free market research reports reddit

The 10 Best Places for (Free!) Market Research

If you’re launching a new product, revamping your recruitment process, or planning a new ad campaign, any good agency will tell you: first, do your research.

Launching a new strategy without doing your research is like setting sail in new waters without a map–costly, lengthy, and probably pointless. You may discover some new areas along the way, but most likely you’ll end up frustrated and far from your goal. However, research can be expensive in both cost and time. How can you get the insights you need without breaking your budget? 

The information you seek is potentially out there–and it may also be free. There are lots of data and reports available, you just have to dig. Here are 10 credible, valuable sites to get you started. Many of these are free resources or offer a no-cost abridged version of more detailed reports that you have to pay for. 

The U.S. Census data is readily available, giving you demographic and economic information that can help you better understand your market. The data breakdown tools on the site are easy to use.

The U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics has lots of information on employment, productivity, pay, workplace injuries–really any stats the government collects on labor are available to the public, with handy data tools and reports to help you break it down.

Glassdoor is an excellent resource for competitor information, employee feedback, industry salaries, and more. They also produce reports and studies .

Statista offers reports on just about anything business for purchase, but also provides useful “highlights” for free. 

Pew Research is a nonpartisan think tank that has hundreds of topics with thorough, timely, and digestible studies and reports. 

RAND Corporation , like Pew, is a nonpartisan resource that offers thousands of reports on hundreds of topics. 

Gartner is a personal favorite. Specifically for business and economics studies, Gartner's industry and sales reports are particularly useful for planning. 

McKinsey is another great resource for industry reports. 

Gallup offers insights on workplace and education–particularly useful for higher education and recruitment studies.

Google Trends can run reports on search terms and topics to gauge interest and popularity. You’ll also find topical reports, like “Holiday Shopping Trends 2021."  

As someone who has sifted through site after site, I can tell you that the answers to many of your questions are out there–but we understand even secondary research can be time-consuming. If you are looking for someone to take the reins, LMD can help.

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• Market Research

How to get free market research reports 

• May 29, 2023

Market research reports give you a perspective on your target customer’s mind and help you move on the right path. But most market research platforms and reports are costly. So, how to get free market research reports to get first-hand insights? 

This article will share valuable sources, and places to access free market research reports for your business. But before we begin, let us quickly refresh the basics. 

What are market research reports?

Market research reports offer insights, data, and information about a particular market, region, industry, or demography. Research firms prepare these reports by conducting market research surveys , interviews, statistical analysis, and compiling data from different resources. 

These reports contain information about market size, growth trends, consumer behavior patterns, interests, competitive landscape, target market, and more. 

A business can derive meaningful insights from a market research report to make data-driven marketing, positioning, pricing, or product development decisions. Market research reports can particularly help in the following: 

• Gaining a deep understanding of the target audience’s needs, preferences, and behaviors; 
• Make customer-centric product decisions to achieve product-market fit faster; 
• Standing out in a competitive market by beating the competition; 
• Pivot or adapt to changing customer demands and usage patterns; 
• Discover market opportunities and patterns to expand a business. 

Read More: Why market research is important

Reliable market research sources (with free access).   

Market research is traditionally seen as an expensive process. Fundamentally because there is a lot of legwork and effort involved in doing one-on-one interviews, creating focus groups, deriving data insights, and more. 

Remote work culture, artificial intelligence, and technology have made things more accessible (and affordable). However, sometimes, a business owner still lacks access (or resources) to conduct primary market research. In that case, here are four sources to access reliable market research reports for free: 

Government sources. 

The government collects data from different industries, businesses, and markets annually. Many agencies, like the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census, regularly publish data pertaining to consumer spending, economic trends, demographics, and more. You can use their official portals to access these reports, like:

• U.S. Census Bureau: https://www.census.gov/library/publications.html  
• U.S. Small Business Administration: https://www.sba.gov/
• National Bureau of Economic Research: https://www.nber.org/papers
• Bureau of Economic Analysis: https://www.bea.gov
• National Science Foundation: https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/reports.cfm
• U.S. Energy Information Administration: https://www.eia.gov/reports/
• National Agricultural Statistics Service: https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/
• National Center for Health Statistics: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/index.htm
• National Center for Education Statistics: https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/index.asp
• Federal Reserve Board: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres.htm
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: https://www.noaa.gov/science-data/reports
• U.S. International Trade Commission: https://www.usitc.gov/research_and_analysis.htm
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory: https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/publications.html

Academic institutions. 

Universities, colleges, and academic departments often conduct research as a part of their regular programs and initiatives. 

They are known to publish these research findings in the form of market research reports. Usually, these reports are free for any business owner or individual. 

You can search for business schools like Harvard to access free market research reports by the institution. Here are some more academic sources for free market research reports: 

• Harvard Business School Working Knowledge  
• Wharton Research Data Services
• Stanford Graduate School of Business
• Columbia Business School
• London School of Economics and Political Science
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Michigan Ross School of Business
• University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business
• New York University Stern School of Business

Industry associations. 

Industry associations are one of the best free sources for market research reports. These associations have real-world industry data, including trends, purchasing behaviors, spending patterns, and more, which can be a goldmine for business owners. 

If you are a part of any industry association, there is a high possibility that you will get access to detailed market research reports as a perk. Even if you are not, almost all associations periodically publish free market research reports. You can check their websites to find a relevant report. Here are some prominent industry associations and research data links: 

• National Restaurant Association
• National Retail Federation
• National Association of Home Builders
• National Association of Convenience Stores
• National Automobile Dealers Association
• National Sporting Goods Association
• American Bankers Association
• National Coffee Association
• National Association of Realtors
• National Beer Wholesalers Association

Market research firms. 

These firms specialize in conducting market research and mostly publish paid reports/ conduct research on demand. But many firms upload insightful market research reports and trend patterns periodically as a lead-generation tactic. 

You can access these free market research reports by visiting their website. Google the names of market research firms and check their download sections for the latest reports on various industries and market segments. Some major market research firms which publish free reports include: 

• Euromonitor International
• McKinsey & Company
• Forrester Research
• Frost & Sullivan  

More sources to get free market research reports. 

Here are some final resources for finding free market research reports:

• Online Database and Platforms: Lots of online platforms and websites offer free reports that can be used for market research. Some of the most credible ones include Statista, Pew Research, ProQuest, etc. You can also use Google Trends to extract trends and insights around any topic. 
• Public Libraries: If you have access to any public library in your town or community, search for market research reports in the business sections. Libraries have active subscriptions to trade publications that regularly publish many market reports. Most libraries can access the Business and Company Resource (BCRC) database with several market research reports. 
• Trade Shows and Conferences: Trade shows, exhibitions, and conferences are a great source of real-time market research reports. Most exhibitors and publishers offer free access to reports, whitepapers, and case studies that can serve as a foundation for your market research initiatives. 

Top up market research reports with real-time insights using GapScout. 

Market research reports are a good starting point for conducting market research. However, use the data within free reports cautiously, as it can be obsolete.

Gapscout can help you vet your market research assumptions and data by scanning online reviews in real-time and offer actual consumer insights. So, why not upgrade your research game by harnessing the power of AI using GapScout ?

• How to use AI for market research?
• 5 examples of market research branding done right

Ready to Automate Your Market Research? Get exclusive access to GapScout prior to release!

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How to Use Reddit for Fast (and Accurate) Market Research

Reddit allows you to observe what people really think about your products so you create better marketing campaigns and content.

With 50,000 niche communities and 250 million unique monthly visitors , Reddit is packed with potential customers talking about brands and products.

Bonus: Download a free guide that reveals how to increase social media engagement with better audience research, sharper customer targeting, and Hootsuite’s easy-to-use social media software.

Reddit 101 ( skip this section if you already use Reddit)

Like Snapchat, Reddit is confusing to people who don’t use it. Here’s a quick intro to Reddit.

Most people use Reddit to waste time. By subscribing to popular communities (called subreddits), you’ll get an endless firehose of viral content. These communities are divided by themes such as science topics, news, hobbies, and Reddit inventions such as the “Ask Reddit” format, where the community answers questions.

Casual Reddit users will often join a specific subreddit related to their passion or profession. For example, a music lover might subscribe to a subreddit about learning guitar. Here, the content is less frequent and not viral. It’s simply people talking to each other and sharing things. Vendors who try to post here will often be mocked or kicked out.

