Research

99 Market Research Questions You Should Be Asking

99 Market Research Questions You Should Be Asking

Asking the right market research questions at the right time can pay dividends. You wouldn’t buy a house without first researching the neighborhood – and it’s unlikely you’d take a job without doing your homework on your prospective employer. So why should starting a business be any different?

Whichever way you look at it, asking the right market research questions makes sense as a first step.

The five parts of market research: definition, methods, steps & tips, examples and importance & benefits.

Do you want to gain a foothold in the market? Get to grips with the competition? Start thinking like your target audience? Introduce a new product or mobile app?

Whatever your goal, market research will help you understand all aspects of your industry, brand, potential customers, and rivals – good market questions can make a world of difference.

Below, we’ll walk you through 99 questions to ask for market research to succeed in the digital world. We started out as a research intelligence tool , so we know our stuff when it comes to defining a market, mapping key players, marketing strategies , and understanding trends , and target audiences.

So read on for all the questions your market research strategy needs – and how Similarweb can help you answer them.

How to choose market research questions

The market research questions you pick will depend on where your business is in its lifecycle. As we’ll get to in a moment, there are a lot of market research questions – so how exactly do you choose?

Pre-start-up – If you’ve not launched a business yet, and are just cultivating an idea – you’ll want to start with some formal market research first. Then, ask more general market research questions, and some targeted at start-ups. This will help you determine if there’s a financially viable market, whether it has blockbuster prospects, or is better off left in the cutting room.

Early start-up – If you’ve just started out, you’ll want to reach out to your target market with survey questions to help you tailor your products and services to them.

Established – If you’ve been around a little longer – and already have a few current customers – you’ll want to learn more about how you can keep improving your customer experience.

Finally, you can look at questions to ask for market research that focus on competitor analysis. These aren’t limited to any particular stage of your business’s journey. After all, getting clued up on the competitive landscape is always handy – whether you’ve just entered the market or are one of its most established players.

A business person conducting market research, analyzing graphs and evaluating data.

99 market research questions: discover, define, drill down

There’s no need to limit yourself! The best types of market research should – and do – include general questions and those addressing both existing and prospective customers. Indeed, an intelligent approach to market research should cover demographic questions all the way to those that’ll help you plan a product launch , drill down into your target market , and get the jump on your competitors.

Read on to see the best examples of market research questions in action!

Generic market research questions

These questions are most useful at the planning stage. They can apply to all businesses at any stage because markets shift, along with consumer behaviors, needs, and demands.

General market research is the process of figuring out how rich the soil is and whether the conditions are optimal to allow your business’s roots to take hold.

Some general market research questions you should be asking include:

1. How large is my product’s total addressable market (TAM)? 2. Will this market hold firm, or will it grow or decrease with time? 3. Are there already similar products or services out there? 4. If so, who’s offering them? (see the competitor analysis questions below for more) 5. Who are my buyer personas ? 6. What pain points does my product address? 7. How much market share is available for my business to take? 8. What external factors might affect the health and viability of my chosen market? 9. Which website demographics will I target? 10. Will I market my product internationally or target a specific geographical location or a single location (if so, why?) 11. Do I need to consider a website alone, or should I invest in a mobile app? (use mobile app intelligence to help to figure this one out) 12. Which suppliers or manufacturers operate in the space, and are they reputable? 13. Which marketing channels will I prioritize, and which affiliates or advertisers could I look to in order to expand my reach?

Market research questions for start-ups

Regardless of your sector, there are key things you need to establish before setting up a business. Read on to discover the fifteen market research questions all start-ups need to ask.

14. What is the total addressable market (tam), serviceable available market (sam), and share of market (som)? 15. What are the latest (and predicted) trends impacting your market? 16. Do you know who your direct and indirect competitors are?

Read through questions 71-99 for examples of market research questions to help you with this.

17. What’s your USP in the market? What’s the value-add that’ll make you stand out? 18. What do your competitors charge, and will you charge the same, more, or less?

You’ll also need to consider pricing models. For instance,  pay-monthly, annual subscription, or other?

19. Do you know how much people are willing to pay for a product/service like yours? 20. Can you trial your product or service with a beta group before launch to get feedback and/or testimonials? 21. What are the most effective marketing channels for businesses like yours? 22. How active are your customers and competitors on social media? 23. How will you onboard/welcome new customers? 24. Do rivals offer new customer or loyalty discounts? 25. What kind of customer support will you offer? Look at your rival’s offerings and decide whether you want to stick with the same or do better. 26. Are potential customers driven by price, product, or service? 27. Are your competitors or market impacted by seasonal trends ? 28. What opening hours and service level agreements (SLAs) will you advertise on your site?

Market research questions for a new product

Whether established, pre-launch or newly set up, you may need to ask specific market research questions for a new product launch. Whether you simply want to test the water with an idea or concept or go a little deeper to get clearer insights, these questions will help.

29. Is there a specific pain point your product will address? (if you have already identified an ideal customer, what kinds of things do they struggle with?) 30. Is there a demand for your product in the market? 31. Are there any opportunities to partner with other companies to get referrals for your product? 32. How do you plan to market and launch your product? 33. Will you release a minimum viable product (MVP) to market first?

If you release an MVP or offer a free trial to a select group of people, you’ll need to follow this up with a survey or specific questions to get feedback around usage, benefits, and improvements. A few examples of market research questions like these could include:

34. Which feature of the product did you use the most? 35. What improvements would you like to see? 36. How much would you be willing to pay for this product? 37. Was the product easy to use? 38. Was there anything you experienced during the trial that may deter you from using our product in the future? 39. How often did you use the product? 40. Would you recommend this product to someone else? If yes, why? If no, why?

Market research questions for your target audience

Once you’re sure there’s a viable market for your business, it’s time to drill down into that market – your audience and website demographics .

The six aspects of audience demographics: education level, hobbies or interests, financial situation, profession, age, and gender.

To begin, you’ll want to ask your respondents a few demographic questions to understand the basics. These might include:

41. How old are you? 42. Which gender do you identify as (if any)? 43. What’s your level of education? 44. What’s your profession? 45. What’s your household size? 46. What is your household income? 47. Which ethnic/cultural group do you identify with? 48. Where do you live? 49. Do you have any dependents? 50. What are your hobbies?

These questions provide a top-level understanding of your target audience . So, you can then utilize psychographic segmentation to dig a little deeper. These inquiries are designed to draw out your customers’ attitudes, lifestyles, likes, dislikes, motivations, and beliefs – particularly if they relate to your product or service.

The goal? To match your business with its ideal customer . Examples of these types of market research questions include:

51. Do you actively seek out new experiences or prefer to stick with what you know? 52. What do you most enjoy doing in your free time? 53. What was the last big-ticket item you purchased? 54. Have you ever boycotted a brand? If so, which brand – and why? 55. Which matters more when you make a purchase – price or quality? 56. Would you rather have more time or money? 57. How do you like to make purchases – do you prefer apps or web-based services? 58. How do you prefer to seek customer support? 59. What’s your main source of information?

For a more detailed deep dive into the above, see our guide on the what and why of market segmentation – and how to become a pro at it!

The definition of market segmentation is “the process of dividing a broad target market into smaller, more specifically defined groups.

Market research questions for your customers

So, you’ve established the market for your product, nailed your target audience, and now… you’ve got customers! Congrats – that’s a surefire sign that you’re on the right track.

But simply having new customers isn’t enough. To be truly successful, you’ll need to maintain engagement , foster loyalty to your product, and keep your customers coming back for more – in other words, build your brand.

Fortunately, this is where market research can help. By asking your existing customers a few questions, you can find out what you’re doing well, what you could be doing better, and – crucially – what your brand means to them. With this knowledge, you can do more of what your customers love, and identify key areas for improvement.

Here are some of the market research questions you can ask your customers to get useful feedback:

60. How did you first hear about our brand? 61. What made you choose us? 62. How long have you been a customer? 63. How would you rate your most recent experience with us? 64. Did we answer all your questions and requests for support? 65. Would you use us again? 66. How likely are you to recommend us to a friend? 67. What do you wish our product could do? 68. Do you believe our product is priced fairly? 69. What’s the maximum you’d pay for this kind of product? 70. What do you like most about our product?

Explore our complete guide to audience development for more tips, tricks, and strategies around this type of customer analysis.

Market research questions for competitor analysis

Death, taxes, and… competition .

Yep – no matter how original or innovative your idea is, pretty soon, there’ll be hordes of wannabes targeting the same space with similar products, and guess who they’ll be targetting? Your customers.

So how do you keep your friends close and your competition even closer?

Well, a SWOT analysis is a good place to start. It involves swotting up on your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It’s a heady mix of evaluating your business and the external factors that could affect it. So it’s naturally a great place to get your competitor analysis and benchmarking off the mark.

The definition of SWOT is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

You could also begin by asking yourself the following market research questions:

71. Who are our main competitors? 72. What are they doing that we’re not? 73. What’s our unique value proposition? 74. How much web traffic do our competitors receive? 75. Do they have a mobile app? If so, is it on iOS or android? How many monthly or daily active users do they have? 76. What’s their bounce rate ? 77. Which keywords and search terms do they target? 78. Which marketing channels do they prioritize, and how frequently do they advertise? 79. How do the backlink profiles of our competitors compare to our own? 80. Are our competitors seen as more authoritative in the space? 81. What kind of content do our competitors produce? 82. How do our competitors attract customers? 83. What are the unique selling points of our competitors? 84. What do our competitors charge? 85. What social media channels do our competitors use? 86. What kind of discounts and promotions do our competitors run? 87. Which sources and affiliates drive traffic to our competitors’ sites? 88. How does our business model compare to those of our rivals?

Remember, your customers are a potential goldmine of information about your competitors . Reach out to your client base with the following market research questions:

89. Who do you seek advice from when shopping for this kind of product? 90. Are you loyal to a particular brand in the space? 91. If so, what do you love most about this brand? 92. Is there anything that this brand could do better? 93. How did you find the last product you bought in the industry? 94. Is there anything you see our competitors doing that you’d like us to do? 95. What’s most likely to make you buy a product from another brand? 98. Can you tell us the top three things that made you choose us over a competitor? 99. What one thing matters most to you when deciding between brands that offer the same product?

You may also consider including some open-ended questions so you can hear from your loyal customers in their own words. Market research surveys are a great way to uncover and collect this type of data.

If you’re unsure where to start, learn about the seven types of competitor analysis frameworks – and how to use them to get your strategy off the ground.

Similarweb Competitor Analysis Frameworks

Whether you're B2B or B2C, get started with our free and easy to use template

How to answer these questions with Similarweb

Now that you’re armed with the 99 research questions you need to succeed in your market research endeavors, how do you answer them?

Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence is a great place to start. With these tools (which you can try for free) you can effortlessly do market sizing, gauge your audience’s loyalty and engagement rate , uncover mobile app intelligence for your market, improve your site’s retention rates, and more.

Similarweb platform shows the traffic and engagement metrics with its cutting-edge data.

In the same vein, Similarweb can also help you conduct that all-important competitor analysis . You can build a picture of which rival sites your customers frequent and form a data-driven understanding of why.

With Similarweb Digital Research Intelligence, you get an entire suite of market research and analysis tools at your fingertips. You can monitor your industry in real time via a personalized dashboard with on-demand access to industry, company, and consumer trends. With a broad view across web and mobile app intelligence, you can clearly understand the digital landscape that matters to you ( and your customers ) most.

Don’t just take our word for it, though. Check out what Similarweb can do for you today, and start tackling those big questions now!

Level up your market research

Get the data you need to adapt to market changes and industry trends.

What is market research?

Market research assesses the viability of a product or service by reaching out to its target market. It can include primary research – such as interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires – and secondary research , like articles and white papers.

What is the best way to ask market research questions to customers?

Because they’re quick to set up, relatively low-cost, and easy to use, market research surveys are a great tool to use if you want to ask a group of people market research questions.

What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative market research?

While qualitative data is typically mined through close observation with participants – such as in focus groups or face-to-face interviews – quantitative processes tend to involve larger-scale data grabbing. This could use forms, surveys, polls, or questionnaires to collect opinions en masse, often via emails or social media.

Qualitative data captures people’s thoughts and feelings – the prevailing sentiment around a product or service. Its quantitative counterpart, however, is more concerned with the cold, hard facts. That could be traffic metrics, engagement levels, bounce rates: anything that paints a data-driven picture!

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100+ Market Research Questions to Ask Your Customers

Babu Jayaram

Babu Jayaram

Head of Customer Success - ProProfs

Review Board Member

Babu Jayaram brings over 20 years of experience in sales and customer service to his role on the Qualaroo Advisory Board. With a profound understanding of sales and conversion strategies, ... Read more

Babu Jayaram brings over 20 years of experience in sales and customer service to his role on the Qualaroo Advisory Board. With a profound understanding of sales and conversion strategies, Babu is committed to delivering exceptional results and fostering robust customer relationships. His expertise extends beyond mere management, including adept handling of support tickets, overseeing internal and customer-facing knowledge bases, and training support teams across diverse industries to ensure exceptional service delivery. Read less

Shivani Dubey

Author & Editor at ProProfs

Shivani Dubey specializes in crafting engaging narratives and exploring Customer Experience Management intricacies. She writes on vital topics like customer feedback, emerging UX and CX trends, and sentiment analysis.

market research questions about shopping

Asking the right market research questions can help you understand your target customers and map their behavior and preferences. 

But what does it actually mean?

Let’s look at a sample from a market research survey report for mapping brand awareness:

market research questions about shopping

From this simple Q&A report, you can:

  • Visualize the proportions of demographic segments among your audience.
  • Measure how your brand is performing in comparison to others.
  • Pick the top preferred brand among the customers, explore what makes it stand out, and apply the same techniques to your brand.
  • See how your target market perceives brand advertisements and promotional efforts.

Now imagine if this type of data set is available for different aspects of your business – product development, marketing campaigns, optimization plans, and more.

That’s what market research does for you.

With the evolution of customer interaction points and constantly changing market trends, more and more businesses are fueling efforts to do in-depth market research, as evidenced by the steady increase in the revenue of the market research industry worldwide.

market research questions about shopping

Market research can help you develop essential business strategies and maintain a competitive advantage over other brands to increase conversions and customer base.

And it all starts with asking the right questions to the right audience.

That’s why we have created this collection of 100+ market research questions to ask your target market. Each question aims to uncover a specific attribute about your customers. You can use a combination of these customer research survey questions, interviews, and othe marketing questionnaires for customers.

We have also added key tips to help you write your own effective market analysis questions if the needed.

100+ Great Market Research Questions to Ask Your Customers

The main challenge while designing and conducting research is – “What questions should I ask in my customer research survey?

That’s why we have a carefully curated list of market research questions to help you get started.

To Explore New Product Opportunities

market research questions about shopping

  • What was your first reaction to the product?
  • Would you purchase this product if it were available today?
  • What feature would you like to see on the website/product?
  • Which feature do you think will help improve the product experience for you?
  • Of these four options, what’s the next thing you think we should build?
  • What’s the one feature we can add that would make our product indispensable for you?
  • Would implementing [this feature] increase the usability of the [product name]?
  • Please let us know how we can further  improve this feature.
  • What problem would you like to solve with our product?

To Collect Feedback on Existing Products

  • Have you heard of [product name or category] before?
  • How would you feel if [product name] was no longer available?
  • How disappointed would you be if you could no longer use [Product/feature name?]
  • How often do you use [product name]?
  • How long have you been using [product name] for?
  • When was the last time you used [product name]?
  • Please rate the following product features according to their importance to you.
  • According to you, In which area is this product/service lacking the most? Specify below.
  • How does the product run after the update?
  • Rate our product based on the following aspects:
  • Have you faced any problems with the product? Specify below.
  • What feature did you expect but not find?
  • How are you planning to use [product or service]?
  • How satisfied are you with the product?

To Segment the Target Market

market research questions about shopping

Please specify your age.

  • Please specify your gender.
  • Select your highest level of education.
  • What is your current occupation?
  • What is your monthly household income?
  • What is your current marital status?

market research questions about shopping

  • What is the name of your company?
  • Where is your company’s headquarters located?
  • Please specify the number of employees that work in your company.
  • What is your job title?
  • In which location do you work?
  • Which activity do you prefer in your free time?
  • Which other physical activities do you take part in?
  • Where is your dream holiday destination?
  • Please rate the following as per their priority in your life – Family, work, and social life?
  • Are you happy with your current work-life balance?
  • Do you describe yourself as an optimist or a pessimist?
  • How often do you give to charity?
  • How do you travel to work?
  • How do you do your Holiday shopping?

To Conduct a Competition Analysis

market research questions about shopping

  • Which product/service would you consider as an alternative to ours?
  • Rate our competitor based on the following:
  • Have you seen any website/product/app with a similar feature?
  • How would you compare our products to our competitors? 
  • Why did you choose to use our [product] over other options?
  • Compared to our competitors, is our product quality better, worse, or about the same?
  • Which other options did you consider before choosing [product name]?
  • Please list the top three things that persuaded you to use us rather than a competitor.
  • According to you, which brand best fits each of the following traits.

To Gauge Brand Awareness

  • [Your brand name] Have you heard of the brand before?
  • How do you feel about this brand?
  • How did you hear about us?
  • Describe [brand name] in one sentence.
  • If yes, please tell us what you like the most about [your brand name]?
  • If no, please specify the reason.
  • How likely are you to purchase a product from this company again?
  • If yes, where have you seen or heard about our brand recently? (Select all that apply)
  • Do you currently use the product of this brand?
  • Have you purchased from this brand before?
  • Of all the brands offering similar products, which do you feel is the best brand?
  • Please specify what makes it the best brand for you in the category.
  • Which of the following products have you tried? (Select all that apply)
  • On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely would you recommend this brand to a friend or colleague?

To Map Customers’ Preferences

  • Have you ever boycotted a brand? If so, which brand and why?
  • What influences your purchase decision more – price or quality of the item?
  • How many hours do you spend on social media like Facebook, Instagram, etc.?
  • How do you do your monthly grocery shopping – online or through outlets?
  • How do you search for the products you want to buy?
  • Rate the factors that affect your buying decision for [product].
  • What persuaded you to purchase from us?
  • How likely are you to purchase a product from us again?
  • Please rate the following aspects of our product based on their importance to you.
  • What is the most important value our product offers to you?
  • Which of the following features do you use least?
  • How well does the product meet your needs?

To Map Customers’ Reservations

  • Is there anything preventing you from purchasing at this point?
  • What’s preventing you from starting a trial?
  • Do you have any questions before you complete your purchase?
  • What is the main reason you’re canceling your account?
  • What are your main reasons for leaving?
  • What was your biggest fear or concern about purchasing from us?
  • What is the problem that the product/service helped to solve for you?
  • What problems did you encounter while using our [product]?
  • How easy did we make it to solve your problem?
  • What is your greatest concern about [product]?
  • Have you started using other similar products? If yes, what made you choose that product?

To Perform Pricing Analysis

  • Would you purchase the product at [price]
  • According to you, what should be the ideal price of the [product name]?
  • Is our product pricing clear?
  • According to you, what is the ideal price range for the product?

To Collect Feedback on Website Copy

  • Please rate the website based on the following aspects:
  • How well does the website meet your needs?
  • Was the information easy to find?
  • Was the information clearly presented?
  • What other information should we provide on our website?
  • How can we make the site easier to use?
  • What could we do to make this site more useful?
  • Is there anything on this site that doesn’t work the way you expected it to?
  • How easy was it to find the information you were looking for?
  • Have feedback or an idea? Leave it here!
  • Help us make the product better. Please leave your feedback.

To Assess Website/Product Usability

  • Are you satisfied with the website layout?
  • What features do you think are missing on our website?
  • What features do you not like on our website?
  • Was our website navigation simple and user-friendly?
  • How much time did it take to find what you were looking for on our website?
  • Was it easy to find the products you are looking for?
  • Was the payment process convenient?

To Uncover Market Trends and Industry Insights

  • Did you purchase our product out of peer influence or individual preference?
  • How do you form your opinion about our product?
  • Do you follow trends of the product, or do you prefer to go with what you know?
  • Do discounts or incentives impact your decision-making process?

Market Research Survey Templates

One of the easiest ways to conduct market research is to use survey templates. They can help you save time and effort in creating your own market research surveys.

There are many types of market research survey templates available, depending on your objectives and target audience. Some of the most popular ones are:

  • Demographic Templates: These templates help you segment your customers based on their location. It can help you tailor your marketing strategies and offers to different customer groups.

market research questions about shopping

  • Consumer Behavior Templates: These templates help you keep your pulse on your target market.

Industry Insights Templates: These templates help you get detailed information about your target industry and business.

market research questions about shopping

Breakdown of Different Market Research Questions

The answer choices in a market research survey question can significantly impact the quality and reliability of the response data you collect from the audience.

Some answer types help categorize the audience, while others measure their satisfaction or agreement. 

So, before listing the customer research survey questions to ask your target audience, let’s understand their types:

Multiple Choice

A multiple-choice question type lets users select more than one answer from the given options. These questions are great for collecting multiple data sets using the same question and gauging people’s preferences, opinions, and suggestions .

market research questions about shopping

Single Choice

In a single-choice question, the respondent can select only one answer from the given options. This question type is great for:

  • Segregating the users.
  • Prioritizing product updates based on user consensus.
  • Disqualifying irrelevant respondents by placing the question at the start of your customer research survey.

market research questions about shopping

Matrix Match

A matrix matching grid can combine multiple market research questions into one to make the survey shorter . There is only one condition – the individual questions should have the same response anchors as shown in the image below:

market research questions about shopping

The questions are arranged in rows while the answer options occupy the grid columns.

