make the choices they make and what motivates them? Many organizations are drowning in data and suffering from information overload. They need researchers to make sense of all the information available. Researchers can help you navigate and focus on what truly matters to your consumers. Customers’ needs are also constantly changing. If you aren’t collecting information on your customers regularly, you may not have as good of a grasp on their needs as you think. Customers are also always evolving. For example, while the app TikTok is less than 10 years old, it has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms worldwide. In 2023 alone, an estimated 37% of TikTok users in the United States made purchase either through links on the app or directly on the platform. As the digital landscape evolves, brands need to collect data and track the customer journey to ensure they are reaching customers on the right channels at the right time.
While it may be tempting to write your own survey or use one of the many existing self-serve research tools out there, the best move for your organization may be to hire researchers instead. Market research is an investment in your business and its future. We are specifically trained to write survey questions and to analyze the data once we have it. Trust us to help you along the way.
Market research is not possible for my industry…it’s too complicated!
TEAM LEWIS research has experience across a wide variety of verticals – from consumer products to technical industries like edge computing, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure. It is our job to learn difficult information and to help guide you. As part of the kick-off process, our research team dives deep into understanding everything we’ll need to know about your business. For certain instances and more technical research objectives, qualitative research may be better suited for your needs as it allows us to get even more thorough and specific. In fact, we often recommend doing a combination of qualitative and quantitative research to best answer your research questions.
Market research is nice to have but not a need to have.
Lastly, you may think research is a ‘nice to have’ and not a ‘need to have’? We make decisions based on the information we have and the tools available. If you are not collecting information or checking or verifying your hypotheses, you are making choices based on your gut or what you believe to be true of the world. The world is changing faster than ever before; now is not the time to guess!
Interested in market research services? Contact our team today.