Dedicated Reddit users will join communities that appear confusing to an outsider. These users are more interested in conversations rather than content. For example, someone might post a funny link but the main attraction will be the funny and witty dialogue between different users. These conversations will often be self-referential to moments in Reddit’s history or obscure memes. This makes it hard to follow and understand why certain things are popular on Reddit until you regularly read these threads.

Subreddits = niche communities often related to specific interests. Some subreddits attract millions of monthly views; others attract a tiny group of dedicated people.

Reddit gold = Users will “gift” each other a premium subscription to Reddit if they think a comment is particularly funny or valuable to the community.

Karma = This is a Reddit point system that rewards users who contribute to the community. If you submit a link that other users appreciate, you’ll gain points.

Downvote/upvote = This is the golden economy that keeps Reddit valuable. In most social media sites, a lot of garbage content floats to the top of the feed. In Reddit, users quickly downvote or upvote content. For example, let’s say Reddit users are having a discussion about Pepsi. If a brand manager comes in and posts a link to a new Pepsi contest, users will likely downvote that post, pushing it to the bottom. If a user says something smart or funny, it will gain upvotes.

This system ensures that interesting content stays at the top and spam sinks to the bottom. Your post score is balanced by downvotes and upvotes. For example, if 10 people downvote my post and 11 people upvote my post, I’d have a score of 1. This ensures that every post has a fair chance of rising or falling based on the community’s votes.

Throwaway account = This is a popular phrase you’ll hear on Reddit. Reddit users are talented internet sleuths. If you post something and it attracts attention, Reddit users will look at your comment history and expose your personal information. That’s why most Reddit users will create a temporary ‘throwaway’ account they’ll use to post a comment and then never use again.

Using Reddit to conduct market research: A step-by-step guide

Step #1: find where your customers are hiding, find the right subreddit.

To start, find a subreddit filled with your target customers. There’s no magic solution here. It can take a bit of work to find the right communities. Begin by searching for subreddits . You can also use the following search operators to get started: title:keyword (example, title:Honda), subreddit:keyword (example, subreddit:Honda); and URL:keyword (example, URL:Hondafans.com).

Install the free Reddit Enhancement suite

This free tool adds advanced searching and filtering options to Reddit. With this tool, you can filter irrelevant subreddits, keywords, and old posts. This done by using custom filters. It’s a helpful tool.

Do some sleuthing

Now, spend an hour or so doing some keyword searches. Make a list of the popular subreddits for your topic and common questions that people ask. For example, let’s say I’m a brand manager at Honda. With a little searching, I’ll bump into these subreddits: r/PreludeOwners , r/Honda_XR_and_XL , and r/Honda . These have valuable conversations about Honda’s brand and products, offering an authentic glimpse into the lives of Honda customers.

Step #2: Ask these questions

During your research, focus on answering the four questions below.

How do people feel about your product category? It’s easy to forget that the public has much different experiences than we do inside the walls of a marketing department. Reddit is amazing for revealing unfiltered opinions about brands, products, industries, and categories.

How do people feel about advertising in your category? On the top of Reddit, you’ll see eight tabs. Use the ‘‘promoted” tab to see advertising campaigns run by your competitors. Did any of your competitors promote their products to this community? Look at the comments to see how consumers responded—and what they feel about advertising campaigns in your category. Do competitors brag too much? Are certain features considered table stakes now?

How sophisticated are consumers of your products? Consumers get good at buying products—what differentiates you today is expected tomorrow. For example, at Hootsuite we’ve been helping companies track and prove the ROI of social media for many years. But each year, the topic morphs as our industry becomes more sophisticated.

Reddit can help you stay ahead of your customer’s demand—whether that be the features that bore them, the promises they’re tired of hearing, or the things they wish brands would get right.

Go to the top of the subreddit you want to analyze and select the tab called “gilded.” This will sort by comments that received Reddit gold. As mentioned, Reddit users will gift each other “gold” (which means they pay for the user’s upgrade to Reddit premium) for comments that are exceptionally valuable, funny, or insightful. These are comments that have resonated with Reddit’s most discerning users. Use these “gilded” comments to better understand the sophistication level of your audience as these comments are the smartest or funniest perspectives in the community.

Who is the HXC customer? Unlike most social networks, Reddit pushes the smartest comments and most discerning consumer opinions to the top. It’s a social network filled with smart and opinionated consumers. This is exactly the consumer you want to aim your marketing strategy at.

Most marketing makes the mistake of talking to the lowest common denominator (“meet Joe, your typical male person, looking for a simple way to file taxes online so that he can get back to what he really loves: watching sports with his buds”). But when you’re searching for a new Honda, you ask your friend, the car lover who knows everything about Hondas. Or when you’re looking for a mutual fund to buy, you ask your investment friend who lives on a yacht. These people have specific opinions and expectations for products—and other consumers idealize them.

This is the concept of the HXC customer developed by Julie Supan . According to Supan, if you aim your products and marketing at the most discerning customer, the masses will follow. Reddit can help you better understand these discerning customers.

The best subreddits for marketers

You’ll find subreddits for most industries and products. A relevant subreddit for this post is www.reddit.com/r/SampleSize/ , a community of market researchers.

Another good one that I follow is www.reddit.com/r/AskMarketing/ , a subreddit where marketing professionals ask for answers to hard questions like Facebook ad optimization techniques, tracking the ROI of event marketing, and asking advice about new business ventures.

Step #3: Analyze and monitor

By now, you should have a good idea of the subreddits and typical questions customers ask on Reddit. In this last section, I’ll show you how to monitor these communities for new conversations.

Combine subreddits together

With Reddit, you can create a multireddit. This allows you to group individual subreddits on a page, making it easy to scan and read new content.

The easiest way to create a multireddit is by logging into Reddit. Then press “create,” located on the left side of the page under multireddits. You can also combine subreddits into a URL like so: www.reddit.com/r/subreddit+subreddit . For example, I created the following multireddit, combining three of the best marketing subreddits into one: www.reddit.com/r/askmarketing+marketing+SampleSize+entreprenuer . Bookmark that URL and you’ll always have new marketing tips from the Reddit community.

Monitor for keywords with this app

I’ve tried a few different ways to automatically pull posts from Reddit including web scraping scripts . These often break, though. One of the tools I love to use is the Reddit Keyword Monitor Pro app for Hootsuite . You can monitor brand terms or keywords for any topic, pulling all these hyper-targeted conversations right into your Hootsuite dashboard.

I’m not only recommending this app because I work at Hootsuite. I actually use the app. I even use it to monitor conversations about music recording gear (a hobby of mine) as it pulls interesting bits from all around Reddit.

Add the Reddit Keyword Monitor Pro app to your Hootsuite dashboard

Install the Reddit Keyword Monitor Pro app . Next, go to your Hootsuite dashboard (if you don’t have one, you can start with a free account ). Click Add a New Stream. In the window, select Apps and then select the Reddit Keyword Monitor Pro app.

Start listening! Go to the Hootsuite stream you just created

Click on the tiny gear icon in the corner of the Reddit Keyword Monitor Pro app. Enter a few keywords you’d like to monitor. For example, I’m interested in what customers think about Hootsuite. So I monitor: “love Hootsuite,” “Hootsuite,” and “buy Hootsuite?” These conversations appear right inside my Hootsuite dashboard, so I don’t have to check Reddit for new posts.

I use these insights for market research but this type of listening is critical for brand managers as well. Reddit can be an early warning system for an impending brand PR crisis and monitoring conversations saves you from having to check for new mentions of your company or products.

Use RSS to bring the conversation to you

You can use RSS feeds to monitor different subreddits as well. RSS doesn’t seem to work on all subreddits. But you can try your luck with Hootsuite’s RSS tool (same process as step 3) or learn more about RSS in this guide to Reddit RSS subscriptions . Written by a Reddit user of course.

That’s how I use Reddit for market research.

If you’re looking for other ways to use social data in your marketing plans, check out our free guide, The Social Media Data Cookbook . You’ll learn 11 simple recipes to help you put social data to work including a simple test you can run to see the exact ROI of social messages.

Read it for Free

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James is a senior copywriter and content strategist on Hootsuite's brand team. Before Hootsuite, he worked at a few ad agencies creating B2B campaigns for Google, Intuit, Thomson Reuters, AppLovin (a mobile ad company acquired for 1.2 billion), and Wealthfront. James enjoys B2B content marketing, the refreshing taste of Wolf Cola, and writing music.

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9 Excellent Free Market Research Tools

15 January 2015, Jonathan Saipe

There are now a plethora of online market research tools, many of which are free, or offer free and paid-for access. Whilst this isn’t an exhaustive list, we’ve suggested 9 great tools that publish market data, insight and intelligence – ideal if you’re a researcher, planner or marketer.