Ranking Question

A ranking question can help map customers’ preferences and set priorities for product development . This question type asks the respondent to arrange the given options in their decreasing/increasing preference.

market research questions about shopping

Dichotomous

A dichotomous question poses a simple yes or no scenario to the respondent. These question types can help disqualify irrelevant people from the survey and categorize the users into two groups .

market research questions about shopping

Likert Scale

Likert scale market research questions can help you measure the extent of respondents’ agreement/disagreement with the given statement . The answer options are arranged from positive to negative sentiments or vice-versa, with the neutral option in the middle.

market research questions about shopping

There are two types of Likert scales: 5-point and 7-point .

Open-ended market questions let you explore the respondents’ minds without adding any restrictions to the answer . This question type is followed by a blank space for the respondent to add a free-text response.

market research questions about shopping

You can add an open-ended question as a follow-up after the first question to explore the reasons for the customer’s previous answer. It also lets you collect more in-depth information about their issues, pain points, and delights.

Tools like Qualaroo offer tons of different question types for your surveys. Just pick the question and match its answer option type from the drop-down. To make it more effective, you can add branching to the survey.

How to Write Your Marketing Research Questions

It’s imperative to have a dedicated repository of market research questions for your surveys. But nothing’s better than crafting your questions.

For this, you need to sit with your team and discuss what information you require from the customers. It lets you analyze and document how much data you already have in your system, which can help set the market research scope.

We have listed some questions you need to ask yourself before asking market research questions to your potential customers or target market:

Audience Segmentation Questions

Audience segmentation questions help to size up your target market and provide a granular view of the audience . Not all customers are equal, and audience segmentation makes it possible to focus on each group individually to address their issues, fears, and expectations.

market research questions about shopping

Here’s what you need to know before you start writing customer research survey questions to understand your audience:

  • Do we understand the demographics of the new market we are trying to target? (Age, location, ethnicity, education, company, annual income, etc.)
  • What are the locations that drive the most customers to our business? How are these locations different from others?
  • What are the interests, preferences, and fears of people from our new target market? Have we addressed these situations for our current customer base?
  • What are the psychographics attributes of the current customers and potential market? Are we targeting these in our campaigns?
  • What are the most popular engagement channels for our customers? Which channels drive the most traffic to our website?
  • Do we have enough data to perform value segmentation to separate high-value customers from low-value customers? 
  • How often do these high-value customers make a purchase?

Product-Based Market Research Questions

Product-based market research questions can produce precious insights to channel into your product development and optimization strategies . You can see how changing technology affects customers’ behavior, what new features they want to see in your product, and how they perceive your products and services over the competition.

market research questions about shopping

Start by gathering information about the following:

  • How does our product compare to the competition based on the features?
  • What products do our competitors offer?
  • What new features do customers want to see in our products? Do we have a product roadmap to deliver these updates?
  • What unique solutions do our products offer? What is the value proposition that reflects this offering?
  • Does our product incorporate the latest technological advancements?
  • What channels do we use to collect product feedback from our users?
  • What are customers’ preferences while choosing our products over competitors?

Pricing Market Research Questions

Pricing analysis can help you make your product more affordable to different customer segments while maintaining the desired gross margin. It also lets you restructure the pricing tiers to provide features depending on the customers’ requirements and company size .

Watch: (1/5) Supercharge Your Revenue With Data-Driven Pricing

Your sales and marketing team can help you hone in on the market research questions to ask your customers for running pricing analysis:

  • Do the customers ever complain about the difficulty in finding the pricing information?
  • What is the pricing structure of our competitors for the same products? What features do they include for a specific price?
  • How do customers find our pricing when compared to the competitors?
  • Do our products provide value for money to the customers? Does the sales pitch reflect this point?
  • Can we restructure the pricing, and how will it affect the revenue?
  • Are there any customer segments that have high-value potential but find the current pricing unaffordable? What are the plans for such customers?
  • Are we in a situation to offer a basic free plan to encourage customers to try our product before upgrading?
  • What promotions can we run to attract more customers?
  • Should we target customers based on income, company size, or type of solution to set our product prices?

Brand Reputation Market Research Questions

A brand reputation questionnaire for marketing research gives you information on how well your target market knows about your brand. You can uncover previously unidentified channels to increase brand awareness and find potential customers to promote your brand .

market research questions about shopping

Start by gauging what customers are saying about your brand:

  • Which channels receive mentions of our brand? Are these posts positive or negative?
  • Do we have a system in place to analyze and monitor these reviews and posts?
  • What are the reviews of our brand on different sites? What is the overall impression of our brand in the market?
  • How are we currently addressing the negative reviews and complaints? What do our customers think about the handling process?
  • What is the impression of our brand in our target market?
  • What brand awareness campaigns are our competitors running?
  • Is our brand among the top choices of our target customers?

Advertisement & Campaign-Based Questions

These customer research survey questions let you assess the effectiveness of your current value propositions and campaigns . You can channel the customer insights into your advertising strategies to design targeted campaigns for different customer segments to reduce the overall acquisition cost and increase conversions.

market research questions about shopping

Ask the following questions to collect information about the different marketing campaigns that are performing:

  • What are the best modes to run the advertisement campaigns to reach our target audience?
  • What is the estimated lifetime value of customers acquired from current campaigns? Is it higher or lower than the acquisition costs?
  • Which campaigns bring the most ROI and why?
  • How well do our advertisements present our value proposition to the customers? Do they address customers’ fears and expectations to attract them?
  • Are we running A/B tests to improve our online campaigns? How are we gathering data to build the A/B test hypotheses – surveys, heatmaps, eye tracking, etc.?
  • What advertisement campaigns do our competitors run?

7 Question Types to Use in Market Research Surveys

We mentioned earlier that market research questions provide important data for different operations like product development, marketing campaigns, sales pipeline and more.

But to what extent?

Let’s break it down to individual processes and understand how insights from customer research surveys can impact them:

To Know Your Target Market

Understanding your target audience is the fundamental aspect of market research, be it a new target market or existing customers. If you know what marketing research survey questions to ask your target market, you can identify different customer types’ unique traits and preferences.

market research questions about shopping

The data can help you segment the users based on demographic, psychographic, geographic, and other attributes. These include their behavior, purchase preferences, age, location, habits, delights, frustrations, and more.

You can then create various customer personas and fuel your sales strategies to maximize ROI.

Case study – How Avis increased its revenue per customer

Avis, a leading car rental company, was looking to enhance customer experience by offering useful car add-ons like navigation systems, child seats, insurance, etc., to customers with their booking. So, it reached out to AWA Digital to find a way to promote these products and increase their sales.

AWA digital implemented customer research campaigns using targeted surveys to determine which add-ons were popular among the customers and why. 

Using these insights, the team added an interstitial pop-up just before the booking page to show relevant add-ons to the customers.

This simple update dramatically increased the sales of add-on items and helped Avis generate more revenue per customer.

Read the entire case study here .

To Plan the Product Roadmap

A product roadmap is a visual representation of the current status of your product and planned updates over time. It shows a high-level summary of planned activities and priorities for different teams to take the product to the next level.

Steve Jobs famously said – “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backward to the technology. You can’t start with the technology then try to figure out where to sell it.”

And market research helps to align your product strategies with the customer demand. Using targeted marketing survey questions, you can gauge what new features or functionality customers want to see in your products.

It helps to plan product development strategies based on customers’ consensus to prioritize the ideas that can have the most impact on customers and replace intuition-based approaches with data-backed decisions.

market research questions about shopping

Customers’ demands change with market trends and technological advancements. That’s why your product map also needs to evolve constantly with time to reflect these changes in your product development cycle.

By designing targeted market research questions to ask the customers, you can uncover their expectations to deliver optimal product solutions. 

That’s what our next case study demonstrates.

Case study – How customer research drives Twilio’s operations  

Twilio, a cloud communications platform places customer discovery and research at the core of their product development strategies. It helps its teams to anticipate customer needs in a constantly changing market.

Lack of time and budget are the two biggest challenges that the company faces in its product development cycle. So, the team uses targeted market research questionnaires for a product to understand the challenges the customers face today and the ones they will face tomorrow. 

market research questions about shopping

With an abundance of ideas and no time to test them all, the feedback data from surveys is used to prioritize the hypotheses to run the tests. It makes the process more efficient and effective in producing positive results. 

This data-backed approach is used across 18 different teams at Twilio to release new functionality every week and deliver optimal solutions to the clients.

Read the complete case study here .

To Reduce Acquisition Costs

Your customer base consists of multiple customer segments with different preferences and purchase potential. That’s why you cannot sell to everyone and need to find the right audience for your products.

If an acquired customer doesn’t bring in more revenue than it costs to acquire them, it will increase your acquisition costs over time.

We don’t want that, do we?

For example, let’s say you are targeting the entire market population using the same campaign. If your acquisition cost per customer is $300 and you acquire 20 customers from one campaign, you need to make more than $6000 to register profits.

The difficulty is you don’t know about these customers’ purchase behavior and capacity, so you cannot be sure if you will reach your goals. It adds unnecessary risks to your marketing ventures.

But, if you were targeting a specific segment with high income, regular shopping habits, or proven history of brand loyalty, You can obtain better results.

Now, the question is – 

How will you separate these potential long-term customers from one-time buyers and high-value targets from other segments?

One way to do this is by building customer personas using the data from the market research survey questions. A buyer persona defines different attributes of a particular customer segment so you can hone in on the right audience to funnel your marketing efforts.

Here’s what a typical persona includes:

  • Target regions
  • Target demographic (age, marital status, gender)
  • Ideal psychographics (hobbies, social channels, activities they indulge in, goals)
  • Preferred interaction channels
  • Favorite brands and products
  • Total revenue till date
  • Estimated lifetime value

market research questions about shopping

Once you have a clearer picture of different customers, you can find high-value prospects with the potential to be long-term customers looking for product solutions that your business offers. 

You can then design the correct pitch using the market research data to bring in these customers and control the overall acquisition costs.

For example:

  • Plugin the demographic and psychographic data into CRM software like BIGContacts or Salesforce to convert high-value targets.
  • Use your CRM to create segmented lists of prospects based on estimated value, location, current status, and more. Then target these groups individually with personalized value propositions to increase conversion rates.
  • Identify their preferred mode of communication and technographic inclinations to find the right opportunities to pitch your product offering at the precise moment.

Even if acquiring and retaining such customers costs more, their overall revenue can balance the acquisition costs to deliver higher profits.

To Design Targeted Marketing Campaigns

By knowing how your target audience behaves and interacts with your business, you can find the exact opportunities to target them with personalized campaigns.

market research questions about shopping

  • You can use mail campaigns to target website users with app-exclusive offers to encourage them to download your app and improve app adoption.
  • Add in-app broadcast messages about upcoming offers, exclusive membership benefits, and other incentives for new users to push them towards the end of the funnel.
  • Create multiple landing pages to target different customer types.
  • Design location-based ad campaigns with personalized value propositions based on audience preferences and problems at each location. 

Case Study – How Canon’s campaigns generated 700% ROI

AWA digital was tasked by Canon, one of the biggest electronics companies worldwide, to assess and increase the demand for their products in different geographies. So, the AWA team conducted customer research using target market survey questions and discovered the following attributes about customers’ purchase behavior and reservations:

  • In some regions, people were reluctant to spend money on a Canon camera as they weren’t sure if Canon was an authoritative brand.
  • In other regions, authority was not as important to the users.

Using these insights, AWA optimized the ads campaigns’ messaging for different locations to include what consumers deemed important purchase factors.

The results?

With in-depth customer feedback, Canon generated an overall ROI of 700% in all regions using personalized campaigns to target the audience.

To Improve Brand Awareness

Whether you are into soft drinks or not, You probably would have heard of Coca-Cola’s 2011 Share-A-Coke ad. This single campaign put the Coke brand back on the map and reversed the 10-year steady decline in sales in the US.  

Coke understood what motivates their customers and delivered a product offering that appealed to the masses to increase its brand equity- the excitement to get a Coca-Cola bottle with their name on it.

How did they do it?

In 2011, Coca-Cola rolled out its share-a-coke campaign in Australia. The company debranded the traditional Coke logo from the bottle and replaced it with the phrase “Share a Coke with” followed by a name.

market research questions about shopping

The campaign used the list of the country’s most popular names (nicknames). The purpose was to make people go out and find the Coke bottle with their name on it and share it with their friends. The campaign was subsequently rolled out in 80 countries.

How did it impact Coca-Cola as a brand:

  • In Australia, it’s estimated that the campaign increased Coke’s share by 4% and increased consumption among young adults by 7%.
  • #ShareACoke became the top trending hashtag on Twitter globally and received over 1 billion impressions.
  • In the USA, the campaign increased Coke’s market share by over 2% and brought 11% more sales compared to the previous year.

It’s not limited to big brands only.  

Understanding the customers and placing your product’s value offering along with their habits, lifestyle, and behavior can help you extend your brand’s reach.

Today, there are multiple touchpoints to connect with your customers and map their journey to uncover their issues, motivations, and fears to address in your campaigns.

  • Monitor brand mentions on social media and engage with the users to cultivate an online community and promote your brand.
  • Reach out to satisfied customers and turn them into your brand ambassadors.
  • Use targeted ad campaigns that connect people’s emotions and general behavior to imprint your brand’s image in their minds.

Quick Tips for Writing Awesome Market Research Survey Questions

With the inter-team research complete, you are ready to write your own market research questions to ask your target audience. Keep these general dos and don’ts in mind to ensure that the market survey fulfills the purpose without affecting the data quality or response rate.

Use Mutually Exclusive Response Options

If you are using response anchors with specific ranges like age group or income, check that the options do not overlap . Otherwise, it will produce an irregular data set.

Please specify your age:

In the above example, the respondent lying on either extremity of the given age ranges may get confused on which option to choose. For example, a 28-year-old respondent can choose from both second or third options.

Plus, two different respondents of the same age may select different options, which will skew your demographic data.

You can avoid this confusion by creating mutually exclusive groups as shown below:

Always Add A “Not Applicable” Or “Rather Not Say” Option

Since market research questions extract personal information, some respondents may not want to share such details with you. These include questions about age, income, gender, hobbies, social activities, and more.

market research questions about shopping

Forcing such questions on the customers without allowing them to skip can irate them and lead to survey abandonment .

That’s why you can also use Qualaroo’s skip and branching logic to create smart surveys that only ask relevant questions to your respondents based on their previous answers.

Calculate the Required Sample Size

Sample size plays a vital role in your market research questions to determine the reliability of your response data.

If the response volume is low, the results may not be conclusive to point towards customers’ consensus. On the other hand, a larger sample size than required means a waste of the company’s valuable resources and time.

That’s why it’s important to calculate the required sample size to estimate the number of responses you need for your market research survey questions.

You can use any survey sample size calculator available online to get started. Just fill in the required details to get the required sample size.

market research questions about shopping

For example, to reach a statistical significance of 99%, you need at least 3145 responses to your market research questionnaire.

Consider Adding Incentives

Studies show that incentivized customer research surveys or questionnaires fetch higher response rates than general surveys.

market research questions about shopping

The incentives encourage customers to invest their time in a survey and get something in return.

It means creating a gated questionnaire for market research can help you reach the required sample size quickly . The incentive can be a simple discount code, free shipping coupon, free ebook, or other freebies.

market research questions about shopping

However, there is a possibility that irrelevant respondents may fill out the survey randomly just to get to the offer, which may skew the results. You can use screening questions to filter out unsuitable respondents.

Avoid Double-Barreled Market Research Questions

A double-barreled question poses two questions into one. The problem with such questions is that the respondent may have opposing views about the two statements in the questions. It makes it harder for them to choose one answer from the options .

“Please rate the [product name] on a scale of 1-10 based on overall quality and price?”

Here, the respondent may find the product quality appreciable while thinking it to be overpriced at the same time. In such a case, they may skip the question or select any option randomly.

You can easily sidestep this hurdle by breaking your double-barreled market research question into two to make it less confusing for the respondents.

Importance of Market Research

We mentioned earlier that market research questions provide important data for different operations like product development, marketing campaigns, sales pipeline, and more.

Understanding your target audience is the fundamental aspect of market research, be it a new target market or existing customers. If you know what customer research survey questions to ask your target market, you can identify different customer types’ unique traits and preferences.

market research questions about shopping

AWA Digital implemented research campaigns using targeted customer research surveys to determine which add-ons were popular among the customers and why.

Steve Jobs famously said – “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backward to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and then try to figure out where to sell it.”

And market research helps to align your product strategies with the customer demand. Using targeted customer research survey questions, you can gauge what new features or functionality customers want to see in your products.

market research questions about shopping

Image Source: Slide Team

By designing targeted market research questions to ask the customers, you can uncover their expectations to deliver optimal product solutions.

Case study – How customer research drives Twilio’s operations

Twilio, a cloud communications platform, places customer discovery and research at the core of its product development strategies. It helps its teams to anticipate customer needs in a constantly changing market.

Lack of time and budget are the two biggest challenges that the company faces in its product development cycle. So, the team uses targeted market research questionnaires for a product to understand the challenges the customers face today and the ones they will face tomorrow.

market research questions about shopping

With an abundance of ideas and no time to test them all, the feedback data from customer research surveys is used to prioritize the hypotheses to run the tests. It makes the process more efficient and effective in producing positive results.

Your customer base comprises multiple customer segments with different preferences and purchase potential. That’s why you cannot sell to everyone and need to find the right audience for your products.

For example, let’s say you target the entire market using the same campaign. If your acquisition cost per customer is $300 and you acquire 20 customers from one campaign, you must make over $6000 to register profits.

But, if you were targeting a specific segment with high income, regular shopping habits, or a proven history of brand loyalty, you could obtain better results.

Now, the question is –

market research questions about shopping

Image Source: brightspark

  • Plug the demographic and psychographic data into CRM software like BIGContacts or Salesforce to convert high-value targets.
  • Use your CRM to create segmented lists of prospects based on estimated value, location, current status, and more. Then, target these groups individually with personalized value propositions to increase conversion rates.

market research questions about shopping

  • Add in-app broadcast messages about upcoming offers, exclusive membership benefits, and other incentives for new users to push them toward the end of the funnel.

AWA Digital was tasked by Canon, one of the biggest electronics companies worldwide, to assess and increase the demand for their products in different geographies. So, the AWA team conducted a customer research survey using target market questions and discovered the following attributes about customers’ purchase behavior and reservations:

  • In other regions, authority was not so important to the users.

Whether you are into soft drinks or not, you probably would have heard of Coca-Cola’s 2011 Share-A-Coke ad. This single campaign put the Coke brand back on the map and reversed the 10-year steady decline in sales in the US.  

Coke understood what motivates its customers and delivered a product offering that appealed to the masses to increase its brand equity- the excitement to get a Coca-Cola bottle with its name on it.

market research questions about shopping

  • In Australia, it’s estimated that the campaign increased Coke’s share by 4% and consumption among young adults by 7%.

It’s not limited to big brands only. 

Market Research: A Key to Your Business’ Success

Market research is a vital process for any business wanting to understand its customers and market better. By asking the right questions and using the right tools like Qualaroo, you can gain valuable insights that can help you improve your products or services, enhance your customer experiences, and grow your business.

In this blog, we have shared some of the best market research questions to ask your customers, as well as some of the best customer research survey templates to find market trends and industry insights. We hope that this blog has helped you learn more about market research and how to conduct it effectively.

About the author

Shivani dubey.

Shivani has more than 3 years of experience in the modern creative content paradigm and technical writing verticals. She has been published in The Boss Magazine, Reseller Club, and HR Technologist. She is passionate about Artificial Intelligence and has a deep understanding of how organizations can leverage customer support technologies for maximum success. In her free time, she enjoys Nail art, playing with her guinea pigs, and chilling with a bowl of cheese fries.

market research questions about shopping

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  • 50+ Must-ask questions for your market research surveys

50+ Must-ask questions for your market research surveys

Şeyma Beyazçiçek

Market research is an essential part of finding answers to your questions. For this reason, market research surveys have a big importance. So, market study survey questions, too . These types of questions help you get essential data about the target audience, conduct competitive analysis, get new ones, or protect existing customers .

We have gathered the most essential data to help you gather information on the target market or target customer. In this article, you will find 50+ market research survey questions and examples about customers, products, social media, etc. You need to seriously consider these business survey questions for market research and learn more!

  • What is a market research survey?

A market research survey is a document that asks demographic questions or any type of market research questions that aim to collect vital customer feedback to make you better in marketing . The critical point of a market research survey is to learn customer experience and make marketing plans according to it.

A report by Statista shows that since 2008 , the market research sector’s global revenue has increased by more than twice, surpassing $81 billion in 2022 . So, the importance of market research is getting more realized, and you need market analysis survey questions. Good survey questions for market research collect data to help you create definite strategies for a better marketing plan.

  • 50+ Market research survey questions you must ask in your surveys

Each company has its own unique priorities and needs. For this reason, companies should choose questions carefully for their survey. 50+ market research survey questions might differ according to the needs and requirements of a company. Nevertheless, we have gathered the most essential and basic ones to make you grow faster. 

