Did you know what the top brands have in common? We say it’s their market research tactics. And while the pattern behind every market research differs, most are based on gathering industry insights. Moreover, if you are looking for the top market research examples, these six brands know how to do it right.
Simply put, market research is a widespread technique where a researcher collects and interprets data. This helps stabilize decision-making and add value to the different business operation strategies.
With that in mind, here are our six favorite brands that are the pros at market research. Read on to discover why market research is important and how to do it right.
Giant Brands’ Market Research Examples to Inspire From
Apple Inc: Product Innovation Through Customer Feedback
Apple has some of the best technologies worldwide; there’s no doubt about it. From spectacular product innovation to an interface most swear by, Apple has always relied on researching the market.
This is demonstrated in the company’s in-house research team. Apple has an entire panel called Apple Customer Pulse, which serves as an online community for customers. This panel is an AI-based platform that works on understanding customer needs. Research is done through several customer satisfaction surveys.
And what’s better? Apple keeps the customer’s needs in mind and offers innovation every time a product launches.
Though you can not deploy an entire team on research, you can start with surveys. And, SurveyPoint can be your starting point. With the ability to build a survey within minutes, you can choose from several templates or develop your survey from scratch. The custom analytical option allows you to track real-time analytics and browse through many question types.
Lastly, you can deploy frequent checks and build easy visuals to comprehend your collected data.
Starbucks Coffee: Adapting to Local Markets and Cultures for International Success
Apart from having the best coffee, the company is also one of the best market research examples. Factually, Starbucks is the largest global coffeehouse chain. This is primarily because they know how to research their market.
The market research tactics followed by Starbucks include the following:
- Social media tracking
- Trend tapping
- Collecting regular customer feedback
- Frequent product testing
Throughout its existence, the company has been gathering customer feedback through the My Starbucks Idea platform. This panel enables current and potential customers to visit the website and offer any creative ideas they might have.
This allows Starbucks to tap into any problems its customers might have faced. So, in addition to making their customer feel valued, they also consider customer feedback to make better decisions.
McDonald’s: Developing and Testing New Menu Items
McDonald’s is perhaps the biggest fast-food chain worldwide. And, apart from just the hype, McDonald’s actually listens to its customers.
Under its market research approach, the company seeks to answer the following four questions:
- Which products are most liked by the customers?
- Which product is the most affordable?
- What are the target customers looking for?
- Why are certain restaurants busier than others?
By answering the above questions, the company understands its best-selling product, acceptable price range, and the most preferred location.
Market research usually focuses on increasing its customer base. And, if it is not improving, they take measures to keep things on track. In short, McDonald’s considers customer feedback to alter how it offers its products.
For instance, many customers complained that the entire McDonald’s menu lacked anything organic or healthy. To defy this, the company launched a new range of products that were a bit more healthy and made from organic produce.
Dove: Developing Marketing Campaigns Based on Customer Research
Dove follows a bit more psychological approach. The company deploys a couple of proactive strategies that gain attention. To start with, Dove has always been an ambassador for self-love.
And when it noticed that several women Twitter users were saying negative things about themselves, the company launched a new campaign called #SpeakBeautiful. Launched in 2015, the campaign encouraged more women to talk positively about themselves.
Let’s talk in numbers. Before the campaign, around 5 million female users were talking negatively about themselves, which went down to 3.4 million once the campaign launched.
This technique attempted to change how people think about themselves, but Dive also scored a lot on loyalty.
LEGO: Identifying New Market Opportunities
LEGO is another market research example that successfully studied the market to make well-informed decisions. After carefully considering the target audience, the company discovered that its products were gender-specific. In short, LEGO mainly attracted boys.
LEGO then conducted a market study where it surveyed around 3,500 girls. This gave them an insight into what types of toys girls are attracted to.
It was an excellent approach to understanding the opportunity size when they were ready to expand.
The company then launched a new toy line, including all genders.
Zappos: Creating a Company Culture Focused on Customer Service
Zappos is a pro at handling both customer and employee satisfaction. Here’s what their customer support services look like.
Zappos uses traditional researching tactics like surveys and in-person interviews. The reason why Zappos is successful is that the company treats its employees like actual people. They value customer experience and ensure everything they do adds value to their customers.
Why Conduct Market Research?
Market research is vital if you are willing not to compromise on customer satisfaction. It helps reduce customer churn and elevate the business to new heights. Here are some of the reasons why conducting market research is essential.
Valuable Insights
Market research helps you tap into the current condition of your product/service. This enables you to build a spectacular business problem, understand all pain points, and build revenue-driving strategies.
Valued Customers
The more satisfied your clients are, the more likely they’ll repurchase your product/service. In short, the key to everything is customer satisfaction. Through market research tactics like surveys, you can understand what problems your customers face and build strategies to help eliminate them.
Market Forecasts
Once you start getting your customers, you can predict the production and sales. This can also help in inventory stocking.
6 Easy Steps To Conduct Market Research
Here are six easy ways to conduct market research:
Understand The Problem
When posing questions, researchers will benefit from having a well-defined study area. These inquiries ought to be problem-solving in nature and customized for the project.
Make that the responders can comprehend the questions and that they are written clearly. To determine if the questions are clear enough to yield informative answers, researchers can test them on a small group of participants.
Define The Sample
Researchers require a representative sample to do market research, which may be obtained by utilizing one of the several sampling procedures. A representative example is a small group of individuals who correctly reflect a broader group.
A company cannot squander resources by gathering data from the incorrect demographic. The population in the chosen sample must reflect the traits the researchers care about and need to explore.
Remember that marketers will always be prone to bias in the sample since there will always be individuals too busy to finish the survey or answer it entirely, which might prevent researchers from collecting the necessary data.
ALSO READ: Representative Samples: Importance + Methods
Collect Data
A tool for gathering data should be created first. Incomplete or absent responses to surveys will lead to mistakes in the research. This may be avoided with proper data collecting.
Data Analyzation
All stages of the market research process are interconnected. Even if everything above is done correctly, the decisions will not be the right ones if there is no proper analysis of the outcomes. Solutions can be found by thoroughly examining without leaving loose ends.
Reports should be adequately prepared so that judgments may be made based on reviewing the data they include.
Looking for a broader meaning for the data acquired requires analysis and interpretation of the findings.
ALSO READ: Data Visualization Trends 2023: What Are They?
Make A Report
Researchers should not assume that the survey’s format is the ideal approach to do the analysis when presenting the results. Instead, they should concentrate on what they hope to accomplish with this research report.
The fact that many researchers give their findings in the same sequence as their questions and fail to recognize the potential of the narrative is one of the significant errors they make.
ALSO READ: How To Write An Intuitive Survey Result Report?
Make Decisions
Market research enables researchers to learn various facts, such as customer purchase intentions or comments on the target market’s expansion.
They may also get helpful information that will aid in determining the costs of their goods or services and assist them in reaching a compromise that is advantageous to both them and the customers.
The Takeaway
Now that you have the best market research examples, it’s time to take the first step and conduct a survey. You can use online survey-building tools like SurveyPoint to make this process streamlined.
Also, like the examples listed above, focus on improving customer experience. The happier your customers, the more likely you’ll be able to drive revenue.
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