Whilst access to some of the data available on Statista.com is free, given the exclusivity and specificity of many statistics, a premium account is required to access much of the platform.

StatCounter Global Stats is provided by StatCounter – the free, online visitor stats tool. It publishes technical data, such as browser and operating system usage, and screen resolutions, for desktops, mobiles, tablets and consoles, across all countries.

Stats provided are based on aggregate data collected via more than 15 billion page views per month across the StatCounter network of more than 3 million websites.

Google’s Public Data explorer publishes animated charts and maps of public datasets including economic, social, health and population data. After a little getting used to, you will find data easy to explore and visualise. And as the charts animate over time, changes in world behaviour become easier to understand.

When setting up an ad campaign, you can segment your audience, at which point Facebook will publish the potential audience size, allowing you to evaluate marketing potential. This part of the process is free and you are not obliged to make your campaign(s) live.

LinkedIn’s ad programme allows marketers and researchers to access LinkedIn’s user data free of charge. With its focus on professionals, you will have access to a range of information including company categories, sizes or specific names, job titles or job categories by country or city. LinkedIn will publish your potential reach when you go through the process of setting up an ad campaign. As with Facebook, you are not obliged to make the ad campaign live at this point.

Worldometers is run by an international team of developers and researchers, publishing world statistics. It was voted as one of the best free reference websites by the American Library Association (ALA), and was chosen as content provider at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), BBC News, and the National Media Museum (UK) among others.

Whilst it doesn’t allow segmentation of data, its country specific data is a valuable resource. And the real-time data found of its home page is both fascinating and shocking! Go take a look.

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8 Best Market Research Tools [Free & Paid Options]

• What is market research?
• 4 Benefits of market research
• 5 Free market research tool
• 3 Paid market research tool

Helping to find the best market research tools. Are you looking for free or paid options? We got you covered.

What Is Market Research?

Market research is the process of collecting and analyzing information about customers, competitors, and the overall market to make informed business decisions.

It helps companies understand their target audience, identify market trends, assess demand for products or services, and evaluate the effectiveness of marketing strategies.

Market research provides valuable insights that enable businesses to minimize risks, maximize opportunities, and stay competitive in the marketplace.

4 Benefits of Market Research

The market research industry has experienced substantial growth. This growth can be attributed to the numerous benefits that market research offers.

Businesses aiming to enhance their products or launch successful marketing campaigns would face significant disadvantages without conducting market research.

Before delving into the best market research tools, it is essential to understand the importance of market research.

1. Understanding the Needs of the Target Audience

By conducting market research, you ensure that your target audience remains the focal point of every decision you make. Understanding their needs and desires allows you to customize your products, marketing strategies, and customer experiences accordingly.

This approach helps minimize negative customer experiences, as just one or two can prompt 64% of customers to switch to a competitor.

2. Identify New Opportunities

Market research tools also aid in identifying new business opportunities and potential threats. Engaging with customers and comprehending their behavior often reveals untapped prospects.

Similarly, by monitoring competitors, you can identify any potential risks that may pose a threat to your business if not addressed promptly.

3. Help You to Create Customer Personas

Moreover, market research assists in creating customer personas, which greatly enhance the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Customer personas are fictional representations of your ideal consumers, detailing their characteristics and buying motivations.

With well-defined customer personas, you can ensure that every product and marketing decision is tailored to appeal to at least one customer persona. This approach enables you to develop marketing campaigns that cater specifically to each persona.

4. Help You to Stay Competitive

Ultimately, leveraging market research is crucial to staying competitive. Statistics indicate that 6 out of 10 marketers utilize consumer research to drive their decision-making processes.

Making well-informed decisions based on market research often leads to more effective marketing campaigns. Therefore, without market research, there is a genuine risk of your company falling behind competitors.

5 Best Free Market Research Tools

1. google trends.

Google Trends is a powerful and popular tool provided by Google that allows users to explore and analyze the popularity and interest in specific search terms over time. It provides valuable insights into the search behavior of users, offering a wealth of information for market research, content creation, and understanding trends.

Introduced in 2006, it tracks the popularity of search topics on Google over time and by location. For instance, it allows you to observe the precise number of people who searched for WordPress in the United States this year or how searches related to Wix.

The most common use of Google Trends is to track changes in the popularity of a search term over time. By simply entering a term of interest, Google Trends presents you with a line graph showcasing the term’s popularity. It assigns it a score ranging from 0 to 100.

Additionally, you have the option to compare different terms to gain further insights and make meaningful comparisons.

2. Think with Google

Think With Google is a lesser-known tool from the search giant, but its power and usefulness are not diminished by its relative obscurity. It serves as a free resource library filled with facts, figures, and insights . All this is based on Google’s own data and other research, providing a significant boost to your marketing efforts.

If you’re seeking a comprehensive understanding of the marketing landscape, Think With Google serves as an excellent starting point. By exploring the platform, you can discover marketing trends, gain insights into the latest consumer behavior, and find the information necessary to drive your marketing strategy.

The website is divided into four main sections: Consumer Insights, Marketing Strategies, Future of Marketing, and Tools. Each section offers valuable resources tailored to different aspects of your brand.

The first three sections are self-explanatory, providing insights and information related to consumer behavior, marketing strategies, and future marketing trends, respectively. The Tools section serves as a digital marketing toolbox, consolidating various research tools offered by Google. Such as Find My Audience and Market Finder, in a single location for easy access.

By leveraging Think With Google, you can tap into a wealth of knowledge and gain valuable insights. It can enhance your marketing efforts and inform your strategic decisions.

3. U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau is a government agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data about the United States population, economy, and geography. It operates under the U.S. Department of Commerce and conducts various surveys and censuses to gather information that informs public policy, business decisions, and research.

The U.S. Census Bureau website is a valuable resource for market research, offering free access to U.S. census data. With over 130 surveys conducted annually by the Bureau of the Census, the website provides a comprehensive and reliable source of information. It is used by the government to allocate billions of dollars in federal funds.

The website allows you to search and explore the data by applying various filters, such as age, location, and income.

Additionally, it offers data visualization tools that present some of the datasets in a visually appealing format.

One interesting application of this data is to filter the results using your business’s NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) code. It helps to identify the geographical areas and demographics where your industry is most popular. This can be a valuable strategy to uncover new target markets if your business operates in a specific region of the country.

The U.S. Census Bureau plays a critical role in providing comprehensive and reliable data about the U.S. population, economy, and geography. Its data is essential for policymakers, businesses, researchers, and individuals to understand demographic trends, make informed decisions, and plan for the future.

When it comes to free market research tools, Reddit stands out as one of the best options available. Reddit boasts a massive user base and offers valuable insights. tool for market research.

With over 57 million daily active users spread across more than 200 countries, it’s highly likely that a portion of your target audience can be found on the platform. Reddit provides a free and accessible platform centered around communities known as subreddits. This is where like-minded individuals engage in discussions about shared interests.

To locate your specific audience on Reddit, you can utilize the subreddit search tool. By entering relevant keywords related to your industry or niche, such as “WordPress”, you can generate a list of relevant subreddits dedicated to that particular topic.

Engaging with these subreddits allows you to observe discussions, gather insights, and understand the perspectives and needs of your target audience. It can serve as a valuable resource for market research, as you can identify trends, challenges, and preferences within your industry.

By leveraging Reddit as a market research tool, you can tap into a vast online community, gain valuable insights, and inform your marketing strategies based on the discussions and sentiments found within relevant subreddits.

Quora serves as an excellent free market research tool for gaining insights into your audience’s pain points and finding effective solutions can be achieved by understanding the questions they ask.

If you’re unfamiliar, Quora is a worldwide platform where users can ask questions on a wide range of topics. Other users, often providing their credentials, contribute answers to these questions.

It functions as a platform where individuals seek answers to their queries, and a diverse range of users, including experts and content creators, provide valuable responses.

To leverage Quora for market research, utilize its search tool to look for keywords relevant to your industry. By doing so, you can find discussions and questions related to your area of interest. This allows you to gain insights into the topics that resonate with your target audience, understand their concerns, and discover potential pain points they experience.

Engaging with Quora enables you to access a wealth of knowledge and perspectives from various experts and individuals in your industry. By monitoring and participating in relevant discussions, you can gather valuable insights that can inform your marketing strategies, content creation, and product development.

By utilizing Quora’s search functionality, you can tap into a vast repository of user-generated content and leverage it as a powerful market research tool to better understand your audience and address their needs effectively.