If you want to access all these privileges we have discussed so far, you need to have a look at these 50+ must-ask questions for your market research surveys:

Customer survey questions for market research questions

The primary reason for selling a product or service is for customers . Finding the target audience for your company is one of the most important parts of your market research survey. For that reason, you need to have a look at these customer survey questions for market research questions: 

1. How often do you shop from us?

  • Once a week
  • Twice a week
  • Once a month
  • Twice a month
  • Once every two months
  • Once every three months
  • Once every six months
  • Once a year

2. What is your favorite product/service?

3. What is your least favorite product/service?

4. Why do you choose us?

  • Your reputation for quality products and services
  • Your competitive pricing
  • Your commitment to customer service
  • Your convenient location
  • Your wide selection of products and services
  • Your knowledgeable staff
  • Your experience in the industry
  • Your commitment to innovation
  • Your commitment to sustainability

5. Would you recommend us to your friends/family?

6. Since when do you choose us?

  • Two Years Ago
  • Three Years Ago

7. Overall, from 1-10, how do you rate us?

An opinion scale question example about satisfaction

An opinion scale question example about satisfaction

Market research questions for a product

A market research question for a product is an excellent helper for companies to understand and collect data about existing. If you want to learn how your customers are satisfied with your exciting product, you only need to ask them these questions. Here are your market research questions for a product: 

8. Have you ever heard of this product before?

9. From 1-10, how would you rate this product?

10. Do you believe this product is useful/helpful for you? 

11. What is the likelihood of buying this product again?

  • Very Likely
  • Very Unlikely

12. What do you like about this product?

  • It is easy to use
  • It is cost-effective
  • It is reliable
  • It has great customer service
  • It has a wide range of features

13. What do you dislike about this product?

  • Functionality

14. Would you recommend this product to your friends or family?

You can replace the word “ product”  with the name of your own product.

A question example about purchasing behavior

A question example about purchasing behavior

New product market research survey questions

New product market research survey questions are perfect for your company if you plan for a new product. Imagine that you are about to launch a new product. You can take fewer risks if you ask questions about the new product before launching it. So you might need these market research questionnaire questions for your new product: 

15. Have you seen a similar product? 

16. How likely are you to use this product for your business activities?

17. What do you think is the best feature of this new product?

18. What do you think is the least favorite feature of this new product?

19. Do you find the price reasonable?

20. Are you excited about this product?

21. Overall, from 1-10, how do you rate this new product?

A question example about later use

A question example about later use

Social media survey questions for market research

Social media is an excellent way of collecting helpful data from your customers because, today, nearly everybody has a social media account. You can have insightful data as long as you know which platform to use and how to use it. So, here are your social media survey questions for market research: 

22. Which social media platforms do you use? ( you can choose more than 1 )

23. In which social media platforms do you spend time the most?

24. Do you follow us on your social media accounts?

25. What do you think about our company’s social media account? 

  • It's great!
  • It could use some improvement.
  • I haven't seen it

26. Do you believe we can use social media effectively?

27. What can we do to improve our social media accounts?

  • Post regularly
  • Run contests and giveaways
  • Use relevant hashtags
  • Optimize profile information
  • Respond to comments
  • Collaborate with influencers

28. Which influencers do you relate to us the most?

A market research survey question example about social media

A market research survey question example about social media

Market research questions to ask potential customers

As much as trying to hold your existing customers, you should also try to find potential customers and expand your network. Because only in this way you can grow your business. When you have good market research questions to ask potential customers, as given below, you can easily get what you need: 

29. Have you ever heard us before?

30. When you think of our brand, what comes to your mind first? 

31. Who is our rival for you?

32. What is your minimum budget?

33. What is your maximum budget?

34. Would you consider choosing our product/service?

35. What are your best aspects, you think?

Market research questions for B2B companies

Just like any sector, B2B companies need to do their best to run market research. As for their market research survey, the questions will be different because they need to aim at businesses directly. If you need them, here are your market research questions for B2B companies: 

36 . Who is your ideal customer?

37. What really matters to your ideal customer?  

38. Do you think you know your customers?

39. How can you know your customers better?

40. What is your customers’ annual income? 

41. What do your customers do in their free time?

42. What attracts your customer?

Demographic questions for your market research survey

Demographic questions allow your company to understand your customer’s background better. Also, if you want to understand the certain characteristics of your target audience, demographic questions are the best option for you. Have a look at these demographic questions for your market research survey: 

43. What gender do you identify as?

  • Genderfluid

44. How old are you?

  • 65 or Above

45. What is your marital status?

46. Can you please specify your ethnicity?

  • African American
  • Asian American
  • Hispanic/Latino
  • Native American
  • Pacific Islander
  • White/Caucasian

47. Where are you located?

  • United States
  • United Kingdom

48. What is your education level?

  • High School
  • Associate's Degree
  • Bachelor's Degree
  • Master's Degree
  • Doctorate Degree

49. What is your annual income?

  • $0 - $25,000
  • $25,001 - $50,000
  • $50,001 - $75,000
  • $75,001 - $100,000
  • $100,001 - $150,000
  • $150,001 - $200,000
  • $200,001 and above

50. What is your current employment situation? 

  • Employed full-time
  • Employed part-time
  • Self-employed
  • Not looking for work

A market research survey question example about income

A market research survey question example about income

  • How can I create a market research survey?

In order to collect essential data for your market research, if you want to handle it the fastest way, you will need an online form builder. Also, if you want to build your form with lots of options and create just like you wish and want to do all of them for free, there is only one option left: forms.app .

As long as you follow some basic steps, you can easily create your market research survey and here are the steps: 

1. Login or create an account

Firstly, you should log in to your existing account if you do not have one; no worries, you can easily and quickly create an account . Also, do not forget that you have the opportunity to log in via Google, Facebook, and Apple accounts. 

2. Start from scratch, choose a temple, or generate with AI

You have access to a wide range of options thanks to forms.app . You must begin from scratch if you wish to pick every aspect of your survey. The site offers pre-made market research survey templates if you do not want to spend too much time on it. However, if you stay current with the latest technology, artificial intelligence can create your survey in seconds!

3. Add your market research survey questions

Based on your company’s primary needs and essential requirements, you should choose your market research survey questions very carefully. Each company’s priorities can differ. For that reason, you need to pay attention while adding them. 

4. Customize your survey form

In this step, you can easily change and personalize your online survey . To give an example, you can change the size and type of the font, colors, and order of questions, add your brand’s logo, etc. 

5. Share your market research survey

In the final step, you can share your survey with your target via many platforms . You can choose the link to be public, limited, or private while sharing. Additionally, you can preview the link to see whether it has any meta titles, descriptions, or images. 

  • How can I write good market research questions?

One can randomly create market research questions for the survey; however, if you want to be one step ahead of your rivals and be good at writing market research questions, you need to follow the points given below:

  • Consider your company’s needs : You need to have a moment and consider what your company needs the most. What are your priorities or urgent needs? Or what are your urgent deficiencies to be covered? After answering these questions, you can create better questions. 
  • Think like the customer: The key point is listening to your customers and trying to think like them. When you think like them, you can come up with better market research questions and collect more valuable data for your survey. 
  • Be direct: Questions asked directly are definitely better , instead of asking too many indirect questions or long and complex sentences that might be confusing. So, you need to pay attention at this point. 
  • Key points to take away

As we have discussed so far, the importance of market research is undeniable. If you want to increase your market share and be more successful in your sector, there are some key points for your company to take away. You should not ignore these points:

  • Design of the survey: Do not forget that the more you pay attention to your market research survey design, the more you will seem professional. 
  • Pay attention to the context: Design is an important factor, but context is the exact reason you run a survey. So, you need to be careful with your questions. 
  • Check the result: At the end of the survey, checking and analyzing the results is a key point. If you will not do that, there is no need to share the survey, isn’t it?

Now that you have read so far, you know all the critical points about the issue and where to start. Take action now and start finding your own effective data collection methods for market research !

Şeyma is a content writer at forms.app. She loves art and traveling. She is passionate about reading and writing. Şeyma has expertise in surveys, survey questions, giveaways, statistics, and online forms.

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63 Insightful Market Research Questions to Ask in 2023

Better understand your target customer with these must-ask questions.

market research questions about shopping

Understanding your target market, and how they respond to your product, is the key to successful promotional campaigns. Even if you feel like you understand your market perfectly, markets do change over time. Your customers’ opinions, needs, and wants will change along with current trends in society, politics, pop culture, and other influences. Asking the right market research questions can help you stay on top of your changing market.

The market research questions below will help you understand your market’s most pressing concerns , along with potential pain points.

Market research questions to understand customer demographics and psychology

Aside from basic demographic questions, like age, gender, income, and location, you can create a more specific customer profile. Ask these questions to get to know your customers better:

  • How do you primarily spend your time?
  • In which industry do you work?
  • What kind of hobbies do you regularly participate in?
  • What are your main interests?
  • If money or time were not an issue, what do you prefer to spend money on?
  • What draws you to one brand over another?
  • How do you choose between brands and products? 
  • Who makes the primary purchasing decisions in your household?
  • How many people do you shop for on a regular basis?
  • What’s your preferred method of shopping? Why?
  • What makes you decide to avoid a brand in the future?
  • How do you feel about available products in [your product category]?
  • How often do you shop for [your product category]? 
  • How much do you spend on [product category] on a monthly basis?
  • How do you use [product type] in your everyday life?

Market research questions for new products

If you’re gathering information to create or launch new products, these questions can provide valuable insight:

  • What do you look for when purchasing [new product or service]?
  • What is the most important feature for a [product type]?
  • How does [product type] make your life easier?
  • How often do you use [product type]?
  • Describe how you use [product type].
  • How much would you prefer to spend on a similar product or service?
  • What features would encourage you to pay more for a product or service?
  • Are there any features in [similar product or service] that you wouldn’t use?
  • Do you feel [competing products] are priced fairly?
  • What would convince you to try a new product or service in this category?

Market research questions for pain points

Understanding how your customers are responding to your current offerings, whether product, service, advertising, or customer service, can help you understand where your business can improve. Ask these questions to learn more:

  • When was the last time you purchased from [company]?
  • Describe your experience with your last purchase.
  • Where did we succeed in meeting your expectations?
  • Where did we fail in meeting your expectations?
  • What would make your experience with [product] better?
  • Are there any features you don’t use?
  • What would your ideal product or service include?
  • Have you ever talked to our customer service team?
  • Describe your reason for needing customer service assistance.
  • Describe your experience with our customer service team.
  • Was your issue resolved?
  • How quickly was your issue resolved?
  • Were you satisfied with the outcome?
  • What would have made the experience better?
  • What’s the most difficult part of using our products or services?
  • Do you use our website? How do you use it?
  • Have you experienced any problems contacting us for assistance? What were they?
  • Have you experienced any problems on our website? What were they?

Market research questions for pricing and placement

Understanding how your product pricing and placement compare to those of your competitors can be helpful. Use these questions to refine your pricing and promotional strategies:

  • How much do you currently pay for [product type]?
  • Do you think our product is priced fairly?
  • Have you found [product or service] for less? Did you purchase it? Why or why not?
  • What is a reasonable price range for [product or service]?
  • What is the ideal price for [product or service]?
  • Is [price point] too low or too high for a similar product/service?
  • Have you seen our products in stores before?
  • Where have you seen our products mentioned/placed/advertised?
  • Where would you like to see our products or services mentioned/placed/advertised?

Market research questions for advertising and brand awareness

Advertising, marketing, and branding create an image in your customers’ minds. While brand awareness is its own market research niche, these questions will help you understand how customers perceive your brand and advertising campaigns:

  • Are you familiar with our brand?
  • How did you find our brand/company?
  • Have you ever seen any reviews of our brand/product/company? How did they influence your purchase?
  • Have you ever seen advertisements for our brand/product/company? How did they influence your opinion of us?
  • Who do you think our target customer is?
  • When you think of our brand, how do you feel?
  • Does our advertising and branding accurately reflect your experience with our company?
  • What should potential customers know about our products and services?
  • What do you think our brand/company stands for?
  • Have you ever followed any of our social media channels? Which ones? How do you feel about our social media presence?

Ask the insightful questions with Voiceform

When it’s time to ask the market research questions that will get you the insight you desire, Voiceform will make the process simple. Our feature-rich, innovative multimedia survey platform empowers companies to get the answers they need. From voice and video functions to AI transcription and analysis , this powerful survey platform can help you create, launch and distribute multiple survey types. Learn more about our products today by scheduling a demonstration.

We make collecting, sharing and analyzing data a breeze

Get started for free. Get instant access to Voiceform features that get you amazing data in minutes.

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Market Research Questions: What to Ask for Better Insights

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You see the value in market research and have support from your stakeholders to get started on some projects, but when you sit down to draft your questionnaire, you don’t quite know where to start. Sound relatable? If so, read on to learn some key market research questions to ask for actionable customer feedback.

Table of Contents: 

  • Why ask market research questions? 

Types of market research questions to ask

Market research questions for various research goals, question formatting options.

  • Tips for getting the most out of your market research questions 

Why ask market research questions?

Market research questions help us get to the core of consumer behavior - such as why consumers act the way they do and how they go about their buyers’ journey. Market research surveys are a means of answering these questions, so brands can optimize their offerings (be it products or services) according to customer needs. Without asking your customer base what they want or need, you’re left making assumptions that may or may not hit the mark - which can lead to a waste of valuable time and budget.

Back to Table of Contents

Some of the most basic examples of market research questions are those related to demographics (who consumers are), yet these are some of the most foundational questions a survey can ask to make other insights more powerful. Beyond demographic traits, psychographics (what consumers are like - attitudes, aspirations, etc.) and behavioral questions (how consumers act) also paint a detailed picture of a target market.

Examples of market research question types:

Demographic questions : e.g. Where do you live? How old are you? What is your gender? Annual income?

Psychographic questions : e.g.   What interests you? How do you like to spend your free time?

What are your goals for the year?

Behavioral questions:  How often do you grocery shop? Do you prefer to shop in-store or online?

On which days of the week are you most likely to watch television (and subsequently see advertising)? How much money do you usually spend on X products? Which retail brands do you buy from?

The type of questions you’ll want to ask in your market research survey will depend on your research goals. Are you trying to get to know your existing customers? Are you looking to engage with potential customers? Are you hoping to conduct a competitive analysis for your brand? A survey could be crafted around any or all of these objectives to fully explore each topic.

Once you determine the goal of your research, you can begin drafting your questionnaire using some of the question types above. Beyond capturing basic demographic questions among every survey respondent, below are a few examples of psychographic and behavioral question types:

Market research questions for existing customers

For brands who already have a solid customer base and want to get to know them better to improve customer retention, ask things like:

Why did you start using our [product or service]?

Would you buy from us again?

Would you recommend us to your family and friends?

Are there similar products that you use for different reasons?

What, if anything, would you improve about or product or service?

Market research questions for potential customers

If you’re looking to gather information about new customers you don’t already reach, get to know them through in-depth market research survey questions:

What factors influence your purchasing decision when shopping for a new [product or service type]?

Which of the following products [or services] are most appealing to you?

Where do you typically shop for [product or service]?

When will you be in the market for a new [product or service]?

How much do you typically spend on a new [product or service]?

Market research questions for products

Surveys are a great tool to test reactions and perceptions of your product before you finalize it for launch. Below are some examples of what to ask as you develop your final product so it fits what customers want:

What are the most/least important elements of a [product type]?

Which scents/flavors do you find most pleasant in our existing product line? Which ones do you hope to see in the future?

What pain points are you looking for a product/service to solve?

How does this product compare to others on the market?

Market research questions for pricing

Once you have settled on a product, you’ll need to determine the pricing for it. You can’t just set any price you want and expect consumers to pay it. The best way to go about pricing decisions is to actually survey your target customers to see what they’d be willing to spend:

Do you think the product is priced fairly?

What do you think is the ideal price for our [product or service]?

Are there any conditions in which you’d pay a higher price for our [product or service]?

What price is so high that you’d not even consider buying our [product or service]? (i.e. price sensitivity ).

Market research questions for branding

Lastly, a brand might have its target audience figured out, with a solid product that’s appropriately priced, but it needs to be marketed and branded . Ask questions like: 

Are you familiar with our brand? (i.e. brand awareness)

Describe your customer experience so far with our brand.

How would you rate your customer satisfaction with our brand?

How likely are you to recommend our brand to family and friends?

For more on branding, consider a brand health tracker that can capture category entry points and the mental availability of brands: 

better brand health tracking webinar

Once you’ve determined the question content you’d like to ask in your survey, there are multiple ways you can go about actually programming each one. Below are some common question formats, and when to use each one: 

Single select

Multi-select: Use when you want a respondent to select as many items as apply to them from a list.

Multi-select

Rating scale/matrix: Use when you want respondents to provide a numeric rating on a single item (scale) or a list of items (matrix); (i.e. 1-5 likeness toward each, 1-5 level of satisfaction with each, etc.)

rating matrix 2

Open-ended questions : Use when you want respondents to provide written feedback to a question (i.e. ‘tell me about your latest shopping experience in-store’, or ‘what do you love about this product/service?;)

Screen Shot 2022-12-29 at 11.13.19 AM

Tips for getting the most out of your market research questions

Asking the right questions in an online survey only goes so far if you don’t base your research on a marketing strategy that strengthens your competitive advantage.

1. Start with a goal

The first step is to set a clear goal for your market research questionnaire. That goal could be to understand your buyer persona, learn how to maintain loyal customers, improve your website’s user experience, increase market share, or launch a new product.

2. Review what you already know

Conducting market research should aim to only answer questions that you don’t already have the answers to from previously-collected customer insights. Start by reviewing your own market research findings from past studies to see if you can answer any current questions. You can also look into customer reviews (if available), social media comments, and other external sources to see what people are saying about your brand.

3. Don’t make assumptions

Don’t ever assume you know something about a consumer without data to support it. For example, you may think that all customers use your product/service year-round when really, they’re only using it in the winter. You need to collect data to support any business decisions you’re making. That’s the only way to ensure you’re making good use of your time and budget, and that customer needs are met appropriately.

quantilope’s Insights Automation Platform makes a brand, product, or customer survey as simple as a drag & drop of questions. The platform is equipped with a number of automated survey tools (piping, pre-programmed survey templates , etc.) along with a suite of thirteen automated, advanced methods (i.e. market segmentation, key driver analysis, a/b testing, and many more). With results available in real-time, quantilope users begin diving into customer feedback instantly, with final results ready in a matter of days.

Ready to collect data for your own market research study? Get in touch below:

Get in touch to start building better insights!

Related posts, non-probability sampling: when and how to use it effectively, survey results: how to analyze data and report on findings, how florida's natural leveraged better brand health tracking, quirk's virtual event: fab-brew-lous collaboration: product innovations from the melitta group.

market research questions about shopping

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75+ Market Research Questions for Success

market research questions about shopping

Regarding market research, having the right questions is critical for getting  accurate  and  valuable insights .

These 75 market research questions can help you get started on your next project, giving you an idea of what topics to cover to ensure success.

We’ll review everything you need to know about  customer surveys ,  competitive analysis, product feedback, and more !

What is Market Research?

Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing data to understand customer behavior, market trends, and competitor strategies.

It gives businesses the insights needed to make informed decisions about their products and services.

Market research is important because it  helps companies to understand what their customers want  and  how they can best serve them .

We’ll review the steps to help you start conducting market research and asking the right questions.

Types of Market Research

Several different types of market research questions can be used to gain insights into customer behavior and market trends.

These include the following:

  • Single choice
  • Multiple choice
  • Ranking questions
  • Likert scale
  • Dichotomous

75+ Market Research Questions for Success

Single-Choice

These basic questions ask respondents to select one answer from a list of options.

The purpose of a single-choice question is to provide a general overview of customer preferences and needs.

 An example of a single-choice question is:

“What is your favorite type of ice cream?”

Multiple-Choice

These questions ask respondents to select multiple answers from a given list of options.

They can be used to gain more detailed insights into customer preferences than single-choice questions.

An example of a multiple-choice question is the following: 

Which of these activities do you do regularly?

A) Exercise

D) Watch TV

E) Listen to Music

The purpose of a multiple-choice question is to gain a more comprehensive understanding of customer behavior and preferences.

Ranking Questions

Ranking questions ask respondents to rank a list of options in order of preference.

These types of questions can be used to understand how important certain factors are when making decisions.

An example of a ranking question would be the following:

Please rank the following items from most important to least important when selecting a car:

(D) Fuel Efficiency

Likert Scale

A Likert scale is a type of question that asks respondents to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with a statement.

It can be used to gauge customer sentiment around specific topics and gain insights into how they feel about your products or services.

An example of a Likert scale question is: 

“How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend?”

Dichotomous Questions

Dichotomous questions present respondents with two possible answers and ask them to choose one. They are often used to gain quick insights into customer preferences.

An example of a dichotomous question is the following: 

Do you prefer online or in-store shopping?

B) In-store

Open-ended questions allow respondents to provide more detailed answers than single-choice, multiple-choice, ranking, and dichotomous questions.

They are helpful in gaining qualitative insights into customer behavior and preferences.

An example of an open-ended question is the following: 

“What do you think could be improved about our product?”

By understanding the different types of market research questions, businesses can more effectively gather data to gain insights into customer behavior and make informed decisions. With the proper market research techniques, companies can better understand their customers and identify growth opportunities.

How to Write Questions for Market Research

Writing practical questions for market research is key to getting meaningful and valuable results.

