You’ve just come up with the most jaw-droppingly amazing offer. Your sales page is beautiful, your branding is on point, and the price feels like a total steal for the amount of value you’re providing… so why isn’t anyone buying it? The answer to this question and many many more can be found by doing a little something called market research – because no matter how well you think you know your target audience, you’ll never know what they’re really thinking unless you ask them.
But how do you ask them? Where do you find them? And most importantly… what kinds of questions do you need to ask to get the answers that you’re looking for?
Let’s start by defining market research.
Oxford Dictionary defines market research as, “The work of collecting information about what people buy and why.”
Shopify dives a little deeper with their definition, explaining, “Market research consists of systematically gathering data about people or companies – a market – and then analyzing it to better understand what that group of people needs.”
Finally, Salesforce takes it one step further, defining market research as, “Gathering consumer feedback on your product or service and collecting pertinent information on the marketplace. This information includes what your competitors are doing and how they’re pricing themselves.”
At its simplest, market research is surveying your target market to understand what they want and how you, the business owner, can sell it to them. On the more complicated end of the spectrum, market research is a combination of survey and interview data, message mining, competitor analysis, and some serious self-reflection to determine if you, the business, have an offer that solves the problem your ideal customer is looking to solve. If your customer doesn’t know they have a problem? Isn’t looking for a solution to the problem? Or already has a solution that they’re happy with – it doesn’t matter how great your offer is, there might not be a need for it in the marketplace.
Large corporations with dedicated departments for market research have big budgets and a lot of time and energy to dedicate to constant market research. When we focus on small business market research, we can take a more simple approach.
Small Business Market Research: Primary vs. Secondary Research
Primary research is conducted by you, the business owner, or someone on your team, or an outside agency that you hire. You or your research team will develop survey questions, conduct interviews, and get answers to very specific questions that you have for your target market.
On the other hand we have secondary research. Secondary research is research that already exists, and has been conducted by another individual, organization, or research group. Traditionally, this is official research conducted by another party, but for small business market research, we can expand this category to include looking at public polls in facebook groups, reading through Reddit comment sections, and exploring the other educational resources, blog posts, and service options available that solve the problem you are trying to solve.
When dealing with primary research we are analyzing pre-existing data. When dealing with primary research, we are creating a space for new data points to exist.
Primary Research Methods
Surveys
When it comes to primary research, surveys are a popular method for small business market research. They are simple to put together, quick to distribute, and easy to ask participants to complete, since surveys are generally pretty short. A downside to survey research is that you only have one shot to survey a particular audience. If you have follow up questions or wish you phrased something differently, you can’t go back and ask the same people to follow up.
Creating a survey for your audience can be as simple as setting up a series of Instagram or Facebook polls, or you can get more intricate with a Typeform or Airtable form with longer, more detailed questions, skip logic, and multiple question types. A benefit to using another platform to share your survey is increased reach. When polling your audience, you may have skewed results because you are surveying people who are already interested in you and your services. Surveying a broader audience may give you a better birds eye view of the need for your solution or the scope of the problem you solve in your industry as a whole.
Interviews
Where survey data is great to tell you what people are feeling or what they are experiencing, interviews are a fantastic way to lean into the why and how of a problem or solution. Interviews give you the opportunity to dig deeper, ask follow up questions, and ask open-ended questions. This allows you to learn in your ideal clients’ own words why they feel the way they do about their problem and what they’re looking for in a solution.
Similar to your survey participants, you may get interviewees skewed in your favor if you only interview members of your audience, but it can be difficult to get face or phone time with total strangers. Do your best to interview a number of people from a variety of places online and remove bias from your questions, but don’t sweat it if you can only interview people you know.
Secondary Research Methods
Facebook Groups
Facebook groups are a gold mine for secondary market research. Not only can you see the polls and public market research questions that others in your industry are asking, you can also learn about the problems your ideal clients are facing and the questions that they have in their own words. The Facebook groups you find good secondary research data in will vary depending on your industry, but I love hanging out in the Freelancing Females, Creative Lady Collective, and The Break Room Facebook groups for community, collaboration, and – of course – market research.
Another great place for gathering secondary research is Reddit! As a marketer, I like this subreddit for marketing-related market research (say that five times fast!), but there are thousands of subreddits filled with consumers asking questions, seeking advice, and giving valuable insight that you can use for market research!
Finally we have good ol’ Google. It may seem obvious, but simply searching for the questions you’d like to ask your target market can show you what resources are already out there to support them. This can help you validate the need for your offer by ensuring people are actually asking the questions you’re helping them answer! A quick google search definitely shouldn’t be your only market research method, but its a good thing to include in a well-rounded market research plan.
Creating a Market Research Plan
Whether you’re creating a new opt-in or launching a brand new business, a market research plan will help you set yourself up for success. The higher the stakes, the more in-depth your market research plan should be, but that doesn’t mean it has to be complicated! Try to choose at least one primary and one secondary research method to get started, and see what kind of insights you can get. You can always ask more questions or dive into more interviews later.
Ready to dive into market research but not feeling the DIY approach? We can work together to get your market research on track – you don’t even have to lift a finger.