3 of the Best Market Research Tools – Paid Options

1. surveymonkey.

SurveyMonkey stands out as one of the top survey tools available, renowned for its popularity and effectiveness. Each day, the platform facilitates the answering of over 20 million questions, highlighting its widespread usage and trust among users.

The company offers an enterprise-grade platform that simplifies the process of creating, distributing, and analyzing surveys. With a collection of more than 200 customizable templates, users have a diverse range of options to start a survey.

Surveys can be conveniently shared through various channels, including links, emails, social media platforms, and embedded web pages. Once responses are collected, users can explore individual answers in detail or take advantage of SurveyMonkey’s custom reports. It creates charts to visualize the data effectively.

With its user-friendly interface, robust features, and extensive options for customization, SurveyMonkey proves to be a valuable tool for businesses and individuals. It helps in gathering feedback, conducting market research, and deriving meaningful insights from survey data.

2. Qualtrics

Qualtrics stands out as a comprehensive market research tool, offering a wide range of features that cover the entire research process.

With Qualtrics, you can seamlessly create advanced surveys, segment markets, and analyze data, all within a single platform. Whether you want to design a new survey or upload an existing dataset, Qualtrics provides the necessary tools to collect and analyze data effectively.

The platform offers statistical tests and visualizations to derive meaningful insights from your research.

One notable advantage of Qualtrics is its ability to assist with finding respondents for your surveys. Instead of spending time searching for participants, Qualtrics enables you to access a representative sample of your target audience directly through the platform. This streamlines the research process and ensures you gather data from the desired demographic.

To help users make the most of the platform’s capabilities, Qualtrics offers on-demand training resources. These resources provide guidance and support. Allowing users to optimize their research projects and leverage the full potential of the Qualtrics platform.

With its comprehensive suite of features, respondent recruitment capabilities, and accessible training resources, Qualtrics is a valuable tool for businesses and researchers seeking to conduct in-depth market research and gain valuable insights from their target audience.

3. Typeform

Typeform presents itself as an alternative to SurveyMonkey. It is offering a survey-based market research tool with a user-friendly design and a plethora of ready-made templates.

This platform simplifies the creation of forms and online surveys, allowing you to easily gather customer feedback. With over 500 million digital interactions annually, Typeform has established itself as a popular choice. It can seamlessly integrate with numerous other applications.

When using Typeform, you have the flexibility to format your questions in various ways, including multiple-choice, scale ratings, and open-ended responses. This versatility enables you to collect both quantitative and qualitative data effectively.

Additionally, the platform offers conditional logic, allowing you to dynamically adjust the survey structure based on respondents’ answers.

One standout feature of Typeform is the unique respondent experience it provides. Unlike traditional survey tools, Typeform presents respondents with one question at a time, creating a user-friendly and less overwhelming interface. This approach enhances the user experience and has the potential to increase survey completion rates.

With its intuitive design, diverse question formatting options, and interactive respondent experience, Typeform offers a compelling solution for conducting market research and collecting valuable insights from your target audience. Its extensive integration capabilities further enhance its versatility and usefulness in the realm of survey-based market research.

In conclusion, market research tools are essential for businesses seeking to gather valuable insights and make informed decisions in today’s competitive landscape. These tools enable businesses to understand their target audience, identify market trends, analyze competitors, and optimize their marketing strategies.

Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, leveraging market research tools can provide a competitive advantage and drive business growth.

When it comes to free market research tools, Google Trends and Think With Google are highly recommended.

Google Trends offers real-time search data and trend analysis, while Think With Google provides valuable industry insights and consumer behavior trends based on Google’s data. Both tools are accessible, user-friendly, and can provide valuable information to inform your marketing efforts.

For paid options, SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics are widely recognized and popular choices.

SurveyMonkey offers powerful survey creation and data analysis features, allowing businesses to gather customer feedback and conduct market research. Qualtrics, on the other hand, provides a comprehensive platform for advanced survey research, customer experience management, and market insights.

Ultimately, the best market research tools for your business will depend on your specific needs, budget, and industry. It’s recommended to assess your research objectives, explore different options, and choose the tools that align with your goals and provide the most relevant and actionable insights.

By leveraging the power of market research tools, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their target market. You can make data-driven decisions, and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

If you are about to start your website make sure to check this article , where we compared some of the biggest hosting providers and their prices.

A market research tool is a software or online platform that helps businesses collect, analyze, and interpret data to gain insights about their target market, consumer behavior, industry trends, and competitors.

Market research tools are important because they provide businesses with valuable data-driven insights that help them make informed decisions, develop effective marketing strategies, identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and stay ahead of the competition.

Some popular market research tools include Google Trends, Think With Google, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, SEMrush, Google Analytics, social media listening tools like Hootsuite or Sprout Social, and customer feedback platforms like UserTesting or Hotjar.

Market research tools can help identify target audiences by providing demographic data, psychographic information, and consumer behavior insights. They allow businesses to segment and analyze their customer base, identify key characteristics of their target audience, and tailor their marketing efforts accordingly.

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The 8 free market research tools and resources you need to know.

With over 400,000 new businesses opening in the United States each month, the need for individual companies to conduct their own market research has never been more urgent.  However, conducting market research isn’t an easy task — it presents challenges to businesses of all shapes and sizes.

With that being said, those with large budgets do enjoy certain advantages. When you have access to an endless array of top-tier tools and resources, you can uncover strategy-changing insights with relative ease.

Does that mean businesses with small (or non-existent) budgets are out of luck? Absolutely not.

Nowadays, free market research tools and resources are abundant — and you’ll be familiar with eight of our favorites by the time you’re done reading this blog post.

But first, some housekeeping:

What is market research?

Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing information about your customers — both current and prospective — with the intent of optimizing your business strategy.

Customer-related information that you may want to gather includes (but is not limited to):

• The goals they want to achieve
• The pain points they want to alleviate
• The income or budget that constrains them
• The products and/or services they use (a.k.a. your competitors)
• The strengths and weaknesses of the products and/or services they use

Why is market research important?

Market research is important because — if you’re thorough and open-minded — it dramatically improves your chances of long-term success. Only through market research can you uncover the insights you need to develop a product or service that (1) satisfies the demands of your prospects and (2) stands out from the competition.

For a complete overview of how conducting market research can benefit your business, here’s Market Research Defined and How to Get Started .

Cool? Cool. Let’s dive into the good stuff.

Top 4 Free Market Research Tools

For clarity, we will define a free market research tool as any tool that:

• Costs nothing, and
• Helps with the collection and/or analysis of customer-related information

Keep in mind that “customer-related information” encompasses everything from a pain point to a weakness of one of your competitors’ products.

1. Google Trends

If you want to get a sense of the level of interest in a particular product or service — as well as how that interest fluctuates over time and across regions — Google Trends is an excellent tool.

All you need to do is enter a search query and toggle with the filters. As an example, take a look at the level of interest in “office supplies'' in the U.S. over the past five years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, interest peaked in February 2020 — at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic:

Plus, you can explore variations in interest across the 50 states, as well as related topics and queries that are surging in popularity:

The “interest by subregion” data is powerful. In Wyoming, searches for “office supplies” account for a greater percentage of all search queries than in any other state. Your average resident of Wyoming, in other words, is more interested in searching for office supplies than is your average resident of, say, Louisiana — a valuable insight for anyone who sells office supplies online.

Equally valuable is the insight that searches for “where to buy office supplies in bulk” are on the rise — potentially indicative of an emerging pain point.

2. SurveyMonkey

As some of you already know, one of the best ways to conduct market research is to ask your customers a handful of open-ended questions. You can do this for free with SurveyMonkey .

Specifically, with a free SurveyMonkey account, you can ask up to 10 questions and field up to 40 responses with each of your surveys.

Open-ended questions you may ask your customers include (but are not limited to):

• Why did you buy our product?
• What has our product helped you accomplish?
• How does our product compare to others that you’ve used in the past?

With just three questions — well under the limit of a free survey — you can learn quite a bit about your target market. If, for example, the majority of respondents say they bought your product because they were struggling to do their jobs in a cost-effective manner, that gives you a clearer picture of your prospects’ pain points and your competitors’ weaknesses .

3. Make My Persona

As you collect and analyze customer-related information, it’s a good idea to create or tweak your buyer personas : detailed profiles of the semi-fictional people for whom your product or service is designed. In the context of market research, personas are useful because they help you synthesize and comprehend the information you’re gathering.