Questions should be clear and concise, avoiding jargon or overly technical language. They should also cover the topics that are most important to the project.

Additionally, it’s important to remember who you’re targeting with your questions. Write them in a way the target audience can easily understand and relate to, which will help ensure they provide accurate responses.

For example, if you are writing questions as a market research agency in the USA, you’ll want to tailor them to the appropriate culture and consumer trends.

Finally, take into account any legal or ethical considerations when writing questions. This is especially important when collecting sensitive personal data or working with vulnerable groups.

We’ll go over how to write the following types of questions: 

Feedback Questions

Existing product questions, market segment quesitons, market discovery questions, brand awareness questions, customer reservation questions, pricing analysis questions.

market research questions - feedback

To write feedback questions, start by asking general questions about customer satisfaction. These can include queries about the level of service they received, the quality of products, and whether they would recommend it to others.

You can also ask more specific questions, such as what features customers like or dislike, how easy it is to use a certain product or service, and what changes they would like to see.

To write great existing product questions, you need to know what customers think about your current offerings.

Ask them how satisfied they are with the features and performance of the products or if there is anything that could be improved.

You can also get their opinion on your product’s design, packaging, price point, and customer support.

These questions are designed to gain an understanding of different segments within the market.

Questions can include asking about the following:

  • Income level
  • Customers’ age
  • Primary interests and activities

This information can help businesses identify potential target markets and tailor their products and services accordingly.

Market discovery questions help businesses explore the market and gain insights into customer behavior.

These questions can include asking customers what they currently use their product or service for, their expectations and needs, and what would make them switch to a different offering.

Brand awareness questions can help businesses understand how well their products are known in the market.

Questions can range from asking customers to rate how familiar they are with the brand to what words or phrases come to mind when they think of it.

Boosting brand awareness is important for businesses to reach new customers, so this information can be invaluable.

Customer reservation questions can help businesses identify potential barriers preventing customers from purchasing their products or services.

Questions like the following can be useful in uncovering potential areas for improvement:

  • “What is holding you back from making a purchase?”
  • “What would make you more likely to buy?”
  • “What feature do you wish was available?”

Finally, pricing analysis questions can help businesses determine how much customers are willing to pay for their products and services.

Questions such as the following can help businesses gain valuable insights:

  • “What is your budget?”
  • “Would you be willing to pay more for extra features?”
  • “What other products have you considered in a similar price range?”

By following these tips, you should be able to write effective questions that will provide valuable insights into the market.

market research questions - research

75+ Market Research Questions

In addition to the above questions, here are 75 market research questions you can ask your target audience to help inform your business decisions.

  • How did you learn about our product or service?
  • What made you decide to purchase our product or service?
  • How likely are you to recommend our product or service to a friend or colleague?
  • Would you say that the features of our product or service met your expectations?
  • Did you find it easy to navigate our website and locate the information needed to make your decision?
  • Did you find any areas of improvement in terms of usability when using our website?
  • How satisfied are you with the customer support options we provide?
  • Did the delivery process for our product meet your expectations in terms of speed, accuracy, and overall experience? 
  • If applicable, did the installation process for our product meet your expectations in terms of speed, accuracy, and overall experience? 
  • Are there any other products or services we could offer that would improve your overall experience with us?
  • What do you think of the quality of our current offerings?
  • How would you rate the usability of our products/services?
  • How would you rate the performance of our products/services?
  • What could we do to make our products/services more appealing to you?
  • Are there any features that are missing from our products/services?
  • What do you like most about our products/services?
  • What could we change to make them better?
  • Do you think our prices are competitive?
  • Would you recommend our products/services to someone else?

Market Segment Questions

  • What age range would you classify yourself in?
  • Are you married, single, or in a relationship?
  • What city/town do you currently reside in? 
  • How many hours a day do you typically spend on the internet?
  • What type of device(s) do you use to access the internet (desktop, laptop, mobile phone)? 
  • On average, how much money do you spend online each month? 
  • What products or services have you purchased online within the last 6 months? 
  • How likely are you to purchase goods or services from an unfamiliar website compared to a familiar website? 
  • How often do you interact with social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter? 
  • Are there any particular features or functions that would make it easier for you to shop online or make purchases? 
  • Do you find yourself comparing prices and product features before making a purchase decision? 
  • Are there any particular brands that stand out to you when shopping for products or services online? 
  • When looking for information about products and services online, what sources do you rely on most (e-commerce websites, review sites, etc.)? 
  • What types of discounts are most enticing to customers when making an online purchase (free shipping offers, bonus items with purchase, coupon codes)? 
  • Do certain payment methods influence your purchasing decisions? 
  • What do you think are the most important features when considering a purchase?
  • How would you define your personal style and aesthetic preferences? 
  • Are there any new products or services you want to see in the marketplace? 
  • Do certain brand values affect your purchasing decisions (e.g., sustainability, ethical practices, etc.)? 
  • What do you think are the biggest challenges facing companies in your industry?
  • When researching products or services, what content or information would you like to see from brands? 
  • Are there any particular technologies that you think could improve customer experiences online? 
  • Do current trends in social media affect your views on certain brands and their offerings?
  • Are there any new products or services that would benefit your lifestyle? 
  • What do you think sets certain brands apart from their competitors?
  • Are there any particular marketing strategies that you find appealing when considering a purchase? 
  • Which channels do you prefer to use for customer service (live chat, email, phone)?
  • What is your familiarity with our brand?
  • Do you recognize our brand name when shopping online or in-store?
  • Are there any particular elements that stand out to you in the design of our website, logo, products, and services? 
  • How do you feel when interacting with our brand (positive, neutral, negative)?
  • What do you think our brand stands for?
  • What words would you use to describe our brand and its offerings? 
  • Do you prefer more traditional or modern marketing techniques/strategies when engaging with our brand? 
  • Which social media platforms do you associate most with our brand?
  • Are there any particular campaigns that have resonated with you in the past?
  • What type of content do you expect to see from our brand? 
  • Are there any particular features or services that make our brand stand out from its competitors? 
  • Do certain events or promotions influence your views on our brand? 
  • Do you believe our brand offers competitive pricing compared to other brands?
  • Do you think our brand is transparent with its customers regarding providing information and responding to inquiries? 
  • Are there any particular resources that could help customers better understand our brand and offerings? 
  • What do you believe our brand should focus on to improve customer experiences?
  • Do you think our brand adequately addresses customer feedback or suggestions? 
  • Do certain rewards or loyalty programs influence your purchasing decisions when considering our brand?
  • Do you feel that our brand keeps up with the latest trends in technology and innovation?

Customer Retention Questions

  • What do you believe are the key factors that make customers commit to our brand?
  • Do you think our customer service is up to par with competitors in the market?
  • How likely are you to recommend our products or services to friends and family? 
  • What do you think keeps customers engaged with our brand, both online and in-store? 
  • Are there any particular features or services that you think make our brand stand out from its competitors?
  • Do certain discounts, promotions, or loyalty programs influence your decision to stay with us?
  • What do you think is the biggest challenge when retaining customers for our brand?
  • Are there any new products or services that would make you a more loyal customer?
  • Are there any particular communications or marketing tactics that could help keep customers engaged with our brand?
  • Do certain events or milestones influence your commitment to our brand?
  • What do you think is the most effective way to show appreciation for customers?
  • Are there any loyalty or rewards programs that have successfully kept customers loyal to our brand?
  • Do you think our customer service team is responsive and attentive when addressing customer needs and inquiries?
  • Are there any particular features or services that could improve your overall experience with our brand? 
  • Do you feel our prices are reasonable compared to other products and services in the market?
  • Are there any specific features or services that add value to our offerings?
  • What do you think is the best way to differentiate ourselves from competitors regarding pricing?
  • Are there any particular discounts or promotions that could influence customers to purchase from us?
  • Do you think our pricing strategy is transparent and easy for customers to understand?
  • Do certain market events or trends influence customer decisions when choosing our brand over competitors?
  • What do you believe are the biggest challenges when it comes to setting prices for our products or services?
  • Do you think our price points are competitive enough to draw customer interest?
  • Are there any particular features or services that could be offered at a lower cost than competitors?
  • Do you think certain rewards or loyalty programs influence customer decisions when comparing brand prices?
  • Are there any discounts, promotions, or offers that have successfully driven sales?
  • What is the most effective way to communicate pricing information to customers?
  • Are there any particular resources or tools that could be used to analyze and adjust our prices as needed?

Market Research Wrap Up

These 75 market research questions provide a great starting point for any business looking to gain valuable insights into customer behavior and market trends.

By using this as a guide, you can ensure that your surveys are comprehensive and effective in helping you make informed decisions about your products and services. Good luck!

Do you have any questions of your own to add? Let us know in the comments below!

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16 Consumer behavior survey questions for expert customer insights

16 consumer behavior survey questions to ask your customers, use consumer insights to your advantage: best practices, make customer data analysis easy with attest.

Most consumers don’t realize the patterns in their purchasing habits. We don’t know (or want to know) just how impulsive we really are. Unprompted, we don’t think all too much about what or who influences our buying (apart from when you’re sure Instagram is listening to you and you get creepily well-targeted ads).

But as a business, knowing all about consumer behavior is incredibly valuable. You’ll be one step ahead every time, ready to delight consumers—and ideally turn them into fans who’ll rave about you to their friends and family.

One way to find out what consumer behavior is most relevant to your business is with a consumer behavior questionnaire. And we’re here to help you create a great one.

A consumer behavior survey is a type of market research that helps you gather information on consumer attitudes, preferences, and behaviors.

These insights allow you to tailor your products, services, strategies and marketing to your customers’ needs to increase sales, customer satisfaction and gain a competitive edge.

Here we’ll give you 16 questions to include in your next market research.

Let’s get to know your customers, shall we?

If you’re looking to gather data about purchase behavior using online surveys, you’ll want to use a mix of close-ended and open-ended questions. This mix of survey questions enables you to gather reliable consumer insights through tangible data (through closed-ended questions), and provides context for why your potential customers do things in certain ways (through open-ended questions).

Using our Customer Research Team’s vast experience helping brands carry out reliable consumer behavior market research, we’ve gathered these example questions.

It’s important to note that this is not a copy-paste survey: you should be creating one that is specific to your research goals and business. These questions merely serve as inspiration.

Here’s a brief rundown of the behavior questions we’ll cover in this guide:

  • How often do you purchase [PRODUCT]?
  • What factors influence your decision to purchase [PRODUCT]?
  • What channels do you typically use to learn about this [PRODUCT]?
  • What is your preferred method of payment for [PRODUCT]?
  • How do you prefer to interact with [BRAND]?
  • What is your main reason for using [PRODUCT]?
  • What is the most important factor when considering whether to purchase [PRODUCT]?
  • How did you first learn about [BRAND/PRODUCT]?
  • How much time do you spend researching [PRODUCT] before making a purchase?
  • What factors influence your decision to abandon an online shopping cart?
  • How important is sustainability or ethical sourcing when making a purchasing decision?
  • What is your preferred delivery method for [PRODUCT]?
  • Who do you consult when making a purchase decision for [product]?
  • Which of the following best describes how you’re spending money at the moment?
  • What are some factors that would cause you to switch from one brand to another?
  • How do you typically find information for [PRODUCT]?

And with that, let’s dive into the most insightful survey questions .

1. How often do you purchase [PRODUCT]?

How often do your target consumers embark on the customer journey? Knowing the frequency of their purchases can help you identify trends and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly.

You might discover that people buy your products on a more seasonal basis. This could open up the possibility of offering alternative products that might fill in the seasonal gaps, giving your brand a more comprehensive, year-round market share.

And you can follow up with questions to find out when these purchases are made and how much time people take for their research before they buy, to plan your time to shine.

2. What factors influence your decision to purchase [PRODUCT]?

Knowing the factors that have an effect on what brand people choose is super valuable info! It’s the type of data that can help you make it past the consideration stage.

It helps you focus your marketing messages and position your product in the best way possible. It can also reveal areas in which your brand can differentiate itself.

3. What channels do you typically use to learn about this [PRODUCT]?

Knowing how people learn about products can help you determine which channels are most effective in reaching your target audience. This intel can give clear direction to your marketing team and sales strategies.

Learn how customers make buying decisions

Get data into how your customers behave—and buy!—with Attest’s Jobs to be Done survey template, written by research experts.

4. What is your preferred method of payment for [PRODUCT]?

It might seem an odd question to ask: if people love your product, does the payment method really matter?

Well it does—if you want to provide an excellent customer experience and increase conversions.

Optimizing your payment processes can elevate your company and brand experience and make you the preferred vendor.

Learn more about how to test consumer preferences.

5. How do you prefer to interact with [BRAND]?

It’s unlikely that people like ‘speaking’ to bots who don’t seem to truly understand them.

When building a customer service strategy, turn to your customers to find out how they prefer to communicate, so that you can optimize your channels.

Share this information with your customer support team to help them understand the needs of customers even better.

6. What is your main reason for using [PRODUCT]?

This question will help you understand the market and primary use case for your specific product here.

This information helps you tailor your messaging and promotions to specific customer segments.

7. What is the most important factor when considering whether to purchase [PRODUCT]?

If you’ve already identified the list of factors, you can narrow it down and find which one is the most important one.

This helps you make key decisions about branding, product placement, pricing and more.

Consumer behavior research

8. How did you first learn about [BRAND/PRODUCT]?

It’s not just about the last push to the purchase decision. The first encounter tells you just as much—if not more. It gives you vital information on how you can reach more potential customers in the awareness stage, and build your brand in their minds.

With this data you can identify effective marketing channels and increase brand awareness which leads to more conversions.

9. How much time do you spend researching [PRODUCT] before making a purchase?

Some people are impulse buyers, others roam the web for weeks before clicking ‘Pay Now’.

Finding out what is most common in specific segments that are relevant to you can help you create better content that addresses common questions and concerns.

10. What factors influence your decision to abandon an online shopping cart?

Is it unexpected shipping costs? Delivery times that are too long? Or were they just window shopping?

With this data you can reduce cart abandonment rates and optimize the user experience.

11. How important is sustainability or ethical sourcing when making a purchasing decision?

Ideally, we all keep this in mind when buying any product. But in certain segments, there will likely be more or less focus on this.

Finding out which ones these are can help you optimize your messaging and targeting. This is an important type of question to ask when creating a customer profile too.

12. What is your preferred delivery method for [PRODUCT]?

Much like payment options and customer service, product delivery is all about creating a seamless customer experience. Ideally your customers should barely notice that your product was delivered at all—it should be a smooth and hassle-free process.

Knowing your customers’ preferred delivery methods can help you optimize your distribution channels and reduce delivery-related friction points.

market research questions about shopping

13. Who do you consult when making a purchase decision for [product]?

Even though we usually buy stuff ‘alone’, we don’t always go through the process of buying alone. We evaluate what others are saying, whether it’s from reviews, influencers’ social streams or advice from a family member—there’s a lot to take in.

Knowing who weighs in is crucial, because you will want to influence and educate those people too.

14. Which of the following best describes how you’re spending money at the moment?

Understanding how people pay for your product or service only tells you so much about their approach to money.

There are tons of external factors that affect spending, so finding out how people feel at any given time can give you an indication of how likely they are to part with their cash. It makes sense to track things like this over time to make sure you’re on the ball when the market shifts.

15. What are some factors that would cause you to switch from one brand to another?

Identifying factors that can cause customer churn is what informs strong loyalty strategies, keeping customers happy, engaged and buying!

Knowing why they choose your brand is vital—and so is understanding why they go elsewhere.

16. How do you typically find information for [PRODUCT]?

It’s not just Google anymore. Find out if people are learning about products like yours on alternative channels such as Reddit, TikTok, LinkedIn or other platforms to make sure you are represented in the right places.

And don’t forget the importance of word of mouth! In study after study we see that consumers place massive trust in their friends and family to give them good product and service recommendations.

Food product development process

You might struggle to see how you can learn about behaviors from the data coming out of a survey. No need to stress: here are some tips to make your data more actionable and valuable to your team.

  • Look for the patterns: Look for patterns in the data such as common responses from specific demographics, or shifting trends over time. These patterns give valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences.
  • Don’t ignore outliers: Look for outliers too that may represent extreme or unusual consumer perceptions or responses. Even though they’re not the most common ones, they are still valuable. They can give you insights into customer preferences that may not be immediately apparent from what ‘the average’ tells you.
  • Use an all-in-one survey tool: ideally, you collect and analyze data all in the same consumer insight software. This minimizes the risk of errors caused by data transfers and keeps your data safe. Choosing a tool like Attest means you get everything you need for your market research from start to finish, including your very own research expert to give you guidance along the way.
  • Compare and contrast: Compare and contrast the responses to different questions. For example, compare responses to questions about product features, quality and price to understand the trade-offs that customers make when making purchasing decisions. Are answers in line with each other? Or can you spot some discrepancies?
  • Compare to industry benchmarks: Compare your survey data to industry benchmarks and assumptions you had before to get a sense of how the business is performing relative to competitors. Put things in perspective, but keep it relevant to your business. You’re not trying to just fit in, you want to stand out!

Running consumer behavior surveys is simple, using Attest. We provide you with everything you need to learn about the moves, motives and motivations of your target audience. Your dedicated research expert will help you to get the best insights from your data so you can greatly benefit from consumer profiling . See our consumer profiling survey template for further ideas.

market research questions about shopping

Get reliable consumer behavior insights

Make sure you gather consumer insights that are genuinely useful with our survey templates—written by our experts in the Customer Research Team

market research questions about shopping

Elliot Barnard

Customer Research Lead 

Elliot joined Attest in 2019 and has dedicated his career to working with brands carrying out market research. At Attest Elliot takes a leading role in the Customer Research Team, to support customers as they uncover insights and new areas for growth.

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Market Research: A How-To Guide and Template

Discover the different types of market research, how to conduct your own market research, and use a free template to help you along the way.

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MARKET RESEARCH KIT

5 Research and Planning Templates + a Free Guide on How to Use Them in Your Market Research

buyers-journey-guide_3

Updated: 02/21/24

Published: 02/21/24

Today's consumers have a lot of power. As a business, you must have a deep understanding of who your buyers are and what influences their purchase decisions.

Enter: Market Research.

→ Download Now: Market Research Templates [Free Kit]

Whether you're new to market research or not, I created this guide to help you conduct a thorough study of your market, target audience, competition, and more. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

What is market research?

Primary vs. secondary research, types of market research, how to do market research, market research report template, market research examples.

Market research is the process of gathering information about your target market and customers to verify the success of a new product, help your team iterate on an existing product, or understand brand perception to ensure your team is effectively communicating your company's value effectively.

Market research can answer various questions about the state of an industry. But if you ask me, it's hardly a crystal ball that marketers can rely on for insights on their customers.

Market researchers investigate several areas of the market, and it can take weeks or even months to paint an accurate picture of the business landscape.

However, researching just one of those areas can make you more intuitive to who your buyers are and how to deliver value that no other business is offering them right now.

How? Consider these two things:

  • Your competitors also have experienced individuals in the industry and a customer base. It‘s very possible that your immediate resources are, in many ways, equal to those of your competition’s immediate resources. Seeking a larger sample size for answers can provide a better edge.
  • Your customers don't represent the attitudes of an entire market. They represent the attitudes of the part of the market that is already drawn to your brand.

The market research services market is growing rapidly, which signifies a strong interest in market research as we enter 2024. The market is expected to grow from roughly $75 billion in 2021 to $90.79 billion in 2025 .

market research questions about shopping

Free Market Research Kit

  • SWOT Analysis Template
  • Survey Template
  • Focus Group Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Why do market research?

Market research allows you to meet your buyer where they are.

As our world becomes louder and demands more of our attention, this proves invaluable.

By understanding your buyer's problems, pain points, and desired solutions, you can aptly craft your product or service to naturally appeal to them.

Market research also provides insight into the following:

  • Where your target audience and current customers conduct their product or service research
  • Which of your competitors your target audience looks to for information, options, or purchases
  • What's trending in your industry and in the eyes of your buyer
  • Who makes up your market and what their challenges are
  • What influences purchases and conversions among your target audience
  • Consumer attitudes about a particular topic, pain, product, or brand
  • Whether there‘s demand for the business initiatives you’re investing in
  • Unaddressed or underserved customer needs that can be flipped into selling opportunity
  • Attitudes about pricing for a particular product or service

Ultimately, market research allows you to get information from a larger sample size of your target audience, eliminating bias and assumptions so that you can get to the heart of consumer attitudes.

As a result, you can make better business decisions.

To give you an idea of how extensive market research can get , consider that it can either be qualitative or quantitative in nature — depending on the studies you conduct and what you're trying to learn about your industry.

Qualitative research is concerned with public opinion, and explores how the market feels about the products currently available in that market.

Quantitative research is concerned with data, and looks for relevant trends in the information that's gathered from public records.

That said, there are two main types of market research that your business can conduct to collect actionable information on your products: primary research and secondary research.

Primary Research

Primary research is the pursuit of first-hand information about your market and the customers within your market.

It's useful when segmenting your market and establishing your buyer personas.

Primary market research tends to fall into one of two buckets:

  • Exploratory Primary Research: This kind of primary market research normally takes place as a first step — before any specific research has been performed — and may involve open-ended interviews or surveys with small numbers of people.
  • Specific Primary Research: This type of research often follows exploratory research. In specific research, you take a smaller or more precise segment of your audience and ask questions aimed at solving a suspected problem.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is all the data and public records you have at your disposal to draw conclusions from (e.g. trend reports, market statistics, industry content, and sales data you already have on your business).

