Five easy ways to make the most of market research

Last updated at 07:27, Monday, 07 January 2013

Andrew Woods, director of Wildwood Research

Andrew Woods of Wildwood Research gives some useful tips and links to help you use market research to help your business.

Business owners and managers may well have heard about market research, may have recently read some interesting results published by Ipsos MORI and perhaps found themselves disagreeing with the latest YOUGOV or ComRes poll on behalf of Channel 4 News.

To many small to medium sized businesses, market research can sometimes appear theoretical, corporate and perhaps confusing. But the truth is that market research is an essential and necessary part of your marketing mix.

Market research is essentially all about regular customer engagement, consultation or dialogue. It is all about asking your customers (and potential customers) for their opinion about your products or services. And the good news is that customers love being asked for their opinions! All you have to do is listen!

Here are a few market research top tips to consider which can benefit any sized business or start-up:

1. Consultation with customers helps build stronger relationships. Your customers value being asked for their opinion. All brands need to forge stronger relationships with their customers and by understanding your customers you will be getting to the heart of what drives trust and loyalty.

2. Monitor satisfaction levels. Be hungry for feedback on your products of services but be prepared for “warts and all” responses to your questions and learn from your mistakes. Research has shown that a 5 per cent increase in loyalty can lead to an increase in profits of between 25-85 per cent.

3. Use technology. Online and mobile methods mean that qualitative and quantitative market research is as affordable as ever before.

4. Always use secondary data wherever possible. This is almost always free and available from a huge variety of sources. Here are just a few:

http://www.mintel.com

http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk

http://www.ons.gov.uk

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills/about/statistics

5. Take your time in designing your questionnaire. Keep the questions short and be sure to pre-test the survey first. Carefully consider the order of the questions and ask any sensitive questions near the end of the questionnaire.

To find out how market research can shape your marketing plans and help to improve your profitability contact Andrew at:

Andrew@wildwood-research.co.uk or visit www.wildwood-research.co.uk