Thanks to our friends at HubSpot, you can use a wonderful free tool called Make My Persona .

Intuitive and fun, Make My Persona is a seven-step process that walks you through the essential components of your target customer: demographic information, firmographic information, job title, pain points, and so on. And if you want to go beyond the bare essentials, you can add as many extra sections of information as you like.

Important note: Your personas should be dynamic. As you conduct further market research and learn more about your target customers, your personas should evolve accordingly.

4. WordSift

Make My Persona is appealing, in part, because it enables you to make sense of raw data — to separate the signal from the noise. The same can be said about WordSift , the final free tool we’ll be discussing today.

Built to help teachers with the instruction of vocabulary and reading comprehension, WordSift allows you to generate word clouds: images that represent the frequency with which certain words are used in a given body of text. Look what happens when I copy the introduction to this blog post and paste it into WordSift:

Instantaneously — and unsurprisingly — I can conclude that “business,” “market,” and “research” are among the most frequently used words in the introduction to this post.

What does this have to do with market research? Well, let’s say you’ve been using SurveyMonkey to ask your customers about their reasons for buying your product. One by one, if you were to copy their responses and paste them into WordSift, you’d be able to see which words your customers use most often. That’s a market research gold mine!

Top 4 Free Market Research Resources

Again, for clarity, we will define a free market research resource as any resource that:

• Helps with the collection of customer-related information

The scope of “customer-related information" remains the same  —  encompassing everything from a pain point to a weakness of one of your competitors’ products.

5. Bureau of Labor Statistics

A government organization that “measures labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, and productivity in the U.S. economy to support public and private decision-making,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a wealth of information.

Because this is a blog post about market research — not an economics class — we’ll focus on BLS’ industry- and region-specific information. If you’re on the homepage and you hover over the Data Tools drop-down menu, you’ll see a hyperlink to something titled “Industry at a Glance.” Click on that, find your industry of interest, and explore the dozens of statistics that BLS has aggregated.

If, for example, you’re interested in the apparel manufacturing industry — either because you’re in the industry or you sell into it — you can see how earnings, prices, and productivity figures are changing over time.

Head back to the homepage, hover over the Subjects drop-down menu, and you’ll see a section labeled Geographic Information:

Select your region of interest, filter by state or metropolitan area (if necessary), and take a tour of BLS’ enormous library of area-specific data.

6. U.S. Census Bureau

On a mission to “serve as the [United States’] leading provider of quality data about its people and economy,” the U.S. Census Bureau is another terrific resource that costs nothing to use.

Just as we did with the BLS, we’ll focus on industry- and region-specific information. Admittedly, using the Census website to find industry-specific information is slightly more complicated than it is when using the BLS website. If you’re on the homepage and you hover over the Explore Data drop-down menu, you’ll see a hyperlink titled “Explore Data Main.”

Click on that, and you’ll be brought to the Census’ search engine. Then, click inside the search bar and select “Advanced Search.”

Underneath “Find A Filter,” type in the name of the industry you’re interested in researching. Once the search suggestions load, simply check the appropriate box and click “Search.”

From there, you’ll be able to explore thousands of data tables, maps, and whitepapers — many of them chock-full of industry-specific information that you can use to your advantage.

Finding region-specific information is a bit more straightforward. Head back to the Advanced Search engine, select “Geography” from underneath Browse Filters, and go from there:

7. Pew Research Center

A nonprofit dedicated to “inform[ing] the public about the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world,” the Pew Research Center is one of the most authoritative sources of information for anyone striving to make better business decisions.

Whereas the BLS and the Census are (among other things) aggregators of economic data, the Pew Research Center is a “fact tank” — an organization focused on public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis, and other forms of social science inquiry. 

So, although you can’t necessarily use Pew to uncover hyper-specific insights related to your industry or region, you can use it to learn more about your target audience. The best way to do this is through the Topics section of the Pew website.

Clicking that hyperlink brings you to an index of dozens of topics, ranging from Online Video to Homeownership to Democracy. Selecting any of these topics will bring you to a list of relevant content — reports, fact tanks, transcripts, and other forms of media that can date back as far as the early 1980s.

As an example, let’s say you’re developing a product or service that targets new homeowners. If you were to click on the Homeownership topic, you’d land on a list of reports like this one:

If I were you, that’s not a report I’d want to overlook!

We’ll wrap up today’s guide with a free resource specifically for those of you in the software world. Designed to help buyers determine which products are best suited to their needs, G2 is the leading source of validated, unbiased software reviews.

G2 is, in other words, an excellent way to find out what your target customers are saying about your competitors’ products. Do a quick search for the type of software you’re developing and you’re in business.

If you were developing a sales compensation software product and you searched this keyword, you’d be brought to the page you see below. To learn more about Spiff — one of your top-rated industry competitors — all you’d need to do is click “Read Spiff Reviews.”

If you want to get granular, you can filter reviews in a number of different ways. As an example, let’s say you’re developing a sales compensation software product specifically for small businesses. G2 has the filter you’re looking for:

And just like that, you’ve got access to dozens of valuable insights like this one:

Start using market research tools today!

If you try to bring a product or service to market without an understanding of your target customers, your chances of success are slim. According to the most recent State of Competitive Intelligence Report , 84% of businesses say their industry has gotten more competitive in the last three years. With the range of choices at your prospects’ fingertips growing by the day, the need for a thorough market research strategy only intensifies.

We hope you find these free market research tools and resources useful. And if you decide to make the leap to a paid solution, make sure to request a demo of Crayon — the competitive intelligence platform that enables you to track, analyze, and act on everything happening outside your businesses’ four walls.

See why Gong, Mastercard, and ZoomInfo trust Crayon to help them win more competitive deals.

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Free Market Research Resources

• Getting Started

Researching Industries

Industry research: canada, industry research: united states.

• Researching Consumers
• Researching Companies
• First Nation Resources: Canada
• Plans and Case Studies
• Business Databases on Campus

Researching your industry and market is integral to successful business plan research. Industry & market research reports found on commercial databases give insight into:

To learn more, check out the  Getting To Know Your Industry  video tutorial on the  Small Business Accelerator.  The purpose of the tutorial is to interactively help you become familiar with market research basics and guide you to find credible sources to inform your industry analysis.

• BC Businesses & Employment by Industry By BC Stats
• BC Industry Sectors Includes economic profiles of BC regions, information about doing business in BC and brief summaries of industry sectors.
• BC Municipal Websites Content varies, but the websites may have local info on economic development, demographics, profiles, etc., for their municipality.
• BC Small Business Profile Report, 2019 This report profiles the impact and current state of the small business sector in the B.C. economy. It presents year over year changes and multi-year trends, as well as comparisons with Canadian provinces.
• Canadian Industry Statistics Industry Canada's reports and data on Canadian Industries.
• Financial Performance Data Financial Performance Data provides access to more than 1000 industries across Canada, including more than 30 performance benchmarks to help small businesses determine how they measure up to their competitors.
• RBC Economics Research Economic indicators, current analysis reports.

• Bureau of Economic Analysis Source of accurate and objective data about the US economy that includes: GDP, foreign trade, investment and industry data.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Employment Provides statistics on subjects such as occupational employment and wages, labor demand and turnover, and the dynamic state of the labor market.
• Consumer Price Index Measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by U.S. urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services
• County Business Patterns Annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry. This series includes the number of establishments, employment during the week of March 12, first quarter payroll, and annual payroll. This data is useful for studying the economic activity of small areas; analyzing economic changes over time; and as a benchmark for other statistical series, surveys, and databases between economic censuses.
• Millie A structured series of industry-specific dashboards, making it easy to find useful information in a self-service environment. Industries covered by Millie include information technology, life sciences, healthcare, financial services, energy, agribusiness, chemical, and food and beverage.
• North American Industry Classification System Access to the latest manual which explains the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.
• SBA Office of Entrepreneurship Education Resources Contains a variety of market research analysis tools, resources, and reports that provide information useful for learning about customer statistics, product production, economic factors, and data.
• U.S. Census Data Tools Tools and free industry research reports that help you gain insight into demographics and geographic locations of populations of your target market
• USA Trade® Online Dynamic data tool that gives users access to current and cumulative U.S. export and import data. Manufacturers and other businesses wishing to expand their business globally can utilize USA Trade® Online to identify new markets, evaluate existing markets, and perform other market research tasks. Requires signing up for a free account.
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13 Affordable or Free Market Research Tools and Resources

Nemanja Jovancic

Mar 28 2019

No comments

Market research. Often difficult to deal with but impossible to do proper business without.