Secondary research is particularly useful for analyzing your competitors . The main buckets your secondary market research will fall into include:

  • Public Sources: These sources are your first and most-accessible layer of material when conducting secondary market research. They're often free to find and review — like government statistics (e.g., from the U.S. Census Bureau ).
  • Commercial Sources: These sources often come in the form of pay-to-access market reports, consisting of industry insight compiled by a research agency like Pew , Gartner , or Forrester .
  • Internal Sources: This is the market data your organization already has like average revenue per sale, customer retention rates, and other historical data that can help you draw conclusions on buyer needs.
  • Focus Groups
  • Product/ Service Use Research
  • Observation-Based Research
  • Buyer Persona Research
  • Market Segmentation Research
  • Pricing Research
  • Competitive Analysis Research
  • Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research
  • Brand Awareness Research
  • Campaign Research

1. Interviews

Interviews allow for face-to-face discussions so you can allow for a natural flow of conversation. Your interviewees can answer questions about themselves to help you design your buyer personas and shape your entire marketing strategy.

2. Focus Groups

Focus groups provide you with a handful of carefully-selected people that can test out your product and provide feedback. This type of market research can give you ideas for product differentiation.

3. Product/Service Use Research

Product or service use research offers insight into how and why your audience uses your product or service. This type of market research also gives you an idea of the product or service's usability for your target audience.

4. Observation-Based Research

Observation-based research allows you to sit back and watch the ways in which your target audience members go about using your product or service, what works well in terms of UX , and which aspects of it could be improved.

5. Buyer Persona Research

Buyer persona research gives you a realistic look at who makes up your target audience, what their challenges are, why they want your product or service, and what they need from your business or brand.

6. Market Segmentation Research

Market segmentation research allows you to categorize your target audience into different groups (or segments) based on specific and defining characteristics. This way, you can determine effective ways to meet their needs.

7. Pricing Research

Pricing research helps you define your pricing strategy . It gives you an idea of what similar products or services in your market sell for and what your target audience is willing to pay.

8. Competitive Analysis

Competitive analyses give you a deep understanding of the competition in your market and industry. You can learn about what's doing well in your industry and how you can separate yourself from the competition .

9. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

Customer satisfaction and loyalty research gives you a look into how you can get current customers to return for more business and what will motivate them to do so (e.g., loyalty programs , rewards, remarkable customer service).

10. Brand Awareness Research

Brand awareness research tells you what your target audience knows about and recognizes from your brand. It tells you about the associations people make when they think about your business.

11. Campaign Research

Campaign research entails looking into your past campaigns and analyzing their success among your target audience and current customers. The goal is to use these learnings to inform future campaigns.

  • Define your buyer persona.
  • Identify a persona group to engage.
  • Prepare research questions for your market research participants.
  • List your primary competitors.
  • Summarize your findings.

1. Define your buyer persona.

You have to understand who your customers are and how customers in your industry make buying decisions.

This is where your buyer personas come in handy. Buyer personas — sometimes referred to as marketing personas — are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers.

Use a free tool to create a buyer persona that your entire company can use to market, sell, and serve better.

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7 Critical Market Research Survey Questions Every Marketer Should Ask

market research survey questions

Don’t we hear it most of the time that we need to do a market research before launching a new product or service or modifying the existing product or service? This is the best way to find each and every detail about your target audience like the Psychographic and demographic profile of your target audience and also the information about your competition. Surprisingly, professionals conducting quantitative and qualitative market research generally skip this part. The reality is that the decision making for product development or modification is mostly based on word of mouth, peer suggestion or personal assessment without taking real factual data into consideration.

LEARN ABOUT: Open-Ended Questions

Statistical surveying can give you an understanding of your market, your product or service, your rivals and your audience. Here are 7 market research survey questions every marketer should ask:

1. Who is currently purchasing your products or services?

A very important question to ask, to understand your customer’s or client’s purchasing buying behavior and understand what exactly are their needs and preferences. Once you can identify their purchase pattern and behavior it is easier to cater to their needs in a better manner.

2. What audience will be interested in purchasing the product in future?

Businesses need to know what type of audience they are willing to target while launching a new product in the market.The features or the attributes related to the products should be aforethought to suit the needs of the audience.

3. What are the main reasons for not buying the product?

There are various factors involved when a buyer chooses not to buy your product. Some of the common issues are: price, quality of the product, usefulness of the product, competitor has a better product and so on.

4. Where would individuals purchase your products or services from?

In this technology-driven world, buyers prefer sitting in the comfort of their home and use the internet to its optimum potential to shop online. More and more people prefer shopping online over the traditional brick and mortar store. When you know the exact source of their purchase, it is advisable to put in efforts to make the purchasing process smoother.

LEARN ABOUT: 5 Ways Market Research

5. Who is the main competitor?

Knowing your competitors is always advisable while you are in a competitive environmental analysis . If you know your competition, chances are you will be better prepared. There may be incidences where even your most loyal customers can choose your competitors over you for reasons that you might need to explore further.

6. What are your opinions about various features of our products or service (packaging, name, features, pricing, advertising)?

According to a study, loyal customers have emotional attachments with products offered by brands. It is important to know what your buyers feel about the product and its features or services that offer. Based on feedback, received from customers, a brand can work on strategies for improving, their packaging, features, pricing, advertising etc. (if needed).

LEARN ABOUT: Pricing Research

7. What upgrades could be made to your products or services to make it better?

This open ended question can help you gain maximum feedback from your customers as they will have a suitable platform to express what changes they expect. Through feedbacks and comments gathered, it will be easier for you to work on the upgrades or changes (if needed).

QuestionPro’s matrix type question provides a handy solution where 5 questions can be converted to 1 hence reducing the questionnaire length and survey response time.

LEARN ABOUT: Product Survey Questions

Multiple choice questions

The market research is a continuous process. The market intelligence is key if you want to remain relevant in the marketplace.

LEARN ABOUT: Performance Appraisal Survey

Select from various FREE  market research templates to start your research now.

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80+ Market Research Questions to Ask your Target Audiences

market research questions about shopping

To remain competitive in the current business landscape, keeping up with the ever-changing market trends is not just an option but an absolute necessity. By adapting your customer interaction points and developing strategies that not only attract but also convert potential leads into loyal customers, you can solidify your standing in the industry.

But how can you achieve all of this effectively and efficiently? The answer lies in the power of market research and, more importantly, in asking the right survey questions .

Build & Send your Market Research Surveys🔥

Choose from over 30+ question types, add your own themes and create amazing surveys that people love answering.

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Market research can navigate your company by helping you understand your audiences and customers better, identify shifting trends, and maintain that sought-after competitive advantage. In this blog, we'll throw light on the most compelling market research questions and best practices that can unveil valuable insights and give you a strategic edge in the ever-evolving market. 

Table of Content

What are market research questions.

  • For Customers
  • For Startups
  • For New Product Launch
  • For Existing Product
  • To Segment Target Market
  • For Competitive Analysis
  • To Check Brand Awareness
  • Pricing Analysis
  • For Concept Testing
  • To Understand Online Visibility
  • For Reputation Management
  • For Messaging & Advertising

Best Practices for Market Research Questions

Why do market research, top 10 market research questions.

Market research questions are designed to gather specific information and insights about a target market or audience. These questions play a crucial role in conducting systematic research to understand consumer preferences, behaviors, and opinions, as well as to analyze market trends and competitors.

You can use a market research survey template offered by Zonka Feedback to make informed decisions, identify opportunities, and develop effective strategies to stay competitive. If you are looking for a ready-to-use market research survey template, here is one that can gain you customer insights, consequently increasing customer satisfaction .

Market Research Questions to Gather Insights

Market research questions can help to optimize the decision-making process for businesses across various stages, from product development to marketing and sales. However, choosing the right market research questions should be based on what you want to achieve through market research. You can leverage microsurveys like the Net Promoter Score or Customer Satisfaction Surveys to conduct market research or create a comprehensive survey to gauge various aspects. Let us look at market research questions aimed at different user personas and business goals. 

1. For Customers

Understanding customers' preferences, concerns, and buying behavior are vital for your business to provide exceptional customer experiences . With this knowledge, you can focus on enhancing the aspects your customers love while working on areas that need improvement. 

What factors influence your purchasing decisions the most? What improvements would you like to see in our offerings?  How satisfied are you with our customer service?  Would you recommend our product to others? Which specific features of our product/service do you find most valuable?

2. For Startups

For startups, market research is crucial to validate business ideas , identify target markets, and uncover potential opportunities and challenges. Seeking product feedback for your startup in the early stages of brand development can be especially valuable in refining your beta version of the product and can help to create a product that truly resonates with your target audience.

What challenges do you currently face in [relevant industry/problem area]? What features are most important to you when considering a [product/service]? Would you be willing to try a new [product/service] if it addresses your needs more effectively? What would be your primary reason for choosing a product over competitors? How much would you be willing to pay for a product/service that meets your requirements? What are your preferred communication channels to learn about new products/services? How do you prefer to purchase product/service - online, in-store, or through a mobile app?

There are certain questions that you should be establishing as a startup before entering the market. Consider these market research questions to refine your startup's value proposition and make well-informed decisions to position your venture for success.

What are the total addressable market (tam), serviceable available market (sam), and share of the market (som)? What is your USP? Are you planning to refine your beta version of the product with beta testing survey ?  How would you onboard new customers? What are the potential barriers or challenges you may face in acquiring customers? How does the pricing of your product/service compare to the perceived value among customers?

3. For New Product Launch

Market research for new products helps locate potential demand, get product feature requests , and identify target markets, reducing the risk of launching a product with limited appeal. Consider these market research questions for new products that you can ask your customers.

How did you first hear about our new product? What is your initial impression of the new product based on the information provided? How interested are you in trying out this new product? What features or benefits of the new product appeal to you the most? How does the pricing of the new product align with your expectations and perceived value? Are there any specific concerns you have about the new product? Would you be open to participating in a trial or beta testing for the new product?

4. For Existing Product

For companies that thrive on product-led growth , customer feedback on the existing product is the key to success. Market research for existing products helps in understanding changing customer needs and market trends, ensuring that the product remains relevant and competitive. 

On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with our current product? What challenges are you facing in using our product? What additional features or improvements would you like to see in our product? How does our product compare to competitors in terms of performance and pricing?

5. To Segment Target Market

By asking market research questions, you can segment your target market based on various demographics, interests, behaviors, and preferences. Through user segmentation , you can create more targeted marketing campaigns, tailor products/services to specific needs, and effectively reach and engage your diverse user base. Here are some of the demographic survey questions that you can ask to segment your target market. 

What is your age group?  What is your gender? Where do you reside? What is your education level? Are you employed, self-employed, a student, or retired? What are your hobbies or interests?  What are your preferred modes of communication? How do you prefer to make purchase decisions? What are your primary reasons for purchasing a specific product/service? Which media channels do you use most frequently for information and entertainment? 

6. For Competitive Analysis

Understanding competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and strategies can help you dig deeper into market share and identify opportunities to stay ahead in the market. You can leverage survey collection software to perform competitive analysis and gather valuable analytics for marketing and conversion rate optimization. Consider these market research questions to ask your customers about competitors. Consider these market research questions to ask your customers about competitors.

Have you ever used products/services from our competitors? How would you rate the products/services of our competitors in terms of quality? What do you perceive as the main strengths of our competitors' offerings? What factors influence your decision to choose our products/services over those of our competitors? Are there any specific features or benefits offered by our competitors that you find appealing? How do you think our products/services compare to those of our competitors in terms of overall value? How likely are you to recommend our products/services over those of our competitors to others?

7. To Check Brand Awareness

Assessing brand awareness helps businesses measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and brand visibility in the market. Market research questions for checking brand awareness can include:

Have you heard of our brand before? How did you first learn about our brand? Which of the following products do you associate with our company?  Have you ever used or purchased any products from our company? What feature do you like the most about our product? On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely would you recommend our brand to a friend or colleague?

8. Pricing Analysis

Determining the right pricing strategy is crucial to attracting customers while ensuring profitability. Market research questions for pricing analysis can include:

What price range do you consider reasonable for our product? How does our current pricing compare to competitors in the market? What factors do you consider when evaluating the pricing of a product? Would you be willing to pay more for additional features or benefits?

9. For Concept Testing

Before launching the final product, performing concept testing allows businesses to evaluate the viability of new ideas before investing resources in full-scale development. By doing so, you can tailor your product according to customer needs and assess the overall feasibility of your new product idea.

Please read the description of the new product/service concept carefully. How appealing does this concept sound to you? What specific aspects of the concept do you find most appealing or interesting? How likely are you to consider using or purchasing this new product/service based on the concept description? What would be your primary reason for choosing this new product/service over similar offerings in the market? Is there anything missing in the concept that you believe would make it more appealing or valuable? Is there anything you would change or improve in the concept to make it more appealing to you? How much would you be willing to pay for this new product/service, based on the concept description?

10. To Understand Online Visibility

In the digital age, online visibility is crucial to reach their target audience effectively. Whether you want to drive in-store customers or online, the route is by following online visibility. Conducting an online survey is the easiest way to understand this. Consider these market research questions to understand online visibility.

How did you discover our brand/company online? How frequently do you come across our brand/company while browsing the internet? Have you visited our website? If yes, what was your purpose for visiting? Are you following our brand/company on social media? If yes, which platforms? How do you perceive our brand/company's presence on social media? (e.g., active, engaging, informative) Do you find our website and online content (blogs, articles, etc.) easy to navigate and informative? What do you think about the overall user experience on our website? (e.g., website speed, design, functionality) How does our online presence compare to that of our competitors? Are there any specific online platforms or websites where you would like to see our brand/company more active?

11. For Reputation Management

Monitoring and managing your brand's reputation is essential for improving customer loyalty and business revenue. A major part of market research includes knowing what customers think and speak about your business. Including customer feedback and trends in your analysis will allow for more accurate predictions in your revenue forecasting software . Here are some market research questions for reputation management.

How would you describe your overall perception of our company? What do you think is our company's strengths? How likely are you to recommend our company to others based on your perception? Are there any specific aspects of our company's reputation that stand out to you? How do you feel about our company's responsiveness to customer feedback and concerns? Are there any specific incidents or experiences that have influenced your perception of our company?

12. For Messaging & Advertising

Crafting compelling messaging and advertising campaigns that resonate with the target audience is crucial for driving engagement and conversions. Your advertising should be in sync with your business goals and brand identity to communicate your unique value proposition. 

Have you come across any of our recent advertising or marketing campaigns? If yes, please specify where you saw or heard them. How well do you think our advertising aligns with your needs and preferences as a customer? Are there any specific advertising channels or platforms where you believe our brand should have a stronger presence? How likely are you to take action (e.g., visit our website, make a purchase) after seeing our advertising? Which specific elements of our advertising (e.g., visuals, slogans, offers) do you find most memorable? Have you ever shared or engaged with our advertising content on social media? Do you find our advertising to be informative and educational about our products/services?

Before you start framing your market research, it is essential to follow these best practices to ensure the effectiveness and reliability of your data:

Things to Do

  • Decide your Goals : Clearly define the objectives of your market research. Determine what specific insights you aim to gather and how they will support your business decisions.
  • Segment your Audience : Understand that different customer segments may have distinct needs and preferences. Tailor your survey questions to target specific groups, allowing for a more focused analysis.
  • Choose the Right Survey Question Type : Select appropriate question formats based on your goals. Use a mix of multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions , Likert scales , and rating scales to capture both quantitative and qualitative data.
  • Incentivize your Survey : Offer incentives to encourage participation and increase the response rate. It could be in the form of discounts, gift cards, or entry into a prize draw.

Things to Avoid

  • Avoid Double-Barreled Questions : Double-barreled questions combine two or more issues into one question, making it challenging for respondents to provide clear and accurate answers. Keep your questions focused on one topic at a time.
  • Avoid Leading Questions : Leading questions are worded in a way that influences or biases respondents' answers. Aim for neutrality and objectivity in your questions to obtain unbiased data.
  • Avoid Too Many Questions : Lengthy surveys can lead to respondent fatigue, resulting in incomplete or rushed answers. Keep your survey concise and relevant, ensuring it can be completed within a reasonable timeframe.

All the popular companies in the market currently, whether it is Apple, Zappos, or Spotify, rely heavily on market research. Let us look at the reasons why you must consider market research to drive growth.

  • Identifying Market Opportunities : Market research helps identify emerging trends, unmet needs, and untapped market segments, providing valuable opportunities for businesses to expand and innovate.
  • Testing Product Concepts : Before launching a new product or service, market research can be used to gauge customer interest and receive feedback on potential concepts, get product idea validation , and reduce the risk of product failure.
  • Evaluating Marketing Campaigns : Market research allows businesses to assess the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, whether it is driving NPS campaigns or launching new advertising initiatives. It helps to refine messaging, targeting, and channels for better results.
  • Measuring Customer Satisfaction : Understanding customer satisfaction levels and identifying areas for improvement is crucial for retaining customers and building brand loyalty.

Now that you know the power of market research and how it can improve your offering and enhance customer experience, let us quickly recall the top 10 market research questions that can drive your business forward.

  • What are the primary factors influencing your purchasing decisions?
  • How satisfied are you with our product?
  • What are the most desirable features you look for in a product?
  • How did you first hear about our brand/product/service?
  • What do you consider a fair price for our product?
  • What improvements or additions would you like to see in our offerings?
  • On a scale of 1-5, how likely are you to recommend our brand to others?
  • What are the main challenges you face when using our product?
  • How well do you think our product compares to competitors in the market?
  • Which aspects of our advertising or marketing message do you find most compelling?

From identifying market opportunities and testing product concepts to measuring customer satisfaction and tracking brand awareness, market research questions play a vital role in allowing you to adapt and innovate in a rapidly changing marketplace. By listening to your customers and gaining valuable feedback through market research, you can refine your products and marketing efforts to better meet customer expectations .

For creating a market research survey, it is important that you leverage an omnichannel survey software that enables you to create impactful surveys, share them across multiple channels with your target customers, and gather and analyze valuable feedback using reporting features.

Zonka Feedback is one such powerful market research software that can help you do all of that, along with offering survey logic & branching , segmenting your customers, measuring trends, and closing the feedback loop .

You can sign up for a 14 -day free trial to create effective market research surveys and see how it works for you. 

Published on Jul 25, 2023. Updated on Apr 30, 2024.

Kanika

Written by Kanika

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  • 33 Online Shopping Questionnaire + [Template Examples]

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Online shopping is increasingly becoming the most preferred shopping option across the globe. In 2019 alone, an estimated 1.92 billion people purchased goods or services online. This has created a need to offer good customer service to online shoppers, which is why you need an online shopping questionnaire. 

An online shopping questionnaire helps you to study users’ behaviors, experiences, and preferences as they shop items from your e-commerce store. In this article, we will discuss 33 questions you should include in your online shopping questionnaire to help you understand your customers’ needs. 

Online Shopping Survey Questions  

The types of questions listed in your online shopping survey must reflect the aims and objectives of the data collection process. Also, be sure to ask good survey questions that allow respondents to freely communicate their thoughts and perceptions without boxing them into a corner. 

Close-ended questions, open-ended questions , and dichotomous questions are examples of good survey questions that you can add to your online shopping survey. 

Close-Ended Questions

A close-ended question is a type of survey question that restricts respondents to a set of answer-options to choose from. In other words, the researcher provides options for you to choose from in response to the question. Close-ended questions help you to gather quantitative data . 

11 Close-ended Questions for an Online Shopping Questionnaire 

How often do you shop on this site, choose 2 products you buy frequently on this site..

  • Accessories
  • Perfumes and Oils
  • Skincare products

What is the biggest challenge you face with shopping online?

  • Slow checkout time
  • Lack of products I want
  • Slow webpage response time 

How likely are you to recommend this site to other online shoppers?

  • Very likely
  • Somewhat likely
  • Very unlikely

What is your biggest concern about online shopping?

  • Breach of personal information
  • Breach of payment details
  • Poor internet connection

How much do you spend on online shopping every month?

  • Less than 100 USD
  • $100 – $500
  • $500 – $1000
  • More than 1000 USD 

online-shopping-survey-question

How many times do you shop online in a month?

  • More than thrice 

Which payment method do you prefer for online shopping?

  • Payment Gateways
  • Bank transfer

How would you rate your overall online shopping experience?

How likely are you to return to this webpage for your online shopping.

  • Highly unlikely 

What is your gender?

  • Others. Please state
  • Prefer not to say

online-shopping-survey-questions

Open-Ended Questions

This is a type of survey question that does not limit respondents to predetermined answers. Open-ended questions allow you to fully communicate your ideas and perceptions in response to a question. You can describe them as free-form survey questions. 

