Harnessing Best Practices for Market Research

10.09.24 #Strategy
Best Practices, Market Research
Zak

By Zak Becker,Research Manager

What I’ve Learned During My First Year as Research Manager

  • Exploring new trends, anticipating future changes, and questioning established perspectives are crucial for identifying and reaching the full potential of an opportunity 
  • Consider the overall economic and business context of the research and how that may impact the data or interpretations of it 
  • Stay ahead by adopting a “what if” mindset and preparing for future situations rather than being stuck in a state of constant reaction
  • Improve your decision-making through a collective approach to data management and insights generation 
  • Use expertise across departments to gain a holistic view of data and provide strategic recommendations
  • It is important to demonstrate the value of insights gained through research by linking them to business decisions and outcomes
  • Establish the end goal of the research in the planning phase to know how results will be measured and use that as a target for the project 
  • Focus your storytelling on the key insights that will impact the business problem at hand—don’t provide so much detail that they get lost
  • Making research accessible to all is not just a moral imperative, but, also provides strategic benefits as people with disabilities make up a substantial percentage of both the population and available spending power 
  • Inclusive research leads to a more representative sample and gives a clearer picture of the market preferences of the real world
  • AI offers substantial benefits for increased efficiency and the use of new approaches to data analytics and should be used to gain a deeper understanding of the information 
  • AI use needs to be done with transparency and must protect the privacy of personal information and key business data 
  • To avoid feedback loops and hallucinations, and to provide emotional intelligence and strategic thinking, it is important to maintain a human touch as well as review any AI-generated materials
  • Participants are hard (and expensive) to come by, and often a large sample size is an invitation for fraud (bots, “professional participants”) that will hurt the accuracy of the dataset 
  • The only caveat is if you need a statistically projectible sample (not as typical in B2B research)
  • Avoid repetitive and unnecessary screening questions—they will frustrate your participants, especially if you should already have that information or are asking for something not relevant to the business need of the research 
  • Keep surveys under 15 minutes (if not shorter)—participant engagement drops off dramatically once they’ve reached 15-20 minutes committed 
  • Review and use any existing information you have available, whether that is previously captured data or secondary sources, before jumping into additional research 
  • If building a panel or looking for participants for focus groups/interviews, find them through your existing contacts—“Good people know good people”
  • Know your audience and lean into what motivates them to participate in market research when coming up with your research design and methodology 
  • Be aware of differences in preference between generations, industries, and company sizes
  • Customer segmentation and persona reports can be handy tools for developing marketing strategies, but they need to be communicated and used across all aspects of the business to be truly effective 
  • Due to the time and cost required, ensure the potential opportunity is worth the upfront work—New or substantial growth opportunities often are! 
  • Depending on the situation, consider the need for full persona reports vs. segmenting your audience based on already available information (such as sales or web traffic)

Thinking about your market research needs? Contact EPIC to learn how we can help!

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