Whether you’re looking to launch a new product, feature or service, break into a new market, open a new store, without doing proper market research you’re highly likely to fall short of your business objectives.

With the development of technology and new market research tools emerging every day, it’s become more difficult than ever to decide on which ones to use for your marketing efforts (especially if you’re on a tight budget).

That being said, I’ve prepared a selection of 14 helpful and affordable market research tools and resources to use. The tools are divided into different subcategories and include short descriptions and pricing details.

Let’s dig in.

Top 14 Market Research Tools and Resources

Survey and poll based market research tools.

Pickfu is a poll-based market research tool that enables you to easily obtain feedback from your potential customers. What it does, basically, is A/B test your ideas so as to decide on the best variation. It can show you what people like and what they don’t.

For instance, you can use Pickfu to choose the most appealing book cover and title before publishing, to validate your business ideas, test different logo and ad variations, improve your product listing photos and descriptions, optimize your app’s UI, and so on.

Price: $1 per response

2. LeadQuizzes

LeadQuizzes is a platform built for marketers, small businesses and entrepreneurs to help them increase leads and easily learn more about their audience using quizzes and surveys.

By creating and using highly visual surveys , you will be able not only to generate thousands of new leads but also to segment your audiences into different customer groups based on the responses they give.

Thanks to the market data you obtain this way, you should be able to segment your target audience and aim a particular marketing strategy at each of the groups based on their personal characteristics and preferences.

LeadQuizzes enables you to integrate your surveys with your favorite marketing tools and seamlessly share data between those so as to save both time and money. For example, you can integrate your survey with an email automation tool and, based on the results they get, send your customers personalized email sequences to move them further along your sales funnel.

If you’d like to learn more about how to create your own quizzes and surveys and use them to obtain reliable market research data, here’s a detailed quiz maker instructions for you to check out.

Price: Free to try, starting at $29/month

Buyer Persona Research Tools

3. think with google.

Think with Google is one of those market research tools that can provide you with all the insights, data, and trends that you need. Innovative as always, Google has launched a platform that offers data-rich insights on how people browse and buy.

If you’re looking to learn more about how consumer behavior changes due to digital innovation and depending on a season, holiday, or any other specific event, this might be the right market research tool for you.

Google is basically doing everything for you, you just need to access the data they are already exploring and the trends they are already tracking and you’ll have a behind the scenes look at your potential customers’ behavior.

For the best results and most comprehensive data, you should consider using Thing with Google in combination with other Google’s market research tools like Shopping Insights, Google Trends, Consumer Barometer, and Market Finder.

Price: Free

4. Facebook Audience Insights

Audience Insights is a free market research tool powered by Facebook that enables you to learn more about your current target audience or discover a new one.

It allows you to create audience personas and acquire consumer insights on the basis of the persona you’ve created. These insights can be used to create Facebook ads or for market research purposes.

Facebook Audience Insights can be used to obtain data on age and gender, relationship status, education level, job title, and so on.

5. MakeMyPersona

MakeMyPersona is one of the market research tools from HubSpot’s marketing toolbox. It lets you create buyer personas by providing answers to a series of questions based on already existing market research.

Keyword Research Tools

6. google keyword tools.

Google Keywords are your window to the web market research. This tool shows you the volume of keyword searches,  how competitive they are, related keywords, and all the basic information you need to learn how to market your services online.

7.   Ubersuggest

With its simple interface and no sign-up needed, Ubersuggest  is one of the simplest market research tools for performing keyword and content research. Just enter a keyword or phrase and it’ll create a list of related keywords in alphabetical order.

Here, I’ve included the free tools only, but of course, you should consider other analytics and feature-rich paid solutions such as Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMRush.

Market Research Data Resources

8. american fact finder.

American Fact Finder is an excellent resource for finding the United States census data (if the US is your target market, of course). The US Census contains a plethora of information on people, companies, places, and trends. Plus, you can filter that information by age, location, race, income, and year.

All of this makes the American FactFinder an easy way to find the most relevant census data about your customers and a powerful market research tool.

9.   Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center website has a huge database of free research, ranging from political attitudes and economic situations to social media usage and marketing statistics. This research can be used as a powerful market research tool that helps you better understand your target audience and track key market trends.

Its sleek user interface and interactive charts that can be hovered over to reveal additional data make the Pew Research Center more than just a dull aggregator of facts and statistics.

10.   Statista

Looking for sleek stat-rich graphs that reveal market research trends in almost any field? Look no more. Statista is your go-to place for all your stats and facts.

The website boasts with over 1 million stats and facts within 600 industries for more than 50 countries. It contains statistical data on more than 80,000 topics from over 22,500 sources. In addition to English, Statista is available in French, German, and Spanish.

Price: Freemium

It lets you access basic data and statistics for free but charges $49/month for access to the premium statistics.

11. Buzzsumo

Use the words ‘buzz’ and ‘sumo’ separately and you’ll probably get a hilarious mental image (a super-fast sumo wrestler just popped into my mind). Join them in one new word, however, and you’ve got yourself one of the most powerful market research tools you can use to analyze what content works best for different topics and competitors.

If you’re looking to learn more about how to improve your social media market research game, here are 5 tips on how to use Buzzsumo in your marketing strategy.

Price: Four pricing plans starting at  $79/month.

12. Quora  and Reddit

From a user perspective, Quora and Reddit are great places to ask questions and get a bunch of answers from random people. From a marketer perspective, they are a blend of consumer intelligence and market research.

On both platforms, you can see what people in your market think about certain topics, what questions they have about those, and how they interact among themselves.

If you want to dig deeper, we can show you how to increase your website traffic using Reddit  or how to use Quora to generate leads .

Market Research Data Visualization Tools

13. tableau.

Even though Tableau is not one of the market research tools per se, it can still play a valuable role in your market research efforts – it helps you visualize and better organize the market data you obtained elsewhere.

Tableau uses analytics, visualization, and business intelligence to help you better understand your market research data and “change the way you think about it.”  This data visualization tool enables you to create a shareable interactive dashboard which presents different trends and variations in colorful charts and tables.

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How to Use Reddit for Better Market Research [Step By Step Guide]

Written by Erica Pollock

Published Sep. 26 2023 · 17 min read

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Reddit, the platform known as the “front page of the Internet,” has become an invaluable platform for conducting market research. With its diverse user base and extensive range of discussions, Reddit offers a wealth of insights for businesses looking to gain a deeper understanding of their target audience. In this article, we’ll explore how you can effectively use Reddit for fast and accurate market research, and walk you through all of the steps to get started. 

What Exactly Is Reddit and How Does It Work?

Reddit is considered a social media platform, although it resembles more of a traditional internet forum where users can post, discuss, and vote on content. There are a number of terms that may be unfamiliar to you if you haven’t ever used Reddit before, so let’s go through the ones you need to know real quick. (Feel free to skip this section if you already know the basics of using Reddit.)

Redditor: A member or user of the Reddit community.

Subreddit: A subreddit is a space on Reddit dedicated to a specific topic, theme, or interest. Subreddits serve as mini-communities within the site and serve as virtual gathering places for like-minded individuals.They are denoted by “r/” followed by the name of the subreddit, i.e.  r/marketing.

Reddit has hundreds of subreddits, and there is one for just about anything you can think of. There’s also plenty of subreddits for things you wouldn’t ever think of (r/BreadStapledToTrees, I am looking at you. And in case you are wondering, yes, this subreddit is exactly what it sounds like.)

Bread… stapled to trees. I don’t know why. The internet is weird sometimes.

Upvote/Downvote: A system used to approve or disapprove of content or comments. Upvoting indicates approval or liking, while downvoting signals disapproval. When content is upvoted, it moves up in the feed. The content and comments with the most upvotes is seen the most, as it appears at the top of the page.

Karma: A point system that reflects the value of a user’s contributions based on the number of upvotes and downvotes they receive. You receive karma by posting comments or posting a new thread. Each comment you make will give you +1 karma to begin with, and then other users can upvote or downvote your comment, changing the amount of karma. So for each additional upvote on a comment, you receive +1 karma. And the opposite is true for downvotes, meaning that you receive -1 karma for each downvote.

Comments that receive lots of downvotes are considered to be low value or not contributing positively to the discussion at hand, and will eventually be hidden in the comments section entirely.

You can see how much karma a user has by clicking on their profile. (You can also see your own karma at any time in the top right corner of the page.)