Examples of Open-Ended Questions in an Online Shopping Questionnaire   

  • Describe your online shopping experience with us . This question allows your customer to provide a holistic view of their overall customer experience with your organization. 
  • Describe a negative experience you had while shopping online . This question allows customers to highlight any areas needing improvement in your online store. 
  • Describe a positive experience you had while shopping . Let customers identify strong points when it comes to online shopping with your brand.
  • Why do you shop online with us? With this question, you would be able to identify the unique selling points of your brand across different customer segments. 
  • How old are you ? This question helps you to understand who your customers are; that is, the different age groups that your brand appeals to. 

online-shopping-survey

  • Which products do you buy regularly? The responses to this question will help you to identify fast-moving products and to categorize your stock accordingly. 
  • Have you experienced any difficulty with adding products to your online cart? This question allows respondents to provide specific feedback on definite aspects of your online shopping operations. 
  • What do you think about the pricing of our products ? Use this question to collect feedback on product pricing to avoid overcharging or under-charging your customers. 
  • What do you think about the quality of our products? This question allows you to collect first-hand feedback from customers in terms of the quality of your product(s).  
  • What other online store do you shop on? The answers to this question make it easy for you to identify your competition. You can leverage this data to create a better customer experience for your clients. 
  • What major challenges have you encountered while shopping on our site ? This question allows you to identify and address customer dissatisfaction easily. After identifying the challenges faced, you should work on providing sustainable solutions to them. 

online-shopping-surveys

Dichotomous Question

A dichotomous question is a type of close-ended survey question that provides respondents with 2 opposite answer options for them to choose from. Common answer options in dichotomous questions include true/false, yes/no, fair/unfair, to mention a few. 

Dichotomous Question Samples for an Online Shopping Questionnaire

Did you enjoy the online shopping experience on our website.

This question allows customers to provide feedback on the overall shopping experience. 

Do you always shop on our website?

This simple question allows you to track consumer retention for your organization. 

Would you recommend our website to others?

Positive responses to this question serve as an indicator of a good customer experience. 

Our website provided the best online shopping experience.

Just like the first question in this section, this question helps you to gather feedback on your overall online shopping experience. 

Do you have any challenges with our checkout method?

Get direct feedback from customers about your e-commerce checkout process on your website. 

online-shopping

Our product prices are affordable.

This question allows you to gather feedback from customers about product pricing. 

Have you ever had a bad experience while shopping with us?

This question allows you to track and address customer dissatisfaction. 

Do you have any concerns about your data privacy while shopping online?

I always use the credit card option for my online shopping transactions..

This question prompts customers to indicate preferred payment options. 

I always use the bank transfer method for online shopping transactions.

Just like the question above, customers can provide responses here that allow you to identify preferred payment methods for your e-commerce store. 

Do you always shop online?

Responses to this question provide insight into customers’ behaviors and preferences. 

ecommerce-survey

Can’t find your preferred Online Shopping survey template? ithCreate yours for free with the easy-to-use Formplus builder

How to Create an Online Shopping Questionnaire with Formplus  

With Formplus, you can create a smart online shopping questionnaire and either add the form to your website or share it with your customers using our multiple form sharing options. Formplus makes it easy for you to collect and process data from your customers, and this helps to improve customer experience and consumer satisfaction for your organization. 

Follow these steps to create your online shopping questionnaire from scratch using Formplus. 

  • If you do not have a Formplus account, visit www.formpl.us to sign up for your Formplus account. If you have a Formplus account, visit the aforementioned website and click on the “Access Dashboard” button to gain access to your personalized Formplus dashboard. 

market research questions about shopping

  • Once you have access to your Formplus dashboard, click on the “create new form” button to start building your online shopping survey. You’d find this button at the top left corner of your dashboard. 

market research questions about shopping

  • Alternatively, you can modify any of the existing Formplus templates to suit your data collection needs. All you need to do is click on the “template” option on the dashboard navigation bar and then, follow the prompt. 
  • Now, you should be in the form builder. This is where you create your online shopping form. Start by adding the form title to the builder’s title bar. 

market research questions about shopping

  • Next, go to the form fields section located on the left side of the form builder. There, you’d find more than 30 form field options including digital signature fields, payment fields, date-time validation, and so on. You can add any of these fields to your form by simply clicking on them or drag and drop the field from the builder’s inputs section. 

market research questions about shopping

  • After adding the fields, click on the pencil icon just beside each field to access the form fields editing section. Here, you should add your question(s) and/or options. 

market research questions about shopping

  • When you’ve added and modified all preferred fields accordingly, click on the save icon just at the top right corner of the builder. This automatically saves the form and takes you to the builder’s section. 

market research questions about shopping

  • The Customize section is where you can change the look and feel of your online shopping survey. You can add preferred background images to your form, embed your organization’s logo, change the form font, or even customize the form layout using CSS. 

market research questions about shopping

  • To add the online shopping survey to your website simply, go to the form builder’s “Share” page. You’d find it on the builder’s navigation panel right at the top corner.
  • Click on the “embed” tab on the sidebar.
  • You’d see 4 options here: Use as Pop-up, Use as iFrame embed, Embed in Facebook Page, and Embed in WordPress site.  

market research questions about shopping

  • Click on “use as iFrame embed”  and copy the displayed code.

market research questions about shopping

  • Paste the code at the appropriate place to add it to your site. 
  • If you have a WordPress website, you can embed the form by choosing the “Embed in WordPress site” option, copy the shortcode, and paste it inside your WordPress editor.

market research questions about shopping

  • Copy the form link and share it with respondents. 

Importance of an Online Shopping Survey  

E-commerce businesses, especially, should prioritize online shopping surveys because these data collection tools are key to business optimization, improved customer experience, brand loyalty, and increasing revenue. Here are 6 ways that online shopping surveys can make a difference in your business. 

  • Understand Consumer Behaviour: With an online shopping survey, you’d have a better understanding of your customers’ online shopping behaviors with specific insights into their preferences, challenges, and experiences. This allows you to place them into distinct customer segments as part of market research. 
  • Seamless Data Collection: An online shopping survey is a fast, easy, and convenient method of data collection . Unlike paper forms and other traditional survey methods, an online shopping survey can be filled on the go which allows you to gather real-time information from respondents, instantly. 
  • With a smart online survey, you’d find it easier to highlight current trends and patterns in consumers’ behaviors. 
  • Improved Customer Experience and Satisfaction: It helps you to immediately identify and address any challenges faced by your customers and to resolve these challenges accordingly. If you embed the survey into your e-commerce website, customers complete the questionnaire once they are done shopping on your webpage. 
  • Optimized Marketing Plans and Strategies: The data gathered via an online shopping survey can help you create a well-defined marketing plan and strategy for your organization. Having a clear knowledge of who your customers are and what different customer segments prefer typically empowers you to create specifically tailored adverts that appeal to each segment.
  • It improves your organization’s response time to customers’ complaints. 

Research shows that consumers spend an average of 5 hours shopping online every week and 92% of consumers shop online at least once a year . This, once again, emphasizes how much online shopping has become integral to our everyday lives. 

If you want to create unforgettable online shopping experiences for your target audience, you must understand customers’ experiences and expectations. An online shopping questionnaire is a simple but effective data tool that helps you to gather objective data from consumers. 

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Business growth

Marketing tips

How to conduct your own market research survey (with example)

Hero image with an icon of a survey

After watching a few of those sketches, you can imagine why real-life focus groups tend to be pretty small. Even without any over-the-top personalities involved, it's easy for these groups to go off the rails.

So what happens when you want to collect market research at a larger scale? That's where the market research survey comes in. Market surveys allow you to get just as much valuable information as an in-person interview, without the burden of herding hundreds of rowdy Eagles fans through a product test.

Table of contents:

What is a market research survey?

Why conduct market research, primary vs. secondary market research.

6 types of market research surveys

How to write and conduct a market research survey

Tips for running a market research survey.

Market research survey campaign example questions

Market research survey template

Use automation to put survey results into action

A market research survey is a questionnaire designed to collect key information about a company's target market and audience that will help guide business decisions about products and services, branding angles, and advertising campaigns.

Market surveys are what's known as "primary research"—that is, information that the researching company gathers firsthand. Secondary research consists of data that another organization gathered and published, which other researchers can then use for their own reports. Primary research is more expensive and time-intensive than secondary research, which is why you should only use market research surveys to obtain information that you can't get anywhere else. 

A market research survey can collect information on your target customers':

Experiences

Preferences, desires, and needs

Values and motivations

The types of information that can usually be found in a secondary source, and therefore aren't good candidates for a market survey, include your target customers':

Demographic data

Consumer spending data

Household size

Lots of this secondary information can be found in a public database like those maintained by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics . There are also a few free market research tools that you can use to access more detailed data, like Think with Google , Data USA , and Statista . Or, if you're looking to learn about your existing customer base, you can also use a CRM to automatically record key information about your customers each time they make a purchase.

If you've exhausted your secondary research options and still have unanswered questions, it's time to start thinking about conducting a market research survey.

The first thing to figure out is what you're trying to learn, and from whom. Are you beta testing a new product or feature with existing users? Or are you looking to identify new customer personas for your marketers to target? There are a number of different ways to use a marketing research survey, and your choice will impact how you set up the questionnaire.

Here are some examples of how market research surveys can be used to fill a wide range of knowledge gaps for companies:

A B2B software company asks real users in its industry about Kanban board usage to help prioritize their project view change rollout.

A B2C software company asks its target demographic about their mobile browsing habits to help them find features to incorporate into their forthcoming mobile app.

A printing company asks its target demographic about fabric preferences to gauge interest in a premium material option for their apparel lines.

A wholesale food vendor surveys regional restaurant owners to find ideas for seasonal products to offer.

Market surveys are what's known as "primary research"—that is, information that the researching company gathers firsthand. Secondary research consists of data that another organization gathered and published, which other researchers can then use for their own reports. 

Primary research is more expensive and time-intensive than secondary research, which is why you should only use market research surveys to obtain information that you can't get anywhere else. 

Lots of this secondary information can be found in a public database like those maintained by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics . There are also a few free market research tools that you can use to access more detailed data, like Think with Google , Data USA , and Statista . 

Or, if you're looking to learn about your existing customer base, you can also use a CRM to automatically record key information about your customers each time they make a purchase.

6 types of market research survey

Depending on your goal, you'll need different types of market research. Here are six types of market research surveys.

1. Buyer persona research

A buyer persona or customer profile is a simple sketch of the types of people that you should be targeting as potential customers. 

A buyer persona research survey will help you learn more about things like demographics, household makeup, income and education levels, and lifestyle markers. The more you learn about your existing customers, the more specific you can get in targeting potential customers. You may find that there are more buyer personas within your user base than the ones that you've been targeting.

2. Sales funnel research

The sales funnel is the path that potential customers take to eventually become buyers. It starts with the target's awareness of your product, then moves through stages of increasing interest until they ultimately make a purchase. 

With a sales funnel research survey, you can learn about potential customers' main drivers at different stages of the sales funnel. You can also get feedback on how effective different sales strategies are. Use this survey to find out:

How close potential buyers are to making a purchase

What tools and experiences have been most effective in moving prospective customers closer to conversion

What types of lead magnets are most attractive to your target audience

3. Customer loyalty research

Whenever you take a customer experience survey after you make a purchase, you'll usually see a few questions about whether you would recommend the company or a particular product to a friend. After you've identified your biggest brand advocates , you can look for persona patterns to determine what other customers are most likely to be similarly enthusiastic about your products. Use these surveys to learn:

The demographics of your most loyal customers

What tools are most effective in turning customers into advocates

What you can do to encourage more brand loyalty

4. Branding and marketing research

The Charmin focus group featured in that SNL sketch is an example of branding and marketing research, in which a company looks for feedback on a particular advertising angle to get a sense of whether it will be effective before the company spends money on running the ad at scale. Use this type of survey to find out:

Whether a new advertising angle will do well with existing customers

Whether a campaign will do well with a new customer segment you haven't targeted yet

What types of campaign angles do well with a particular demographic

5. New products or features research

Whereas the Charmin sketch features a marketing focus group, this one features new product research for a variety of new Hidden Valley Ranch flavors. Though you can't get hands-on feedback on new products when you're conducting a survey instead of an in-person meeting, you can survey your customers to find out:

What features they wish your product currently had

What other similar or related products they shop for

What they think of a particular product or feature idea

Running a survey before investing resources into developing a new offering will save you and the company a lot of time, money, and energy.

6. Competitor research

You can get a lot of information about your own customers and users via automatic data collection , but your competitors' customer base may not be made up of the same buyer personas that yours is. Survey your competitors' users to find out:

Your competitors ' customers' demographics, habits, and behaviors

Whether your competitors have found success with a buyer persona you're not targeting

Information about buyers for a product that's similar to one you're thinking about launching

Feedback on what features your competitors' customers wish their version of a product had

Once you've narrowed down your survey's objectives, you can move forward with designing and running your survey.

Step 1: Write your survey questions

A poorly worded survey, or a survey that uses the wrong question format, can render all of your data moot. If you write a question that results in most respondents answering "none of the above," you haven't learned much. 

You'll find dozens of question types and even pre-written questions in most survey apps . Here are a few common question types that work well for market surveys.

Categorical questions

Also known as a nominal question, this question type provides numbers and percentages for easy visualization, like "35% said ABC." It works great for bar graphs and pie charts, but you can't take averages or test correlations with nominal-level data.

Yes/No: The most basic survey question used in polls is the Yes/No question, which can be easily created using your survey app or by adding Yes/No options to a multiple-choice question. 

Multiple choice: Use this type of question if you need more nuance than a Yes/No answer gives. You can add as many answers as you want, and your respondents can pick only one answer to the question. 

Checkbox: Checkbox questions add the flexibility to select all the answers that apply. Add as many answers as you want, and respondents aren't limited to just one. 

A screenshot of a multiple choice question asking about how you travel to work with various answers and an option to type in your own answer in an "other" field

Ordinal questions

This type of question requires survey-takers to pick from options presented in a specific order, like "income of $0-$25K, $26K-$40K, $41K+." Like nominal questions, ordinal questions elicit responses that allow you to analyze counts and percentages, though you can't calculate averages or assess correlations with ordinal-level data.

Dropdown: Responses to ordinal questions can be presented as a dropdown, from which survey-takers can only make one selection. You could use this question type to gather demographic data, like the respondent's country or state of residence. 

Ranking: This is a unique question type that allows respondents to arrange a list of answers in their preferred order, providing feedback on each option in the process. 

Interval/ratio questions

For precise data and advanced analysis, use interval or ratio questions. These can help you calculate more advanced analytics, like averages, test correlations, and run regression models. Interval questions commonly use scales of 1-5 or 1-7, like "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree." Ratio questions have a true zero and often ask for numerical inputs (like "How many cups of coffee do you drink per day? ____").

Ranking scale: A ranking scale presents answer choices along an ordered value-based sequence, either using numbers, a like/love scale, a never/always scale, or some other ratio interval. It gives more insight into people's thoughts than a Yes/No question. 

Matrix: Have a lot of interval questions to ask? You can put a number of questions in a list and use the same scale for all of them. It simplifies gathering data about a lot of similar items at once. 

Example : How much do you like the following: oranges, apples, grapes? Hate/Dislike/Ok/Like/Love

Textbox: A textbox question is needed for collecting direct feedback or personal data like names. There will be a blank space where the respondent can enter their answer to your question on their own. 

Screenshot example of an interval question about how much you enjoy commuting to work with options to indicate how much a person agrees and disagrees with a statement

Step 2: Choose a survey platform

There are a lot of survey platforms to choose from, and they all offer different and unique features. Check out Zapier's list of the best online survey apps to help you decide.

Most survey apps today look great on mobile, but be sure to preview your survey on your phone and computer, at least, to make sure it'll look good for all of your users.

A screenshot image of two survey questions on a mobile device rather than a desktop view to illustrate the importance of checking to see how a survey will show up on multiple platforms

If you have the budget, you can also purchase survey services from a larger research agency. 

Step 3: Run a test survey

Before you run your full survey, conduct a smaller test on 5%-10% of your target respondent pool size. This will allow you to work out any confusing wording or questions that result in unhelpful responses without spending the full cost of the survey. Look out for:

Survey rejection from the platform for prohibited topics

Joke or nonsense textbox answers that indicate the respondent didn't answer the survey in earnest

Multiple choice questions with an outsized percentage of "none of the above" or "N/A" responses

Step 4: Launch your survey

If your test survey comes back looking good, you're ready to launch the full thing! Make sure that you leave ample time for the survey to run—you'd be surprised at how long it takes to get a few thousand respondents. 

Even if you've run similar surveys in the past, leave more time than you need. Some surveys take longer than others for no clear reason, and you also want to build in time to conduct a comprehensive data analysis.

Step 5: Organize and interpret the data

Unless you're a trained data analyst, you should avoid crunching all but the simplest survey data by hand. Most survey platforms include some form of reporting dashboard that will handle things like population weighting for you, but you can also connect your survey platform to other apps that make it easy to keep track of your results and turn them into actionable insights.

You know the basics of how to conduct a market research survey, but here are some tips to enhance the quality of your data and the reliability of your findings.

Find the right audience: You could have meticulously crafted survey questions, but if you don't target the appropriate demographic or customer segment, it doesn't really matter. You need to collect responses from the people you're trying to understand. Targeted audiences you can send surveys to include your existing customers, current social media followers, newsletter subscribers, attendees at relevant industry events, and community members from online forums, discussion boards, or other online communities that cater to your target audience. 

Take advantage of existing resources: No need to reinvent the wheel. You may be able to use common templates and online survey platforms like SurveyMonkey for both survey creation and distribution. You can also use AI tools to create better surveys. For example, generative AI tools like ChatGPT can help you generate questions, while analytical AI tools can scan survey responses to help sort, tag, and report on them. Some survey apps have AI built into them already too.

Focus questions on a desired data type: As you conceptualize your survey, consider whether a qualitative or quantitative approach will better suit your research goals. Qualitative methods are best for exploring in-depth insights and underlying motivations, while quantitative methods are better for obtaining statistical data and measurable trends. For an outcome like "optimize our ice cream shop's menu offerings," you may want to find out which flavors of ice cream are most popular with teens. This would require a quantitative approach, for which you would use categorical questions that can help you rank potential flavors numerically.

Establish a timeline: Set a realistic timeline for your survey, from creation to distribution to data collection and analysis. You'll want to balance having your survey out long enough to generate a significant amount of responses but not so long that it loses relevance. That length can vary widely based on factors like type of survey, number of questions, audience size, time sensitivity, question format, and question length.

Define a margin of error: Your margin of error shows how much the survey results might differ from the real opinions of the entire group being studied. Since you can't possibly survey every single person in your desired population, you'll have to settle on an acceptable percentage of error upfront, a percentage figure that varies by sample size, sample proportion, and confidence interval. According to University of Wisconsin-Madison's Pamela Hunter , 95% is the industry standard confidence level (though small sample sizes may get by with 90%). At the 95% level, for example, an acceptable margin of error for a survey of 500 respondents would be 3%. That means that if 80% of respondents give a positive response to a question, the data shows that between 77-83% respond positively 95 out of 100 times.

Market research survey campaign example

Let's say you own a market research company, and you want to use a survey to gain critical insights into your market. You prompt users to fill out your survey before they can access gated premium content.

Survey questions: 

1. What size is your business? 

<10 employees

11-50 employees

51-100 employees

101-200 employees

>200 employees

2. What industry type best describes your role?

3. On a scale of 1-4, how important would you say access to market data is?

1 - Not important

2 - Somewhat important

3 - Very important

4 - Critically important

4. On a scale of 1 (least important) to 5 (most important), rank how important these market data access factors are.

Accuracy of data

Attractive presentation of data

Cost of data access

Range of data presentation formats

Timeliness of data

5. True or false: your job relies on access to accurate, up-to-date market data.

Survey findings: 

63% of respondents represent businesses with over 100 employees, while only 8% represent businesses with under 10.

71% of respondents work in sales, marketing, or operations.

80% of respondents consider access to market data to be either very important or critically important.

"Timeliness of data" (38%) and "Accuracy of data" (32%) were most commonly ranked as the most important market data access factor.

86% of respondents claimed that their jobs rely on accessing accurate, up-to-date market data.

Insights and recommendations: Independent analysis of the survey indicates that a large percentage of users work in the sales, marketing, or operations fields of large companies, and these customers value timeliness and accuracy most. These findings can help you position future report offerings more effectively by highlighting key benefits that are important to customers that fit into related customer profiles. 

Market research survey example questions

Your individual questions will vary by your industry, market, and research goals, so don't expect a cut-and-paste survey to suit your needs. To help you get started, here are market research survey example questions to give you a sense of the format.

Yes/No: Have you purchased our product before?

Multiple choice: How many employees work at your company?

<10 / 10-20 / 21-50 / 51-100 / 101-250 / 250+

Checkbox: Which of the following features do you use in our app?

Push notifications / Dashboard / Profile customization / In-app chat

Dropdown: What's your household income? 

$0-$10K / $11-$35K / $36-$60K / $61K+

Ranking: Which social media platforms do you use the most? Rank in order, from most to least.

Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Reddit

Ranking scale: On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate our customer service? 

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Textbox: How many apps are installed on your phone? Enter a number: 

Market research survey question types

Good survey apps typically offer pre-designed templates as a starting point. But to give you a more visual sense of what these questions might look like, we've put together a document showcasing common market research survey question types.

Screenshot of Zapier's market research survey question format guide

You're going to get a lot of responses back from your survey—why dig through them all manually if you don't have to? Automate your survey to aggregate information for you, so it's that much easier to uncover findings. 

Related reading:

Poll vs. survey: What is a survey and what are polls?

The best online survey apps

The best free form builders and survey tools

How to get people to take a survey

This article was originally published in June 2015 by Stephanie Briggs. The most recent update, with contributions from Cecilia Gillen, was in September 2023.

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Amanda Pell

Amanda is a writer and content strategist who built her career writing on campaigns for brands like Nature Valley, Disney, and the NFL. When she's not knee-deep in research, you'll likely find her hiking with her dog or with her nose in a good book.

