Market research is crucial in developing product features and providing adequate services to your customers. When you can speed up this process, you’ll be able to stay ahead of your competitors as you’re updated with the latest industry trends. In addition, you’ll be able to attract more qualified leads and nurture your relationships with your existing customers.
However, it can take a long time before you can gather enough information about your customers. As a result, you might miss out on developing customer-centric campaigns that’ll convert leads into loyal clients. Aside from that, you might not be able to keep pace with the fast-paced and highly competitive industry.
To shorten market research timelines, you should adopt these five effective practices:
1. Leverage Social Media Analytics
Digital platforms, like social media, are now part of modern marketing strategies. These channels can provide accurate insights into your promotional campaigns, ranging from engagement to customer demographics. When you regularly monitor them, you can adopt an agile market research approach and develop content that’ll keep your audiences engaged.
When tracking social media data, you must use advanced monitoring tools to help you generate the information you need for your market assessment. These platforms can show you essential interaction information, like comments, mentions, and keywords, on all social media channels. Also, you can store all the data in these tools, which ensures that you can always respond to your online prospects so you won’t miss out on data collection opportunities.
2. Develop Tailored Surveys
In modern marketing, effective market research doesn’t adopt the ‘one size fits all’ concept because customers have varying preferences. If you constantly deliver the same survey questionnaires to your existing customers, they won’t feel motivated to answer those. On the other hand, individually sending them carefully-curated survey forms will make them feel heard and appreciated.
Moreover, you should send the questionnaires at the most convenient time. For instance, if you’re collecting data from new buyers, you must give them enough time to try your products or services first before you ask about their experiences. Aside from that, you must never forget to address them by their preferred names.
3. Be Transparent About Your Research Goals
You must be transparent when persuading your customers to answer your questionnaires or accept your interview proposal. Doing so helps give them an apparent reason why you intend to collect their insights, encouraging them to respond with accurate information. Additionally, you’ll avoid making them feel like you’re wasting their time because you’re adding value to your surveys.
When sending survey forms, you should clearly state your market research goals so they can understand how you intend to use their confidential data. For instance, you may tell them that you’re conducting this activity so you can add customer-centric product features or improve your services to better satisfy their needs. Alternatively, you may communicate that you want to know the reasons why they’re choosing your brand over your competitors so you can increase your value proposition in the market.
4. Incentivize Participants
Offering incentives to your participants is another way to shorten market research timelines. This strategy boosts their motivation to answer your questionnaires since you’re paying for their time and insights. In turn, you can increase response rates while helping your hard-to-reach target customers.
When deciding on incentives, you may choose from giving discounts or cash, sending free samples, or social recognition. However, you must ensure that these rewards won’t hurt your budget. Instead, you may use them as tools to increase your revenue while collecting insights from your qualified leads and existing customers.
5. Keep Surveys Short
Sending long questionnaires to your target participants often leads to high survey abandonment and non-response rates. Even if they engage with your questions, they won’t commit much effort to provide accurate answers, which results in ‘satisficing.’ As a result, you won’t be able to gain relevant insights and meet the purpose of your market research.
To avoid receiving poor market analysis outcomes, you should keep your surveys short yet valuable. When writing your questions, you must review your research goals to align them with your questionnaires. Then, you may consider distributing separate survey forms and merging the responses into a single platform.
Key Takeaway
As a business owner, you must conduct highly effective market research to gain a competitive edge and improve your marketing strategies. That said, you may follow these five practices in shortening market research timelines to better understand your customers without wasting valuable time and other resources. Once you do so, you’ll be able to develop new product features and nurture your relationships with your customers, boosting your revenue.