Mainly just showing off my internet karma here and the fact my Reddit account is over 12 years old. But anyways…

Now that you’ve got the basic terminology nailed down, let’s take a look at why Reddit is so valuable for conducting market research.

Why Use Reddit for Market Research?

One of the key advantages of using Reddit for market research is the platform’s vast user base.

With over 430 million monthly active users as of 2023, Reddit offers a diverse range of perspectives and opinions. This allows businesses to tap into a wealth of information and gather insights from a wide range of demographics.

Unlike traditional market research methods where you are limited to observing from a distance, Reddit allows you to engage directly with your audience and gather feedback in real-time.

When used correctly, Reddit can provide invaluable insights into consumer preferences, opinions, and behaviors. By analyzing the discussions and interactions within relevant subreddits, businesses can gain a deep understanding of their target audience’s needs and preferences.

Another advantage of using Reddit for market research is the platform’s anonymity. Users can create anonymous accounts, allowing them to share their honest opinions and experiences without fear of judgment or repercussions. This anonymity fosters a more open and candid environment, leading to more authentic and valuable insights for businesses.

Lastly, Reddit offers a wide range of features that can aid in market research. You can analyze user engagement metrics, such as upvotes, comments, and awards, to gauge the popularity around a particular topic, or use Reddit’s advanced search function to find specific keywords or topics related to your industry. (I’ll show you how to do this later on.)

How to Find the Right Subreddits

The key to effective market research on Reddit is finding the subreddits where your target audience is most active.

Now, there are two ways of doing this, and I’ll give you both of them just because, hey, I am feeling generous.

Here’s the first method to find the subreddit(s) where your audience hangs out.

• Start with a broad search: Begin by heading over to Reddit , and searching for keywords related to your industry or target market in the search bar at the top of the page. This will help you find subreddits that are directly aligned with your area of interest.

When conducting a search, it’s important to consider various terms and phrases that are commonly associated with your industry. This will ensure that you cast a wide net and capture all potential subreddits that may be relevant to your research. Take the time to brainstorm and compile a list of keywords that accurately represent your niche.

So for example, if I type ‘marketing’ in the search bar, it gives me multiple different subreddits to choose from. In this case, I am going to start out my research by going to the r/marketing subreddit, as it is the first one that popped up.

2. Explore the subreddit sidebar: Once you’ve identified a potential subreddit, the first thing to do is take a look at the sidebar. The subreddit sidebar is often a great source for valuable information. It provides insights into the community’s expectations, preferred content types, and any specific rules that need to be followed.

It also will often have a list of additional related subreddits or other related communities that are on other platforms (like Discord). By thoroughly exploring the sidebar, you can gain a deeper understanding of the subreddit’s culture and get a better idea of whether or not the community fits with your target audience.

You’ll see here that the r/marketing subreddit lists many other marketing-related subreddits that might be worth checking out, like r/socialmediamarketing and r/digitalmarketing.

3. Assess the subreddit’s activity: Activity levels within a subreddit can vary significantly. Some communities may have a constant stream of posts and comments, while others may be more sporadic. An active community suggests a higher likelihood of receiving valuable feedback and insights for your market research.

Look at the frequency of posts and comments within the subreddit to help determine if it is an active and engaged community.

You can also see how many users are currently online in the community in the sidebar, as well as how many users are subscribed to the subreddit in total. This will help you determine the size of the community, and the size of your potential audience to engage with.

Keep in mind, a larger community isn’t necessarily better. In fact, it often can be more useful to find a smaller, more niche subreddit of the topic you are searching for. So perhaps instead of looking at just r/marketing, I could get even more specific and look at r/socialmediamarketing, because that subreddit more accurately describes my target audience. You might find that the smaller subreddits have a higher engagement level. I gauge this by looking at the number of current users that are online.

For example, in the image below, the r/marketing subreddit has 274 users online, which really isn’t a lot, considering there are 595,000 members of the subreddit.

Whereas the r/socialmediamarketing subreddit has 62 users online, but the overall size of the subreddit is 8x smaller, with just 74,800 users. So despite the r/marketing subreddit having more users online, the r/socialmediamarketing subreddit actually has a higher percentage of its users that are active and online, possibly indicating it might be a more engaged community.

4. Analyze the subreddit’s demographics: Understanding the demographics of a subreddit is crucial in ensuring that your market research efforts are focused on the right audience. Look for any available info regarding the age range, gender distribution, geographic location, and interests of the subreddit’s users.

If you are confident after going through these steps that your chosen subreddit is where your target audience lives and engages, then you can start your market research!

But what if you aren’t totally confident you’ve found the best subreddit?

Well, then you can use method number-two to identify the right subreddit. (This method doesn’t actually involve using Reddit at all.)

Here’s what you need to do.

• Create an account on Sparktoro.

If you aren’t familiar with Sparktoro, prepare for your mind to be blown by how useful it is when it comes to audience research. Head over to sparktoro.com and create an account if you don’t have one already. This will give you 20 free searches per month, which is more than enough for the purpose of this exercise. (If it’s in your budget, I highly recommend paying for Sparktoro, because it is incredibly useful and can help you understand your audience on a new level.)

2. Search for your topic on SparkToro

Once you have an account set up, click on the Audience Research tab. Then, you will need to conduct your search. You may notice that there are a couple of options to choose from in the search bar. That’s because there are a number of different ways you search for something using Sparktoro.

The types of searches include:

• Search by a topic that your audience frequently talks about (i.e. marketing)
• Search by keyword or phrase that your audience uses in their profile (i.e. director of marketing)
• Search by a social media account that your audience follows (i.e. @hubspot)
• Search by a website your audience visits (i.e. contentmarketinginstitute.com)

I am going to just continue with the marketing example I used previously, and search by the topic ‘marketing’.

3. Analyze the results

When you get your search results, you’ll notice that on the left hand side of the page, there are a number of different headings you can click on.

Choose the one that says ‘Reddit’. (There’s also TONS of other information that you might find useful in the other tabs, but for this article, I am just going to focus on the Reddit section).

And just like that, you’ll be presented with the most popular subreddits for that particular audience. It can be quite interesting, because sometimes the results are not a subreddit you would have considered looking at.

In this search, my results include the more obvious subreddits like r/marketing, but also some unexpected ones like r/cryptocurrency and r/stocks. You’ll notice the percentage of my total audience that is on these subreddits isn’t very big, so this might be an indication I need to get more granular with my search term.

If I try again, and this time I search the term ‘email marketing’, the results are slightly different. The top three subreddits for this audience include r/marketing, r/emailmarketing and r/entrepreneur.

And as you’ll see, the percentage of the audience for each of these subreddits is much higher than the ones in the last search, so these subreddits are probably more representative of the audience I am looking for.

Using this method with Sparktoro to find your audience on Reddit can be much faster than going through individual subreddits manually to find the right one for your market research.

That being said, really the most effective method is to use both of these together. Doing so will ensure that you have chosen the right subreddit that most accurately represents your target audience.

You’ve Chosen a Subreddit. Now What?

You basically have two choices now. You can choose to gather information from the subreddit simply by looking at the content, or you can create a Reddit account and join in the conversation! Both research methods can be useful, but the latter option is much more fun if you ask me.

By actively participating in discussions, providing valuable insights, and engaging with other members, you can position yourself as a trusted authority and gain the community’s respect. This will not only enhance the quality of the feedback you receive but also increase the likelihood of others being willing to share their experiences and opinions with you.

However, it is important to approach Reddit with caution and respect. Redditors are known for their skepticism towards marketers and dislike blatant self-promotion. So before you get all excited and start creating posts nonsensically, take some time to understand the “vibe” of the subreddit first.

Each subreddit has different rules in place for posting and commenting, so be sure to actually read them or you may find yourself banned from that particular subreddit. In fact, some subreddits may not even let you create a new post unless your account is of a certain age, or has a certain amount of comment karma.

If this sounds intimidating, and you’d prefer to observe from a distance, that’s okay too. There are still plenty of ways you can conduct market research on Reddit without actually posting or commenting at all.

Passive Market Research Methods With Reddit

Monitoring discussions and trends.

In addition to actively participating in discussions, you can use Reddit as a listening tool to monitor conversations and gather insights passively. This can help you identify emerging trends and stay up-to-date with your target audience’s preferences. For example, if you are in the tech industry, subscribing to subreddits like r/technology or r/gadgets can give you a firsthand look at what consumers are excited about, what features they desire in a product, and what issues they are currently facing.

Additionally, Reddit’s upvoting and downvoting system allows you to gauge the popularity and credibility of different opinions. By paying attention to highly upvoted comments or posts, you can identify the popular topics within a community and use that knowledge to inform your decision-making process.