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The Most Instrumental Pricing Questions for Market Research

pricing questions market research

You’ll need to use a handy set of pricing questions for market research , specifically for your pricing research campaigns. 

These questions are particularly useful in survey studies , as surveys — especially the online variety — are the most effective tools for conducting market research. 

Online surveys grant you quick access to the customer behaviors and perceptions of your target market , the segment of customers most likely to buy from you.

As such, you should apply surveys to pricing studies, as the prices of your products and services are highly important to many customers . In fact, a wide swath of customers makes their purchasing decisions solely based on price .

That’s why you’ll need a solid set of pricing questions that you can use in your pricing survey and various other market research campaigns .

This guide lays out a variety of different types of useful pricing questions for market research to use in your pricing survey, including their key examples and importance. 

The Importance of Pricing Questions for Market Research

Using pricing questions for market research is exceptionally important in the age of mass information and price-conscious customers.

Presently, a wide swath of customers makes their purchasing decisions solely based on price .

This is the case across virtually all industries.

A whopping 65% of customers check for price comparisons while they’re physically shopping in a store . These comparisons then dictate their buying decisions, given that these price-conscious customers consider the price of a product as a key buying factor. 

This is proven, as 57% of consumers consider price to be a top factor in deciding which company to buy from . Clearly, customers are paying attention to the price of your products — and you should too. 

You’ll therefore need to have a reliable set of pricing questions in order to run a pricing survey or conduct any sort of pricing research.

It’s always helpful to have a guiding light for your research endeavors, so use this article to find useful pricing questions. 

Types of Pricing Questions for Market Research

There are different types of pricing surveys; thus, you’ll find different kinds of pricing questions. Pricing questions can differ in the following ways:

  • Differing formats
  • Accompanying visualizations
  • Question topics
  • Question styles (yes or no, more contextual questions, etc.)

In order to conduct a strong pricing research campaign, it’s important to be able to identify the kinds of pricing questions out there, so that you not only understand them better, but can create them on your own and know which to use in different circumstances.

pricing questions market research

The following lists the four main types of pricing questions you’ll find in different market research campaigns. Some of them may require using a market research tool that supports a particular format and presentation , such as with a conjoint analysis and the Van Westendorp Pricing Meter.

Thus, the types of pricing questions you can create depend on the online survey platform you use. Not all survey platforms offer the same features , so you may not be able to use all of these question types if your online market research platform doesn’t support them.

Here are the four main types of pricing questions for market research:

  • Van Westendorp Pricing Meter questions
  • Customer Willingness to Pay questions
  • Gabor Granger questions
  • Conjoint Analysis

Now, let’s explore each question type by understanding it in greater depth and seeing some question examples. 

Van Westendorp Pricing Meter Questions

These questions are used with a market research feature called the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter . This is a pricing model that provides data for decision-making in regard to consumer price preferences. 

The meter uses a visualization in the form of a graph, with ratings on price and value . These are presented as responses to survey questions that focus on the prices of different products and services.

As such, it is used to determine customers’ willingness to pay a range of prices. It uses their answers to conclude the prices that your customers deem acceptable, too high, too low and optimal.

As such, this pricing model/feature usually comprises only four questions. They include the following:

  • Determines : Too cheap
  • Alternate question : At what price would you consider the product to be so low that you would feel the quality couldn’t be that good?
  • Determines : Cheap/ good value
  • Alternate question: At what price would you consider the product to be a bargain, aka a great buy for the money? 
  • Determines : Expensive high side
  • Alternate question: At what price would you consider the product starting to get expensive, not so much that it is out of the question, but you would have to give some thought to buying it? 
  • Determines : Too Expensive
  • Alternate question: At what price would you consider the product to be so expensive that you would not consider buying it

Customer Willingness to Pay Questions

This question category is simpler than the previous; it is also more specific, as it simply asks customers to share the actual price that they would pay for a product or service. 

Customer Willingness to Pay Question Examples

This survey question can be asked in two ways: 

  • As an open-ended question , allowing respondents to write in their maximum pay number of choice.
  • This can be either a single selection question , in which responders choose one price or a multiple selection question, where people can select more than one.

Direct and simple, Customer Willingness to Pay questions are therefore easy for researchers to create and for their respondents to answer. 

Given that these questions only require participants to state how much they are willing to pay for something, respondents aren’t required to have any background knowledge about a product, nor do they need to have experience using it, or information about its industry.

Although respondents that do possess this background knowledge may have more realistic answers, it isn’t critical. 

Although these question types are useful, they lack context. When there is no other information, and you ask about the willingness to pay at one point in time, this question risks getting inaccurate data due to the simple execution of answering.

In addition, respondents may overestimate their own price sensitivity, as they choose their own answers of the prices they themselves desire. These are understandably going to be lower than the actual prices of goods, which they would still buy. 

Gabor Granger Questions

These questions use a market research feature called the Gabor Granger Model. This kind of survey feature works by establishing the maximum amount responders are willing to pay for a product or service.

The questions and answers are linked and presented in a flow chart-esque way , where the respondents are shown set price points to determine the highest one they would accept. Then, their responses are used to find the optimal price range for your target customer.

These pricing questions use advanced skip logic to continually move through a set of questions until the highest price point is reached.

Aside from determining the optimum price for your customers , the Gabor Granger model generates a price elasticity curve. This visualization illustrates the effects of raising and lowering the prices demanded,  showing you just how the impact of pricing changes has on potential sales.

How it works:

  • Then, $70 is shown; the respondent marks “Yes.”
  • Then, $80 is shown: the respondent marks “No” 
  • Then, $75 is shown: the respondent marks “No.” -At this point, the question is complete, as $75 is found to be the highest price point.

This model is especially ideal in the following two scenarios :

  • You already have a price range, but would like to sharpen it for accuracy 
  • You seek to learn the price sensitivity of your product in your industry.

Gabor Granger Question Examples

Here are some Gabor Granger question examples:

  • Pricing Option : $50 per month
  • Answers : Yes, No
  • Pricing Option : $100 more per month
  • Pricing Option : $400 (initial)
  • Answers : Rating scale of 1-7, (1= not likely, 7 = highly likely)
  • Pricing Option : $45

Conjoint Analysis Questions

A conjoint analysis is another specialized market research feature. It allows researchers to measure the value that consumers place on various aspects of a product or service. 

As such, it is used when you have other variables aside from price to evaluate , such as when you decide which features to include in a product, or which services to include in an offer to customers.  

A conjoint analysis presents respondents with a series of configurations, with different price points, and asks them to choose their desired prices. These arrangements can be randomized as well, allowing you to see the trade-offs customers are willing to make.

Thus, it shows how your customers perceive the makeup of your offerings, in relation to the price.

This method breaks a product or service down by its various components, called attributes and levels. Researchers can test different combinations of the components to identify consumer preferences.

Although this is one of the most complex pricing models, it is also the most accurate . A strong online survey platform, however, will make it easy to run this model, as it can be used as another survey question.

Conjoint Analysis questions

The Two Types of Conjoint Analysis Features on Pollfish

  • Users are asked to choose repeatedly from a set of 3-5 full profile concepts. It’s designed to mimic real-world shopping behavior by presenting two complete offerings side by side. The data is then analyzed to identify the preference for different attributes and features based on the trade-offs the user made when making their choices.
  • Also called the Best-Worst Scale, a Maxdiff Analysis is a mechanism for prioritizing new product ideas and tailoring them to consumer preferences.
  • This is a kind of conjoint analysis that helps brands determine the value that their customers place on different parts and features of a product.
  • Respondents choose the best and the worst option from a given set of options, which relate to a product and its feature(s).
  • Respondents rate a list of items by selecting only two of them — the complete opposite of each other, labeling one as the best of the list and one as the worst.
  • This technique helps to identify what your target market values and what it despises. 
  • Users are shown a series of packages and asked to choose the best/most preferred and worst/least preferred. It’s designed to cut out the ‘middle ground’ and focus respondents on the best and worst items in a list, requiring less effort on their part.

Conjoint Analysis Question Examples

Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis Questions

  • Pricing Option : A single product
  • Answers : DIfferent phone attributes
  • Pricing Option : 3-4 prices 
  • Answers : Different styles, brands and price points

MaxDiff Conjoint Analysis Questions

  • Pricing Option : Most important, least important fill-in options
  • Answers : Pool availability, Gym availability, Suite availability, Price
  • Pricing Option : Various price points
  • Answers : Respondents choose 2: 1 very unlikely price and 1 very likely in a set of price options

Setting the Right Prices

Setting the right prices for different products and services can be tricky, but it shouldn’t be an ordeal — not with the proper survey platform, that is.

The key to mastering price research campaigns is to use a strong online survey platform , as not all market research platforms offer the same capabilities, features and customer support. 

Use an online market research platform that allows you to easily target your survey audience , create your questionnaire and deploy it to the masses (or to specific people). 

Luckily, Pollfish facilitates all three of these critical aspects in the survey creation and distribution process. 

We offer two methods of survey distribution : deploying surveys across a large network of random internet users in their natural digital environments via our Random Device Engagement (RDE) method, as well as the option to target specific customers in specific online spaces with the Distribution Link feature .

Additionally, Pollfish survey software allows you to create and analyze a thorough survey data collection , one you can customize, view and organize however you like.

In addition, with our vast array of question types, you can create virtually any type of pricing research survey to support your market research campaign.

You can also leverage a wide range of information on your respondents by accessing a wide pool of insights in your survey results dashboard .

With a market research platform this advanced, you can easily create a pricing survey and conduct data-driven pricing research campaigns to win over all of your customers. 

Do you want to distribute your survey? Pollfish offers you access to millions of targeted consumers to get survey responses from $0.95 per complete. Launch your survey today.

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70+ Online Shopping Questionnaire for Ecommerce Businesses

Kate williams.

Table Of Contents

  • 70+ Online Shopping Questionnaire
  • General e-commerce online shopping questionnaire
  • questionnaire on the products
  • questionnaire about the website
  • questionnaire based on customer behavior

Post-purchase online shopping questionnaire

  • questionnaire for customer support

Shipping-related Online shopping questionnaire

Importance of online shopping surveys.

In an online shopping survey, the questions you ask and the question types you use have a huge bearing on the kind of data you will get. When you ask good questions, you will end up with good answers.  In this article, we will check out the online shopping questionnaire sample, and the importance of online shopping surveys. 

Here’s an online shopping questionnaire created just for you!

Feel free to make use of it. Sign up with your email. Tweak the survey the way you want and start sending it out with your brand’s label.

Online Shopping Questionnaire Template

General e-commerce online shopping questionnaire.

  • “Were you satisfied with the overall experience?”
  • “Would you buy from us again?”
  • “Did you find the shopping experience pleasurable?”
  • “Was the eCommerce website easy to navigate?”
  • “Which are the areas where you would like us to improve?”
  • “Was it easy to choose the products?”
  • “Were you able to find enough information about the product on the website?”
  • “Do you have any suggestions to improve the website experience?”
  • “On a scale of 1-10, would you recommend our eCommerce website to friends or family?”
  • “Would you like to suggest other products to be added to the site?”
  • “How did you find our website?”
  • “What are the channels you use to discover similar products like ours?” 

The above survey questionnaire about online shopping is a general eCommerce one to understand the experience of the customer with your brand. The answers to the above questions will give you deep insights into how your eCommerce shopping site is running. It will help you with your lead-generation activities. 

Let’s imagine someone saying they will not buy from your brand again (question #2). You can send them a follow-up question requesting the reason for their stance. You could also try to buy their goodwill by offering a free product or an attractive discount on their next purchase. Make sure that you solve any current issue they are facing. 

Online shopping questionnaire on the products

  • “Why do you prefer our product over our competitor’s?”
  • “Have you ordered from our shopping site before?”
  • “Were you able to find various products to choose from?”
  • “Did you find sufficient information about the product listed on the site?”
  • “Which were the other products that you were considering before finally buying this product?”
  • “Does our product meet your personal/business requirements?”
  • “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the design of the product?”
  • “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the features in the product?”
  • “Are you happy with your decision to buy this product?”
  • “What is your favorite feature about the product?
  • “What is your least favorite feature about the product?”
  • “Do you find our product easy to use?”
  • “What are the pain points that our product solves for you?”
  • “Are you happy to pay the retail price of this product?”
  • “Is our product better than that of the competitors?”
  • “What made you choose our product?”
  • “If given a chance to make the same purchase again, would you buy our product?”
  • “What are the features in our product that you feel can be removed?”
  • “Would you like us to add more features and functionality into the product?”
  • “What are the must-have features that you expect in a product similar to ours?”
  • “What was your most important consideration while buying the product?”
  • “Did you find ways to ease your confusion (if any) when finally deciding to buy the product?”

In other words…

The final quality of the product has a huge bearing on the purchasing decision of the buyers. But, it would be unwise to ignore many other factors that depend on this decision. You need to make it easy for the customers to buy from you. The product description should be written in an unambiguous manner. Taking feedback from your customers will give you a goldmine of information that will help to create a better product. 

You will understand what matters to your customers. Getting customer feedback will make you more customer-centric. It will change the way you design the products. It will reflect how you present the final product to the customer. Remember this, every single aspect of the product matters. 

Online shopping questionnaire about the website

  • “Do you enjoy our website’s navigation?”
  • “Were you able to find products with ease?”
  • “Did the search bar work the way it was supposed to?”
  • “How often do you visit our website?”
  • “Do you visit our website because of any other prompts?”
  • “What are the things about our website you would like us to change?”
  • “Do you like the colors we used in the website?”
  • “Is the content in the website evenly spaced for the products to stand out?”
  • “Did it take a lot of time for the website to load?”
  • “Have you ever had a bad experience on our website?”
  • “What are your recommendations to improve our website?”
  • “Would you recommend our website to friends and family if they are looking for products similar to the ones we stock?”
  • “Is our website better than our competitors?”

The eCommerce website is a valuable piece of real estate. No matter how good the products you manufacture are, if the website is not functional or easy to use, then the visitors would pop out as soon as they came in. 

Online shopping questionnaire based on customer behavior

Let us look at a few questionnaires on consumer buying behavior online shopping.

  • “Are you comfortable making payments online?”
  • “What issues did you face when shopping online on our website?” 
  • “How was the shopping experience at our website?”
  • “How was your checkout experience at the online store?”
  • “Do you feel safe shopping online?”
  • “Have you ever faced a bad payment-related experience while shopping online?”
  • “What payment options do you prefer on the online store?”

Understanding how the users feel about buying online will give you an idea about their shopping behavior. People feel safe these days shopping online using their credit cards, but there will be anomalies. Therefore, you need to figure out the payment options that they are all right using. 

Sending an online survey immediately after they make a purchase will give you an idea about your overall experience with your brand. It will give you pointers on areas where there can be an improvement. You can use the data you gather from the surveys to improve your shopping experience. 

  • “Are you happy with the products lined up for the category you were searching for?”
  • “How was your overall shopping experience?”
  • “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your shopping experience?” 
  • “Did you purchase all the products that you wanted?”
  • “How easy was it to finalize the item you wanted?”
  • “What can we do to improve the shopping experience?”
  • “What made you abandon the cart?”

Online shopping questionnaire for customer support

If your customer support is not great, then you will end up alienating them, and increase churn. Not to mention the fact that you will turn away new customers. Giving adequate attention to customer support is the bare minimum that you can do. There are Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), and Customer Effort Score (CES) questions to gauge how satisfied your customers are with you. 

Let us look at a few questionnaires on online shopping customer satisfaction

  • “Was it easy to get in touch with the customer support team?”
  • “Did they spend adequate time listening to your issue?”
  • “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our customer support?”
  • “Where do you think we can improve on the customer support front?”
  • “How fast did they resolve your issue?”
  • “Did the customer support team respond immediately to your complaint?”
  • “Would you recommend our customer support staff to friends or family?”

Imagine ordering a product only to find that it will take a fortnight for the delivery to happen. You don’t want to have a lackadaisical attitude when it comes to delivering the product. It is the responsibility of the online shopping company to ensure that the product gets delivered on time. 

  • “Did you get the product delivered on time?”
  • “Are you satisfied with the shipping and delivery experience, on a scale of 1 to 10?”
  • “Did the agent call you during the drop?”
  • “Was the logistics partner’s behavior professional?”
  • “Would you recommend our shipping and delivery services to friends or family?”
  • “Where do you think we should improve our delivery services?”
  • “What did you like about our shipping and delivery?”
  • “Did the website give you timely updates on when you will receive the product?”

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eCommerce businesses have a lot to learn about their customers’ needs, requirements, and motivation to buy, which keep varying. The results from the survey can help in optimizing the website, improving the shopping experience, changing business tactics, etc. 

Let us look at why eCommerce stores should regularly conduct surveys:

1. Helps with data collection

Online shopping surveys are great for collecting data about customers, their motivations, purchasing behavior, requirements, and so on. You will get to know about their challenges, experiences, and preferences. You can gather information in real-time using which you can make immediate changes to your business. 

2. Better customer experience

When a customer buys from you one time and never shops from you again, you will never know what happened. Conducting a survey as soon as they shop from you or a few months after they use your service is a great way to find out if they were dissatisfied with anything. You can take remediation steps immediately to address them. It might work in your favor as they will be pleased that you solved the frictions that they faced while shopping. They might even recant on their decision of not shopping from you again. 

3. Helps improve your marketing strategy

You can use the data gathered from the online shopping survey to understand if your marketing strategy is on point. If you get to know that a majority of your target market is on Instagram, through the survey, there’s your cue to change your strategy. You will have a better understanding of your customers. It will also help you create content for each segment so that you hit the right nerves. 

Here is a few online shopping questionnaires you can ask:

  • What are the social media sites you use to search for products?
  • Where do you access most content from?

4. Understand why your product isn’t selling

Not having the expected sales from your online store can be terrifying. You need to know why sales aren’t happening. What better way than asking your website visitors directly. 

You can ask the following online shopping questionnaire:

  • What stopped you from buying the product?
  • What did you dislike about the product? 

5. Understand why people leave your site

Sending an exit-intent pop-up survey when a user leaves the webpage would be an easy way to collect information about why people leave the site. Ask questions to customers who were almost ready to buy, but backed out from doing so. 

  • Didn’t like our product? We’d love to know why.
  • What can we do to make you buy from us?
  • May we know why you exited the shopping cart?

6. Understand your pricing strategy

For online stores that are still unclear about their pricing or want to know what customers think about it, no better way than surveys. You don’t want to scare away potential buyers by overpricing. Nor do you want to underprice your products. Ask the right questions to understand if your pricing is right. 

Here are a few online shopping questionnaire you can ask:

  • Are you satisfied with our pricing?
  • Are we better priced when compared against competitors?

7. Helps gather testimonials

People trust when others like them recommend products or services. They are more likely to listen to them than advertisements on TV. Online shopping surveys are also a great opportunity for online stores to gather testimonials in a subtle manner. 

  • How has our product helped you solve your problems?
  • Would you miss our products if we shut shop today?
  • Please tell us how you feel about your entire experience with us.

8. Find product market fit

Do your potential customers want the product that you are selling? Is there a market for it? Understanding the demand for your product is pivotal, as it can help you with managing your inventory too. 

  • What’s the most important feature you use in our product? 
  • Is there an indispensable part about our product? 

9. Measure word-of-mouth recommendations

The NPS survey tells whether your customers would recommend your products or not. For a customer to talk about your products to others, they have to be really fond of the product. Finding out those who give a score of 9 or 10 (called Promoters) will help you identify those who can be made ambassadors for your brand. 

  • Why did you give this score?
  • What can we do to make things right for you?

10. Get your communication right:

The way you communicate with your existing and potential customers matters a lot. Does it address their pain points? Are your points clear and concise or do you keep rambling? Does your communication address the best parts of your products? Asking the right questions will help you figure out how your marketing messages work for you. 

  • What do you like most about our brand?
  • Do you enjoy our advertisements?
  • How has been our after-sales service? 
  • If you could describe the brand in a single word, what would it be?
  • What do you think is unique about our brand?

Wrapping up

Consumers spend hours researching about the product before they open their purse strings. Getting a peek into their minds will clearly help your brand. To create remarkable shopping experience for your customers, you need to have a clear understanding of their expectations, pain points, needs, and requirements. Using the right online survey tool and asking the right online shopping questionnaire will help you gather information that can catapult your brand to the next level. Online shopping survey questions examples in the article can be used in your online shopping surveys. 

If you are looking for the an online survey tool to gather relevant data of shoppers, SurveySparrow is the tool to choose. It has a myriad of eclectic features that make data gathering a breeze. Get in touch with us, and we will show you how our online survey tool can help you. 

Content Marketer at SurveySparrow

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NITAAC is pleased to announce that a Small Business Sources Sought Notice has been posted to SAM.gov in support of The Store procurement and in hopes of identifying new Small Business Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Value Added Resellers (VARs).  Please click here to view the Notice on SAM.gov . Questions in response to the Sources Sought Notice are due in writing no later than 4:30 p.m. EST, March 18, 2024 and official responses to the Sources Sought Notice are due no later than   4:30 p.m. EST, March 25, 2024.  Both questions and official responses should also be emailed to [email protected] .

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As a culmination of the industry engagement for The Store, NITAAC Director, Brian Goodger will be hosting The Store’s Virtual Market Research Roadshow Session on March 18, 2024 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EST. This session will present the scope, timeline, goals and challenges NITAAC is considering for the recompete of the CIO-CS GWAC, as well as industry feedback gathered throughout February and March 2024. The presentation, questions and answers will be posted on the NITAAC website after the Virtual Roadshow Session. All information presented at the in-person Roadshow Sessions will be shared at the Virtual Roadshow Session.

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With the current CIO-CS GWAC set to expire in April 2025, NITAAC has the recompete efforts well underway, with a name change in the works. The GWAC resulting from the CIO-CS recompete will be known as The Store, short for Chief Information Officer - Commodities Store. Acquisition planning took place in the fall of 2023 and has been completed. Currently internal documents are being drafted and approved, a solicitation is anticipated to be released in early June and NITAAC intends to make an award on The Store before the expiration of the current CIO-CS GWAC.

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5 steps to launch a side hustle on etsy in 2024.

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Selling on Etsy is not as complicated as you may think

Can you imagine what it would be like to tap into your hobbies and interests, knowing that while you're enjoying your hobby, you're actually getting paid for it—from the comfort of your home?

That's what it's like for many sellers working on Etsy. Some use Etsy as a side hustle (or one of many side hustles), while others use the platform to replace their main job as a full-time ecommerce business or freelance venture.

How To Sell On Etsy

If you've ever wondered how to get started selling on Etsy so you can build passive income and/or make money online doing what you love, here are some ways to get started:

1. Research The Market

To be a successful seller on Etsy, you need to research the Etsy marketplace to understand the types of products that are popular and in-demand. This is not a one-time task; you will need to regularly review your products to ensure you are on-trend and catering to your customers' needs, within your niche of course. It's also a good idea to identify your unique selling proposition (USP) so that potential buyers can differentiate your products from competitors.

Your research can also help you understand how to price your products.

2. Define Your Products

You now need to decide what you're going to sell. This is the exciting part. If you're selling physical products, how will they be produced and delivered? Are you going to use drop-shipping as a solution? Or are you crafting items by hand? And if you are creating products yourself, will you produce as they are ordered or will you have them stocked in your house or storage unit and ready to go?

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Baby reindeer real martha reveals identity in photo with piers morgan, a ukrainian m 2 fighting vehicle sneaked up on a russian t 80 tank at night and hit it with a missile from a mile away.

If you're not selling physical products, digital downloads work just as well on Etsy. You could sell any digital product from guides, to tutorials, to planners, and wall art—without having to fulfil orders as they come in.

3. Outline Your Goals

While the very concept of a business plan may seem protracted and daunting, doing something similar (setting business targets and goals for yourself) can nonetheless be a useful exercise when setting up your side hustle as an Etsy seller.

For example, once identifying who your target market on Etsy is, you should consider what your goals are as an Etsy seller (do you want to quit your job and make this full-time?), financial targets, and how you will market your products as well—within and outside of Etsy. This roadmap will help you stay focused.

4. Create An Etsy Seller Account

Now you're ready to create your Etsy profile and shop. You'll usually need to pay a small one-time fee of $15 to open your account, but after that, the only other fees are seller fees (a percentage Etsy takes from each sale), and any fees you decide to pay for an upgraded account. Some important factors to consider at this stage:

  • Your Etsy shop name
  • Profile photo for your account
  • Etsy shop description
  • Initial five items to list for sale

You can use ChatGPT to help you generate some ideas for quality product descriptions. Of course, make your own edits to ensure that all descriptions are in line with your brand voice.

5. Start Listing

For each listing, you will need to consider using SEO tools so you can optimize your product listing for maximum visibility, enabling you to make more money online through this platform.

In addition to engaging and compelling product descriptions, you should think about taking high-quality photos of your products and placing them in the best settings so they can be showcased effectively and attractively to encourage sales. Etsy recommends you take several photo angles and even include a video of your product, or of the product in use, to increase buyer confidence.

To get started on Etsy, it's essential to understand your market inside-out

There you have it. Once your first few sales start rolling in, give yourself a pat on the back, but remember, it's not over yet. You'll need to repeat the process over and over, fine-tuning each time, until you hit the sweet spot and sales come flooding in consistently.

Rachel Wells

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Market research questions: what to ask and how.

9 min read Whether you’re looking for customer feedback, product suggestions or brand perception in the market, the right market research questions can help you get the best insights. Learn how you can use them correctly and where to begin.

What is market research?

Market research (also called marketing research) is the action or activity of gathering information about market needs and preferences. This helps companies understand their target market — how the audience feels and behaves.

For example, this could be an online questionnaire, shared by email, which has a set of questions that ask an audience about their views. For an audience of target customers, your questions may explore their reaction to a new product that can be used as feedback into the design.

Why do market research?

When you have tangible insights on the audience’s needs, you can then take steps to meet those needs and solve problems. This mitigates the risk of an experience gap – which is what your audience expects you deliver versus what you actually deliver.

In doing this work, you can gain:

  • Improved purchase levels – Sales will improve if your product or service is ticking all the right buttons for your customers.
  • Improved decision making – You can avoid the risk of losing capital or time by using what your research tells you and acting with insights.
  • Real connection with your target market – If you’re investing in understanding your target audience, your product and service will more likely to make an impact.
  • Understand new opportunities – it might be that your research indicates a new area for your product to play within, or you find potential for a new service that wasn’t considered before.

Get started with our free survey software

Who do you ask your questions to?

Who to target in your market research is crucial to getting the right insights and data back. If you don’t have a firm idea on who your target audiences are, then here are some questions that you can ask before you begin writing your market research questions:

  • Who is our customer currently and who do we want to attract in the future?
  • How do they behave with your brand?
  • What do they say, do and think?
  • What are their pain points, needs and wants?
  • Where do they live? What is the size of our market?
  • Why do they use us? Why do they use other brands?

We’ve put together some questions below (Market research questions for your demographics) if you wanted to reach out to your market for this.

With the answers, you can help you segment your customer market, understand key consumer trends, create customer personas and discover the right way to target them.

Market research goals

Give yourself the right direction to work towards.There are different kinds of market research that can happen, but to choose the right market research questions, figure out your market research goals first.

Set a SMART goal that thinks about what you want to achieve and keeps you on track. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. For example, a good SMART business goal would be to increase website sales for a top product by 10% over a period of 6 months.

You may need to review some strategic business information, like customer personas and historical sales data, which can give you the foundation of knowledge (the ‘baseline’) to grow from. This, combined with your business objectives, will help you form the right SMART targets tailored to your teams.

Types of market research questions

Now that you have your SMART target, you can look at which type of market research questions will help you reach your goal. They can be split into these types:

  • For demographics
  • For customers
  • For product

Market research questions for your demographics

Demographic information about your customers is data about gender, age, ethnicity, annual income, education and marital status. It also gives key information about their shopping habits.

Here are some questions you can ask in your market research survey:

  • What is your age / gender / ethnicity / marital status?
  • What is the highest level of education you have achieved?
  • What is your monthly income range?
  • What methods of shopping do you use?
  • What amount do you spend on [product/brand/shopping] each month?
  • How regular do you shop for [product/brand]?

Learn more about the demographic survey questions that yield valuable insights .

Market research questions for your customer

These questions are aimed at your customer to understand the voice of the customer — the customer marketing landscape is not an one-way dialogue for engaging prospects and your customer’s feedback is needed for the development of your products or services.

  • How did we do / would you rate us?
  • Why did you decide to use [product or service]?
  • How does that fit your needs?
  • Would you recommend us to your friends?
  • Would you buy from us again?
  • What could we do better?
  • Why did you decide to shop elsewhere?
  • In your opinion, why should customers choose us?
  • How would you rate our customer experience?

Learn more about why the voice of the customer matters or try running a customer experience survey.

Market research questions for your product

These questions will help you understand how your customers perceive your product, their reactions to it and whether changes need to be made in the development cycle.

  • What does our [product or service] do that you like or dislike?
  • What do you think about [feature or benefit]?
  • How does the product help you solve your problems?
  • Which of these features will be the most valuable / useful for you?
  • Is our product competitive with other similar products out there? How?
  • How does the product score on [cost / service / ease of use, etc.]?
  • What changes will customers likely want in the future that technology can provide?

There are also a set of questions you can ask to find out if your product pricing is set at the right mark:

  • Does the product value justify the price it’s marketed at?
  • Is the pricing set at the right mark?
  • How much would you pay for this product?
  • Is this similar to what competitors are charging?
  • Do you believe the price is fair?
  • Do you believe the pricing is right based on the amount of usage you’d get?

Have you tried a pricing and value research survey to see how much your target customers would be willing to pay?

Market research questions for your brand

How does the impact of your products, services and experiences impact your brand’s image? You can find out using these questions:

  • What do you think about our brand?
  • Have you seen any reviews about us online? What do they say?
  • Have you heard about our brand from friends or family? What do they say?
  • How likely are you to recommend our brand to a friend?
  • Have you read the testimonials on our own channels? Did they have an impact on your decision to purchase? How?
  • When you think of our brand, what do you think/ feel / want?
  • How did you hear about us?
  • Do you feel confident you know what our brand stands for?
  • Are you aware of our [channel] account?

Learn more about brand perception surveys and how to carry them out successfully.

How to use market research questions in a survey

For the best research questionnaires, tailoring your market research questions to the goal you want will help you focus the direction of the data received.

You can get started now on your own market research questionnaire, using one of our free survey templates, when you sign up to a free Qualtrics account.

Drag-and-drop interface that requires no coding is easy-to-use, and supported by our award-winning support team.

With Qualtrics, you can distribute, and analyse surveys to find customer, employee, brand, product, and marketing research insights.

More than 11,000 brands and 99 of the top 100 business schools use Qualtrics solutions because of the freedom and power it gives them.

Related resources

Market intelligence tools 10 min read, qualitative research questions 11 min read, primary vs secondary research 14 min read, business research methods 12 min read, ethnographic research 11 min read, business research 10 min read, qualitative research design 12 min read, request demo.

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  • S&T Releases Market Survey Report for Non-Detonable Training Aids for Explosive Detection Canines

News Release: DHS S&T Releases Market Survey Report for Non-Detonable Training Aids for Explosive Detection Canines

For immediate release s&t public affairs , 202-286-9047.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has released a new market survey report to help emergency responders identify non-detonable training aids for explosive detection canines. Non-detonable training aids emulate the scent of explosives, allowing canines to learn the specific odor of different types of explosives while eliminating the inherent risks of using traditional, live explosives. They are carefully designed and maintained to create a controlled and safe environment for training, with a focus on safety, effectiveness, and consistency in preparing canines for their crucial roles in security and public safety.

A canine near the rear of a car. Non-Detonable Training Aids for Explosives Detection Canines Market Survey Report. February 2024. S&T and NUSTL logos.

S&T’s National Urban Security Laboratory (NUSTL)—in conjunction with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory—administered the Non-Detonable Trainings Aids for Explosive Detection Canines Market Survey Report , which provides information on 12 non-detonable training aid products ranging in price from $15 to $550. This report is based on information gathered from manufacturer and vendor materials, open-source research, industry publications, and a government-issued request for information. The report is part of NUSTL’s System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) program, which assists emergency responders in making procurement decisions.

“The Detection Canine Program at S&T plays a critical role in advancing the safety and effectiveness of explosive detection canines in the field,” said Guy Hartsough, S&T Detection Canine Program, program manager. “NUSTL’s comprehensive report provides valuable resources in an ever-evolving landscape of threats, underscoring our dedication to enhancing the capabilities of our nation's security responders.”

“Explosive detection canines are critical to protecting the public as well as the first responders they assist. Rigorous training is required to prepare these dogs for the field” said NUSTL Director Alice Hong. “NUSTL’s latest market survey report equips explosive detection canine handlers with crucial insights into non-detonable training aids.”

Visit the SAVER website for market research and comparative assessments of commercially available products. Results are published to assist responders in making informed technology deployment and purchasing decisions for their agency’s specific needs. SAVER documents with limited distribution are available to members of the SAVER Community by contacting [email protected] .

For more information about NUSTL and its mission as the only national laboratory dedicated to serving the nation’s first responders, visit www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/national-urban-security-technology-laboratory

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How to Rethink Your Career as an Empty Nester

market research questions about shopping

Don’t wait until the kids are gone to plan for what’s next.

When children leave the house for college or other opportunities, the sudden change and loss of predictability can be disruptive for working parents and their careers. It’s common for parents to feel grief when kids leave the house. Perhaps you’ve been caught unaware: you haven’t fully anticipated this time and season, and now your life looks like a blank canvas. How do you fill it? If you’re an empty nester (or will be soon), this article offers some questions for you to reflect on and strategies help you re-shape your life and find meaning — both personally and professionally — during this time.

As you progress through your career, you’ll no doubt encounter some major milestones and transition points that might spur you to pause and reassess the path that you’re on. One such milestone that affects working parents is becoming an empty nester. When children leave the house for college or other opportunities, so go predictable routines that order much of family life: sports practices and games, concerts, special school events, etc. What happens with all that time once your children move out? The sudden change and loss of predictability can be disruptive, both for your home life and your career.

market research questions about shopping

  • AS Anne Sugar is an executive coach and speaker who works with senior leaders in technology, marketing, and pharmaceutical companies. She is an executive coach for the Harvard Business School Executive Program and has guest lectured at MIT. You can reach her at annesugar.com .

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  2. 63 Insightful Market Research Questions to Ask

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COMMENTS

  1. 99 Market Research Questions You Should Be Asking

    99 market research questions: discover, define, drill down. There's no need to limit yourself! The best types of market research should - and do - include general questions and those addressing both existing and prospective customers. Indeed, an intelligent approach to market research should cover demographic questions all the way to those that'll help you plan a product launch, drill ...

  2. 68 Market Research Questions to Ask (& How to do it)

    Survey questions for market research are designed to collect information about a target market or audience. They can be used to gather data about consumer preferences, opinions, and behavior. Some common types of market research survey questions include demographic questions, behavioral questions and attitudinal questions. 2.

  3. 100+ Market Research Questions to Ask Your Customers

    Likert scale market research questions can help you measure the extent of respondents' agreement/disagreement with the given statement. The answer options are arranged from positive to negative sentiments or vice-versa, with the neutral option in the middle. There are two types of Likert scales: 5-point and 7-point.

  4. 20 Market Research Questions To Ask In Your Customer Survey

    A single-ease question is a straightforward query that elicits a concise and uncomplicated response. Beyond these 20 market research questions, here are 350+ Market Research Templates for you to use completely free! Market research questions is a questionnaire that is answered by customers or potential consumers.

  5. Market research questions: what to ask and how

    Market research (also called marketing research) is the action or activity of gathering information about market needs and preferences. This helps companies understand their target market — how the audience feels and behaves. For example, this could be an online questionnaire, shared by email, which has a set of questions that ask an audience ...

  6. 50+ Must-ask questions for your market research surveys

    Market research is an essential part of finding answers to your questions. For this reason, market research surveys have a big importance. So, market study survey questions, too.These types of questions help you get essential data about the target audience, conduct competitive analysis, get new ones, or protect existing customers.. We have gathered the most essential data to help you gather ...

  7. 63 Insightful Market Research Questions to Ask in 2023

    63 Insightful Market Research Questions to Ask in 2023. Better understand your target customer with these must-ask questions. Jan 17, 2023. Understanding your target market, and how they respond to your product, is the key to successful promotional campaigns. Even if you feel like you understand your market perfectly, markets do change over time.

  8. Market Research Questions: What to Ask for Better Insights

    3. Don't make assumptions. Don't ever assume you know something about a consumer without data to support it. For example, you may think that all customers use your product/service year-round when really, they're only using it in the winter. You need to collect data to support any business decisions you're making.

  9. 75+ Market Research Questions for Success

    These 75 market research questions provide a great starting point for any business looking to gain valuable insights into customer behavior and market trends. By using this as a guide, you can ensure that your surveys are comprehensive and effective in helping you make informed decisions about your products and services. Good luck!

  10. 16 Consumer Behavior Survey Questions for Expert Insights

    A consumer behavior survey is a type of market research that helps you gather information on consumer attitudes, preferences, and behaviors. These insights allow you to tailor your products, services, strategies and marketing to your customers' needs to increase sales, customer satisfaction and gain a competitive edge.

  11. 33 Best Market Research Question Examples

    Market Research Questionnaire Examples for Product. Product market research questions trigger responses that reveal how well-suited your product is for the target market. The right product-market research questions provide useful insight into the feasibility of the product before it is launched. Here are 11 question samples for your product ...

  12. 50+ Market Research Questions To Ask Your Target Audience

    1. New Product Survey Questions. A new product launch is where most market research happens. As exciting as it sounds, it can cause a massive failure if the new product ain't what the target audience wants it to be. To understand that, here are 10 market research survey questions you can ask:

  13. Market Research: A How-To Guide and Template

    Prepare research questions for your market research participants. The best way to make sure you get the most out of your conversations is to be prepared. You should always create a discussion guide to make sure you use your time wisely. Your discussion guide should be in an outline format, with a time allotment and open-ended questions for each ...

  14. The Retailer's Guide to Market Research

    Market research is the study of a target market, including companies and people involved, to understand its needs and preferences. Essentially, it gives you an understanding of the cultural, societal, socioeconomic, geographic, and personal makeup of your target customers. It will help you understand whether there's a demand for your product ...

  15. 45+ Proven eCommerce survey questions to ask your customers

    Assume you have 200 customers who have agreed to answer eCommerce survey questions. Split your respondents into a group of 50 or 100. You can set quotas to divide the audience into groups and control the data quality. Then, say, let the 100 customers answer the website, product catalog, ratings, and customer support questions.

  16. 7 Critical Market Research Survey Questions Every Marketer Should Ask

    Here are 7 market research survey questions every marketer should ask: 1. Who is currently purchasing your products or services? A very important question to ask, ... More and more people prefer shopping online over the traditional brick and mortar store. When you know the exact source of their purchase, it is advisable to put in efforts to ...

  17. 80+ Market Research Questions to Ask your Target Audiences

    Let us look at market research questions aimed at different user personasand business goals. 1. For Customers. Understanding customers' preferences, concerns, and buying behavior are vital for your business to provide exceptional customer experiences.

  18. 33 Online Shopping Questionnaire + [Template Examples]

    An online shopping questionnaire helps you to study users' behaviors, experiences, and preferences as they shop items from your e-commerce store. In this article, we will discuss 33 questions you should include in your online shopping questionnaire to help you understand your customers' needs. Online Shopping Survey Questions

  19. How to conduct your own market research survey (with example)

    Step 3: Run a test survey. Before you run your full survey, conduct a smaller test on 5%-10% of your target respondent pool size. This will allow you to work out any confusing wording or questions that result in unhelpful responses without spending the full cost of the survey. Look out for:

  20. The Most Instrumental Pricing Questions for Market Research

    Here are the four main types of pricing questions for market research: Van Westendorp Pricing Meter questions. Customer Willingness to Pay questions. Gabor Granger questions. Conjoint Analysis. Now, let's explore each question type by understanding it in greater depth and seeing some question examples.

  21. 70+ Online Shopping Questionnaire for Ecommerce Businesses

    The above survey questionnaire about online shopping is a general eCommerce one to understand the experience of the customer with your brand. The answers to each of the above questions will give you deep insights into how your eCommerce shopping site is running. It will help you with your lead-generation activities.

  22. CIO-CS

    Questions in response to the Sources Sought Notice are due in writing no later than 4: ... EST, March 25, 2024. Both questions and official responses should also be emailed to [email protected]. Virtual Market Research Roadshow to be held March 18, 2024. February 14, 2024 ... One stop shopping for all of your IT commodity and commodity ...

  23. 5 Steps To Launch A Side Hustle On Etsy In 2024

    1. Research The Market. To be a successful seller on Etsy, you need to research the Etsy marketplace to understand the types of products that are popular and in-demand.

  24. B2B Content Marketing Trends 2024 [Research]

    New research into B2B content marketing trends for 2024 reveals specifics of AI implementation, social media use, and budget forecasts, plus content success factors. Marketers talk AI, common challenges, best results, and more in the 14th annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2024.

  25. March 2024 Existing Home Sales: Housing Supply Continued To ...

    This year, more sellers are back well ahead of the spring shopping season. However, buyers - faced with a sharp increase in mortgage rates at the start of the year - have been slower to return. Because sellers are returning to the housing market, the gap between supply and demand is closing and for-sale inventory is rising again.

  26. Exclusive

    Walmart Takes On Trader Joe's and Whole Foods With New Premium Brand Grocery giant is rolling out curry chicken empanadas and 300 other items as it seeks to capture spending by American consumers

  27. Market Research Questions: What to Ask and How

    Market research (also called marketing research) is the action or activity of gathering information about market needs and preferences. This helps companies understand their target market — how the audience feels and behaves. For example, this could be an online questionnaire, shared by email, which has a set of questions that ask an audience ...

  28. S&T Releases Market Survey Report for Non-Detonable Training Aids for

    S&T's National Urban Security Laboratory (NUSTL)—in conjunction with Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory—administered the Non-Detonable Trainings Aids for Explosive Detection Canines Market Survey Report, which provides information on 12 non-detonable training aid products ranging in price from $15 to $550.This report is based on information gathered from manufacturer and vendor ...

  29. How to Rethink Your Career as an Empty Nester

    Anne Sugar is an executive coach and speaker who works with senior leaders in technology, marketing, and pharmaceutical companies. She is an executive coach for the Harvard Business School ...