Keep in mind that when analyzing the user engagement, you need to go beyond just the number of upvotes and comments. It is essential to consider the quality and depth of the interactions.

For instance, a post with a high number of comments may indicate high engagement, but if the comments are short and lack substance, it may not provide as much valuable information as a post with fewer but more detailed comments. Analyzing the content of the individual comments can give you a better understanding of user sentiment and preferences.

By examining the comments associated with a highly upvoted post, you can uncover the specific aspects that resonated with the community. These comments may highlight additional insights, suggestions, or personal experiences related to the topic at hand.

Using advanced search methods

Another way to conduct passive market research on Reddit is by using the advanced search functionality. The advanced search allows you to find highly specific information by narrowing down your search using manual filters. This can be particularly useful when looking for very specific topics related to your target audience, industry, or even your company. Here’s how it works.

Search filtering

If you want to limit your search to a specific set of criteria, you can use special manual filtering words to do so.

You can filter your search by any of the following:

• author The person who created the post.

For instance, author:MarketingWhiz

• flair The descriptor or label attached to the post.

For instance, flair:SEO

• self Filter by self posts. Use true to limit the search to text posts, false to exclude them.

For instance, self:true

• selftext The main text or body of the post.

For instance, selftext:engagement

• site The domain linked within the post.

For instance, site:marketingblog.com

• subreddit The community where the post was submitted.

For instance, subreddit:DigitalMarketing

• title The headline or title of the post.

For instance, title:Lead Generation

Example: If I am looking to find posts regarding ‘content strategies’ created by the user u/MarketingGuru in the specific subreddit r/MarketingInsights, I would type the following in the search bar:

author:MarketingGuru subreddit:MarketingInsights content strategies

Make sure you don’t have whitespace between the manual filter name(e.g. ‘author’) and the word you want to search for:

✅ author:cats ❌ author: cats

PRO TIP: When making a multi-word field search, wrap the query in double or single quotes. For example, title:“kitten gif”. This will ensure that it searches for an exact match of the entire phrase, rather than instances where the words appear separately.

Boolean operators

Another valuable search tool at your disposal is the use of boolean operators. Reddit’s search supports operators such as AND, OR, and NOT. These operators can help you refine your search and find more accurate results.

For instance, if you’re interested in finding discussions about both “technology” and “artificial intelligence,” you can use the AND operator to narrow down your search to threads that mention both terms. On the other hand, if you want to broaden your search and find threads that mention either “technology” or “artificial intelligence,” you can use the OR operator.

With Reddit’s advanced search functionality, you can effectively search the large amount of content available and quickly find the most relevant and accurate information for your market research.

Using Reddit’s API for Automated Market Research

For businesses looking to scale their market research efforts, Reddit’s Application Programming Interface (API) offers a powerful solution. By leveraging the Reddit API , you can automate the data collection, analysis, and reporting, allowing you to gather insights at scale and make data-driven decisions more efficiently.

Best Practices for Reddit Market Research

When conducting market research on Reddit, it’s essential to follow best practices to ensure accurate and insightful results:

Be transparent: When engaging with the community, make it clear that you’re conducting market research. This helps build trust and encourages users to provide honest and valuable feedback.

Respect subreddit rules: Each subreddit has its own set of rules and guidelines. Make sure to familiarize yourself with them and abide by them to avoid any negative consequences.

Engage authentically: When participating in discussions, be authentic and genuinely interested in the topic. Users are more likely to provide valuable insights if they perceive you as a genuine participant.

Mistakes to Avoid When Using Reddit for Market Research

While Reddit is a valuable platform for market research, there are a few common mistakes that you’ll want to avoid in order to get the best results.

Confirmation bias: Be mindful of your own biases when analyzing the data. Avoid cherry-picking information that confirms pre-existing beliefs and instead strive for an objective analysis.

Sample bias: Keep in mind that Reddit users may not represent your entire target audience. Be cautious when extrapolating insights from Reddit data to make broader conclusions about your market.

Data overload: With the abundance of information on Reddit, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Stay focused on your research objectives and prioritize the most relevant insights to avoid getting lost and looking at irrelevant data points.

Overall, Reddit presents a unique and powerful platform for conducting market research. By finding the right subreddits, utilizing advanced search functionality, and analyzing user behaviors and trends, you can gain valuable insights about your target audience. These insights can be used to inform your marketing strategy and give you a competitive edge that will drive business success.

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5 Best Free Stock Analysis Tools for Investors

A tremendous amount of free stock research and analysis tools are available online.

Best Free Stock Analysis and Research

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It's best to do your homework before you pull the trigger on a stock option.

The U.S. stock market is off to a great start in 2024. Through Feb. 23, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100 are up more than 7% year to date (YTD). The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up nicely as well, though not as dramatically. That well-known index has gained just over 3% YTD.

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• Your online broker.
• TradingView.
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Your Online Broker

Most brokerage platforms provide their clients with reasonable access to their proprietary equity research as well as valuable analysis tools such as charting and backtesting utilities. Generally, the larger and more established the broker, the better the research. You can expect excellent quality research, tools and advice to be included on platforms like E*Trade, which is owned by Morgan Stanley (ticker: MS ), TD Ameritrade, owned by Charles Schwab Corp. ( SCHW ) and Merrill Edge, owned by Bank of America Corp. ( BAC ), and the online brokerage of Charles Schwab Corp. ( SCHW ), which includes features from the recently acquired TD Ameritrade. Popular online and app-based brokers like Interactive Brokers Group Inc. ( IBKR ) and Robinhood Markets Inc. ( HOOD ) get high marks in this department as well.

Broker-provided research reports are usually only one or two pages long and are well worth reading. You'll also find easy-to-access tools like stock screeners and news feeds as well.

Just log on to your account and look for a tab or button that says "research." Most systems are designed to be highly intuitive and user-friendly. If you run into difficulty accessing their tools or research, just contact customer service via chat, email or phone.

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TradingView

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Morningstar at the Public Library

A standard library card can be your key to an incredible amount of free market research. Many public libraries around the country maintain a premium subscription to Morningstar as well as other professional investment research outlets. Like almost all public library resources, Morningstar equity research is free to registered members.

Check with your local or state library system to see if it has Morningstar. While you're at it, look for other subscription-based research companies like CFRA or Zacks. Chances are they will have one or more. Once you've confirmed it has what you're looking for, dust off your old library card – or apply for a new one for free – and start browsing the catalog of investment resources.

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Click on the "subscribe now" button and you'll be directed to the S&P newsletter subscription hub. There you can sign up for any of dozens of professional quality investment industry newsletters on a wide variety of subjects. Free research will be delivered to your email inbox on a monthly basis at no cost and with no obligation.

Best Long-Term Stocks to Buy Now

Glenn Fydenkevez Feb. 12, 2024

Tags: investing , stock market , money , financial literacy , Morgan Stanley , TD Ameritrade , Charles Schwab , Bank of America , Interactive Brokers Group

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• Afghanistan
• Aland Islands
• American Samoa
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Bolivia, Plurinational State of
• Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bouvet Island
• British Indian Ocean Territory
• Brunei Darussalam
• Burkina Faso
• Cayman Islands
• Central African Republic
• Christmas Island
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands
• Congo, the Democratic Republic of the
• Cook Islands
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Czech Republic
• Dominican Republic
• El Salvador
• Equatorial Guinea
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
• Faroe Islands
• French Guiana
• French Polynesia
• French Southern Territories
• Guinea-Bissau
• Heard Island and McDonald Islands
• Holy See (Vatican City State)
• Iran, Islamic Republic of
• Isle of Man
• Korea, Democratic People's Republic of
• Korea, Republic of
• Lao People's Democratic Republic
• Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
• Liechtenstein
• Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
• Moldova, Republic of
• Netherlands
• New Caledonia
• New Zealand
• Norfolk Island
• Palestinian Territory, Occupied
• Papua New Guinea
• Philippines
• Russian Federation
• Saint Barthélemy
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Martin (French part)
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Sao Tome and Principe
• Saudi Arabia
• Sierra Leone
• Sint Maarten (Dutch part)
• Solomon Islands
• South Africa
• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
• South Sudan
• Svalbard and Jan Mayen
• Switzerland
• Syrian Arab Republic
• Tanzania, United Republic of
• Timor-Leste
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Turkmenistan
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• United Arab Emirates
• Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
• Virgin Islands, British
• Wallis and Futuna
• Western Sahara

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